The History of Classical Anatomy is now available for everyone on Futurebooks
The pioneer of modern Czech obstetrics, professor Antonín Doležal, has launched his new book the History of Classical Anatomy. Accompanied by the Rector of the Charles University Milena Králíčková, in the Patriotic Hall of the Karolinum. The comprehensive monograph on the development of anatomical knowledge from Egypt to the twentieth century keeps up with the times in its form and is available for purchase on the university’s interactive platform Futurebooks.
In this extensive work, the author presents the history of the knowledge of the human body as a cognitive process, where, for example, from a very precise description of one muscle leads a very long and often tortuous path to understanding its function and role in the human body. In order to understand this process, Professor Doležal traces 316 personalities who have followed these paths to knowledge and contributed to the development of anatomy. For the most prominent of them, he draws on their works, comments on them or critically evaluates them on the basis of other scientific literature and available historical publications. The History of Classical Anatomy thus runs to over 700 pages and offers readers over 250 fascinating illustrations.
The interactive form available on the Futurebooks website creates a unique reading experience. The clarity of the chapters and the ability to insert your own notes are combined in the digital version with full-resolution illustrations or a scrolling timeline mapping all the personalities described and their journeys through the history of anatomy.
Thanks to his versatility and wide range of knowledge, the author has managed to present the history of anatomy in a broad context extending also to the fields of philosophy and anthropology, which he has also devoted himself to during his enduring academic career.
As a university teacher, professor Doležal has always focused on the broader context of his field – obstetrics and gynaecology.
For example, he worked for a long time at the Faculty of Science, where he focused on the anthropology of motherhood. At the Department of Political Science of the Faculty of Arts he lectured on the relationship between biology and politics.
At the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport he lectured at the Department of Anatomy and Biomechanics. He even dealt with legal issues. He is co-author of the book Legal Responsibility and Legal Relations in Obstetrics. He has repeatedly written monographs and articles on the history of obstetrics and has organized several medical, scientific and historical exhibitions in Prague at the Karolinum, the National Museum, and abroad in Berlin, Brussels, etc. He has also devoted himself to linguistics – in 2007 he wrote Medical Slang and Idioms. In 2017 he wrote Forbidden Words – a monograph on the etiology of vulgar words. In 2018 he wrote the historical Anatomical Dictionary – the origin and meaning of anatomical terminology.
At the book launch, professor Doležal also celebrated his 94th birthday. Congratulations!
