Week Four: Medicine + Technology + Art

We live in a world where technology has a substantial significance on our medical industry and for the better is helping to save lives everyday. Content in unit 4's readings and lectures have helped me to gain a further understanding of how the medical industry is so positively impacted due to the art and technology behind it. 

Modern Medical Industry

In this weeks lecture we learn about anatomy and dissection and how these are the core intersection of science and art. Dating right back to the first half of the third century B.C. was where  two Greeks became the first to perform dissection on human cadavers. However it was only in the renaissance where art and science really began to take on this concept and detailed anatomical drawings began to arise. Looking back on the detail in these drawings is truly incredible they were able to use the limited information they had to draw conclusions about the human body - which improved medical information during this time. This was just the start of where the medical industry is being taken through an expression of art which played a massive role in understanding a lot of science behind our medical industry. 

Greek Anatomical Drawings

Andreas Vesalius was a very famous Anatomist who dedicated his work to understanding and educating others about anatomy. Through the form of six large woodcut posters Vesalius created detailed illustrations of anatomy for students helping to share his knowledge with others. The image below shows one of Vesalius detailed drawings of human dissections. 

Andreas Vesalius's Work

Through the years technology has continued to evolve to now where we have elaborate machines to help save lives and continue to use science to learn more about the human body. A great example of this is X-Ray and MRI machines which have not only continued to advance in medicine but also with art as well. This is where art, technology and medicine all intersect as we understand the photography aspect that allows us to understand further information.  Human bodies are complicated specimens and the more we gain an understanding around them the further advancements we can continue to make to save lives in the future. 

Modern X-Ray Machine

With out X-Rays and MRI a lot could be unknown - I am excited to see what the future continues to hold with art and medicine technologies.  

Olivia Hay

Sources: 

'Modern Medical Industry' - https://healthcareinamerica.us/healthcare-how-technology-impacts-the-healthcare-industry-b2ba6271c4b4 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Vesalius

https://www.siemens-healthineers.com/en-us/radiography/digital-x-ray

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2589595/pdf/yjbm00051-0069.pdf

 https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/anat/hd_anat.htm