Watch, Read, Listen

Joel A. Klein, the Molina Curator for the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences at The Huntington, explores the work of Daniel Sennert (1572–1637), professor of medicine at Wittenberg University, who sought to reform 17th-century medicine through alchemy, atomism, and experimentation. Sennert’s reform led to clashes with traditionalists as well as profiteering charlatans, and ultimately resulted in charges of heresy and blasphemy. This lecture is sponsored by the Dock Society for the History of Medicine.

Gregory Nobles, professor emeritus of history at Georgia Institute of Technology, explores the role of ordinary observers in scientific developments from Audubon’s era in the 19th century to the present day. This program is a Ritchie Distinguished Fellow Lecture.

Hiroki Ohara, fifth-generation headmaster of the Ohara School of Ikebana, presents a lecture-demonstration of the Japanese art of ikebana flower arranging in celebration of the school’s 50th anniversary in Los Angeles. Hiroki Ohara is a practicing contemporary artist, whose large-scale, site-specific works have blurred the boundaries of ikebana, land art, and performance art.

Award-winning landscape architect Steve Martino is joined by Caren Yglesias, author of Desert Gardens of Steve Martino, for a discussion about landscaping for arid climates. Martino’s pioneering designs combine dramatic man-made elements with native plants in gardens that honor the natural ecology of the desert, inviting spaces of beauty and color while solving problems such as lack of privacy or shade.

This interdisciplinary conference focuses on the transatlantic dynamics of food and power in the long 18th century. Historians, historical geographers, and literary scholars will assess the significant role of food in shaping interpersonal and geopolitical relations during this period, focusing in particular on the perceived and real impact of scarcity and social unrest.