Università di Padova | |
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Latin: Universitas Studii Paduani | |
Motto | Universa Universis Patavina Libertas (Latin) |
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Motto in English | Liberty of Padua, universally and for all |
Type | Public |
Established | 1222 |
Rector | Daniela Mapelli |
Academic staff | 2,201 |
Students | 59,317 |
Undergraduates | 38,495 |
Postgraduates | 20,822 |
Location | , |
Campus | Urban (University town) |
Sports teams | CUS Padova |
Colors | Padua Red |
Affiliations | Coimbra Group, TIME network |
Website | www |
The University of Padua (Italian : Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from Bologna. [1] Padua is the second-oldest university in Italy and the world's fifth-oldest surviving university. In 2010, the university had approximately 65,000 students. [2] In 2021, it was ranked second "best university" among Italian institutions of higher education with more than 40,000 students according to Censis institute, [3] and among the best 200 universities in the world according to ARWU. [4]
The university is conventionally said to have been founded in 1222 when a large group of students and professors left the University of Bologna in search of more academic freedom ('Libertas scholastica'). The first subjects to be taught were law and theology. The curriculum expanded rapidly, and by 1399 the institution had divided in two: a Universitas Iuristarum for civil law and Canon law, and a Universitas Artistarum which taught astronomy, dialectic, philosophy, grammar, medicine, and rhetoric. There was also a Universitas Theologorum, established in 1373 by Urban V.
The student body was divided into groups known as "nations" which reflected their places of origin. The nations themselves fell into two groups:
From the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, the university was renowned for its research, particularly in the areas of medicine, astronomy, philosophy and law. During this time, the university adopted the Latin motto: Universa universis patavina libertas (Paduan Freedom is Universal for Everyone). Nevertheless, the university had a turbulent history, and there was no teaching in 1237–61, 1509–17, 1848–50.
The Botanical Garden of Padova, established by the university in 1545, is one of the oldest gardens of its kind in the world. Its alleged title of oldest academic garden is in controversy because the Medici created one in Pisa in 1544. In addition to the garden, best visited in the spring and summer, the university also manages nine museums, including a History of physics museum.
The university began teaching medicine around 1250. It played a leading role in the identification and treatment of diseases and ailments, specializing in autopsies and the inner workings of the body. [5]
Since 1595, Padua's famous anatomical theatre drew artists and scientists studying the human body during public dissections. It is the oldest surviving permanent anatomical theatre in Europe. Anatomist Andreas Vesalius held the chair of Surgery and Anatomy (explicator chirurgiae) and in 1543 published his anatomical discoveries in De Humani Corporis Fabrica. The book triggered great public interest in dissections and caused many other European cities to establish anatomical theatres.
On 25 June 1678, Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia, a Venetian noblewoman and mathematician, became the first woman to be awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree.
The university became one of the universities of the Kingdom of Italy in 1873, and ever since has been one of the most prestigious in the country for its contributions to scientific and scholarly research: in the field of mathematics alone, its professors have included such figures as Gregorio Ricci Curbastro, Giuseppe Veronese, Francesco Severi and Tullio Levi Civita.
The last years of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century saw a reversal of the centralisation process that had taken place in the sixteenth: scientific institutes were set up in what became veritable campuses; a new building to house the Arts and Philosophy faculty was built in another part of the city centre (Palazzo del Liviano, designed by Giò Ponti); the Astro-Physics Observatory was built on the Asiago uplands; and the old Palazzo del Bo was fully restored (1938–45). The vicissitudes of the Fascist period—political interference, the Race Laws, etc.—had a detrimental effect upon the development of the university, as did the devastation caused by the Second World War and—just a few decades later—the effect of the student protests of 1968-69 (which the university was left to face without adequate help and support from central government). However, the Gymnasium Omnium Disciplinarum continued its work uninterrupted, and overall the second half of the twentieth century saw a sharp upturn in development—primarily due an interchange of ideas with international institutions of the highest standing (particularly in the fields of science and technology).
In recent years, the university has been able to meet the problems posed by overcrowded facilities by re-deploying over the Veneto as a whole. In 1990, the Institute of Management Engineering was set up in Vicenza, after which the summer courses at Brixen (Bressanone) began once more, and in 1995 the Agripolis centre at Legnaro (for Agricultural Science and Veterinary Medicine) opened. Other sites of re-deployment are at Rovigo, Treviso, Feltre, Castelfranco Veneto, Conegliano, Chioggia and Asiago.
Recent changes in state legislation have also opened the way to greater autonomy for Italian universities, and in 1995 Padua adopted a new Statute that gave it greater independence.
As the publications of innumerable conferences and congresses show, the modern-day University of Padua plays an important role in scholarly and scientific research at both a European and world level. True to its origins, this is the direction in which the university intends to move in the future, establishing closer links of cooperation and exchange with all the world's major research universities.
The university is constantly ranked among the best Italian universities.
ARWU ranks the university in the Italian top 4 alongside the Sapienza University of Rome, the University of Milan and the University of Pisa. ARWU ranks the university in the 151st-200th range globally for 2021. The 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings lists the university at 4th place in Italy and in the 201st-250th range worldwide. QS World University Rankings ranks the university 4th in Italy in 2021 and the best in Italy to study geology and geophysics, earth and sea sciences, biological sciences, psychology, anatomy and physiology. It also places the University of Padua at 242nd in the world for 2021. [6]
In the 2020 U.S. News & World Report 's World Best Global Universities Rankings, the University of Padua is ranked the world's 116th, tied with the University of Bologna, and 48th in Europe. [7]
The NTU ranking, which focuses on productivity and quality of scientific production, places the University of Padua as 82nd worldwide for 2022. [8]
Notable people who have attended the University of Padua include: [10]
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The University of Padua offers a wide range of degrees, organized by Departments:
Departments have been united in a limited number of Schools:
The history of anatomy extends from the earliest examinations of sacrificial victims to the sophisticated analyses of the body performed by modern anatomists and scientists. Written descriptions of human organs and parts can be traced back thousands of years to ancient Egyptian papyri, where attention to the body was necessitated by their highly elaborate burial practices.
Padua is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 214,000. The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) which has a population of around 2,600,000.
The University of Bologna is a research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (studiorum), it is the oldest university in continuous operation in the world, and the first university as a higher-learning and degree-awarding institute. At its foundation, the word universitas was first coined.
The University of Pisa, officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe.
The University of Milan, known colloquially as UniMi or Statale, is a public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe, with about 60,000 students, and a permanent teaching and research staff of about 2,000.
The University of Trieste is a public research university in Trieste in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in northeast Italy. The university consists of 10 departments, boasts a wide and almost complete range of university courses and has about 15,000 students and 1,000 professors. It was founded in 1924.
The University of Genoa, known also with the acronym UniGe, is one of the largest universities in Italy. It is located in the city of Genoa and regional Metropolitan City of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Liguria region of northwestern Italy. The original university was founded in 1481.
The University of Montpellier is a public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest universities in the world.
The University of Pavia is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the oldest universities in the world. It was the sole university in Milan and the greater Lombardy region until the end of the 19th century.
The University of Rostock is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Sea area, and 8th oldest in Central Europe. It was the 5th university established in the Holy Roman Empire.
The University of Zagreb is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe. The University of Zagreb and the University North are the only public universities operating in Northern and Central Croatia.
The Sapienza University of Rome, also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Italy. It is one of the largest European universities by enrollments and one of the oldest in history, founded in 1303. The university is one of the most prestigious Italian universities and in the world, commonly ranking first in national rankings and in Southern Europe. In 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 it ranked first in the world for classics and ancient history.
Alessandro Achillini was an Italian philosopher and physician. He is known for the anatomic studies that he was able to publish, made possible by a 13th-century edict putatively by Emperor Frederick II allowing for dissection of human cadavers, and which previously had stimulated the anatomist Mondino de Luzzi at Bologna.
Tor Vergata University of Rome, also known as the University of Rome II, is a public research university located in Rome, Italy. Located in the southeastern suburb of Rome, the university combines a liberal arts tradition with emphasis on career orientation in the field of Economics, Engineering, Mathematics and Physics, Natural Sciences, and Medicine.
The University of Bari Aldo Moro is a state-supported higher education institution founded in 1925 in Bari, Apulia, in Southern Italy. The university is one of the most prestigious universities in southern Italy and it is one of the largest in Italy, with a student population of around 60,000. A recent name change refers to the statesman Aldo Moro (1916-1978), a student of law there until 1939 who then served as ordinary professor of philosophy of Law and Colonial Policy (1941) and of Criminal Law (1942).
The University of L'Aquila is a public research university located in L'Aquila, central Italy. It was founded in 1964 and is organized in nine departments. The university presents a scientific-technological character with many research groups. It is best known for its Engineering, Medicine, Psychology and Science schools.
Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia or Elena Lucrezia Corner, also known in English as Helen Cornaro, was a Venetian philosopher of noble descent who in 1678 became one of the first women to receive an academic degree from a university, and the first to receive a Doctor of Philosophy degree.
Johann Vesling was a German anatomist and botanist from Minden, Westphalia. He published a major illustrated work on human anatomy Syntagma Anatomicum (1641).
The Accademia Galileiana, or "Galilean academy", is a learned society in the city of Padua in Italy. The full name of the society is Accademia galileiana di scienze, lettere ed arti in Padova, "Galilean academy of science, letters and the arts in Padova". It was founded as the Accademia dei Ricovrati in Padua in 1599, on the initiative of a Venetian nobleman, Federico Cornaro. The original members were professors in the University of Padua such as professor Georgios Kalafatis; one of its original members was Galileo Galilei. In 1779 the academy merged with the Accademia di Arte Agraria and became the Accademia di Scienze Lettere e Arti; in 1949 it became the Accademia Patavina di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti; its name was changed to Accademia Galileiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in Padova in 1997, in honor of Galileo. The academy is lodged in the Carraresi Palace in Padua.
The Anatomical Theatre of Padua, Northern Italy, is the first permanent anatomical theatre in the world. Still preserved in the Palazzo del Bo, it was inaugurated in 1595 by Girolamo Fabrici of Acquapendente, according to the project of Paolo Sarpi and Dario Varotari. This theatre constituted the model for the anatomical theatres built during the seventeenth century in the main universities of Europe: all would have been based on the Paduan archetype. It is the symbol of a successful period in the University of Padua's history, and it is considered one of the most important achievements for the study of anatomy during the sixteenth century.