On 4 March 2026, the Ian Ramsey Centre held its final lecture for Hilary Term at the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities.
In the lecture “The Anatomy of a Conversion,” Dr Nuno Castel-Branco (All Souls) explored the life of Nicolaus Steno (1638–1686)—pioneering anatomist, founder of modern geology, Catholic convert, and later bishop—to reconsider how science and religion interacted in early modern Europe. Rather than treating his scientific career and religious conversion as separate, the lecture argued that both were shaped by a single intellectual impulse: a disciplined search for certainty. The same methodological rigor that led Steno to reconceive the heart as a muscle, rename the ovaries, and establish the principles of stratigraphy also informed his theological studies. His conversion to Catholicism emerged from this quest for certainty, nurtured by the scholarly networks and intellectual culture of seventeenth-century Rome. Crucially, it was also shaped by relationships with learned and devout Catholic women within scientific circles, whose influence proved decisive in his journey. These themes are fully developed in the book The Traveling Anatomist: Nicolaus Steno and the Intersection of Disciplines in Early Modern Science (Chicago, 2025). You can also learn more about Dr Castel-Branco’s work here.
This lecture was organised as part of the termly Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion Lectures. For more information join our mailing list by registering on this form: Click here to access the mailing list registration form.
