University of Padua

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

University of Padua
Università degli Studi di Padova

Latin: Universitas Studii Paduani
Motto:	Universa Universis Patavina Libertas
Established:	1222
Type:	State-supported
Rector:	Prof. Vincenzo Milanesi
Students:	65,000
Location:	Padua, Italy
Sports teams:	CUS Padova (http://www.cuspadova.it/)
Affiliations:	Coimbra Group
Website:	www.unipd.it/

"Gymnasivm Patavinum:" The University's main Bo palace shown in a 1654 woodcut

The University of Padua (Italian Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD), located in Padua, Italy, was founded in 1222. It is among the earliest of the European universities and the second oldest in Italy. As of 2003 the university had approximately 65,000 students.

1 History
2 Eminent faculty and alumni
3 List of Faculties
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit] History

The university was founded in 1222 when a large group of students and professors left the University of Bologna in search of more academic freedom. The first subjects to be taught were jurisprudence and theology. The curriculum expanded rapidly, however and by 1399 the institution had divided in two: a Universitas Iuristarum for civil law, Canon law, and theology, and a Universitas Artistarum which taught astronomy, dialectic, philosophy, grammar, medicine, and rhetoric. (The two were only reunited into one university in 1813.)

The student body was divided into groups known as ‘nations’ which reflected their places of origin. The nations themselves fell into two groups: the cismontanes for the Italian students and the ultramontanes for those who came from beyond the Alps.

From the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, the university was renowned for its research, particularly in the areas of medicine, astronomy, philosophy and law. This was thanks in part to the protection of the Republic of Venice, which enabled the university to maintain some freedom and independence from the influence of the Roman Catholic Church. During this time, the University adopted the Latin motto: Universa universis patavina libertas (The Freedom of Padova is complete for everybody). The university had a turbulent history, and there was no teaching in 1237-61, 1509-17, 1848-50.

On June 25, 1678, Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman graduate in history when she was awarded a degree in Philosophy.

The Botanical Garden of Padova, established by the university in 1545, was the second such garden in the world, and is the oldest which remains to this day on its original site. In addition to the garden, best visited in the spring and summer, the university also manages nine museums, including the renowned Museum of History of Physics.

But to return to its intellectual standing, the University of Padua became one 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 Philosophical 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). Obviously, 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; then 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 Institution intends to move in the future, establishing closer and closer links of co-operation and exchange with all the world's major research universities.