Martha Gnudi, née Teach (26 October 1908 – 30 April 1976) was an American

medical historian The medical history, case history, or anamnesis (from Greek: ἀνά, ''aná'', "open", and μνήσις, ''mnesis'', "memory") of a patient is information gained by a physician by asking specific questions, either to the patient or to other peo ...

and translator.

Life and work

Martha Gnudi was born in Sycamore, Illinois, on 26 October 1908. She was awarded a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

in 1929. Two years later Gnudi received a

D.Litt. Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

from the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

, the first woman to receive a degree from that institution. She married Dante Gnudi in 1933. She published, together with Jerome P. Webster, ''Documenti Inediti Intorse All Vita de Gaspare Tagliacozzi'' in 1935. From 1942 to 1963 she was librarian of the Webster Library of Plastic Surgery in the

Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (NYP/CUIMC), also known as the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), is an academic medical center and the largest campus of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. It includes Co ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, then took charge of the historical and special collections of the Biomedical Library of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

at Los Angeles. In 1942, with

Cyril Stanley Smith Cyril Stanley Smith (4 October 1903 – 25 August 1992) was a British metallurgist and historian of science. He is most famous for his work on the Manhattan Project where he was responsible for the production of fissionable metals. A graduate ...

, she translated

Vannoccio Biringuccio Vannoccio Biringuccio, sometimes spelled Vannocio Biringuccio (c. 1480 – c. 1539), was an Italian metallurgist. He is best known for his manual on metalworking, ''De la pirotechnia'', published posthumously in 1540. 20th Century translation by ...

's 1540 ''

De la pirotechnia ''De la Pirotechnia'' is considered to be one of the first printed books on metallurgy to have been published in Europe. It was written in Italian and first published in Venice in 1540. The author was Vannoccio Biringuccio, a citizen of Siena, ...

'', the first book published on

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

. She then wrote, together with Webster, ''The Life and Times of Gaspare Tagliacozzi (1545–1599)'', a pioneer in plastic and

reconstructive surgery Reconstructive surgery is surgery performed to restore normal appearance and function to body parts malformed by a disease or medical condition. Description Reconstructive surgery is a term with training, clinical, and reimbursement implica ...

. She was awarded the Welch Medal of the

American Association for the History of Medicine The American Association for the History of Medicine is an American professional association dedicated to the study of medical history. Background It is the largest society dedicated to medical history in the United States, and the oldest such org ...

in 1954. From 1967 almost until her death, Gnudi translated

Agostino Ramelli Agostino Ramelli (1531–ca. 1610) was an Italian engineer best known for writing and illustrating the book of engineering designs ''Le diverse et artificiose machine del Capitano Agostino Ramelli'', which contains, among others, his design ...

’s 1588 ''Le Diverse et Artificiose Machine''. She completed the translation, but died on 30 April 1976, before publication.Scanlon & Cosner, p. 89

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gnudi, Martha 1941 births 1976 deaths University of Southern California alumni University of Bologna alumni 20th-century American historians