Pedro L. Mangabeira Albernaz

Antonio Maria Valsalva was an important Italian physician that was born in Imola in 1666. He was a contemporary of Newton, Bach and Molière and, following the traditions of his time, was educated in humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. After his studies of the liberal arts, he studied Medicine and Philosophy at the University of Bologna, where he was a disciple of Marcello Malpighi, the founder of microscopic anatomy. Malpighi deeply respected Valsalva, who was his favorite student. And Valsalva was a great admirer of Malpighi. Portrait of Valsalva (Wikimedia Commons) Valsalva graduated from the medical school in 1687 and in 1705 was appointed Pprofessor of Anatomy at Bologna. He was later chosen as President of the Academy of the Sciences. His most important disciple was Giovanni Battista Morgagni, who edited Valsalva’s complete writings and published a biography of Valsalva in 1740. He was considered a very skilled anatomist and pathologist, a fine physician and ...

I was in my second year of medical school when they played Porgy and Bess here in São Paulo, at a theater that no longer exists. Of course I loved Rhapsody in Blue . Of course I loved George Gershwin’s popular songs, like Embraceable You, Someone to Watch Over Me , The Man I Love, and so on, and so on. Of course I had to go and see it. I did not have much money, so I bought a ticket on the highest part of the theater. I remember that on the main floor there were many very well dressed colored people. I was happy to see that in my town there was a high class of colored people, I did not know that they existed. I remember that the company had four Porgys and three Besses, because they had to sing for long periods of time and it was difficult for any single singer to do it every night. On my night Bess was Leontyne Price. She was very young then, of course you know how famous she became since then. Wikimedia Commons I was dazzled. I was flabbergasted. I still am when I hear S...