Bozena Urbanek

Publications of Bozena Urbanek

• [Ways of appearing new branches in medicine in the years 1800-1914. An attempt at formulation of an issue].

  Authors: Bozena Urbanek

  Kwartalnik historii nauki i techniki : Kwartal'nyĭ zhurnal istorii nauki i tekhniki -. 01/2009; 54(3-4):99-122.

  A process of appearing medical branches lasted for many centuries. Its origins can be found already in long-ago civilizations. However, the comprehensive development of knowledge on the turn of theA process of appearing medical branches lasted for many centuries. Its origins can be found already in long-ago civilizations. However, the comprehensive development of knowledge on the turn of the 18th century, its transmission by the press, professional contacts, including the foreign ones, brought about the consciousness of needs and activities in medical circles. A significant role in the process of appearing particular domains was played by technological progress. The inventions improved on cognitive processes within natural sciences and quickened exploring the new truths that were also employed in medical care. All these achievements of the 19th century, in Author's opinion, resulted in the significant development of particular domains called branches that nowadays are commonly accepted. Among medical and important for the development of separate branches one often mentions the achievements of pathological anatomy, and even bacteriology, which influenced the beginnings of medical analytic and development of diagnostics. Moreover, the progress of therapy in the years 1840-1870 brought about modern methods of getting pharmaceutical remedies and ways of using medicaments. The knowledge together with experiences let prepare description of particular diseases. There was also created a scientific workshop and methodological tactic, which was distinct for separate cases of illnesses. A great role was played by statistics and different ways of registering particulars, also by means of photography. Bibliography and scientific literature were to transmit and compare the knowledge. All these circumstances show the intricacy of the discussed issue. Additionally, the described conditions reveal the importance of other reasons that played a significant role in setting up separate specialization-non-medical reasons of social, economic or political nature. The last ones have not been analyzed inherently by us. What interesting, in some countries and especially in Anglo-Saxon lands, the non-medical reasons have been a significant subject of historical interests and studies already since the half of the 1940s. Also the Author's article is treating on them.

• [Problem of sexuality in Polish medical aids. The first half of XX century - to 1939]

  Authors: Bozena Urbanek

  Medycyna nowozytna : studia nad historia medycyny / Polska Akademia Nauk, Instytut Historii Nauki. 02/2005; 12(1-2):163-80.

  The article presents an analysis of sexuality-related problems as they are covered in the health guidebooks so well known to her. There are a few topics addressed in Urbanek's text. She describes theThe article presents an analysis of sexuality-related problems as they are covered in the health guidebooks so well known to her. There are a few topics addressed in Urbanek's text. She describes the evolution of the health guidebooks which was taking place at the end of the 19th and in early 20th centuries and of their users. Women increasingly often were authors and readers of these books. Some of the female authors were medical doctors with an additional passion for writing on public matters. Foreign authors and their works are also mentioned in Urbanek's article. She points to the links between sexology and personal hygiene and even cosmetology. Sexology is present in the guidebooks discussed also as an important ingredient of successful marriage. In this context, Urbanek stresses the changing role of a woman and her strife for acquiring equal rights. Another valuable element in the article is reference to other spheres of culture, such as custom and religion. The 20th century filled these spheres with medical knowledge on childbirth pathologies and their complications. Medical and hygiene-related topics motivate Urbanek to set the question of sexuality in a context of eugenic ideas often debated in the pre-war years. She also points to the multicultural character of the Polish-language health books, identifies various angles of view presented in them, and supports her reflection with well-selected examples. This applies eg. to Soviet books. Although this is not her main subject, Urbanek also writes about health books dealing with sexual matters and destined for men. The author of the article gives a fine description of the variability of sexuality-related contents carried by these books which offered adequate coverage of changes occurring in medical, hygienic, cultural, and even economic fields. The paper is, therefore, not only an analysis of sexuality-related issues but it also presents a broad social context in which these books were conceived and written.

• [Biographies of 20th century Polish medical scientists]

  Authors: Bozena Urbanek

  Słownik biograficzny polskich nauk medycznych XX wieku / Instytut Historii Nauki, Oświaty i Techniki PAN, Pracownia Historii Nauk Medycznych. 02/2002; 2(4):1-137.