The King's Surgeon: The Birth of Modern Surgery in 18th Century London




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ClassGraphic This study group examines a pivotal transformation in Western thought through the lens of 18th-century surgery. At a time when medicine was governed largely by tradition, hierarchy, and inherited authority, John Hunter advanced a radically different approach grounded in observation, experimentation, and direct engagement with the natural world. Working within the intellectual ferment of the Enlightenment, Hunter helped reshape not only surgery, but broader ideas about how knowledge itself is pursued, tested, and validated.Brilliant, ambitious, and often controversial, Hunter served as surgeon to King George III, paid grave robbers for cadavers, performed daring experiments on animals and himself, and filled his London townhouse with thousands of anatomical specimens—an eerie collection (which remains open to the public today) said to have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson’s vision of Dr. Jekyll. Using The Knife Man by Wendy Moore (Broadway Publishing 2005) we will explore how accepted ideas are challenged, why innovation often meets resistance, and how the emergence of scientific medicine transformed both surgery and modern ways of thinking

Class Details

7 Session(s)
Weekly - Tue

Location
Wieboldt Hall

Instructor
Tom Williamson 

Tuition:  $0.00

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Schedule Information

Date(s) Class Days Times Location Instructor(s)
10/27/2026 - 12/8/2026 Weekly - Tue 01:15 PM - 03:15 PM Chicago, Wieboldt Hall  Map Tom Williamson