Michelle is the Arnold Thackray Director of the Othmer Library at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia. Her research focuses on the intellectual and cultural history of early modern science and medicine, with particular interests in domestic science, medical remedies, and women practitioners. Her book Lady Ranelagh: The Incomparable Life of Robert Boyle’s Sister is published by the University of Chicago Press (May 2021).
Michelle is interested in technology, strategic planning, and library leadership. She used to manage the Hagley Heritage Curators program and Manuscripts and Archives department at the Hagley Museum and Library. Prior to that, she was Director of Digital Library Initiatives at the Science History Institute and at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. She holds a PhD in English and History from the University of Warwick and a Certificate in the Curation and Management of Digital Assets from the University of Maryland.
Michelle has spoken at the first Robert Boyle Summer School in 2012 and again in 2015 and at the Robert Boyle Winter/Spring series 2021 introducing audiences to the remarkable Katherine Jones (née Boyle), Lady Ranelagh.
Read the review in Nature here.
“‘The Incomparable Lady Ranelagh’: Science in the Life of Boyle’s Older Sister”, July 2012.
“The Boyle Family’s Domestic Medical Practice”, July 2012.
“Lady Ranelagh, the Hartlib Circle, and Networks of Scientific Correspondence”, June 2015.
“Robert Boyle, Lady Ranelagh, and the Great Plague of 1665-66”, March 2021.
Dealing with pandemics is nothing new for scientists. Throughout history new contagious diseases have emerged, seemingly out of nowhere. Physicians, researchers, and public officials then scramble towards mitigating the spread and discovering a cure while death tolls and unemployment rise. Robert Boyle and his sister, the scientific collaborator Lady Ranelagh, lived through the infamous Great Plague of London over 1665-66. What did they understand about the disease? How did they deal with it? Are there any lessons from 350 years ago that could apply to COVID-19 today? Watch historian Michelle DiMeo illuminates how Robert Boyle and Lady Ranelagh’s experiences with a plague year share some striking similarities to what we face today.
Podcast
Listen back to Talking History, March 2020 on Newstalk FM on Lady Ranelagh with Michelle DiMeo, Clodagh Finn, Evan Bourrke and Eoin Gill
Listen back to The Almost Forgotten Story of Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh – The woman beside the father of chemistry, January 2018 on Distillations, a podcast from the Science History Institute with Michelle DiMeo.