Dr. Edoardo Pierini

ForschungsinstitutScholar in Residence

Email edoardo.pierini@libero.it
Email e.pierini.ext@deutsches-museum.de

Zeitraum: 1. September bis 30. November

Tracing the History of Pharmacy through Opium: From Galenic Rmedies to Modern Crises

This research project examines the long and complex history of opium as a paradigmatic substance at the intersection of traditional medicine, scientific knowledge, and pharmaceutical industry. Focusing on German-speaking scholars and institutions, it traces the transformation of opium from its role in Galenic and early modern medicine to its central place in modern pharmacology and contemporary opioid crises. The project spans from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, beginning with figures such as Paracelsus and Andreas Libavius, who reshaped materia medica through alchemical and iatrochemical approaches, and continuing through later contributors including Michael Ettmüller, Johann Schröder, and Valentin Rose the Elder.
It then follows the nineteenth-century shift toward chemical isolation and synthesis, marked by Friedrich Sertürner’s discovery of morphine and the rise of alkaloid chemistry, alongside the emergence of a powerful German pharmaceutical industry. Companies such as Bayer and Merck commercialized opiate derivatives globally, shaping regulatory frameworks, marketing practices, and ethical debates that remain relevant today.
Drawing on the rich collections of the Deutsches Museum—archival texts, scientific instruments, and historical drug samples—the project integrates intellectual history, material culture, and socio-political context. By linking early modern medical practices with industrial pharmacology, it provides both a scholarly contribution to the history of pharmacy and a critical perspective on the roots of present-day opioid challenges.

Short CV
Edoardo Pierini is a historian of science and medicine specializing in the history of drugs, pharmacology, and medical theories in the early modern period. He received his PhD in History from the University of Geneva (2024), with a dissertation on the rediscovery of opium from antiquity to seventeenth-century Britain. During and after his PhD, he held several competitive research fellowships abroad, including at the Science History Institute (University of Pennsylvania), the Royal Society (London), and the University of Valencia, as well as research appointments in Rome and Trieste. His work has been published in international peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, and he is currently pursuing new projects on early modern pharmacology and scientific communication.