Anatomy: Burke to Bioethics

Wednesday 20 May 2026

6pm - 7pm 

No.11 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JQ

Tickets £3

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Exploring the history of anatomy in Edinburgh, from nepo babies and Burke and Hare to the Anatomy Act

In 1828, Burke and Hare murdered sixteen people and sold their bodies to the anatomy school of Dr Robert Knox. So began the notorious tale of Edinburgh’s murky medical underworld that has become synonymous with the history of science in the capital.

But how did the culture of 1820s Edinburgh allow the cultivation of such crimes? And what where the outcomes for the study of anatomy in Edinburgh?

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Join us at the Physicians’ Gallery, as our three speakers - Cat Irving (Surgeons’ Hall), Janet Philp (University of Edinburgh) and Sophie Goggins (National Museums Scotland) - present a fresh take on the well-known story, from the cause to the aftermath.

Chaired by Prof Tom Gillingwater

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Cat Irving

Cat Irving has been the Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall since 2015 and has been caring for anatomical and pathological museum collections for twenty-five years. She is a licensed anatomist, and gives regular talks on anatomy and medical history.

In 2022, she carried out conservation work on the skeleton of serial killer William Burke prior to his display in National Museum of Scotland, and her book Conversations with the Dead will be published by HarperCollins in Spring 2028.

Janet Philp

Janet Philp works at Edinburgh Medical School at the University of Edinburgh and is a visiting researcher in the Science Technology and Innovation Studies unit. Her interests are in anatomical education, access to dissection, public engagement and the use of creative methods of teaching. She has studied and published on the history of body supply and the development of the Anatomy Act in additional to anatomical public engagement and its effect.

She is also a textile artist producing anatomical felt models and applying anatomy to a variety of activities and sports. Her current research is in the contribution of engagement to the public awareness of their anatomy and 17th-18th century swordsmanship.

Sophie Goggins

Sophie Goggins is Senior Curator of Biomedical Science at National Museums Scotland. Sophie is responsible for the national collection relating to human and animal health, including her particular specialism, contemporary biomedicine.

Her recent exhibitions have been Injecting Hope: The Race for a COVID-19 vaccine which presents the science behind the COVID-19 vaccine and Anatomy: A matter of death and life, which showcased 500 years of anatomical teaching from Leonardo da Vinci to present day.

Sophie’s research interests include: contemporary collecting in biomedicine, patient experience, and prosthetics.

Tom Gillingwater

Prof Tom Gillingwater is Head of Department and the 15th Professor of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh. Tom’s research focuses on understanding how the nervous system breaks down in conditions such as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). His work includes teaching on undergraduate and postgraduate anatomy activities, managing the university’s Body Donation Programme in full compliance with the Anatomy Act (1984) and the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act (2006), and overseeing the Anatomical Museum and Anatomical Collections.

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Tickets £3

Free for students (student card required), under 18s (ID card required) and RCPE Fellows or Members.

Please email library@rcpe.ac.uk if you are a student, under 18, RCPE Fellow or Member and would like to be added to the attendee list.