1. Ramazzini and his precursors
Early modern occupational medicine began with the seminal treatise of the Italian physician Bernardino Ramazzini, De morbis artificium diatriba (Modena 1700; “Investigation of the Diseases of Artisans and Craftsmen”), clearly comparable in its significance for early industrial hygiene to Morgagni’s De sedibus et causis morborum (Bologna 1761; “On the Seats…