University of Padova

University overview

The University of Padova (UNIPD) was founded in 1222 and is the second oldest institution of higher education in Italy and the world. This leading research university has produced the fathers of modern science, Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei, the founders of medicine, Andreas Vesalius and William Harvey, and the first woman in the world to receive a PhD, Elena Cornaro-Piscopià. The university has 43 research centers, an experimental farm, 13 museums, an anatomical theater, a hospital, an astrophysical observatory, and a medieval botanical garden, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.