Dissertation | Papers | Projects
Dr. Palmer’s research interests focus on the relationship between ideas and historical events, particularly in the realms of religion and science, and on the impact of the Renaissance revival of classical philosophy, particularly Neoplatonism and Neostoicism, on the history of atheism, skepticism and freethought. She is also interested in the history of the book and printing, and more general examination of how improvements in information technology accelerate historical changes.
Dr. Palmer's publications include "Lux Dei: Ficino and Aquinas on the Beatific Vision," published in Memini, Traveaux et Documents (2002), pp. 129-152, and The Recovery of Classical Philosophy in the Renaissance, a Brief Guide, co-authored with her advisor James Hankins (2008). Her dissertation, Reading Lucretius in the Renaissance examines how readers' marginal comments shed light on the way the first Europeans to study Epicureanism in six hundred years understood its radical, and pseudo-atheist, theories of physics and moral philosophy.