From ‘Indiana Jones’ to medieval robots Historian of science Elly Truitt’s multidisciplinary investigations of the Middle Ages challenge assumptions about the period as a dark time in innovation and prompt a rethink of notions of ‘modern’ science. In her work and her teaching, historian of science Elly Truitt challenges assumptions. “The people who lived in the Middle Ages were definitely no less intelligent than we are, and they didn’t think they were living in the middle of anything,” she says. In preparation for teaching a course on medieval medicine last semester, Elly Truitt, a historian of science in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences, was searching for primary source documents to share with her students. One that caught her eye was a 12th-century pamphlet that described how to treat a depressed compound skull fracture.