Web 2.0: a tool for the history of medicine.

This paper examines opportunities offered by the new cooperative Internet, the so called Web 2.0, to scholars, professionals and students interested in the history of medicine and other health related subjects. Himetop, a new project for a worldwide database of historical-medical landmarks based on a wiki software, is presented here as an example of such opportunities. Everyone can work directly with this on-line database and so interested people can easily collaborate to locate, describe, check the current condition, and promote the access to birthplaces, monuments, memorials, collections, buildings, burials, etc. related to the ancient and modern history of health sciences. This project aims to emphasize the scholarly and educational importance of such medical traces, in the more general framework of cultural and social heritage preservation.