Program Profile
History of Science at the University of Texas – Austin
The UT History Department has recently formalized its graduate program in the history of science. Over the years many UT students have worked on topics in the history of science; for example, Greg Cushman, now an assistant professor at the University of Kansas, wrote a prize-winning dissertation in 2004 on “The Lords of Guano: Science and the Management of Peru’s Marine Environment, 1800–1973.” It is only in the past two years, however, that the department has reorganized its system of major fields to allow students to pursue the history of science as a formal field rather than simply an area of concentration within a geographically-defined field. Two students (Angela Smith and Frank Benn) are currently pursuing major fields in the history of science, while about nine others, though their formal fields are elsewhere, are writing dissertations on topics in the history of science, technology, or medicine.
The UT History Department recently designated the history of science as a priority area for future development. Bruce Hunt (modern physics and technology) has taught in the department since 1985; more recent additions to the faculty include Jorge Canizares-Esguerra (science in colonial Latin America), Roger Hart (Chinese science and mathematics), Abigail Lustig (life sciences and evolutionary biology), and Alberto Martinez (modern physics and mathematics). Several other members of the department also have an interest in the field, as do Linda Henderson in Art History, Elizabeth Hedrick in English, and Sahotra Sarkar and Jim Hankinson in Philosophy. (Fred Kronz, formerly of Philosophy, now directs the NSF program in science, technology, and society.) William Aspray, well known for his work in the history of computing, will join the UT School of Information this fall.
Much of the recent growth in the history of science at UT has been stimulated by UTeach, a program the College of Natural Sciences launched several years ago to improve the training of secondary school science and mathematics teachers. It has proven very successful and, with foundation support, is now being replicated at other universities around the country. From the first, the UTeach curriculum has included a course on “Perspectives on Science and Mathematics” designed to expose prospective science teachers to the history of the subject. Both Abigail Lustig and Al Martinez were first brought to UT to teach the “Perspectives” course, and at the 2008 HSS meeting in Pittsburgh they will help lead a special session about how efforts to spread the UTeach model may open new and rewarding jobs for historians of science.