The History of Science Society

Vol. 39, No.3, July 2010
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From the HSS President

Paul Lawrence Farber

Paul Farber Presidents come and go, and two years constitute a short time to effect lasting change. The on-going work and direction of the Society depends upon its committees and dedicated membership, and Presidents therefore often focus on specific areas for improvement or modification. For the past two years, as Vice-President, I have helped the past president, Jane Maienschein, in her effort to move the Society to a fully professional level. This effort began some time ago with the establishment of a permanent Society Office and the hiring of an Executive Director. In the past two years, we completed a major revision of our financial operations and a search for a new location for the Society’s office. During my time as President, I hope to help our Executive Director set up new quarters at Notre Dame and to help him review and revise how our Office functions. The Office has taken on quite a number of responsibilities in recent years that make it valuable to our members and which reflects the complexity of the Society. Central to the changes that are necessary for the Society to achieve its goal of becoming a fully professional society is a robust website that can allow committees to operate at a greater level of efficiency and that can better serve as a gateway for information. An ad hoc committee, headed by Mott Green, will supply advice for this effort.

With a new office and new electronic capabilities, the Executive Committee will be able to refer important issues to committees with the expectation that they will be discussed and acted upon in a timely fashion. The Executive Committee, to save time, has in recent years taken upon itself many problems and questions that might be better addressed by the broadly representative committees of the Society. Our discipline faces a number of serious problems, many of them caused by our own successes. The growth of history of science, for example, has resulted in an increasing specialization (like the sciences they study) which threatens our ability to communicate with the larger public, and often among ourselves. The intellectual diversification of the historical study of science has also made it extremely difficult to produce works that synthesize our different insights. Add to the mix that academic funding and “restructuring” is causing havoc among a significant portion of our members, and one gets a glimpse of the challenges that confront many of us. ( And, let us not forget that publishing costs threaten the very existence of our ability to produce scholarly monographs, or at least get them published, and libraries are straining to keep up with even the essential acquisitions that we want.)

The History of Science Society has served as a forum for the serious discussion of the issues facing our discipline, and with enhanced tools for communication we can continue to help forge strategies that will address our current concerns. That will take the efforts of a large number of our members, and I hope this brief statement will serve as an invitation to volunteer to be part of an on-going set of dialogues which address the problems we face. Each year the Executive Committee agonizes over filling slots on our permanent committees because of the small pool of volunteers. Your officers can identify issues that are critical, but it is the larger membership that can provide the expertise and experience to address them. You don’t have to wait for the annual call for volunteers; a simple email to me (pfarber@oregonstate.edu) or Jay (jay@hssonline.org) will put you in the pool, and identifying your interests/strengths will help place you on a committee where you can be of maximum assistance.

History of Science Society

From the HSS President

Paul Lawrence Farber

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