Vol. 40, No.2, April 2011
Printer friendly version of Newsletter
Member News
Quick Links....
The International Year of Chemistry
-------------------------------------
Notes from the Inside
-------------------------------------
News
-------------------------------------
In Memoriam
-------------------------------------
Member News
-------------------------------------
Yanked From the Margins
-------------------------------------
How Science, Policy, Gender, and History Meet each Other Once a Year
-------------------------------------
Donors List Calendar Year 2010
-------------------------------------
Jobs, Conferences, Grants
Several HSS members are involved in a special issue on transatlantic science policy that was published by Centaurus, (edited by Ida Stamhuis) volume 52, issue 4, November 2010 (official journal of the European Society for History of Science) on the basis of a HSS session, within a calendar year, possibly a world record! Authors include John Krige, Naomi Oreskes, Ronald Doel, Peter Westwick, and Pnina G. Abir-Am, who also wrote the Introduction. The issue is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cnt. Access code cnt30trial.
............
Monica H. Green (Arizona State University) has been elected a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America (MAA), the leading professional organization of medievalists in North America.
............
Ellen Herman has received an ACLS Fellowship for 2011–2012 for a new project, "Autism, Between Rights and Risks."
............
Kenneth M. Ludmerer has been installed as the inaugural Mabel Dorn Reeder Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine at Washington University. He continues as Professor of History in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and as Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine.
............
Nancy Nersessian (Georgia Tech) has won the American Philosophical Society’s inaugural Patrick Suppes Award in Philosophy of Science. Her new book, Science as Psychology: Sense Making and Identity in Science Practice (co-authors Kareen Malone and Wendy Newstetter) is now available from Cambridge University Press.
............
Kimberly O’Brien has graduated from the American Military University with an MA in Global History.
............
Neeraja Sankaran is now Assistant Professor of the History of Science, Technology & Medicine at the Underwood International College of Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. Previously she was a visiting Assistant Professor at the American University in Cairo.
............
Conevery Bolton Valencius will join the History Faculty at University of Massachussetts, Boston this Fall.
Distinguished Lecture at NSF
On 15 March 2011, Peter Galison (Harvard University) participated in the National Science Foundation Distinguished Lecture Series in Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences. He summarizes his address, "A Material History of Science," thus:
What would it mean to approach the history of physics by taking material objects such as instruments as seriously as the study of finished theories? I would like to follow that path to explore what that approach involves and what it has to offer for history, philosophy, pedagogy, and policy. This track involves studying physics not as a homogeneous discipline but as a discipline composed of coordinated but distinct subcultures. An example from the turn of the 20th century, relativity theory, will consider links between time coordinating technologies (clocks), theoretical physics, and philosophy of science. Another hybrid-field instance from the turn of the 21st-century, string theory, will also be considered. I will present the idea of a "trading zone" between partially overlapping subcultures of modern science. I will end with a discussion of how the idea of trading zones might help us as we face increasingly vexed intersections of scientific and non-scientific cultures, such as our present conundrums about the disposal of nuclear waste. In order to address these concerns, not just to talk about them, I have been increasingly involved with projects to use historical reasoning about material science to open these discussions beyond purely scholarly audiences, which has meant working simultaneously in film as well as print.
Tribute to Clark A. Elliott
On 22 January 2011, relatives, friends, and colleagues of Clark A. Elliott—long-time Archivist at Harvard University and Librarian of the Burndy Library during many of its years at MIT—gathered in Waltham, Massachusetts, to honor him on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Some HSS members may know Clark best as the co-editor of Osiris 14, Commemorative Practices in Science: Historical Perspectives on the Politics of Collective Memory (1999). But many others also recognize him as one of the founders of the Forum for the History of Science in America, and as the long-time editor (and bibliographer) of its Newsletter, News & Views. In toasting Clark at the gathering, several archivists and historians of science enjoyed highlighting many of his other accomplishments. These include, for example, the 1983 report on the "Documentation of the History of Post-War Science and Technology in the United States," otherwise known as the JCAST Report, which he edited. NSF had earlier funded the Joint Committee on Archives of Science and Technology to promote preservation of and access to these archives, and that such repositories and collections have grown exponentially since then is due in large part to Clark's report.
Clark's other book-length publications include his 1979 Biographical Dictionary of American Science, The 17th through the 19th Centuries, his 1990 Biographical Index to American Science: The 17th Century to 1920, and his 1996 chronology and research guide to the History of Science in the United States. And in the 21st century Clark enabled on-line access to all of these resources, and others, through his website, "History of Science in the United States: Research Aids for the 19th Century."
As befitting someone who has served the Harvard history of science community so well for so many years, Clark has also written extensively on the history of science at the university. After a series of influential articles, he co-edited Science at Harvard University: Historical Perspectives and published his biography of long-time Harvard librarian and man of science, Thaddeus William Harris (1795-1856): Nature, Science, and Society in the Life of an American Naturalist.
To pay further tribute to Clark, many of the historians of science present made donations to the HSS Bibliographer's Fund in his honor. They now urge others who benefited from Clark's life-long efforts—as an archivist, an organizer, a bibliographer, and a scholar—to join them by making their own contributions. In all, Clark's achievement embodies a career well worth honoring, and emulating, and recognizing in this manner. (Contributions to the Fund may be made by going to https://www.hssweb.org/donate/)
Sy Mauskopf Celebration
By Alan Rocke
On 11 December 2010, Duke University organized a celebration marking the retirement of Professor Seymour Mauskopf, after 46 years of distinguished teaching in the Department of History. After a buffet reception, appreciations were given by Dean of Arts & Sciences Angela O’Rand, Department Chair William Reddy, and Associate Chair Tom Robisheaux, followed by a tribute from Alan Rocke, of Case Western Reserve University. Among the enthusiastic crowd of about 100 attendees were friends, present and former students, colleagues and former colleagues from Duke and other institutions, children and grandchildren. Two days earlier, Sy had presented a Duke University Valedictory Lecture entitled "A Bridge between Cultures: Reflections on a Long Career in History of Science at Duke." Sy’s career has been as distinguished as it has been long. His work has transformed our understanding of several different areas of the history of science, including 18th and early 19th century chemistry, the history of parapsychology and marginal sciences, and the history of chemical technology, especially munitions. It was a pleasure for all of us to celebrate with Sy the end of his formal teaching duties, and the inception of emeritus status—the start of what is sure to prove an important new phase in the career of an outstanding historian, a beloved teacher, and a great friend.
History of Science at the AAAS
Larry Principe, the Drew Professor of the Humanities, Johns Hopkins University, spoke on "Revealing the Secrets of Alchemy," at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on 19 February 2011. In his introduction of Principe, AAAS Section L Chair, Rick Creath, mentioned the irony that Sarton himself ridiculed alchemy as a field of study, a reflection of the "pseudo scientific" opinion of alchemy in the early 20th century. Principe picked up on this theme and said that Sarton’s sentiment was echoed by Herbert Butterfield who proclaimed that those who study alchemy historically are "tinctured by lunacy." Undeterred by his elders and the shadow of lunacy, Professor Principe proceeded to describe how alchemy fits into the history of chemistry.
Chemistry (that is, alchemy), for centuries, did not have a home in the university, and its practice was seen as dirty and smelly. Critics sniffed at its reputation for being unscrupulous. The split between alchemy and chemistry began around 1700, even though no new logical or experimental refutations of transmutation appeared. Instead, "bad" chemistry (transmutation) was sequestered as "alchemy" and its practitioners cast as socially and morally unacceptable. This perception persisted until recently in part because alchemical writings were intentionally vague, filled with metaphor and allegory, making it difficult to understand what alchemists were really doing. In his picture-rich presentation, Principe described part of his endeavor to understand alchemy historically. He compared allegorical public texts of alchemy with the more straightforward private jottings of alchemical practitioners to reveal their ways of writing, thinking, and working. Principe also showed how by decoding texts and, as a chemist, replicating the processes described, he obtained surprising and visually striking results that demonstrate the technical and experimental skills of the alchemists and explain, in part, their continuing devotion to their quest to transmute metals.
The Sarton Lecturer is chosen each year by the Executive Committee of the History of Science Society. Begun in 1960, the lecture is supported by Section L (history and philosophy of science) of AAAS and receives special status at the annual meetings. The lecture provides the opportunity for a historian of science to speak to an audience largely comprised of scientists.
............
In addition to the Sarton lecture, there were several sessions at the AAAS that would be of interest to HSS members. Reports on two of these sessions—“The Challenge of Teaching Evolution in the Islamic World” and “Celebrating the Centennial of Mme Curie’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry”— written by Taner Edis and Pnina Abir-Am respectively, appear on pages 24 and 30.
2010 National Humanities Medals Awarded
On March 2, U. S. President Barack Obama presented the 2010 National Humanities Medals to ten individuals honored for their outstanding achievements in history, literature, education, and cultural policy. The medals were presented at a White House ceremony. Earlier in the day, several of the medalists participated in a roundtable discussion, held at the National Endowment for the Humanities headquarters, on the role of the humanities in contemporary culture.
The National Humanities Medal honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities.
Among the honorees were the following:
- Bernard Bailyn for illuminating the nation’s early history and pioneering the field of Atlantic history. Bailyn, who spent his career at Harvard, has won two Pulitzer Prizes, the first for The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, and the second for Voyagers to the West.
- Jacques Barzun for his distinguished career as a scholar, educator, and public intellectual. One of the founders of the field of cultural history, Barzun taught at Columbia University for five decades and has written and edited more than thirty books.
- Wendell E. Berry for his achievements as a poet, novelist, farmer, and conservationist. The author of more than forty books, Berry has spent his career exploring our relationship with the land and the community.
- Stanley Nider Katz for a career devoted to fostering public support for the humanities. As director of the American Council of Learned Societies for more than a decade, he expanded the organization’s programs and helped forge ties among libraries, museums, and foundations.
The Challenge of Teaching Evolution in the Islamic World, moderated by Eugenie C. Scott, National Center for Science Education
- A Brief History of Islamic Creationism in Turkey
Taner Edis, Truman State University - Teaching and Learning About Biological Evolution in the Muslim World
Jason R. Wiles, Syracuse University - The Future of Acceptance of Evolution in the Muslim World
Salman Hameed, Hampshire College
The talk on Islamic Creationism in Turkey traced the history of Islamic opposition to Darwinian evolution, with special focus on Turkey, the country that is the source of much Islamic creationism today. Opposition to Darwinian ideas existed in the 19th century Ottoman Empire, but it was limited, since evolution appealed only to a tiny number of Westernizing intellectuals. In the early 20th century Turkish Republic, evolution entered public education, but was only a minor irritant to religious conservatives when compared to other secularist policies. Since the 1980s, however, an increasingly vigorous creationism has appeared in Turkey. It has enjoyed official success, penetrating into public education. With the "Harun Yahya" operation, popular creationism has also found an influential media presence. Anti-evolutionary ideas also have a strong influence in the Islamic intellectual high culture today.
Jason Wiles pointed out that little is known in the West about how evolution is taught in Islamic societies. Her findings were derived from data collected in several Muslim nations via questionnaires and interviews administered to students, teachers and university scientists, as well as from reviews of official curricular documents during a four-year study of Islamic understandings of, and attitudes toward, evolution and the teaching thereof. His work seeks to inform scientists and educators in the West about how Muslims might perceive evolution, thus facilitating a greater understanding of the diversity of Islamic thought on evolution, evolution education, and science in general.
Salman Hameed observed that evolution is still a new concept for the majority of Muslims and a serious debate over its religious compatibility has not yet taken place. At the same time, a complex interaction involving evolution, culture and religion is already underway. Evolution is included in the high school curricula of many Muslim countries, although human evolution is often excluded. Creationist movements have gained a foothold in some Muslim countries. Hameed and collaborators have been conducting an interview-survey of Muslim physicians and medical students and in a few Muslim countries, as well as in Muslim Diasporas in the West, including the US. Preliminary results indicate a complex set of ways by which educated Muslims are negotiating the interaction between modern science and religion.
Cliff Mead Retires from OSU
Cliff Mead, Head of Special Collections for OSU Libraries, has retired effective 1 January 2011 after 24 years of service at OSU Libraries. Mead’s expertise in special collections administration has resulted in the development and growth of a world-class collection that serves as an outstanding resource not only for the OSU community but also for scholars from across the globe. OSU’s Horning Professor of Humanities and Professor of History Emeritus, Mary Jo Nye stated, "Special Collections provides an ideal on-campus physical environment for study and research, but, even more significantly, Cliff and his staff have pioneered online website communication of historically valuable documents, photographs, films, and other resources to the public. He has been a real treasure at OSU whom countless visitors have found to be their engaging and omniscient guide in Special Collections."
Professor Mead has led the Special Collections Department’s development of outstanding digital resources, especially those that provide in-depth coverage of the life and work of Linus Pauling, the only recipient of two unshared Nobel Prizes. "In addition to Professor Mead’s leadership in developing a truly innovative and world-renowned web presence for displaying the vast resources of the Special Collections department, he has provided exceptional opportunities for OSU students to have firsthand experience working with primary research materials," noted Karyle Butcher, former OSU University Librarian/Press Director.
Professor Mead is recognized internationally as the authority on the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers. He has authored several publications, including Thomas Pynchon: A Bibliography of Primary and Secondary Sources (1989). His most recent book, co-edited with Chris Petersen, is The Pauling Catalogue: Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers at Oregon State University (2006). He also has co-edited Linus Pauling: Scientist and Peacemaker (2001) and The Pauling Symposium: A Discourse on the Art of Biography (1996). Professor Mead received his Masters of Library Science from Syracuse University School of Information Studies, Syracuse, New York and a BA in English from the Utica College of Syracuse University.
Paul Farber, OSU Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Editor, Journal of the History of Biology, summed up Professor Mead’s accomplishments: "Cliff has that rare combination of intelligence, organization, personality, wit and humor that makes a university collection of papers and books into a Special Collection. He has been at the center of creating this major asset at OSU, one that has large portions available online, and one that brings scholars from around the world to campus. He cannot be replaced, but he has built an institution that will persist."