The History of Science Society

Vol. 40, No.2, April 2011
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History of Heart Transplantation Lecture

On 25 January 2011, Dr. David Cooper presented a lecture on Christiaan Barnard and the history of heart transplantation to the C. F. Reynolds Medical History Society at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Cooper, when he was in Capetown, performed heart transplants with Barnard, and so has first-hand stories of the man and his work. This presentation is now available for viewing online.

Notre Dame’s Reilly Center seeking Research Assistant Director

The University of Notre Dame’s Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values (http://reilly.nd.edu/) is a privately endowed center that is home to a wide array of educational, research, and outreach programs. We host a five-year, Arts & Letters/Engineering dual-degree program, an undergraduate Science, Technology, and Values Program, and a Graduate Program in History and Philosophy of Science. We sponsor conferences on topics ranging from the regulation of nanomaterials and the impact of Darwin in the 21st century to the history of astronomy and Galileo and the Church. A book series, an e-journal, online lectures, and ethics workshops bring our faculty and students into contact with a broad campus constituency, policy makers, and the general public. We welcome a diverse group of visiting scholars in the Center. A rapidly expanding research agenda includes collaborations with scientists and engineers working on nanotechnology, environmental change, advanced diagnostics and therapeutics, genomics, and many other topics. Among our own research projects is a multifaceted initiative on the ethics of emerging weapons technologies.

The Reilly Center now seeks to hire a Research Assistant Director. This PhD-level position will provide support and direction for the Center’s research collaborations and initiatives. We seek an individual with training and experience in the sciences, engineering, science policy, the history, philosophy, or sociology of science, or other relevant disciplines and with a serious commitment to exploring questions about the ethical and societal impacts of science and technology. Experience in grant writing is essential. Strong leadership potential, communication skills, and management experience will all be advantages. In addition to coordinating the Center’s research activities, this individual will be expected to produce original research on topics related to the Reilly Center’s mission.

The Research Assistant Director will report to the Reilly Center’s incoming Director, Prof. Don Howard, and will join a team that includes an Assistant Director for Educational Programs, a Communication and Outreach Coordinator, an Administrative Assistant, and the fifty Notre Dame faculty who are Reilly Center Fellows. The salary will be commensurate with the candidate’s experience and skill level.

Application Process:

Please apply online at http://ND.jobs to Job #11131 or visit https://jobs.nd.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=56618. For further information about the Reilly Center and its many programs, please visit our web site: http://reilly.nd.edu. Queries about the Assistant Director position should be directed to Prof. Don Howard, Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, 453 Geddes Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, 574-631-7547/1147, dhoward1@nd.edu.

Interested applicants should submit to the same address: (1) a formal letter of application outlining one’s background, qualifications, and career goals; (2) a curriculum vitae; (3) a 3-4 page statement of research interests and research projects that one would like to pursue; and (4) contact information for at least three references. The review of applications will begin at the end of April 2011.

For additional information about working at the University of Notre Dame and various benefits available to employees, please visit http://hr.nd.edu/why-nd. The University of Notre Dame is committed to diversity (http://diversity.nd.edu/) in its staff, faculty, and student body. As such, we strongly encourage applications from members of minority groups, women, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and others who will enhance our community. The University of Notre Dame, an international Catholic research university, is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

New Open Access to the Isis Bibliography

by Stephen P. Weldon, HSS Bibliographer

I am pleased to announce two new ways to access the Isis Bibliography, making large portions of the bibliography freely available to researchers worldwide. First, the HSS website now provides open access copies of the last several published bibliographies (from 2004 to 2009, reserving only the most recent volume for subscribing members). These are all searchable PDF documents that include all relevant front and back matter as well as bookmarks for easy navigation within the document.

Second, the Isis Bibliography data can now be accessed in database form through WorldCat.org, a free, open-access database hosted by OCLC. Currently, this data comprises that from CBs 2000 to 2009. The source of our data is noted in every record as "ISIS Bibliography of the History of Science; History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Database." Since the WorldCat.org database includes records from resources all over the world, having our records tagged this way means that anyone pulling up one of our records will know where it came from, and will see that the Society has contributed directly to this worldwide open scholarship initiative.

In addition, a particularly useful filter exists for historians who seek to look just at the Isis data. By adding "xisi2" in the keyword search box, in addition to any other search words, only Isis data will be returned. All of this makes WorldCat.org a perfect place for accessing bibliographical data for individuals who are neither Society members or who are unaffiliated with a library subscribing to the HSTM database. Those using WorldCat.org, will find that it is not as robust a search engine as OCLC’s subscription search engine — subject index terms, for example, are not displayed — nor does this database contain the most recent data; here again, the data from the most recent year’s bibliography is withheld. The WorldCat.org database, however, offers the great advantage of providing an open resource for researchers of all kinds to find peer-reviewed and scholarly citations.

Those who would like to try this search engine can go directly to the url: http://www.worldcat.org/ or they can go to the Isis CB website, where I have included a search box on the front page with a brief discussion of its use and limitations: http://www.ou.edu/cas/hsci/isis/website/index.html.

19th Century American Science Website Announcement

Clark A. Elliott’s website on 19th-century American science has a new URL: http://historyofscienceintheunitedstates-19thcentury.net

Although the content remains the same, the design and layout are newly refurbished (by Andrew J. Elliott). The site features aids for research produced through 2007, including bibliographies of reference works, books (by subject), and a searchable chronology of science in the United States, 1790–1910. Also available on the site is a downloadable bibliography (in Excel) of books on all periods of American science (not just the 19th century). This compilation is taken from the new books section of the Forum for the History of Science in America newsletter, News & Views, from 1980 to 2007.

Dissertations in the History of Science and Technology

The latest group of recent doctoral dissertations pertaining to the history of science and technology can be viewed at the following URL:
http://www.hsls.pitt.edu/histmed/dissertations

Colloquium: 50th Anniversary of Eisenhower’s Farewell Address

An afternoon seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address took place Tuesday, January 18, in the AAAS Auditorium in downtown Washington. AAAS and the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO) of Arizona State University cosponsored the seminar. President Eisenhower’s address is mainly remembered for his warning of the perils of a "military-industrial complex." Less widely known, but no less important was his caution, a few sentences later, about "the danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite." This seminar explored the historical context and current relevance of Eisenhower’s worries about this scientific-technological elite. The seminar featured a panel of veteran science policy observers moderated by Steve Lagerfeld, editor of The Wilson Quarterly. Joining Lagerfeld on the panel were: Dan Greenberg, science journalist and author of several books on science policy, Gregg Pascal Zachary, author of the authoritative biography of Vannevar Bush, William Lanouette, a journalist on science policy and from 1991 to 2006 a senior analyst on energy and science issues at GAO, and Dan Sarewitz, co-director of CSPO.

Further Information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtIZBcWBcis

CFP: KronoScope: Journal for the Study of Time

Edited by an international board of scholars and representing the interdisciplinary investigation of all subjects related to time and temporality, the journal is dedicated to the cross-fertilization of scholarly ideas from the humanities, fine arts, sciences, medical and social sciences, business and law, design and technology, and all other innovative and developing fields exploring the nature of time. KronoScope invites critical contributions from all disciplines; we accept submissions on a continuing basis. Manuscripts of not more than 8000 words, and using The Chicago Manual of Style, may be submitted electronically to the Managing Editor Dr. C. Clausius at cclausiu@uwo.ca. We also welcome review articles as well as creative work pertaining to studies in temporality. For further submission guidelines, please visit the Brill website at: http://www.brill.nl/kron or the International Society for the Study of Time website at http://www.studyoftime.org/

CFP: Expositions (Villanova University)

Expositions is an on-line journal where scholars from various disciplines gather as colleagues to converse about common texts and questions in the humanities. We seek to publish two types of contributions: Articles that either have an inter-disciplinary character and appeal or are exemplary in their respective disciplines while being of interest to those from other disciplines, or notes, insights and reflections on Teaching the Great Books that benefit teaching, research, and the life of the academy. These contributions include: "notes" that reflect upon or challenge existing scholarship; and, "insights" that provide intriguing new paths of interpretation and close analysis of a text and/or that are just too exuberant, provocative, or risky to fit in an ordinary article. Word-length will typically be 1,000 to 3,000. Our next issue will appear in April 2011.

For more information, contact Greg Hoskins (gregory.hoskins@villanova.edu)
Phone: (610) 519-8100; Fax: (610) 519-5410.

D.C. Art & Science Evening Rendezvous (DASER)

D.C. Art & Science Evening Rendezvous (DASER) partnered with Leonardo (http://www.leonardo.info/), the International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology, to present D.C. Art and Science Evening Rendezvous (DASER), a monthly discussion forum on art and science projects in the national capital region. DASERs provided the public with a snapshot of the cultural environment of the region and fostered interdisciplinary networking. The monthly series began on 16 February 2011 at 6 p.m. at the Keck Center. Historically, the artist has communicated, educated, and preserved the ideas of science. But how is the work of scientists, engineers, physicians, and experts from other disciplines informed by the creative processes of artists? How do artists use science and technology to advance the creative and cultural discourse? In the D.C. metropolitan area, practitioners from many institutions, including universities, museums, and embassies are interested in the ways that various disciplines inform one another with tangible results. Each DASER featured presentations by such practitioners along with time for discussion and socializing.

The February 16 kick-off event included presentations by Lee Boot, associate director, Imaging Research Center, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Carol Christian, scientist, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore; Gunalan Nadarajan, vice provost, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore; and Thomas Skalak, vice president for research and professor of biomedical engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Upcoming DASERs are scheduled on April 21, May 19, June 16, and July 21, 2011. Future speakers include Pamela Jennings of the Computer & Information Science & Engineering Department, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Va., Max Kazemzadeh, assistant professor of art and media technology, Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C., and Jane Milosch, director, WWII-Era Provenance Research Project, Smithsonian Institution.

Publication of Special Issue of Atlantic Studies

A recent special issue of Atlantic Studies was dedicated to science and medicine in the Atlantic world: "Itineraries of Atlantic science — new questions, new approaches, new directions." This special issue contains 5 original essays, an editorial introduction, an interview with Bernard Bailyn, a set of collective reflections on the 2009 Harvard International Seminar on Atlantic History, and three book reviews. Two additional essays, which because of space constraints were not able to be included in this issue, are forthcoming in Volume 8.1. For further questions, contact: Neil Safier neil.safier@ubc.ca Assistant Professor of History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver and Co-Editor Atlantic Studies: Literary, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives.

Further Information: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/14788810.asp

"Property and the Biosciences" Videos Available Online

Videos from the "Intellectual Property and the Biosciences" symposium, held on 7 July 2010 at the University of Leeds as part of the White Rose IPBio Project, are now available for free viewing and download. The day offered perspectives from a range of disciplines and domains, including history of science, social studies of science, legal studies, patent law and science policy. The speakers were Robert Cook-Deegan (Duke), Daniel Kevles (Yale), Bronwyn Parry (Queen Mary), Jane Calvert (Edinburgh), Aurora Plomer (Sheffield), Antony Taubman (World Trade Organization), Lady Lisa Markham (Harrison Goddard Foote, patent attorneys, Leeds) and Rebecca Eisenberg (Michigan). The symposium marked the public launch of the White Rose IPBio Project, which brings together staff and students from across the White Rose universities (York, Sheffield and Leeds). The aim is to stimulate better understanding of the role of intellectual-property arrangements, past and present, in shaping the biological and biomedical sciences and their impacts.

For more information on the project, please contact Greg Radick at G.M.Radick@leeds.ac.uk. To join the wider IPBio Network, please contact Berris Charnley at berris@ipbio.org.

Further Information: http://ipbio.org/WRIPBiomedia.htm

Bioinformatics as an Adaptable Model for HPS Informatics

AAAS and HSS members Manfred D. Laubichler and Jane Maienschein argue in AAAS’s Scientia blog that embracing bioinformatics will enable members of the history and philosophy of science community to carry out their individual studies while contributing to collaborative enterprise.

Further Information: http://membercentral.aaas.org/blogs/scientia/bioinformatics-adaptable-model-hps-informatics

CFP: Feminism & Psychology Special Issue

Jeanne Marecek and Nicola Gavey will edit a Special Issue of Feminism & Psychology: "DSM-5 and Beyond: A Critical Feminist Dialogue." Psychiatric diagnoses wield considerable influence in western high-income countries, helping to shape everyday understandings of what is normal and what is abnormal. They also undergird structures of funding for treatment and shape its very nature. Feminists and others have pointed to cultural, social and political influences on the system and practice of psychiatric diagnosis. They have highlighted ways diagnoses have been deployed to legitimize patriarchal, racist, colonial, heteronormative and other regimes of power. Yet despite such critiques, diagnoses increasingly give meaning to private experiences and personal identities and provide a lens through which we view social life. Not surprisingly then, the impending release of the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition), scheduled for May 2013, has generated overwhelming public interest. This Special Issue carries forward the tradition of critical feminist scrutiny of psychiatric diagnosis and of the interplay between psychiatry and the cultural imaginary. We call for work concerning psychiatric diagnosis — its history, its uses and misuses in the mental health fields (especially in regulating masculinities, femininities, and sexual expression), its deployment in popular culture and everyday talk — and its implications for feminist theorizing of psychological suffering, feminist research, and applied feminist practice. Possible topics include:

The proliferation of diagnostic categories, as well as "conceptual bracket creep" (the tendency for diagnostic criteria to expand over time, so that more and more everyday experience is deemed pathological and said to require professional intervention).
Conflicts of interest in the psychiatric and psychological professions that may affect diagnostic practices; the colonization of psychiatry by pharmaceutical interests.
Examinations of the epistemological features of DSM-style diagnoses (e.g., the disease model, biological reductionism, universalism, and "categoricalism") and implications for feminist theory and practice.
Critical histories of efforts by feminists and other progressive groups to influence diagnostic categories and practice. What can we learn from their successes and failures?
Critical analyses of how conventional diagnosis practices inhibit or facilitate feminist and other critical approaches to research, practice, psychotherapies, and social action.

We invite articles (up to 8000 words), brief reports (up to 3000 words), and commentaries (up to 2000 words). (Note that these word limits include reference lists.) We discourage submissions that focus on a single diagnostic category, unless the analysis illuminates broader theoretical, epistemological, or conceptual concerns. Submissions will be subject to the usual review process. To discuss a possible submission or the scope of the issue or to submit a manuscript, contact Jeanne Marecek at jmarece1@swarthmore.edu. Closing date for submissions is 15 November 2011.

Further Information: http://fap.sagepub.com/

Soliciting Nomination for 2011 Forum for the History of Science in America Article Prize

The Forum for the History of Science in America has begun gathering articles for its 2011 Publication Prize. Here are the eligibility criteria:

Any article published in the English language in a professional journal issue (or chapter in a multi-authored edited volume) dated 2008, 2009 or 2010 and
Authored by a scholar(s) who received a PhD in 2001 or afterward (i.e. recent PhDs and graduate students are eligible for the article prize),
On a topic in American Science ("American" loosely defined to include the western hemisphere, "science" conservatively defined to exclude articles focusing on either the "clinical and social history of medicine" or the "history of technology").

Authors are encouraged to self-nominate. Please submit pdf’s of published articles to David Spanagel: spanagel@wpi.edu between now and July 31, 2011.

Forum for History of Human Sciences

2011 FHHS Calls for Prize Submissions

2011 FHHS/JHBS John C. Burnham Early Career Award: The Forum for History of Human Science (an interest group of the History of Science Society) invites submissions for the John C. Burnham Early Career Award for 2011. This award is intended for scholars, including graduate students, who do not hold a tenured position and are not more than seven years past the PhD. Unpublished manuscripts dealing with any aspect of the history of the human sciences are welcome. The winning article will be announced at the annual History of Science Society meeting, 3–6 November 2011, in Cleveland, and will be submitted to the Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences with FHHS endorsement, to undergo the regular review process. If the article is accepted for publication, the publisher of JHBS will announce the award and issue a US $500 honorarium. The manuscript cannot be submitted to any other journal and still qualify for this award. Email manuscript and curriculum vitae (PDF format) by 15 June 2011, to weidman@fas.harvard.edu.

2011 FHHS Article Award: The Forum for History of Human Science awards this prize (a non-monetary honor) for the best recent article on some aspect of the history of the human sciences. The winner will be announced at the annual History of Science Society meeting, 3–6 November 2011, in Cleveland, and will be publicized in the FHHS Newsletter and in publications of several other organizations (e.g., HSS, Cheiron). Eligible articles must have an imprint date from 2008 to 2010 inclusively. Entries are encouraged from authors in any discipline as long as the publication is related to the history of the human sciences. Deadline: 15 June 2011. Email PDF version of the article to weidman@fas.harvard.edu.

Further information: http://www.fhhs.org

News from Montréal. During the annual meeting of the History of Science Society in Montréal, FHHS met for its business meeting on 6 November 2010, and awarded the following prizes: 2010 FHHS Dissertation Award to Daniel B. Bouk (Colgate University), "The Science of Difference: Developing Tools for Discrimination in the American Life Insurance Industry, 1830–1930," PhD diss., Princeton University, 2009. The 2010 FHHS/JHBS John C. Burnham Early Career Award goes to Laura Stark (Wesleyan University), for her manuscript, "The Science of Ethics: Deception, the Resilient Self, and the APA Code of Ethics, 1966–1973," recently published, under the same title, in Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 46:4 (Fall 2010): 337-370. John Carson (University of Michigan) was elected to a two-year term as new chair of FHHS. David K. Robinson (Truman State University) becomes past-chair and promises to continue supporting Forum work. After the business meeting, the Forum and guests enjoyed the FHHS Distinguished Lecture, by Mary S. Morgan (London School of Economics and University of Amsterdam): "Recognising Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors." FHHS’s Sponsored Session at HSS convened later on Saturday afternoon: "Reexamining the Uneasy Partnership: Economics, the Nation State, and the Public Welfare, 1920s-1980s," with papers by Thomas A. Stapleford, Tiago Mata, and Mark Solovey, and comment by Sarah Igo.

Important News for HSS Members

On 3 January 2011, the webpages of the journals published by the University of Chicago Press, which includes Isis, joined the Current Scholarship Program and are now hosted within the JSTOR domain (www.jstor.org). This does not change the publishing arrangements for the HSS, nor does it at all affect members’ subscriptions; the only change will be that members will access Isis and Osiris at their new online home within the JSTOR website.

The look of the online journals for UCP will change as well. With improved readability and organization, we’ve maintained equivalent functionality while taking advantage of the integration of the JSTOR backfile.

When society members go to the online journal, they will be asked to create an account within JSTOR and to select a new username and password. Members received e-mail messages in December to inform them about this: a message from UCP about the upcoming change in online access to the journal, and, later in December, a welcome e-mail from JSTOR and an e-mail with information on creating an account and accessing one’s member subscription (unfortunately, members who subscribe to multiple Chicago journals received multiple notices).

Members’ current usernames and passwords will remain active on the UCP website (www.journals.uchicago.edu) so that they can renew their membership, change their address, check the journal delivery schedule, or claim non-delivery of print issues. Members will be able to change their UCP username and passwords to match their JSTOR usernames and passwords, if they wish to.

In addition to these e-mails, members will see information about access on the new Journal webpage. Members who have bookmarked links to the journal will find those links are automatically redirected to the appropriate page on the new journal webpage within JSTOR.

UCP’s customer service staff will work closely with JSTOR’s User Services department to ensure that members’ access to Isis and Osiris will continue as seamlessly as possible. Please feel free to contact Chicago Press with any questions. For more information about JSTOR, visit www.jstor.org.

IHPST Newsletter

The latest International History and Philosophy of Science Teaching Group newsletter is available on the web at: http://ihpst.net/newsletters/

Situating Science Spring 2011

Situating Science has a very busy spring ahead as it hits the halfway mark of its seven-year project. Please visit its website for the spring newsletter, an update on lectures across Canada, workshops, Call for Situating Science Workshop Proposals, Live Streams of note, and more.

Further Information: http://www.situsci.ca

Exhibit: The CHOCOLATE CONNECTION: Hans Sloane & Jamaica

From 6 November 2010 to 31 January 2011, the Lloyd Library and Museum hosted the exhibit The CHOCOLATE CONNECTION: Hans Sloane & Jamaica, a rare and unique book exhibit from the library’s collection. The books were paired with an art exhibit by students of the Art Academy of Cincinnati from its class Illustration I, taught by Mark A. Thomas, Chair of Communication Arts Department, and Professor Troy Brown. Thomas explains, "Students were given the task of producing an illustration that creatively employed chocolate as the central theme while utilizing basic design principles in their compositions. The process involved several levels of exploration beginning with a series of thumbnail sketches, leading to comprehensive visual studies before arriving at a final direction. Students, upon approval of the final direction, made choices of style, medium and even scale before executing their final piece." The result was 24 unique artworks in a variety of media, such as sculptures, paintings, prints, collages, and graphite illustrations. A few artworks are interspersed throughout the book exhibit, including a fanciful sculpture of a cocoa tree sprouting from a chocolate bar and an image of Hans Sloane printed in chocolate syrup.

The book exhibit pulled together three seemingly unconnected topics: 17th-century physician Hans Sloane, chocolate, and Jamaica. 2010 marked the 350th anniversary of the birth of Sloane (1660–1753), a British physician and naturalist who popularized drinking chocolate and advocated the use of liquid milk chocolate in Britain as a medicinal beverage. Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturer, briefly used Sloane’s recipe in marketing its own version of the liquid chocolate. Sloane learned about drinking chocolate when he traveled to Jamaica in the late 17th century, but chocolate had been known to the native peoples of South and Central America for centuries, long before Sloane’s introduction to it, and the Spanish were the first to bring chocolate to Europe as a result of their early encounters with those peoples. Because Sloane and chocolate collided on Jamaica, the museum took this opportunity to showcase some works from Lloyd’s collection on these topics and demonstrate how they interact with each other. The book exhibit featured Sloane’s 1696 publication on the botany of Jamaica, which includes, of course, an illustration of the cacao tree. The exhibit also contained several exquisite botanical illustrations of cacao by some of history’s master artists, as well as historical information on chocolate before Sloane’s introduction to it; and, books on the history of chocolate production and manufacturing. The exhibit also included 19th-century photographs by Curtis Gates Lloyd, one of the library’s founders, from his trip to Jamaica and the West Indies illustrating chocolate plantations and the lives of imported laborers.

For more information, call 513-721-3707; or, visit Lloyd’s website at www.lloydlibrary.org

American Historical Review Redesigns Website

The American Historical Review has redesigned their website (http://bit.ly/i8iPVr), the new look paying homage to the journal’s signature glossy white cover and accompanying image, which is forty years old this spring. The redesign also offers a more streamlined user experience with added features like a news section. They’ve also created a Facebook page (http://on.fb.me/i85wBq), where they’ll post information about the latest issues and other news from the journal.

American Historical Association Releases New Report on Job Market

The American Historical Association (AHA) published a report on the job market for historians in the January 2011 issue of Perspectives on History. AHA reports that the number of jobs posted with the association fell 29.4 percent during the academic year 2009–10, from 806 to just 569 openings, the lowest point in 25 years (since the 492 positions posted in 1984–85). This represents a continuation of negative hiring trends reported by AHA last year.

Other findings include:

The 2009–10 postings mark a decrease from the historical high of 1,059 advertised positions recorded two years ago.
The economic crisis has led to hiring freezes at many institutions, with noted differences between public and private institutions.
The outlook for junior faculty opportunities varies by subject field.
Despite recent cutbacks, most history departments over the past decade are still larger than they were five and ten years ago.
The number of faculty nearing retirement age in the next ten years is approaching the lowest level in 30 years.
The average number of applicants to PhD programs in history declined slightly in 2009–10, but remains above the number of students matriculating five and ten years ago.
As of December 1, 2010, job advertisements through the AHA were up 21.4% compared to the previous year, from 421 to 511 positions.

The report recommends that history departments assess the limitations of the current academic job market and consider their admissions procedures and the type of training offered to students.

The report is available to the general public on the AHA website as of 1 February 2011.

Further Information: http://www.nhalliance.org/news/american-historical-association-releases-new-repor.shtml

Prehistoric Minds: Human Origins As A Cultural Artefact, 1780–2010

Organized and edited by Matthew D. Eddy
Published online: February 2011. Published in print: March 2011

On 8 July 2010 the front page of The Guardian newspaper featured an attractive color drawing by the artist John Sibbick. It was titled "Meet the Norfolk Relatives" and it depicted a pastoral scene of farmers and hunters going about their daily routines. The image, however, was not included to illustrate a gargantuan sum recently paid for an impressionist painting. Nor was it a teaser about a long lost work of art. This drawing was slightly different from the kinds that one would normally see on the front of a leading British newspaper. Its subjects were naked. Their bodies were hairy. They were, in fact, an artist’s impression of the early humans who lived on the Norfolk coast a million years ago.

Like so many newspaper stories, this one engendered interviews on the television, further articles and commentaries on blogs which all sought to discuss the recent finds in light of various disciplinary or ideological agendas. Like today, images related to the antiquity of humankind were used to caricature foreigners in the Victorian press and contemporary forms of scientific periodisation were used to interpret the past. Notably, it was these very similarities that led to the five essays in this special issue of Notes and Records of the Royal Society.

For article access, go to rsnr.royalsocietypublishing.org/site/misc/PrehistoricMinds.xhtml

Jacques Loeb Centre Workshop: Origin of Life

The Jacques Loeb Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences will hold its Fourth International and Interdisciplinary Workshop from 13-14 June 2011 at Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva. The theme of the workshop is "Origin of Life: Scientific, Historical, and Philosophical Perspectives." There is hardly any topic in biology which has changed its content so drastically in history as that of the origin of life. This include claims of panspermia—the continuity of life in the universe—as well as assumptions, first put forward by Aristotle, then repeated by the Church Fathers and by scientists until through the 19th century, that some forms of life generate spontaneously from non-living material. Since the question of the origin of life is inseparable from that of a particular conception of life, it affects today not only research into astrobiology and synthetic life, but, at least implicitly, most biological research.

The workshop will focus on the origin of life on earth. It intends to address the question from a number of different scholarly and scientific perspectives, such as biblical studies, classical studies, history and philosophy of science, palaeontology, microbiology, biochemistry, macromolecular chemistry, synthetic biology, and evolutionary biology. We expect this interdisciplinary discussion also to bring forward new insights into the question of what is life.

For more information, please contact Rony Armon (armonr@bgu.ac.il) or Prof. Ute Deichmann (972-8-6472258).

2012 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the History of Medicine

The American Association for the History of Medicine invites submissions in any area of medical history for its 85th annual meeting, to be held in Baltimore, Maryland, 26–29 April 2012. The Association welcomes submissions on the history of health and healing; history of medical ideas, practices, and institutions; and histories of illness, disease, and public health. Submissions pertaining to all eras and regions of the world are welcome. In addition to single-paper proposals, the Program Committee accepts abstracts for sessions and for luncheon workshops. Please alert the Program Committee Chair if you are planning a session proposal. Individual papers for these submissions will be judged on their own merits.

Presentations are limited to 20 minutes. Individuals wishing to present a paper are not required to be members of AAHM before submitting an abstract, but must join AAHM before presenting and register for the meeting. All papers must represent original work not already published or in press. Because the Bulletin of the History of Medicine is the official journal of the AAHM, the Association encourages speakers to make their manuscripts available for consideration for publication by the Bulletin.

The AAHM uses an online abstract submissions system. We encourage all applicants to use this convenient software. A link for submissions will be posted to the website at http://histmed.org/

If you are unable to submit proposals online, send eight copies of a one-page abstract (350 words maximum) with learning objectives to:

Program Committee Chair, Jole Shackelford
Program for the History of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School
MMC 506
420 Delaware St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
(612-624-4416)

When proposing a historical argument, state the major claim, summarize the evidence supporting the claim, and state the major conclusion(s). When proposing a narrative, summarize the story, identify the major agents, and specify the conflict. New this year is the additional requirement that abstracts include three learning objectives to facilitate approval for CME credit (not included in the 350 word abstract limit). Please provide the following information on the same sheet as the abstract: name, preferred mailing address, work and home telephone numbers, e-mail address, present institutional affiliation, and academic degrees. Abstracts must be received by 15 September 2011.

We cannot accept e-mailed or faxed proposals.

CFP—NEW JOURNAL: Journal of Interdisciplinary History of Ideas

This open-access, academic, peer-refereed journal, devoted to interdisciplinary history of ideas, focuses on the bonds that connect more general historical study in the field—and special fields such as the history of science—that are usually severed in research works, though connected in the real course of intellectual history.

The Journal of Interdisciplinary History of Ideas was founded in 2010 with the aim to:

publish high quality, original, research works by scholars of different fields of specialization, based on well-established, as well as on emerging lines of, interdisciplinary historical research;
promote the study of intellectual history as an intrinsically interdisciplinary object in its genesis;
provide a publishing space for studies dealing with the history of ideas from a genuinely interdisciplinary research perspective;
provide a regular forum for discussing issues pertaining to the interdisciplinary approach that characterizes the Journal.

As an Open Access Journal, the JiHi appears online free of charge. Contributions to the JiHi will be published under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (BY-NC-SA). The JiHi will feature substantive articles, shorter research notes, and surveys. Being an interdisciplinary journal, all submissions will be blind-refereed by three or more peers with different competences.

The JiHi will accept submissions in English and French. Prepare your article in a suitable format (odt, doc, rtf). Format citations according to either the Chicago Author-Date System, or the Chicago Documentary Note Style, or the APA Citation Style.

Go to the JIHI website (http://www.jihi.eu).
Use the REGISTER function to register as "Author: Able to submit items to the journal".
You should be logged in. Go to USER HOME.
Select New Submission.
Follow instructions.

The Journal is hosted by the University of Turin (http://www.ojs.unito.it). The Journal is also documented in print and as such is registered according to the Italian law (Trib. Torino, reg. n. 9, 24-01-11; dir. resp. S. Mammola).

Further Information: http://www.jihi.eu

My Current Work and Its Possible Implications: A Joint INES/Prometheans Workshop

The International Network for Engineering Studies (INES) and the Prometheans special interest group in the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) seek 6 minute, 40 second presentations and eager discussion participants for a joint one-day workshop on engineering studies and the history of engineering.

The workshop will take place on Wednesday, 2 November 2011 at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. It is hosted by Peter Meiksins, Professor of Sociology at Cleveland State. November 2 is the day before the co-located HSS/SHOT/4S meetings begin.

Thanks to sponsorship by Taylor & Francis/Routledge, publishers of Engineering Studies: Journal of the International Network for Engineering Studies, the meeting is free to members of INES and the Prometheans who pre-register. It may include support for breakfast and lunch (more on logistics later).

The workshop’s purpose is to bring researchers in engineering studies and history of engineering together in concise, fast-moving, wide-ranging, and hopefully entertaining discussions of the contents of current research and its possible implications for different audiences inside and outside scholarly arenas.

The workshop’s more general goals include deepening scholarly connections among researchers; attracting more researchers to engineering studies and history of engineering; heightening the visibility of this research across the memberships of HSS, SHOT, and 4S; and increasing the extent to which this research makes a difference beyond scholarly arenas.

The workshop will use a PechaKucha approach to presentation and discussion (www.pecha-kucha.org). Speakers are free to draw on up to 20 slides for 20 seconds each. They must stop after their 6 minute 40 second slot expires (even if in mid-sentence).

With up to 4 presentations in 45-minute slots every hour, separated by 15-minute breaks and lunch, as many as 24 scholars will present between 9 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. The organizers welcome suggestions for a final plenary discussion, ending around 5 p.m.

To present at the workshop, send a confirming message to the INES Secretary/Treasurer Crystal Harrell (crcrigge@vt.edu) by 15 May 2011. Include in the body of the message your name, institutional affiliation, title, and 50-100 word abstract of your proposed presentation. Offering to present constitutes registration. The program committee will notify you by June 15 regarding your inclusion in the program.

To pre-register, send a message by 15 September 2011 to the same address (crcrigge@vt.edu). Include your name, institutional affiliation, and membership status in INES and/or the Prometheans.

Institute For Advanced Study, School of Historical Studies, Opportunities for Scholars 2012–2013

The Institute is an independent private institution founded in 1930 to create a community of scholars focused on intellectual inquiry, free from teaching and other university obligations. Scholars from around the world come to the Institute to pursue their own research. Candidates of any nationality may apply for a single term or a full academic year. Scholars may apply for a stipend, but those with sabbatical funding, other grants, retirement funding or other means are also invited to apply for a non-stipendiary membership. Some short-term visitorships (for less than a full term, and without stipend) are also available on an ad hoc basis. Open to all fields of historical research, the School’s principal interests are the history of western, near eastern and Asian civilizations, with particular emphasis upon Greek and Roman civilization, the history of Europe (medieval, early modern, and modern), the Islamic world, East Asian studies, the history of art, the history of science, philosophy, modern international relations, and music studies. Residence in Princeton during term time is required. The only other obligation of Members is to pursue their own research. The PhD (or equivalent) and substantial publications are required. Information and application forms may be found on the School’s web site, www.hs.ias.edu or contact:

School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study
Einstein Dr.
Princeton, NJ 08540
(E-mail address: mzelazny@ias.edu)

Deadline: 1 November 2011.
Further Information: http://www.hs.ias.edu/hsannoun.htm

Oregon State University Special Collections Acquires Margaret J. Osler Papers

The Oregon State University Libraries Special Collections houses a number of archival and book collections, most of which focus on the history of twentieth-century science and technology (osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/index.html).

Special Collections has as its primary mission to preserve and provide access to the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers, however, it has a number of other collections of interest to historians of science. A new collection is a repository for the papers of historians of science
(osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/historians/index.html).

The most recent acquisition in the Historians of Science Collection is the collected papers and correspondence of Margaret J. Osler, longtime Secretary of the History of Science Society.

Research grants of up to $7,500 are available to scholars interested in conducting work in the Oregon State University Libraries Special Collections.

Further Information: http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/residentscholar.pdf

NEH Announces "Digging Into Data Challenge"

On 16 March 2011, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) joined seven international research funders in announcing their joint participation in round two of the Digging into Data Challenge, a grant competition designed to spur cutting-edge research in the humanities and social sciences.

The first round of the Digging into Data Challenge sparked enormous interest from the international research community and led to eight cutting-edge projects being funded.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of round one, the Digging into Data Challenge announced that four additional funders have joined for round two, enabling this competition to have a worldwide reach into many different scholarly and scientific domains. The eight sponsoring funding bodies include the Arts & Humanities Research Council (United Kingdom), the Economic & Social Research Council (United Kingdom), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (United States), the Joint Information Systems Committee (United Kingdom), the National Endowment for the Humanities (United States), the National Science Foundation (United States), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (Netherlands), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada).

Final applications will be due 16 June 2011. Further information about the competition and the application process can be found at www.diggingintodata.org

Original Post: http://historycoalition.org/2011/03/16/neh-announces-digging-into-data-challenge/

New Fellowship Program: The American Council of Learned Societies’ Public Fellows

The American Council of Learned Societies invites applications for the inaugural competition of its Public Fellows program. The program will place eight recent PhDs in staff positions at partnering agencies in government and the non-profit sector for two years, beginning in some cases as early as September 2011. Fellows will participate in the substantive work of these agencies and receive professional mentoring. Compensation will be commensurate with experience and at the same level as new professional employees of the hosting agency and will include health insurance.

This program, made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, aims to demonstrate that the capacities developed in the advanced study of the humanities have wide application, both within and beyond the academy.

ACLS seeks applications from recent PhDs who wish to begin careers in administration, management, and public service by choice rather than circumstance. Competitive applicants will have been successful in both academic and extra-academic experiences.

Applicants must:

possess U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status
have a PhD in the humanities or humanistic social sciences conferred between January 2008 and March 2011
not have applied to any other ACLS Fellowship programs in the 2010–2011 competition year, including the New Faculty Fellows program

Prospective applicants should read through all the positions listed below and be ready to choose one when beginning the online application process. Applicants may apply to only one position. The deadline for submitted applications is Monday, May 16, 3 p.m. EDT, and complete applications will include:
(1) completed application form;
(2) cover letter tailored to a specific position;
(3) resume;
(4) candidate statement; and
(5) one nomination letter.

The only way to apply for these positions is through the ACLS Public Fellows program. Only complete applications, submitted through the ACLS Online Fellowship Application system (ofa.acls.org) by the deadline will be considered.

Submitted applications will undergo ACLS’ standard rigorous peer review process, which may include interviews by ACLS and by the hosting agency. Reviewers will look for:
(a) applicant’s academic accomplishment and success;
(b) demonstrated relationship between past experience and specified position; and
(c) commitment to the public and/or non-profit sector. Applicants who advance to the interview stages will need to be available in the timeframe listed below.

Interviews: mid to late June
Email Notification of application status:early July
These dates are subject to revision. Please check back.

Participating Agencies and Positions

Click on the positions to view the PDF of the full description, which includes detailed information on the hosting agency, the position, and requisite qualifications. Please do not contact any of these agencies with questions (i.e., on the position, benefits, etc,).

Association of American Universities (AAU)
— Policy Analyst
Council on Foundations
— Leadership Development Officer
Institute for International Education (IIE)
— Program Officer, Scholar Rescue Fund
National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE)
— Program Officer
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
— Cultural Programs Specialist
— Cultural Communications Specialist
U.S. Department of State
— two positions, various departments

ACLS will field only questions about the fellowship program itself and not on the positions or the organizations. Please carefully review the program description, the positions, and the sample application before contacting ACLS. Questions about the fellowship program can be directed in writing to fellowships@acls.org (no calls please).

History of Science Society