Events for October 2009
October 1, 2009
Keith F. Davis, Photographic Historian
Catching a Shadow: Daguerreotypes in Philadelphia, 1839-1860
The Library Company of Philadelphia, Visual Culture Program | Visit site »
Time: 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. (program at 6:00 p.m.)
Place: The Library Company of Philadelphia
RSVP to 215.546.3181 or lpropst@librarycompany.org
Keith F. Davis, Curator of Photography at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and author of numerous books, including The Origins of American Photography: From Daguerreotype to Dry-Plate, 1839-1885, will speak about the remarkable achievement of the world’s first successful photographic process – the daguerreotype – and Philadelphia’s vital role in the history of early photography in America.
This lecture marks the opening of the Library Company’s exhibition.
October 2, 2009
Darin Hayton, Haverford College
Astrology as Political Ideology in the Holy Roman Empire During the Era of Emperor Maximilian I
Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science, Regional Colloquium
Join scholars from the area at the Regional Colloquium in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine to discuss a precirculated paper about the use of star gazing and astrology for politics in the "modern" 16th century court of the Holy Roman Empire.| Time: | Discussion, 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. followed by social hour and light dinner |
| Place: | Ewell Sale Stewart Library The Academy of Natural Sciences 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway |
October 5, 2009
Giuseppe Testa, European Institute of Oncology and European School of Molecular Medicine
Democratic Participation and Biotechnological Innovation: Challenges and Opportunities
Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania | Visit site »
Time: 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Place: 337 Claudia Cohen Hall, University of Pennsylvania
Giuseppe Testa is an M.D./Ph.D. who runs a cloning/epigenetics laboratory in Milan, Italy, and who also has been trained and does research in science studies. A few years ago he was awarded the Branca Weiss fellowship, which allowed him to pursue an interdisciplinary approach to life sciences and their place in society. In Milan, he started a Ph.D. Program in the Foundations of Life Sciences and their Ethical Consequences. He describes the main focus of his STS research as “how genes and cell lineages become visible, mobile and political elements in the public sphere.”
October 7, 2009
Susanne Malchau Dietz, Ph.D., University of Aarhus, Denmark
International Transfer of Nursing Knowledge: Professor Loretta Heidgerken’s “Unit Learning” Model
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania | Visit site »
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Place: 2U Conference Room, Room 2019, Claire Fagin Hall
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Abstract: In the 1950s the Danish matron sister Benedicte Ramsing (1912-1988) introduced American Professor Loretta Heidgerken’s (1908- ) “Unit Learning” model into Danish Nursing. Sister Benedicte implemented successfully the model in the (Catholic) School of Nursing under her leadership, but she failed to get the model accepted in general. History has, however, shown that “Unit Learning” later became dominant in the Danish nursing curriculum. This case study examines the roots, expressions and significance of transfer of nursing knowledge between the United States and Denmark in the period 1945-1970. The study specifically focuses on Loretta Heidgerken’s “Unit Learning,” which originated from the Catholic University of America. Two main questions will be examined. How was the model described, put into practice and accepted in the United States? And in which way did region, culture and professional and religious affiliation influence the transfer of nursing knowledge?
Susanne Malchau Dietz is Associate Professor of the Institute of Public Health and Department of nursing Science at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.
October 7, 2009
Sean Carroll, University of Wisconsin
Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species
Princeton University, Public Lecture Series | Visit site »
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Place: Friend 101, Princeton University
The search for the origins of species has entailed a series of great adventures over the past 200 years. Biologist and author Sean B. Carroll will chronicle the exploits of a group of explorers who walked where no one had walked, saw what no one had seen, and thought what no one else had thought. Their achievements sparked a revolution that changed, profoundly and forever, our perception of the living world and our place within it.
Sean Carroll is Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of Wisconsin, and author of The Making of the Fittest.
October 8, 2009
Daniel Otera, Xavier University
Determining the Determinant
Philadelphia Area Seminar on the History of Mathematics (PASHoM) | Visit site »
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Place: 103 Mendel Hall, Villanova University
Nearly every undergraduate student of mathematics learns how to solve linear systems with the help of determinants, so it may come as a surprise that the history of the development of the determinant is not better known than it is. In fact, there may be a good reason for this: befitting the complexity of the idea, its history is also quite complicated. The story of its genesis and evolution involves the interplay of a number of different problems, perspectives and approaches, and contributions were made by dozens of people over centuries. We plan to survey a key period of this history, from the time of Leibniz at the end of the 17th century, up to the watershed day of November 30, 1812, when Binet and Cauchy both presented papers on the determinant at the same meeting in Paris.
October 10, 2009
The Seventh Annual Joint Atlantic Seminar in the History of Medicine
Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania | Visit site »
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Location: Class of ‘49 room, Houston Hall, University of Pennsylvania
For further information or to register (required), contact Marissa Mika, jasmedconf@gmail.com.
The 7th Annual Joint Atlantic Seminar for the History of Medicine is organized and coordinated by graduate students across North America working in fields related to the history of medicine. Our mission is to foster a sense of community and provide a forum for sharing and critiquing graduate research by peers from a variety of institutions and backgrounds.
October 12, 2009
Gregory Radick, Leeds University
Between McCarthy and the Modern Synthesis: Ashley Montagu’s Problem’s with Darwinism
Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania | Visit site »
Time: 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Place: 337 Claudia Cohen Hall, University of Pennsylvania
Gregory Radick is Senior Lecturer in History and Philosophy of Science at Leeds University. Penn Professors Dorothy Cheney (Biology) and Robert Seyfarth (Psychology) will appear with him and discuss how it felt to be historical subjects.
October 13, 2009
Alexis Smets, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and Chemical Heritage Foundation
Studying Chemical Imagery: The Case of Jean Beguin’s Diagram, a Visual Hapax in Early Modern Chemistry
Chemical Heritage Foundation | Visit site »
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation
Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org
What is a drawing about in a publication of chemistry? In researching early-17th-century chemistry, when allegories were still fashionable in the field and when the first diagram of chemistry was invented, this question can be raised. In this period Jean Béguin published a textbook, The Elements of Chemistry, and in one of the numerous editions was printed what is often regarded as the first chemical diagram ever. This diagram, which efficiently renders Béguin’s chemical theory, was not reprinted in the following editions. In this talk I will examine the circumstances around this inaugural chemical diagram.
Alexis Smets is a Ph.D. candidate at the Faculty of Philosophy at Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands). In his dissertation he researches the role played by imagery in the theory of matter in 17th-century chemistry. Before becoming interested in the relation between iconography and chemical theories of matter, Smets studied the relation between chemistry and other disciplines at the dawn of the 18th century, in particular in the works of the chemist and physician Georg Ernst Stahl.
October 13, 2009
Annual Fall Meeting, Medical History Society of New Jersey
Medical History Society of New Jersey | Visit site »
Time: 3:30 - 8:45 p.m.
Place: The Nassau Club, 6 Mercer Street, Princeton, New Jersey
For complete program and registration, see the Society’s Web site.
The program features four speakers, followed by cocktails and dinner. At 7:30 p.m. David Rosner, Ph.D., Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, will present the Seventh University of Medicine and Dentistry of N.J. Foundation Lecture, “Toxic Torts and Retorts: The Trials and Tribulations of a Historian in the Courtroom.”
October 14, 2009
Sherwin B. Nuland, MD, Yale University
The Radbill Lecture: Surgeons and Germs in the Nineteenth Century
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Section on Medical History | Visit site »
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Place: The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
Reception follows program.
RSVP
Sherwin B. Nuland, MD, FACS, is Clinical Professor of Surgery, Yale School of Medicine, and Research Affiliate, Yale University Institution for Social and Policy Studies, and of the Program in the History of Science and Medicine.
October 15, 2009
Robert Peck, Senior Fellow, The Academy of Natural Sciences
An Excursion to the Rocky Mountains: The Life and Travels of John Kirk Townsend
Friends of the Library, The Academy of Natural Sciences | Visit site »
Time: 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. (program at 6:00 p.m.)
Place: Ewell Sale Stewart Library, The Academy of Natural Sciences (Please use the 19th Street entrance)
RSVP to 215. 299.1040 or library@ansp.org
John Kirk Townsend (1809-1851) was a Philadelphia Quaker who helped shape American science and American history with a pioneering trip across North America on behalf of the Academy of Natural Sciences in 1834. His narrative of that trip, published in 1839, is considered a classic of American travel literature. Leaving Philadelphia at the age of 24, he returned three years later with a remarkable number of natural history discoveries which were greeted with enthusiasm by the members of the Academy and were used as models by John James Audubon in The Birds of America and The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America.
To commemorate the bicentennial of Townsend’s birth, and to celebrate his many achievements, the Academy has mounted a special exhibition about his travels and his scientific discoveries. At our fall gathering of the Friends of the Library, Academy Fellow Robert Peck will present an illustrated talk about Townsend and his remarkable life. Don’t miss this chance to learn about one of the most important (but least known) naturalists of the 19th century.
October 15, 2009
Frank Swetz, Pennsylvania State University
Glimpses of Chinese Mathematics
Philadelphia Area Seminar on the History of Mathematics (PASHoM) | Visit site »
Abstract. The history of mathematics in traditional China is often clouded by myth and uncertainty. For the Chinese Empire, mathematics was not a priority. Mathematicians were not highly honored nor recognized for their work. They worked in isolation. Social and political upheavals within the Kingdom were frequent, resulting in the destruction of books and libraries. In such a climate of turmoil, efforts at preservation focused on Confucian and philosophical classics. Scientific works, including those about mathematics were frequently destroyed and lost. Later mathematicians were forced to rediscover techniques and concepts established by their predecessors. Thus, in examining the state and content of traditional mathematics in China, one must rely on “glimpses.” This talk will survey some of the accomplishments of traditional Chinese mathematics and discuss the interaction of societal pressures on the development of mathematical thinking.
October 20, 2009
Leslie Tomory, University of Toronto
Pneumatic Chemistry and Industrial Distillation: Converging Traditions in the Origins of the Manufactured Gas Industry
Chemical Heritage Foundation | Visit site »
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation
Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org
The gaslight industry developed into a large network utility in Britain in the first two decades of the 19th century. There were, however, many instances of people proposing some form of gaslight technology in the late 18th century in France, Germany, and Britain before it was successfully scaled up in Britain. This talk examines why there were so many people experimenting with gases during the period and presents the origins of gaslight as coming from the confluence of two important research traditions: pneumatic chemistry and industrial distillation.
Leslie Tomory recently completed his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto on the origins of the gaslight industry in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is currently working on transforming his thesis into a book, as well as researching the transfer of gaslight from Britain to other countries and the history of pneumatic chemistry in the 18th century.
October 21, 2009
Fred Quivik, University of Pennsylvania
History of Superfund and Related Environmental Litigation: Presentation and Discussion
Human-Environment Working Group
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Place: Intermezzo Café, 3131 Walnut Street
To RSVP and for more information: GOttinger@chemheritage.org
Fred Quivik will launch the discussion with a short presentation on his work as an expert historian on Superfund and related environmental litigation. The rest of the gathering will be devoted to general networking and socializing.
Quivik is Consulting Historian of Technology and a member of the Associated Faculty in History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
October 21, 2009
Barbra Mann Wall, Ph.D., R.N., University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
‘The Hospital Will Stand’: The Alaska Earthquake of 1964
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania | Visit site »
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Place: 2U Conference Room, Room 2019, Claire Fagin Hall
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Abstract. This paper examines the disaster response through the lens of nursing history to illustrate the important role nurses had in providing prompt, efficient care to the ill and injured. It analyzes what has generally been viewed as a competent disaster response by Providence Hospital in Anchorage and public health agencies in the state. It also adds to understandings of the role of gender in how people handle tragedies.
Barbra Mann Wall is Associate Professor in Penn’s School of Nursing.
October 22, 2009
Symposium: Darwin and Botany in a Changing World
The Academy of Natural Sciences and the Philadelphia Botanical Club | Visit site »
Time: 1:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Place: Auditorium, The Academy of Natural Sciences
Register online
The Philadelphia Botanical Club and the Academy of Natural Sciences celebrates the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of On The Origin of Species with a symposium on plants and evolution. This symposium will cover both the historical and philosophical implications of the theory of evolution and current research into plant evolution. The speakers include: James Lennox, University of Pittsburgh; Karl Niklas, Cornell University; and Tatyana Livshultz, The Academy of Natural Sciences.
Although Darwin’s theories and writings are familiar to many, the importance of botany in his work is less well known. However, six of the ten books he authored following the publication of The Origin of Species were on botanical subjects while a seventh dealt with domesticated plants as well as domesticated animals.
Arguably the most significant of these botanical works was The Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertizlised by Insects (1862). In it, Darwin marshaled a compelling case that the orchid’s remarkable diversity is better explained by natural selection than by divine design. The first speaker, historian of science James Lennox, will explore how the crucial correspondence between Darwin and Harvard botanist Asa Gray helped Darwin in developing his theory and helped each of them to clarify their own philosophical views on evolution and natural theology.
Darwin freely acknowledged weaknesses in his case for evolution by natural selection. Salient among these was the “abominable mystery”: the sudden appearance and rapid rise of flowering plants in the fossil record. The second speaker, evolutionary biologist Karl Niklas, explores the genetic and reproductive attributes that make angiosperms uniquely successful among the land plants.
Modern biology relies on evolutionary principles to investigate and understand the workings and diversity of life. The final speaker, Academy botanist Tatyana Livshultz, will present her research on the evolution of complex pollination mechanisms in the Apocynaceae (a diverse group of flowering plants) and the careful balance between mutualism and antagonism for the pollinator and the pollinated.
October 22, 2009
Scott Gilbert, Bryn Mawr College
Disagreements Among Friends: How T. H. Morgan and E. B. Wilson’s Agreeing to Disagree Helped Establish Genetics and the Modern Synthesis
Bryn Mawr College Library | Visit site »
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Place: Carpenter Library 21, Bryn Mawr College
Information: Bryn Mawr Special Collections Department, 610-526-6576 or SpecColl@brynmawr.edu
Scott Gilbert is the Howard A. Schneiderman Professor of Biology at Swarthmore College, author of “Ecological Developmental Biology” and many articles in both developmental biology and in the history and philosophy of biology. He has recently received a National Science Foundation grant to explore how the turtle forms its shell. His lecture will focus on Edmund B. Wilson and Thomas Hunt Morgan, the first and second professors of biology at Bryn Mawr College, both of whom played prominent roles in the international debates over evolution during the first half of the 20th century.
The lecture will be followed by a reception for the opening of the exhibition “Darwin’s Ancestors: Tracing the Origins of the ‘Origin of Species.”
October 23, 2009
Kim Tolley, Notre Dame de Namur University
Mathematics and the Science Education of American Girls, 1781-1914
Friends of the American Philosophical Society, History of Education Society, and Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science
Lecture and Reception| Time: | Reception: 5:30 p.m. Program: 6:00 p.m. |
| Place: | American Philosophical Society Benjamin Franklin Hall 427 Chestnut Street |
October 26, 2009
H. Glenn Penny, University of Iowa
Not Playing Indian: ‘Practical Ethnology’ and the German Hobbyist Scene
Department of History and Sociology of Science and Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania | Visit site »
Time: 3:15 - 5:30 p.m. [Please note change in start time.}
Place: 337 Claudia Cohen Hall, University of Pennsylvania
H. Glenn Penny is Associate Professor of History at the University of Iowa. His research interests include European History, Modern Germany, Colonialism and Empire, and History of Anthropology. His talk is jointly sponsored by the Department of History and Sociology of Science and the Department of Anthropology at Penn.
October 27, 2009
Andrew Berns, University of Pennsylvania
Biblical Medicine in Renaissance Italy
Chemical Heritage Foundation | Visit site »
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation
Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org
Andrew Berns is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a 2009-2010 Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science.
During the Renaissance, Italian scholars passionately studied the classical past. To 16th-century Italians the ancient Near East of the Bible was as alluring as ancient Greece or Rome. Physicians were especially interested in the chemical and medicinal culture of the Bible. My presentation will address the use of biblical medicine in this period and ask about the degree to which university-trained doctors believed they could find and prescribe biblical products to alleviate contemporary maladies. The talk considers the symbiosis of biblicism and medicine in Renaissance Italy and poses broad questions about the compatibility of religion and science in early modern Europe.
October 28, 2009
Paul Needham, Scheide Library, Princeton University
Galileo Makes a Book: Sidereus Nuncius 1610
Princeton Center for the Study of Books and Media | Visit site »
Time: 12:00 - 1:15 p.m.
Place: 210 Dickinson Hall, Princeton University
October 28, 2009
Glicero Moura BSN, CWCN, Lienhard School of Nursing, Pace University
Hope Arrives From the North: The Oral History of 12 Brazilian Student Nurses Who Interned on the American Hospital Ship ‘Hope’ in the Northeast of Brazil in 1972
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania | Visit site »
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Place: 2U Conference Room, Room 2019, Claire Fagin Hall
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Abstract. As a Brazilian Registered Nurse working and studying in the United States, Glicero Moura had the opportunity to study an interesting historical event. Specifically, Moura recorded and examined — due to close ties with the Brazilian participants — the experiences of 12 Brazilian student nurses who interned on the American hospital ship Hope (affiliated with Project Hope) during its 1972 visit to Natal, Brazil. The methodologyused for this project was Oral History, which Moura researched as part of an independent study project completed with Professor Sandra Lewenson during studies leading to a BSN degree.