Events for September 2010
September 15, 2010
William Bartram: The Search for Nature’s Design
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Bartram's Garden, and the Library Company of Philadelphia | Visit site »
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Place: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street
Roundtable and Book Signing
Hear the thoughts and voice of early naturalist William Bartram through the newly published book William Bartram, The Search for Nature’s Design (Thomas Hallock and Nancy E. Hoffman, eds.). This book from the University of Georgia Press contains transcripts of many of Bartram’s manuscripts collected from more than 100 libraries and archives, including the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Contributors to the book will discuss the special role of manuscripts as tools for historical understanding and writing. Followed by a reception and a display of original Bartram drawings and manuscripts from the HSP collections.
September 16, 2010
Karen Hunger Parshall, University of Virginia
Algebra: Creating New Mathematical Entities in Victorian Britain
Philadelphia Area Seminar on the History of Mathematics, Villanova University | Visit site »
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Place: Room 103, Mendel Science Center, Villanova University
Abstract: Analytic geometry and mathematical physics may have interested a majority of mathematicians in Victorian Britain, but algebra also served to focus their mathematical attention. In the century’s first half, algebraic work centered on the development of the so-called “symbolical algebra” and the creation of new algebras, while in its second, the theory of invariants dominated and the abstract theory of groups witnessed key developments. Underlying much of this research was the philosophical question of how free mathematicians were to create new mathematical entities. The Victorian British response to that question was ultimately, “quite.”
September 19, 2010
Symposium: Seeing “The Gross Clinic” Anew
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Center for American Art | Visit site »
Time: 1:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Place: Van Pelt Auditorium, Philadelphia Museum of Art
For more information, please contact the Division of Education by phone at (215) 684-7580, by fax at (215) 236-4063, or by e-mail at .
The conservation treatment of Thomas Eakins’s Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic) presents an opportunity to share the research and insights of the team dedicated to preserving and interpreting this 1875 American masterpiece in the 21st century. The afternoon-long symposium on September 19 includes a presentation on “Eakins as Witness: Twenty Years of Medical Progress” by Mark S. Schreiner, M.D., Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. See the complete schedule here.
September 20, 2010
Elly Teman, Penn Center for Integration of Genetics & Healthcare Technology
Pregnancy as a Proclamation of Faith: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Women Navigating Pregnancy and Prenatal Diagnosis
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 Pennysylvania
September 27, 2010
Geoff Bowker, University of Pittsburgh
Topic to be announced
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 Pennysylvania
September 28, 2010
Thomas Broman, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Semblance of Transparency: Expertise as Ideology and Practice in Science Studies
Program in History of Science, Princeton University | Visit site »
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Place: 211 Dickinson Hall, Princeton University
To request an electronic copy of the pre-circulated paper, please send an e-mail to mfanfair@princeton.edu.
Cick here for more information.
Abstract. Debates over the legitimate social role of scientists as experts, one of the old chestnuts of STS, have recently once again come to the fore with the promulgation of Harry Collins’ and Richard Evans’ call to arms to initiate a “third wave” of science studies. In this new era, the older campaign to assert the social constructedness of scientific knowledge is to be replaced a by recognition of the indispensable role played by experts in shaping social and political action, and Collins and Evans see their task as specifying how various kinds of legitimate expertise, both credentialed and uncredentialed, can be brought into fruitful dialogue around issues calling for solutions and action.
Collins’ and Evans’ program has been met with considerable resistance by various members of the STS community who accuse them of various kinds of revanchism and surrender to the dark forces of scientific credentialdom, to the detriment of the liberating potential of a truly critical sociological analysis of scientific knowledge. In this talk I will argue that both Collins and Evans and their opponents make a fundamental category mistake by collapsing two distinctly different forms of expertise into a single kind: One sort of expertise is based in the division of labor in society, and it concerns judgments made about who is appropriate for doing certain kinds of work. Accountants, bakers, midwives, mining engineers, geologists, and plumbers all exist as recognizable occupations because they possess skills that are not shared by everyone in society. This kind of expertise has very deep roots in history and is presumably universal in societies that recognize a division of labor. These are the experts toward whose practices it makes sense to talk about “trust” A second kind of expertise can represent knowledge of sciences such as climatology or Darwinian evolution as a public good, as knowledge that is in some sense “true” for all members of society, whether or not everyone in society can explicitly express those truths to themselves. This second kind of expertise is essentially ideological, and the ability of such claims to be accepted as true has little to do decisions made by individuals about whom to trust. In this talk, I want to discuss these two kinds of expertise and analyze in particular how their conflation creates a problem for understanding the role of scientifically credentialed experts in liberal democratic societies.
September 28, 2010
John Stewart, University of Oklahoma and CHF Allington Fellow
Chemical Affinity in Eighteenth-Century British Mineralogy
Chemical Heritage Foundation, Brown Bag Lunch Talk | 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
Free and open to the public.
The doctrine of affinity, which says that substances have different levels of chemical attraction to various substances, was central to 18th-century experimental chemistry. Much of the work done on affinity thus far has focused on the theoretical chemistry of Newton, Geoffroy, Bergman, and Fourcroy. As part of his larger dissertation project, John Stewart will present a talk on the appropriation of affinity by those interested in chemical mineralogy. Drawing on the work of Ursula Klein and Matthew Eddy, he will explore the ways in which doctors, fossil collectors, artisans and natural historians used affinity in the commodification of natural resources and at the same time contributed to a complex and ever-changing affinity doctrine.
After receiving a B.A. in letters with a minor in the history of science from the University of Oklahoma in 2006, John Stewart entered the OU history of science program. In 2008, he completed the M.A. requirements with a thesis titled “Kirwan’s Chemistry: Heat, Affinity, and Phlogiston in the 1780s.” Since completing the Master’s degree, John has continued his work on historical understandings of chemistry, now with a focus on affinity. His dissertation, currently titled “Affinity across the Disciplines, The Centrality of Chemistry in 18th Century Science,” will include analysis of both the appropriation and production of affinity theories in British agriculture, mineralogy, and physiology. When not working on his dissertation, John works for Isis Bibliographer Stephen Weldon on the Current Bibliography database.
September 29, 2010
Anne Marley and Robert Cozzolino, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Anatomy/Academy: Art & Science in Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Hospital Historic Collections | Visit site »
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Place: Pennsylvania Hospital, Historic Library, 900 Spruce Street
Free and open to the public.
RSVP by Monday, September 27, to Stacey Peeples, 215.829.5434 or peepless@pahosp.com
Anna Marley is Curator of Historical American Art and Robert Cozzolino is Curator of Modern Art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Their presentation will examine the nexus of art and science in Philadelphia. It is a preview of their upcoming exhibition featuring the Thomas Eakins masterpiece, The Gross Clinic, which returns to PAFA in late January 2011.
September 29, 2010
Sylwester Ratowt, Professor of History of Science, The Wagner Free Institute
The Scientist as an Explorer: Makings of Adventures, Heroes, and Scientific Knowledge
The Wagner Free Institute of Science | Visit site »
Dates: 8 Wednesdays, September 29 through November 17
Time: 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.
Place: Independence Branch of the Free Library, 18 S. 7th Street (between Market & Chestnut Streets)
No preregistration required.
This eight-week course will examine the contexts in which travels were turned into scientific knowledge and travelers were turned into heroes. Sylwester Ratowt holds a doctorate in history of science from the University of Oklahoma. He is a Museum Research Associate at the American Philosophical Society and Professor of History of Science for the Wagner Free Institute’s adult education program.
The Wagner Free Institute of Science began in 1855 as one of the earliest free adult science education programs in the United States. From the beginning it has combined public access to natural history and science materials with lively educational programs taught by acknowledged scholars. That agenda has altered little over time except to incorporate new fields of science and new theories of older disciplines. Today, adults may select from a broad range of college-level courses in the natural sciences taught by faculty from Philadelphia’s outstanding colleges, universities, and research institutions
The Institute’s adult evening courses grew out of the original lectures given by William Wagner at his home. Since its incorporation in 1855, the Wagner Institute has drawn upon scientists and teachers from the many distinguished educational and research institutions in the region for its faculty. Many hold joint appointments with the Wagner and institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Bryn Mawr College, the Academy of Natural Sciences and Temple University. Today the courses are held off-site at a variety of locations throughout the city to make them accessible to a wide audience.
The adult lecture courses are offered on an introductory college level. They are open to anyone seeking an introduction to various areas of the sciences as well as those familiar with the subjects who wish to broaden and update their knowledge. The courses also provide an excellent opportunity for motivated junior high and high school students to supplement their current science courses and to help prepare them for further study in these fields at a college level. The courses are appropriate as well for teachers seeking to expand their knowledge.
September 30, 2010
Welcome Reception
The Library Company and Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science
5:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 30
at The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust St.
Please join us at a reception to inaugurate the fourth year of activity of the the unique consortium that is the Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science. We will welcome 2010-2011 fellows of the Center and its member institutions. We encourage you to meet these remarkable individuals and learn more about the great variety of topics they are studying. Collectively, our fellows’ work highlights the exceptional resources available in the Philadelphia area. The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with a coctail reception. At 6:30, the fellows will be introduced and say a few words about their work.