http://www.pachs.net/ en sjoseph@pachs.net Copyright 2012 2012-08-01T17:00:00-05:00 http://www.pachs.net/events/archive/visualizing_vapors/ http://www.pachs.net/events/archive/visualizing_vapors/#When:Tue, 07 Feb 12 12:00:00 Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org How did a mid-nineteenth-century concern with stench become a Progressive Era fight against smoke? Why did smoke transform from a symbol of civic pride and progress to the harbinger of a polluted atmosphere? This talk will provide one answer to these questions by closely examining the connections between anti-stench and anti-smoke agitation.  Rather than viewing the anti-smoke crusades as a departure from earlier complacency about industrial pollution, this talk situates the fight against smoke as a direct outgrowth of earlier worries about bad odors.  The talk will focus on the significant role that the graphic press played in the transition from smell to smoke.  The demands of a visual medium mandated sensory translation; as artists tried to illustrate the New York City health concerns about Hunter’s Point, they sought an iconography for smell, and found their answer in billows of smoke.  By focusing on the interplay between the senses of smell and sight, this talk—and its many illustrations—will explain the historically contingent reasons that visions of smoke rather than stenches of industry launched a widespread campaign for improved air quality. Melanie Kiechle is currently completing her dissertation, “’The Air We Breathe’: Nineteenth-Century Americans and the Search for Fresh Air” in the history program at Rutgers University.  She is in residence for 2011-12 at the Chemical Heritage Foundation as a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellow. Member Institution Events Tue, 07 Feb 12 12:00:00 http://www.pachs.net/events/archive/redefining_the_metalanguage_of_nursing_science/ http://www.pachs.net/events/archive/redefining_the_metalanguage_of_nursing_science/#When:Wed, 08 Feb 12 12:00:00 Time: 12:00-1:30 p.m. Place: Claire Fagin Hall, Room 435 Abstract: This seminar will discuss an updated synthesis of nursing’s central concepts (human being, environment, health & nursing) with implications for research, education and practice. Expert nursing involves complex pattern recognition that recognizes the integrality (unity) between human beings and their environment while considering multiple perspectives: the individual-subjective realm of self and consciousness, the individual-objective view of the organism and structured development, the inter-subjective realm of culture or worldview, and the inter-objective realm of social systems and structures. Through this framework we can discuss all phenomena of interest to nursing, from genomic research exploring how environmental factors contribute to illness, to cross-cultural communication, or the relationship between the nursing practice environment and patient outcomes. This seminar should stimulate new discourse and dialogue about the current state of thinking within nursing theory, research, education and practice. To download the seminar flyer, please click here. Can’t make it in person?  Join the webinar!  To register, click here. Member Institution Events Wed, 08 Feb 12 12:00:00 http://www.pachs.net/events/archive/whats_love_got_to_do_with_it/ http://www.pachs.net/events/archive/whats_love_got_to_do_with_it/#When:Thu, 09 Feb 12 17:30:01 Time: 5:30pm Location: Wagner Free Institute of Science Saint Valentine’s Day, a celebration of love between intimate companions, is often symbolized by images of hearts, doves, cupids and… embryos? Images of fertilized cells and fetuses may not be traditional icons for Saint Valentine’s Day, but a few unconventional 20th-century artists used these modern scientific depictions to speak about love, passion, politics, and society. Dr. Scott Gilbert, a Professor of Biology at Swarthmore College, recently made the fascinating discovery that Klimt, Kahlo, and Rivera all depicted images of fertilized cells and embryos (often with scientific accuracy) in their artwork, and each to convey a unique, powerful message. During his illustrated talk, Dr. Gilbert will take an in-depth look at their paintings, which span a 50-year period and thousands of miles, to see how they merged science and art, and to explain the meaning behind their deliberate appropriation of scientific images. Gustav Klimt is perhaps best known for his painting The Kiss (1907-1908) – a famous, iconic work symbolizing intimacy, selfless love and romance. Klimt painted Danaë in the same year, a Secessionist painting depicting the mythological story of Zeus’ impregnation of Danaë, the beautiful daughter of King Akrisios. In the painting Danaë is nude, reclining with a shower of golden coins/rain between her legs. This shower, said to symbolize Zeus and the act of impregnation, runs down the left side of the canvas. Prominently featured in the foreground of the painting is something harder to decipher – a flowing purple gown with circular, bi-morphic forms. Art historians assigned these disks a purely ornamental function, but Gilbert, who studies embryological changes, recognized these forms as embryonic cells, specifically mammalian blastocysts. Could it be that Klimt was aware of blastocysts, described for the first time in the 1880s? Gilbert offers compelling evidence to support that he was and intriguing insight into the allegorical nature and meaning of the painting. In Man, Controller of the Universe (Or Man in the Time Machine) (1934), Diego Rivera includes biological illustrations of cells, bacteria, ovulation and egg development, which unlike Klimt’s stylized/abstract depictions, are borrowed directly from textbooks with scientific accuracy. Dr. Gilbert will explain how Rivera used these symbols to convey communist ideals and mans’ growing control over nature and human reproduction. Frida Kahlo refuted this view in her painting Moses (1945) by using images of dividing cells, embryos and a fetus to represent the erotic consummation of love and to celebrate the generative power of women. Join us to examine this fascinating period in history when science and art intermingled – when biology influenced artistic creativity and created a new language for political and social commentary. Scott Gilbert will again bring science to art with new insight into the history, and meaning of these works. How does an artist paint love? How will you represent and communicate love this Valentine’s Day? We recommend consulting a biology textbook for inspiration and bringing your date to this lecture. Dr. Scott Gilbert is the Howard A. Schneiderman Professor of Biology at Swarthmore College and is a Finland Distinguished Professor at the University of Helsinki. His award-winning research looks at the ways in which evolution is a product of embryological changes. He is published extensively in academic journals and is the author of three textbooks. He is the recipient of many award– to list a few, he received the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Grant, the Viktor Hamburger Prize for Excellence in Education in 2002, the Kowalevsky Prize in Evolutionary Developmental Biology and he is an elected fellow of the AAAS and the St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists. In addition, he is a science historian, musician, and serves on the Wagner Free Institute of Science Advisory Council.  Member Institution Events Thu, 09 Feb 12 17:30:01 http://www.pachs.net/events/archive/negotiating_professional_roles/ http://www.pachs.net/events/archive/negotiating_professional_roles/#When:Wed, 15 Feb 12 12:00:00 Time: 12:00-1:30 p.m. Place: Claire Fagin Hall, Room 435 Abstract: In the first half of the twentieth century, concern for community health, particularly worries over the infant and maternal mortality rates and the increasing number of tuberculosis cases, spurred the development of public health nursing in the United States.  Governmental and non-governmental agencies initiated such programs.  Sometimes, states and local boards of health employed these nurses.  Philanthropic and charity organization such as the American Red Cross and anti-tuberculosis societies sent out nurses. The number of public health nurses and the diversity of organizations supplying them indicate that U.S. society strongly believed in their effectiveness.  Yet, as in contemporary public health efforts, their very number and diversity raised issues that limited their potential to improve the lives of their communities.  Not infrequently, a county nurse, a city nurse, a Red Cross nurse, and a school nurse would practice in the same locale at the same time.  Each nurse provided important health care and instruction, but without clear boundaries, their activities overlapped, resulting in inefficiencies and conflicts in the health care system. In this presentation Apple begins her analysis of the processes and procedures that public health nurses employed to negotiate blurry professional roles.  The specifics of every-day life document the tensions and achievements of nurses struggling with an inchoate public health system.  Their examples provide useful points for the analysis of evolving public health systems today. To download the seminar flyer, please click here. Can’t make it in person?  Join the webinar!  To register, click here. Member Institution Events Wed, 15 Feb 12 12:00:00 http://www.pachs.net/events/archive/tales_of_nineteenth_century_russian_mathematics/ http://www.pachs.net/events/archive/tales_of_nineteenth_century_russian_mathematics/#When:Thu, 16 Feb 12 18:00:00 Time: 6:00 p.m. Place: Room 103, Mendel Science Center, Villanova University The Moscow Mathematical Society, which grew out of a math circle, had its first meeting on September 27, 1864. It was founded with the purpose of promoting mathematical sciences in Russia. In few years, it started the publication of the “Mathematichekij Sbornik,” the first Russian Mathematics Journal. The Moscow Society reflected the philosophy of the Moscow School of Mathematics which rejected the importance of applied mathematics and emphasized mysticism and spirituality, whereas the St. Petersburg School of Mathematics, influenced by the French school, saw the importance of practical applications in development of mathematical ideas. Area Events Thu, 16 Feb 12 18:00:00 http://www.pachs.net/blogs/comments/an_introduction_to_the_astrolabe/ http://www.pachs.net/blogs/comments/an_introduction_to_the_astrolabe/#When:05:16:00Z This post make available an ePamphlet version of my “Introductory History of Astrolabes.” The pamphlet is currently available as a PDF or an iBooks format. History Tue, 07 Feb 12 05:16:00 -0500 http://www.pachs.net/blogs/comments/plague_textual_analysis/ http://www.pachs.net/blogs/comments/plague_textual_analysis/#When:18:40:00Z I wanted to see what happens when you feed a few plague tracts into Wordle and to think about whether or not it would be useful in my course on plagues and epidemics. While I’m not sure if it is useful, the results are interesting. History Mon, 06 Feb 12 18:40:00 -0500 http://www.pachs.net/blogs/comments/marketing_drugs_then_and_now/ http://www.pachs.net/blogs/comments/marketing_drugs_then_and_now/#When:17:06:00Z An article in the NY Times reports on Mary Ebeling’s recent research on direct marketing in the pharmaceutical industry. It recalls for me the techniques used a century ago to sell patent medicines. History Sun, 29 Jan 12 17:06:00 -0500 http://www.pachs.net/blogs/comments/grinding_telescope_mirrors_then_and_now/ http://www.pachs.net/blogs/comments/grinding_telescope_mirrors_then_and_now/#When:19:06:00Z The recent article at NPR on grinding mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope reveals that tacit knowledge and skills are as important now as ever. Technological developments and sophistication do not reduce the role of the skilled technician. Fri, 27 Jan 12 19:06:00 -0500 http://www.pachs.net/blogs/comments/an_introductory_history_of_astrolabes/ http://www.pachs.net/blogs/comments/an_introductory_history_of_astrolabes/#When:03:58:00Z Shanna Freeman over at Curiosity.com made a significant error in her comments about the astrolabe. In order to correct her missteps, I decided to post a draft of a history of astrolabes I wrote a few years back. History Fri, 27 Jan 12 03:58:00 -0500 http://www.pachs.net/about/news/experiment_and_good_sense_must_direct_you/ http://www.pachs.net/about/news/experiment_and_good_sense_must_direct_you/#When:16:07:00Z Claire Gherini is a student at Johns Hopkins University.  She received a 2011-2012 Dissertation Research Fellowship for her research that links the formal, printed medical ideas theorizing the relationship between illness, season, and climate that emerged among physicians in the eighteenth century to the experimentation with new treatments for illness that took place on the ground in plantations in South Carolina, Virginia, and the British West Indies. Thu, 19 Jan 12 16:07:00 -0500 http://www.pachs.net/about/news/cfp_joint_atlantic_seminar_47/ http://www.pachs.net/about/news/cfp_joint_atlantic_seminar_47/#When:18:54:00Z The 47th Joint Atlantic Seminar for the History of Biology will be held at the University of Pennsylvania on April 20-21, 2011. Abstracts (200 words) of papers submitted for presentation are due by Wednesday February 1st, 2012 at 5pm. Tue, 13 Dec 11 18:54:00 -0500 http://www.pachs.net/about/news/fellow_update_karin_eckholm/ http://www.pachs.net/about/news/fellow_update_karin_eckholm/#When:20:08:00Z Karin Eckholm, 2008-2009 Dissertation Research Fellow, has sent us an update on her activities since leaving PACHS. Thu, 08 Dec 11 20:08:00 -0500 http://www.pachs.net/about/news/support_the_center/ http://www.pachs.net/about/news/support_the_center/#When:20:07:00Z Show your support for the Center by clicking here to make a donation. Tue, 06 Dec 11 20:07:00 -0500 http://www.pachs.net/about/news/environmentalism_health_and_policy/ http://www.pachs.net/about/news/environmentalism_health_and_policy/#When:18:42:00Z The Department of History of Science & Technology at Johns Hopkins University invites proposals that explore new themes and perspectives on environmental problems, both past and present. Tue, 06 Dec 11 18:42:00 -0500