Conecta. Boletín de Hª de la Ciencia, la Medicina y la Tecnología

4S/EASST Open panel final call: Disease and health in humans and nonhumans

2012-03-12T19:09:00.002+01:00

Call for abstracts for an open panel at at the upcoming 4S/EASST conference in Copenhagen, October 17-20, 2012: http://4sonline.org/meeting

Disease and health in humans and nonhumans

The past twenty years have seen a series of disease crises, both acute and chronic, which have highlighted the entangled nature of relations between humans and nonhumans (with both other animals and wider environments). Such incidents have included the SARS, avian and swine influenza outbreaks, and the related possibilities of global pandemics; but also more familiar, chronic and re-emerging disease problems such as tuberculosis. In response to these events, as well as the potential implications of ongoing environmental change for disease risks, the “One World, One Medicine, One Health” approach has rapidly gained visibility in the worlds of public health, medical, biological and veterinary sciences, promoting communication and research collaboration across these specialisms. However, at present it is unclear how such a movement will engage with the variety of research, clinical, communicative and knowledge building practices involved in these disciplines, nor indeed varying understandings of the categories ‘health’ and ‘disease’. This panel invites papers addressing the broad theme of disease and/or health across humans and nonhumans, asking, for example, how research and practice across these domains has come together (or been split apart) at what times and places, and under what circumstances? Case study, media, practice or theoretically based work will all be welcomed. Further to this, how can STS approaches be best applied in this domain, and to what end?

For further information, please contact Dr. Angela Cassidy, Imperial College London: angela.cassidy@imperial.ac.uk

Submission

Please submit abstracts of 250 words maximum (to panel #4 “Disease and health in humans and nonhumans”) online here: http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/ssss/4s12/

*Deadline March 18 2012*

--
Research Associate: One Medicine? Investigating human and animal disease, 1850-2015
Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHoSTM),
Imperial College London

email: angela.cassidy@gmail.com; angela.cassidy@imperial.ac.uk
web: http://imperial.academia.edu/AngelaCassidy

Call for Papers: Animal Models, Model Animals? Meanings and Practices in the History of the Biomedical Sciences

2012-03-11T09:56:00.002+01:00

http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/call-for-papers-animal-models-model-animals-meanings-and-practices-in-the-history-of-the-biomedical-sciences-manchester-21-september-2012-deadline-31-may-2012/?lang=nl

Call for Papers: Animal Models, Model Animals? Meanings and Practices in the History of the Biomedical Sciences

Manchester, United Kingdom 21 September 2012

Deadline 31 May 2012

Proposals are invited for a One-Day Workshop examining the changing uses of animal models in biomedical research to be held at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM), University of Manchester, on Friday 21st September 2012.

Recent years have seen increasing scholarly interest in the discursive and material analysis of animal models. This workshop will bring together scholars working in this area to address how biomedical modelling of human diseases in nonhuman animals differs from the use of models in other contexts. Biomedical animal models require human disease to be transposed to nonhuman animals, a process that is by no means linear. Furthermore, models possess duel identities operating to describe new knowledge whilst simultaneously prescribing what knowledge can be known.

These multiple roles raise many questions to be addressed at the Workshop. How are animal models created, communicated, institutionalised? How do animal models obtain utility within experimental research practice whilst sustaining clinical relevance? How are these processes informed by, and how do they inform, the construction and maintenance of communication between experimental and clinical understandings and definitions of specific diseases? To what extent has the development of an animal model, and its subsequently institutionalization as a standard model, served to open up or close down innovation within specific trajectories of disease research? What is lost and what is gained when an animal model becomes a model animal? How, when, and why did experimental animals becomes models? What labour have animal models performed outside of experimental research, for example by sustaining or focussing large scale funding about a particular approach? How have models been aligned with clinical research, therapy, and the human patient? Though the language of ‘models’ is broadly a mid to late twentieth century phenomenon, emerging with and catalysed by molecular biology, genetics and the human genome project, we also seek to explore continuities and discontinuities with earlier approaches to experimental animal research.

Papers will focus exclusively on higher organisms, exploring the unique complexities and challenges which their use poses to meaning making in the biomedical sciences. Participants are encouraged to explore how the invention of an ‘animal model’ and/or the intervention of a ‘model animal’ impacted upon the transmission and translation of understandings of disease and therapy from laboratory to clinic.

The workshop is supported by the European Science Foundation DRUGS NETWORKING PROGRAMME (www.drughistory.eu). Papers addressing the key themes of this network (Antibiotics, Chronic Illnesses, Biological Drugs, and Psychochemicals) are particularly welcome. The language of the conference is English.

General enquiries and expressions of interest can be made to: Rob Kirk (robert.g.kirk@manchester.ac.uk) or Michael Worboys (michael.worboys@manchester.ac.uk). Proposals of up to 400 words should be submitted by 31st May 2012.

Conference

Title: Animal Models, Model Animals? Meanings and Practices in the History of the Biomedical Sciences.

Location: Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM), University of Manchester (UK)

Date: Friday 21st September 2012.

Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.

UCL offers Research Associates in arts and humanities - includes HPS and STS

2012-03-11T09:55:00.002+01:00

UCL is offering "Research Associates in arts and humanities" (3 posts)

Grade: UCL Grade 7

Salary: £32,055 - £38,744 per annum inclusive of £2,806 London Allowance

Reports to: Vice-Dean for Research in Arts and Humanities, or Vice-Dean for Research in Social and Historical Sciences

Summary of Role: An interdisciplinary research associateship in the arts and humanities to be held within the newly created UCL Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in the Humanities. Successful candidates will carry out collaborative, interdisciplinary research in the arts and humanities and undertake a limited amount of teaching. Each associateship may be held for a period of two or three years.

For more information: http://tinyurl.com/6lswcpm

Deadline: 27 Apr 2012

Proposals for collaborations with staff in STS should begin with direct contact with them.

Joe

_______________________

Dr Joe Cain

Head of Department

Twitter: @drjoecain

Follow Cain's publications: www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/staff/cain/pubs

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR RETELLING FAMILIAR TALES OF PREGNANCY AND BIRTH IN EUROPEAN CULTURES CONFERENCE (Tues 3rd-Weds 4th July 2012, Oxford)

2012-03-11T09:54:00.002+01:00

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR CONFERENCE (Tues 3rd-Weds 4th July 2012, Oxford) RETELLING FAMILIAR TALES OF PREGNANCY AND BIRTH IN EUROPEAN CULTURES

Purpose of conference

This conference aims to bring together leading specialists from a range of the medical humanities with healthcare professionals to explore the trope of the retelling of stories about pregnancy and birth. While recent work has considered the way in which stories of exceptional pregnancies and unusual births have been told again and again over western history, from Greek mythology and the Old Testament until the present day, the methodological and intellectual questions raised by these retellings have not been discussed in detail. Taking a very broad geographic and chronological focus (Europe from Antiquity to the present day), our objective is to encourage innovative interdisciplinary exchanges by addressing the following questions. How did the growth of print culture in Europe encourage the retelling of familiar birthing tales, and how were new ones added? Why did some stories of pregnancy and birth circulate more widely than others? When stories are retold, which details of the original are always retained, which are lost in the retelling, and how and why do new accretions creep into the story?

Sessions

The gathering particularly looks to provide the opportunity for discussion and exchange on both substance and methodology between, on the one hand, a wide range of academic disciplines contributing to the medical humanities (e.g. cultural history, art history, history of the book, literary scholars) and, on the other hand, health-care practitioners who have been increasingly focused on the oral transmission of case histories (midwives, obstetricians and gynaecologists, psychiatrists). The four sessions proposed are thus wide-ranging and deliberately aim to juxtapose contributions from academics and practitioners in the various sessions.

1) The trope of repetition, or why some tales of pregnancy and birth are retold

2) Exploring accretion and loss: how tales are retold across time (Antiquity to the present) and across different geographic and cultural European contexts

3) Who sees or experiences, who tells and who reads repeated tales: patients, practitioners, witnesses and readers:

4) The significance of the material circulation of repeated tales in word and image

Keynote plenary session: Professor Monica Green (Arizona State University)

Practical Details

The conference sessions, including lunches and dinners, will be held in Lady Margaret Hall, a college of the University of Oxford, located in attractive grounds in the north of the city. We are looking to provide bed and breakfast accommodation in another Oxford college for the nights of 2-3-4 July 2012 for delegates who wish to take advantage of this. Alternatively, Oxford has a range of good guesthouses and hotels for those wishing to organise their own accommodation. We hope to have some bursary support available for students.

Submitting a proposal for a paper

Please email all proposals for papers to Professor Helen King (h.king@open.ac.uk) by 3 April 2012. Papers should last for 20 minutes to allow 10 minutes discussion after each speaker. A proposal should give the title of the paper, an abstract of up to 400 words, and your contact details. Proposals for shared papers or panels are particularly welcome, as are poster presentations. The working language of the conference will be English.

All proposals will be considered by the organising panel: Professor Helen King (Open University), Dr Janette Allotey (Manchester, Chair of De Partu History of Childbirth Group, University of Manchester, and Professor Valerie Worth (Trinity College Oxford)

AHRC Studentship MSc History of Science, Medicine and Technology, Imperial College London

2012-03-11T09:53:00.002+01:00

AHRC MSc Scholarship in History of Science, Medicine and Technology

The Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at (CHoSTM) at Imperial College London invites applications for an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) MSc studentship to begin in October 2012. The scholarship is available to students from the UK, and is fees only for EU students.

Applicants should have an exceptional academic track record and outstanding research potential in the history of science, medicine and technology.

About the Centre and the postgraduate programmes

The history of science and technology has been taught and researched at Imperial since the early 1960s. We are a vibrant intellectual community of approximately 20 faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and PhD students, regularly hosting visiting researchers and visiting doctoral students. The Master’s programme numbers around 30 students, and we teach 400 undergraduates from all departments at Imperial College.

In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, the Centre was awarded the highest rating of all 83 UK history departments: 40 per cent of its research was classed as world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour, with another 40 per cent judged internationally excellent.

Areas of research strength are history of modern medicine and medical and veterinary science; technological risk and the environment 18th c - 20th c; science and technology in the 20th c; government and expertise; the military and war; agriculture. Recent alumni of the Centre’s PhD programme hold positions at Birkbeck College, York University, King’s College London, ETH Zurich, and the Center for Human and Social Sciences, Madrid. For further information about the Centre, please visit: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/historyofscience

The taught MSc programme is the largest of its kind in the UK. Postgraduate students also attend seminars and workshops at other London institutions, such as the Institute of Historical Research, and use the Wellcome Library, the British Library, and London’s many other academic libraries for their research. The Centre is located in the Imperial College Library which includes the UK’s Science Museum Library, one of the world’s foremost collections of printed sources and secondary literature on science, technology, and medicine. For more details please see http://www.londoncentre-hstm.ac.uk/

Application procedure

Application to the MSc programme is via the Imperial College electronic application system, which requests two letters of reference:

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pgprospectus/howtoapply

There is no separate form for the AHRC Scholarship. Please mark the box to indicate you are interested in being considered for funding opportunities.

Applications for the MSc programme are currently being reviewed and applicants are usually interviewed unless overseas. Applications received after 15 April 2012 may not be considered. The award will be announced in May 2012.

To be considered for the award, applicants must submit with their electronic application a 1-2 page personal statement of academic interests, reasons for undertaking postgraduate study in history of science, medicine and technology, and possible areas of dissertation research.

Contacts

General enquiries: CHOSTM Administrator

MSc Admissions Tutor: Dr Rosemary Wall, r.wall@imperial.ac.uk

Carta abierta por la Ciencia en España

2012-03-10T12:41:00.000+01:00

Se adjunta enlace sobre "Carta abierta por la Ciencia en España":

http://www.investigaciondigna.es/wordpress/firma (español)

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Philadelphia

2012-03-09T12:37:00.000+01:00

The Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science invites applications
for a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in the history of science,
technology and medicine, broadly construed. The Center offers a vibrant,
challenging and collegial community. Our fellows participate in many
public and scholarly events, as well as informal reading and writing
groups, held at the Center and throughout the region.

The Center is a consortium of educational and cultural institutions
promoting scholarly and public understanding of the history of science,
technology and medicine. Consortium institutions offer rich
opportunities for research, with a combined total of more than 17
million scientific specimens, 20 million manuscript items, 2.5 million
images, and rare books dating back to the 15th century.

Look on our website at www.pachs.net for further information, an online
application form and a list of current and past fellows. The website
also features: information about the fellowship programs of member
institutions; descriptions of the distinctive collections in the
museums, archives, and libraries of the consortium; and a
consortium-wide search hub for rare books and manuscripts.

U.S. nationals who complete their Ph.D. after 2006 and before August
2012 are eligible for this postdoctoral fellowship.

Applications must be submitted online by April 30, 2012. Applicants must
submit: a Curriculum Vitae limited to three pages and a project
proposal, limited to 2,500 words, describing their research project and
how it will advance scholarship in the history of science, technology or
medicine. In addition, each applicant must ask two recognized scholars
to submit letters of support through the same web site by May 14, 2012.

The Center's postdoctoral fellowship program is being launched with the
generous support of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation.

--
   Babak Ashrafi
   Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science
   431 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106
   www.pachs.net    267.386-3487
   pachs.net/rss facebook.com/pachsnet twitter.com/pachsnet

Fellowship Opportunity at the Needham Research Institute

2012-03-09T12:36:00.002+01:00

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Research fellowships for US-based scholars
at the Needham Research Institute, Cambridge, UK

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT TO APPROPRIATE RECIPIENTS

The Needham Research Institute (NRI), home of the Science and Civilisation
in China project, provides scholars with excellent facilities for research
into the history of science, technology and medicine in East Asia.

Funds granted by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation make it possible for the
NRI to offer a number of 13-week fellowships tenable at the Institute for
US-based scholars and researchers working within the broad field of the
history of science, technology and medicine in East Asia.

These fellowships are tenable during the academic year which runs from
October 2012 to June, 2013, and preference will normally be given to
scholars who wish to visit the Institute during the Cambridge University
terms which run from October through December 2012, January through March
and April through June, 2013.

Applications must include CV and a description of the work that will be
done during the period of the fellowship, together with two letters of
recommendation from qualified persons.

The project description should indicate why it would be particularly
helpful for the researcher to be able to work at the NRI.

*The deadline for receipt of applications for fellowships to be taken up
during the academic year 2012/2013 is Friday 25^th May 2012.

* The remit of these fellowships is intended to be as wide as is necessary
to maximise the contribution they can make to the development of what is
a varied and lively field, however:

(1) Recipients should normally be engaged in research using primary
materials in East Asian languages. This is not however intended to exclude
candidates who are also using western-language materials to carry out
research into contacts between China and other countries.

(2) Recipients must either hold an academic post in a US university, or be
registered for a research degree in a US university.

The fellowships will meet the costs of economy air travel to the UK,
together with a grant adequate to cover living costs in Cambridge for one
semester, and some support for research expenses and travel in the UK.

While these fellowships are primarily intended to fund one-semester
visits, under exceptional circumstances they may be held for longer
periods.

The fellowships will be awarded without distinction of gender, ethnic
origin or other factors irrelevant to scholarly merit. Other things being
equal, preference will be given to proposals from scholars at an earlier
stage of their careers, but others should not feel precluded from making
applications.

Please send applications and enquiries to:

The Institute Administrator
Needham Research Institute
8 Sylvester Road,
Cambridge CB3 9AF

Email: admin[put the "at" sign here]nri.org.uk
Details of the NRI may be found at http://www.nri.org.uk

--
Susan Bennett
Institute Administrator
Needham Research Institute
8 Sylvester Road
Cambridge
CB3 9AF
Tel: 01223 311545 Fax: 01223 362703
www:http://www.nri.org.uk

VIRTUAL CONFERENCE: Fukushima - Looking back to look forward. 11-12 May]

2012-03-09T12:35:00.003+01:00

3.11 Virtual Conference: Looking back to look forward
11-12 March 2012
Begins 11 March, 8:00 a.m., Japan Standard Time (6:00 p.m., March 10, EST)http://fukushimaforum.wordpress.com/online-forum/
On the one-year anniversary of the triple disasters that devastated
eastern Japan we welcome you to participate in an interdisciplinary online
conversation, taking place 11-12 March 2012. The event will commemorate
and discuss major issues and concerns raised - and still unsettled -
related to the confluence of last year's earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear
disasters.

Scholars from multiple disciplines, especially in the fields of history of
science and technology and science studies, will lead an online discussion
about this moment of rupture in history in a "virtual conference"
co-sponsored by the Fukushima Forum and Teach 3.11. Taking this time to
reflect deliberately on the harrowing tragedies of 3.11 and the ongoing
recovery processes in and surrounding the Tohoku region of Japan, this
meeting provides a forum for colleagues to show solidarity and exchange
ideas, questions, and concerns related to issues that seem to have no
immediate closure. Looking at the past to think about the future, this
online conversation aims to facilitate thoughtful discussion about the
triple disasters. In addition, it provides a space in which to consider
how our multidisciplinary experiences in the historical, anthropological,
and social studies of science, technology, environment, and medicine
continue to inform our own understandings of issues, while also
considering how this confluence of catastrophes presents a disciplinary
rupture, so to speak, exposing the importance of familiarity with Asian
languages and culture.
The format of the virtual conference will consist of a 48-hour period of
open online dialogue and commenting in response to several essays that
will be posted at the Fukushima Forum web site (please sign on athttp://fukushimaforum.wordpress.com/conferences/ ). Scholars of any
discipline are invited to contribute to this discussion on the Fukushima
Forum blog, and/or inamoreinformal,
conversationalsettingontheFukushimaForumGoogleGroupssite (please register
at http://groups.google.com/group/fukushima-forum?hl=en ). Registration is
open and ongoing through 12 March. Participants are also encouraged to
submit their own topics and essays for conversation as well as to share
information; moderation in both instances will be provided throughout by
the co-sponsors.

Throughout the two-day online conference, comments may touch upon these
and other topics:
-- histories of tsunami, earthquakes, environment, geological sciences,
ocean sciences, and nuclear science in Japan and in relation to other
countries
-- the impact of the disasters on Japanese citizens and communities,
neighboring countries
-- global and popular culture reactions to the disasters
-- Japanese nuclear power in light of history of atomic bomb and postwar
US occupation
-- waste remediation and labor practices
-- government management/public policy of disasters in Japan and beyond
-- refugees and displacement, poverty, public health, and food safety in
Japan
-- commemoration and historical memory
-- research agendas and research communities going forward
For more information, please contact Scott Gabriel Knowles at
sgk23@drexel.edu.
Co-Sponsors:
Fukushima Forum consists of a group of scholars who have formed to
exchange ideas around the science, technology, and society (STS)
dimensions of the 3.11 disasters.
Teach 3.11 (www.teach311.wordpress.com) is a multi-language, online
collaborative educational project that serves to introduce resources
useful to "teach the disaster" through the lens of history of science,
technology, environment, and medicine in global East Asia. Teach 3.11 is
also a project of the Forum for the History of Science in Asia.

--
Scott Gabriel Knowles, Ph.D.
Drexel University
Associate Professor, Department of History and Politics
Associate Dean and Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry, Pennoni
Honors College

3141 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA, 19104
Phone: 215-895-6762; Fax: 215-895-6614http://www.drexel.edu/greatworks/

Dissertations

2012-03-09T12:35:00.000+01:00

Colleagues:

The most recent list of recent doctoral dissertations world wide
pertaining to the history of medicine and science can be viewed at:
http://www.hsls.pitt.edu/guides/histmed/dissertations/

John Erlen
University of Pittsburgh

SHOT IEEE Life Members' Prize in Electrical History

2012-03-09T12:34:00.002+01:00

The IEEE Life Members' Prize

The IEEE Life Members' Prize in Electrical History, supported by the IEEE
Life Members' Fund and administered by the Society for the History of
Technology, is awarded annually to the best paper in the history of
electrotechnology—power, electronics, telecommunications, and computer
science—published during the preceding year. Any article published in a
learned periodical is eligible if it treats the art or engineering aspects
of electrotechnology and its practitioners. The article must be written in
English, although the journal or periodical in which it appears may be a
foreign language publication. The prize consists of a cash award of $500
and a certificate. To nominate an article, please send a copy of the paper
to each member of the prize committee. Deadline is 15 April.

For more information, please contact the committee chair or Bernie
Carlson, SHOT Secretary, 434.987.6230, shot@virginia.edu.

2012 IEEE Life Members' Prize Committee

Ross Bassett, Chair
(2011-2013)
History Dept.
North Carolina State University
350 Withers Hall
Campus Box 8108
Raleigh, NC 27695-8108 USA
history485@gmail.com

Maja Fjaestad (2012-14)
Division of History of Science and Technology
Royal Institute of Technology
SE-100 44 Stockholm, Swedenmaja.fjaestad@abe.kth.se

Eden Medina (2010-2012)
School of Informatics and Computing
Indiana University
901 E. 10th Street, Room 305
Bloomington, Indiana 47408 USA
eden.medina@gmail.com

Full details are at:http://www.historyoftechnology.org/awards/ieee.html

Caltech Archives' grants-in-aid deadline May 1

2012-03-09T12:33:00.002+01:00

California Institute of Technology Archives

Grants-In-Aid

The Victor and Joy Wouk Grant-in-Aid Program offers research assistance up
to $2000 for work in the Papers of Victor Wouk in the Caltech Archives.
The Maurice A. Biot Archives Fund offers research assistance up to $2000
to use the collections at the Caltech Archives. For all funds,
applications will be accepted from students working towards a graduate
degree or from established scholars. Awards are not limited to U.S.
citizens. Graduate students must have completed one year of study prior
to receiving a grant-in-aid. For the Biot award, preference will be given
to those working in the history of technology, especially in the fields of
aeronautics, applied mechanics and geophysics. No applicant may receive
more than two awards, and awards will not be given to the same applicant
in consecutive 12-month periods.

Grants-in-aid, which may be taxable, may be used for travel and living
expenses, for photocopy or other photo-reproduction costs related to the
research project, and for miscellaneous research expenses.

For further information on holdings and online resources, please consult
the Archives' web page: http://archives.caltech.edu.

Application forms may be downloaded from the web site (through the link
"Grants-in-Aid") or may be obtained by e-mail:
archives@caltech.edu<mailto:archives@caltech.edu>; or by writing to the
Archivist at Caltech Archives, Mail Code 015A-74, Pasadena, CA 91125.
Deadlines occur twice annually, on May 1 and November 1.

Shelley (Charlotte) Erwin, PhD
Head, Archives & Special Collections
California Institute of Technology
Mail Code 015A-74
Pasadena, California 91125
Telephone: 626-395-2702
Fax: 626-395-4073

13th International Conference on the History of Science in China (13th ICHSC)

2012-03-09T12:32:00.002+01:00

THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Institute for the History of Natural Science

&

THE HELLENIC OPEN UNIVERSITY

GREECE

The 13th International Conference on the History of Science in China (13th
ICHSC)

and

The International Conference on Chinese History of Science and Its
Interaction with Greek Civilization (ICCHS-IIGC)

(Athens, Greece, 22-27 July 2012)

Theme

History of Science and Technology in China:

The perspective of Interacting Civilizations

Organized by

THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (CAST)

Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology

Hosted by

China Association for Science and Technology (CAST)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Co-organized by

The Hellenic Open University

Greece

The 13th International Conference on the History of Science in China (13th
ICHSC) forms part of the series of academic meetings organized triennially
by the Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology (CSHST),
with the sponsorship from CAST and UNESCO. This year’s Conference will be
held for the first time outside China, and will take place in tandem with
the International Conference on Chinese History of Science and its
Interaction with Greek Civilization (ICCHS-IIGC).

The dual Conference is hosted by the Hellenic Open University of Greece
and will take place in Athens, Greece, between 22 and 27 July 2012.

The theme of the Conferences is

“History of Science and Technology in China: The perspective of
Interacting Civilizations”.

The following topics will be the focus of our conferences:

1. Civilizations’ interaction and comparative studies in science and
technology;

2. Studies in ancient Chinese literature concerning science, technology
and medicine;

3. Traditional technology and the intangible cultural and scientific
heritages in the world.

4. Chinese and Greek Civilizations: Similarities and Comparisons in the
fields of Science, Technology and Philosophy.

Practical Information

Dates: 22-27 July 2012

Venue: Athens, Greece

Official Language: English, Chinese

Registration Fees:

Regular participant

Before 15 March 2012: EUROS 360

After 15 March 2012: EUROS 420

Accompanying person

Before 15 March 2012: EUROS 220

After 15 March 2010: EUROS 360

Students

Half prices for PhD candidates (limited)

Accommodation（per night）

DATES: IN 22/07/2012 ‐ OUT 27/07/2012 (5 OVERNIGHTS)

HOTEL ROYAL OLYMPIC

5-star Hotel located at the heart of Athens very near the ancient monuments

Room type/ Rates per room, per night, on BB basis

EXECUTIVE ROOMS

Single or Double Rooms € 110.00 (RMB900)

* No service charge needed, breakfast included in all standards.

** The rates listed above are specially reduced room rates for Conference
participants and accompanying persons. Please return the Hotel Reservation
Form to Conference Secretariat by E-mail or Fax as early as possible, but
not later than 20 March 2012.

The Registration Fee covers conference documents, tea/coffee services &
snacks every day, one welcoming Reception (drinks and snacks) and one
Banquet-Gala Dinner at the Hotels’ rooftop terrace overlooking the
Acropolis; accompanying persons are also welcome to the reception and
banquet.

Please contact Prof. LU Dalong ludalong@gmail.com

(CC: angel.han_1988@yahoo.com.cn) for instructions regarding bank payments

Important Dates

15 March 2012

Regular fee for Registration

Deadline for English Abstract

20 March 2012

Accommodation is confirmed by the participants.

1 April 2012

The Second Circular

Deadline for Conference Paper

English preferable; the participants presenting in Chinese are requested
to produce either detailed abstracts or handouts in English.

1 May 2012

Formal invitation letter is sent

Deadline for Hotel Reservation with specially reduced rates.

The Third Circular

The Registration, Abstract and Accommodation Forms could be downloaded
from the website of CSHSC & the Conference website (under construction).

The Lists of Conference Advisors, Scientific Committee, Organizing
Committee, and other scientific activities will be announced in the Second
Circular.

Local Organizing Committee

KALDIS, Byron bkald@eap.gr

LIAO Yuqun, IHNS, CAS; President of CSHST

MEI Jianjun, University of Science and Technology Beijing; Vice President
of CSHST

QU Anjing, Northwestern University

ZHANG Li, IHNS, CAS

Address of the 13thICHSC

Secretariat

The 13th International Conference on History of Science in China (13thICHSC)

55 Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100190, China

Tel: 0086-10-57552527

Fax: 0086-10-57552567

Email: angel.han_1988@yaohoo.com.cn

Website: http://www.cshst.org.cn/13thichsc.htm

& PROF BYRON KALDIS

THE HELLENIC OPEN UNIVERSITY

www.eap.gr

bkald@eap.gr

Call for Papers: Technique, Technology and Therapy in the Medicine of Mind and Brain, 1850-2011

2012-03-09T12:31:00.002+01:00

Call for Papers: Technique, Technology and Therapy in the Medicine of Mind
and Brain, 1850-2011

We invite abstract submissions for an interdisciplinary workshop, which
will be held at Clarkson University on May 4th and 5th, 2012.
Handling the brain; examining the body; preparing capillary tubes;
dissecting a rat hippocampus; sectioning and staining tissue samples;
stereoscopy; freezing microtomes; electroencephalography; cinematography;
psychometric tests; fMRI; psychoactive drugs - these are but a few
examples of techniques, technologies and therapies that have had enormous
import in the medicine of the mind and brain. While receiving increasing
attention over the past several decades, the clinical specialties that
deal with the brain and the mind - psychiatry, psychology, neurology,
neurosurgery - have mostly been discussed in isolation of one another. We
therefore propose a workshop that brings together scholars who are
interested in these medical specialties to address the complicated
relationship between medical practice and the techniques, technologies,
and therapies that inform it.

From talk therapy to stem cell therapy, from X-rays to fMRIs, from
subtemporal decompression to deep-brain stimulation, over the past century
and a half different kinds of techniques and technologies have shaped
clinical practice and medical epistemology, while at the same time staging
an intervention in the doctor-patient relationship and buttressing the
cultural authority of the medical specialties of the mind and brain. Such
techniques, technologies, and therapies open puzzling historical,
sociological, and anthropological questions: What is the relationship
between technique, technology and therapy? How have each separately
constructed the medicine of the mind and brain? In what ways have they
informed scientific knowledge and clinical practice? How are they
circulated, exchanged, moved, and commodified? Is there an easy
translation among them; are there evident disruptions and slippages
between them?

By inviting scholars to discuss case studies that address specific
techniques and technologies, we seek to train an analytic spotlight on
therapy and to shed light on the ways in which therapy played a similar or
different role in the history of each of the specialties that focused on
mind and brain medicine.

We invite papers that explore these questions empirically or theoretically
from any disciplinary perspective.

Located in Potsdam, NY, Clarkson University is a small engineering
university just north of the Adirondack Mountains. Potsdam can be easily
reached by car from Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal or by first flying to
Ottawa, Montreal, Albany, or Syracuse and then renting a car and driving
from those locations.

Please send a 300-word abstract by March 16th, 2012 to Stephen Casper and
Delia Gavrus (StephenTCasper@gmail.com<mailto:StephenTCasper@gmail.com>)
Stephen T Casper (Humanities & Social Sciences, Clarkson University)
Delia Gavrus (Social Studies of Medicine, McGill University)

http://www.dictionaryofneurology.com/2012/03/call-for-papers-technique-technology.html

Call for Applications: Second European Advanced Seminar in the Philosophy of the Life Sciences--In Vivo, ex Vivo, in Vitro, in Silico: Models in the Life Sciences

2012-03-09T12:30:00.000+01:00

Call for Applications: Second European Advanced Seminar in the Philosophy
of the Life Sciences--In Vivo, ex Vivo, in Vitro, in Silico: Models in the
Life Sciences

Hosted by the Brocher Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland, September 10-14, 2012

Participating Institutions
Brocher Foundation
ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society, University of Exeter (Exeter, UK)
European School for Molecular Medicine (Milan, I)
Institut d'Histoire de la Médecine et de la Santé (Geneva, CH)
Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques,
Paris-1 Sorbonne (Paris, F)
Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (Altenberg, A)
University of Bielefeld (Bielefeld, D)

Directors of the Seminar
Bernardino Fantini (Geneva), Philippe Huneman (Paris), Marcel Weber (Geneva)

The European Advanced School for the Philosophy of Life Sciences will hold
its meeting on September 10-14 at the Brocher Foundation (Geneva), on the
topic: In Vivo, ex Vivo, in Vitro, in Silico: Models in the Life Sciences
PhD students and early career researchers from a large spectrum of
disciplines and interests in history and philosophy of biology as well as
life sciences are invited to submit an application, by sending a letter of
motivation, CV and abstract in a single file:

name-easpls2012.pdf to Philippe Hunemann at
huneman@wanadoo.fr<mailto:huneman@wanadoo.fr>

Deadline for applications: March 19, 2012

Applications will be evaluated and applicants will be notified acceptance
before the end of May.

EASPLS: General presentation
The European Advanced School for the Philosophy of Life Sciences is
organized by six top level institutions in the philosophy and history of
life sciences and aims at fostering research, advancement of students and
collaborations in the field of the philosophy of biomedical sciences.

After a preliminary meeting of the EASPLS in Gorino Sullam (Italy) in
2008, the first EASPLS "Causation and disease in the post-genomic era" was
held at the Brocher Foundation in September 2010, as the 2012 will be.
Meetings are planned to be held every other year. The Brocher Foundation
is located in Hermance, near Geneva, in a beautiful setting along the Lake
Léman. The accommodation will be a hotel situated next to the Foundation.

Registration fee: 550 Chf, including room and board.

The Brocher Foundation provides a limited number of fellowships to support
junior participants. Those wishing to apply for these fellowships should
do so in a separate letter and include it in their application file.

The schedule mixes presentations of senior researchers, postdoctoral
researchers and PhD students. The selected contributors will be either
asked to give a paper on the topic they propose, or asked to comment on
one of the senior researchers' presentations, according to decision of the
committee based on the examination of the set of applications. Each
presentation lasts 40mn with a 20mn comment and discussion. People who do
not want to comment on a paper should make this clear in the application.
Some papers resulting from the meeting will be selected for submission to
a special issue of History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, as it was
the case for papers of the last EASPLS. Publication will be subject to the
normal peer review process of the journal.

The topic: In Vivo, ex Vivo, in Vitro, in Silico: Models in Life Sciences.

This topic is very broad, timely, and of theoretical and methodological
interest for philosophers as well as for medical researchers and
biologists.
As mathematician, economist and physicist John von Neumann put it in a
provocative way 60 years ago: "The sciences do not try to explain, they
hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models." All sciences
indeed make models of phenomena, in order to describe them in a way which
makes salient their most explanatory features regarding at least the
questions we are asking. Models can take many forms, including analytical
models, viz., sets of ordinary or partial differential equations (e.g.,
the Lotka-Volterra equations in population genetics), or computer models
(e.g., cellular automata, agent based models, logical approaches to
computation, etc.), i.e., in silico models. But in the life sciences there
are also "in vivo models" - organisms whose study is supposed to provide
an understanding of much more encompassing phenomena. Most famous is the
Drosophila melanogaster used by geneticists and molecular biologists;
mice, nematodes (e.g., Caenorhabditis elegans), the plant Aradobipsis
thaliana, and all the bacteria used for experimenting on long term
evolution are other prominent "model organisms." These raise specific
epistemological problems. Medicine appeals to model organisms constantly
as clinical trials on human beings should be the last step only of a
methodical set of experiments on non-human subjects, so that the risk of
the human trials are maximally minimized.

There are also in vitro studies, which isolate specific living processes
and reproduce them in laboratory conditions - a common method in
biochemistry, cell biology, molecular genetics, etc. Here, what is going
on in test tubes is supposed to model the real processes taking place in
organisms, or in nature in general, whereas many conditions of these real
processes are simply neglected - above all, the fact that they take place
in a living organism. This method stimulated criticisms from the
beginnings of physiology in the 18th century, where vitalist physicians
accused experimental biologists of studying mere artifacts, since those
phenomena are part of the whole organism in its natural environment, from
which the scientist abstracts away. However, countless are the results
acquired since two centuries thanks to those models.

For a long time philosophy of science focused on theories - and whether
they find out 'laws of nature' - according to the framework defined by
logical positivism in the 1930s. Since the 1970s, many doubts have been
cast on this framework. Alternative views of science flourished, and many
philosophers of science turned to studying the epistemological nature of
scientific modeling. They made significant advances about the kind of
knowledge models do provide, their relationships with theories, laws of
nature or experiments, as well as the consequences of a conception of
models for the debates about realism vs. instrumentalism, the criteria and
importance of reasonable assumptions in designing models, etc. They
distinguished mathematical and simulated models, they identified epistemic
values such as genericity, realism or precision, which may not be
reachable at the same time (as ecologist Richard Levins pointed out in
1966), triggering a considerable amount of debates in the field. They
questioned cases where one has several different models for the same
phenomenon, and what this means for explanatory pluralism. They also
considered inverse cases where several different phenomena have a common
model, like in the case of behavioral ecology and microeconomics, which
can both be modeled through game theory. Robustness analysis, as a way to
cope with the plurality of models has been scrutinized.

However, the use of the four kinds of models - in vitro, in vivo, ex vivo,
in silico - in the life sciences brings to the fore many particular
issues, because the scientific knowledge in this case is produced through
the entanglement of those four kinds of models. Model organisms raise, for
sure, specific problems, such as: how can we generalize from experiments
on this organism, to teachings about a genus, a family, a clade, or even
(as it is the case on molecular genetics) to all living beings? Given that
the living world has been shaped by evolution, and that the key properties
of being which evolve under natural selection are diversity and variety,
it would not be reasonable to expect many universally shared properties
across living families; therefore this issue of the scope of what we learn
from model organisms is crucial. Much work still needs to be done in order
to understand how model organisms interact with in silico, ex vivo, and
biochemical models, as well as with computer simulation and mathematical
frameworks, in order to produce knowledge.

http://histmed.unige.ch/

Science in the 20th Century and Beyond: Podcast + reminder of Talk and Party

2012-03-09T12:11:00.000+01:00

Here's a podcast of me talking about Science in the 20th Century and Beyond. It's about 30 mins long and covers topics such as the challenges of writing about both the history of life and physical sciences, cross-disciplinary and global histories, accounting for the rise of American science, why 1900 is not a bad time to start a history of science, science and warfare, and the 'working worlds' argument.

freestanding interview (audio) - http://podularity.com/wp-content/audio/agar%20science%20in%2020th%20century.mp3

webpage with audio extracts - http://podularity.com/2012/03/02/jon-agar-science-in-the-twentieth-century-and-beyond/

Plus a reminder that if you are in the London area then you would be welcome to come to a public talk on the history of 20th century science on 26th March (see below).

cheers

Jon

Dr Jon Agar
@jon_agar

Paid research internships at National Maritime Museum/ Royal Observatory Greenwich

2012-03-09T12:08:00.000+01:00

Dear all,

A reminder that applications are open for paid research internships in history of science and technology, based on the object collections at the National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory Greenwich. The deadline is 20 April 2012, and internships (usually 1-2 months) can be taken up between June 2012 and April 2013.

Please see http://www.rmg.co.uk/researchers/fellowships-and-internships/intern-programme/ for further details. All enquiries should go to research@rmg.co.uk.

Best wishes,

Rebekah

Dr Rebekah Higgitt
Curator of History of Science & Technology

National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich | The Queen's House

direct +44 (0) 208 312 6537
Greenwich, London SE10 9NF

[DEADLINE EXTENDED] Borders of Knowledge - The third Flying University of Transnational Humanities

2012-03-09T08:39:00.000+01:00

The Third Flying University of Transnational Humanities

- Global Summer School for Graduate Students and Young Scholars -

Theme: Borders of Knowledge

Date: July 15-18, 2012

Place: Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea

Extended deadline for applications: March 30

Introduction

The Flying University of Transnational Humanities (FUTH) is an annual summer school for graduate students and young scholars interested in the transnational paradigm of humanistic inquiry. FUTH takes its name and immediate inspiration from Poland’s Flying University, an underground institution that offered an alternative education outside the confines of state control and government censorship. The program is particularly concerned with developing critical understandings that resist the ideological and conceptual hegemony of the nation-state and the epistemological and hermeneutic conventions that support it. This does not mean that FUTH seeks to dispense with the “national” and construct a reified “transnational” with which to replace it, or to foster “transnationalism” as an ideological alternative to “nationalism.” Rather, FUTH aims to free our imaginations from essentialist approaches to the nation or the state and to offer new ways of thinking about the political, social and cultural order of the world, both past and present.

The Flying University of Transnational Humanities is accordingly:

Trans-cultural: FUTH not only critically examines the production and circulation of (trans-)national knowledge and culture, but it also problematizes imagined geographies of the “East” and the “West.” We explore periods, places, and subjects as fluid and hybrid, rather than as confined and constrained by geopolitical or cultural boundaries.

Trans-disciplinary: FUTH seeks to comprehend the complex nature of various trans-cultural issues through trans-disciplinary approaches. To that end, FUTH is open to scholars, educators, researchers and students from all academic specializations.

Trans-institutional: FUTH is an intellectual network, founded and run by a global consortium of scholars, departments, and institutions. With the support of this network, we hope to facilitate trans-cultural and trans-disciplinary collaborations.

Program

Started in 2010, the Flying University of Transnational Humanities is organized annually—usually in the summer—by the Research Institute of Comparative History and Culture (RICH), Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea. FUTH consists of a series of advanced lectures, student presentations and feedback sessions where renowned scholars from RICH’s partner and other institutions are invited to share their knowledge, insights and perspectives. Student participants are required to study the recommended readings in advance. They are also expected to present their own scholarly work related to the theme of each year. The official language of FUTH is English, although the possibility of trans-lingual practices is being considered. Graduate students and recent PhDs interested in the transnational turn in the humanities and social sciences are welcome to apply with a presentation proposal.

The overarching theme for the first three years (2010-2012) is “borders.” There have been numerous studies on how borders are constructed, negotiated, and policed and how they are simultaneously transgressed, challenged, and renegotiated. Borders are no longer seen simply as physical divisions but as discursive practices and cultural institutions. However, the multiplicity and hybridity of borders (e.g., national, cultural, geographical, gender, political, economic, etc.), as well as their transnational scalability (e.g., local, national, supranational, global, etc.), have yet to be intensively investigated. To address this gap, the first FUTH “Regions and Regionalization” in 2010 examined regions as sites of bordering practices and processes. In 2011, the second FUTH “Border-crossing Self” extended the scope of discussion to explore the ways in which the construction and performance of subjectivities and identities are connected to the demarcation and transgression of borders.

The third FUTH will take place at Hanyang University, July 15-18, 2012, under the title of “Borders of Knowledge.” As numerous empirical studies in intellectual history, sociology of knowledge, and history/sociology/anthropology of the social, human, and natural sciences have convincingly demonstrated for several decades, the production, dissemination and use of knowledge, though seemingly universal, are always embedded in specific social, cultural, and historical contexts. Often, the subject, the object and the modus operandi of knowledge are defined, construed, and constrained by (national) borders. Knowledge and its associated practices thus shaped may in turn reinforce, reproduce or redefine those very borders. How then, does knowledge travel across borders? Rather than following the naïve modernist assumption that knowledge is spread because it is true and/or is channeled through universally transferable methodical practices, one should approach the travels of knowledge as themselves explananda rather than merely explanans for other phenomena. For instance, one may ask, what are the ways in which locally-produced knowledge is translated, adapted, appropriated, or contested in different local contexts? By the same token, one may also ask, how does knowledge, despite its local origins, come to acquire a proclaimed universality or globality? With such questions as a basis, the third FUTH in 2012 aims to provide graduate students and young scholars with a unique opportunity to critically examine the making and unmaking of the borders of knowledge—including the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, and other forms of knowledge.

Lectures by:

· Johan Heilbron (Centre Européen de Sociologie et de Science Politique de la Sorbonne, France / Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands), “The Human Sciences as a Cultural World System”

· Christian Fleck (Department of Sociology, University of Graz, Austria), “Some Remarks on the Methodologies Used in Writing the History of the Social Sciences and Humanities”

· Alice L. Conklin (Department of History, Ohio State University, U.S.A.), “Race as Social Myth: The Emergence of International Scientific Anti-Racism after World War II”

· Fa-ti Fan (State University of New York-Birminghamton, U.S.A.) , “The Global Turn in the History of Science”

· Yoav Di-Capua (University of Texas-Austen, U.S.A.), TBA

· Michael Kim (Graduate School of International Studies, Yonsei University, Korea), “Crossing the Linguistic Divide: The Boundaries of Knowledge Production in the Publications of Colonial Korea”

Closing Remarks by: Frank Hadler (University of Leipzig, Germany)

*Abstracts and recommended readings at: http://www.rich.ac/eng/fly/courses.php?pageNum=5&subNum=4

Eligibility / How to Apply

FUTH 2012 welcomes applications from graduate students as well as recent PhDs of all fields who are interested in the transnational paradigm of humanistic inquiry and also currently conducting research on topics related to the theme of the making and unmaking of borders of knowledge. All student participants are expected to give a full paper presentation on their own scholarly work.

Applicants should fill out the application form on our website (http://www.rich.ac/eng/fly/apply.php) and send it as attachment to hk.transnational@gmail.com along with their CV, research statement and an abstract of proposed presentation. The deadline for applications is March 30, 2012.

Costs / Accommodation

There is a registration fee of USD 80. While accommodation including breakfast and lunch will be provided, participants are expected to arrange their own funding for travel and daily living expenses. Partial travel grants may be awarded to a limited number of applicants.

For further details, please contact:

Research Assistant Professor Eunhye Kwon: eunhyekwon1@gmail.com

or Acadmic Coordinator Ms. Sunghee Hong: hk.transnational@gmail.com

Research Institute of Comparative History and Culture

College of Humanities, Hanyang University

Seoul 133-791, Korea

E-mail: hk.transnational@gmail.com

Fax: +82-2-2298-0542

Website: http://rich.ac/eng/fly/introduction.php?pageNum=5&subNum=1

SHAC/CHF Rumford Scholarship 2012

2012-03-09T08:35:00.002+01:00

SHAC/CHF Rumford Scholarship: applications open

The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) and the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC) are pleased to invite applications for the

2012-2013 Rumford Scholarship. This annual award will enable the Rumford Scholar to travel to Europe in order to undertake original research in the history of chemistry or alchemy in libraries/archives/museum collections using their particular resources.

The award may be held in any European country. The value of the award is £2300.

Applicants must be either doctoral students or have been awarded a doctorate within three years of 1 January of the year in which the application is submitted. In addition, independent scholars and part-time or adjunct faculty at any point in their academic career are eligible to apply. Applicants must be normally resident in North America.

Applications are due 30 May 2012.

The decision will be announced by 30 June 2012.

For more information or an application, please go to:

http://www.chemheritage.org/research/fellowships-and-travel-grants/beckman-center-fellowships/index.aspx#FellowshipsandTravelGrants

Jennifer Rampling

Wellcome Trust Research Fellow

Department of History and

Philosophy of Science

University of Cambridge

Free School Lane

Cambridge CB2 3RH

CAPHElienS - Histoire et philosophie des sciences en ligne

2012-03-09T08:34:00.002+01:00

I would like to draw your attention to this new and very useful database on history and philosophy of sciences created by the library staff of Caphes (USR 3308-CIRPHLES, CNRS-ENS):

http://www.netvibes.com/capheliens#Accueil

If you have any comments or suggestions about it, please contact Florence Neveux (Centre documentaire du CAPHES):

florence.neveux@ens.fr

All the best,

Elisabetta Basso

Postdoctoral Fellow

USR 3308-CIRPHLES, Caphes

(CNRS-ENS) Paris

Summer University Course on History of Mathematics

2012-03-09T08:31:00.002+01:00

From July 30 to August 17, 2012 Aarhus University in Denmark hosts an international summer course on the history of mathematics. The course will focus on asking and answering research questions in the history of mathematics and is aimed at masters students and PhD students. The course is designed for 5 ECTS credits.
You can enroll in the course if you have a bachelor’s degree in mathematics or a similar background in history of mathematics. Please contact the Aarhus University Summer School staff for help in finding out whether you are eligible for the an exchange student tuition waver. Application deadline is March 15, 2012.
The course is offered within the Aarhus Summer University programme which provides accomodation and a social programme for international students attending the course.
The lecturers will include Tinne Hoff Kjeldsen (Roskilde) and Henrik Kragh Sørensen (Aarhus). The course will be taught in English.
The further contents of the course, a syllabus, and possible guest lecturers will be announced in due course.
For further information, please contact either the Aarhus University Summer School staff or associate professor Henrik Kragh Sørensen (hks@ivs.au.dk).
http://www.au.dk/en/summeruniversity/courses/mathematics/
http://matematikhistorie.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/aarhus-summer-university-2012-history-of-mathematics/

----

Henrik Kragh Sørensen, associate professor

Centre for Science Studies, University of Aarhus

ANN: HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE REVIEW

2012-03-09T08:30:00.002+01:00

HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE REVIEW:

This new illustrated list for professionals and lovers of history and philosophy of science has recently been launched.

Feel free to join, post, and exchange information of use to our community.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hps_review

FACILITATING YOUR RESEARCH - ASSISTING YOUR TEACHING/LEARNING

History and Philosophy of Science Review provides a room for: full information about the current editions of the major periodicals in the field; presentation of important by forgotten old or rare books on history/philosophy of science; reviews of recent research papers or books in the area. All this is accompanied with attractive illustrations. Announcements for upcoming scientific events in the field are also welcomed.

Check the List at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hps_review - join and enjoy

Professor B.V. Toshev, Chemistry: Bulgarian Journal of Science Education http://khimiya.org

Sesiones en la Real Academia Nacional de Medicina: Monasterio de Guadalupe y Pedro Mata

2012-03-08T13:12:00.000+01:00

El día 20 de marzo en la Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (C/Arrieta,12. Madrid), a las 19 horas tendrán lugar las siguientes sesiones científicas:

-El Monasterio de Guadalupe y la docencia de la medicina
Ponente: Luis García-Sancho Martín.

-El Académico D. Pedro Mata en el II Centenario de su nacimiento.
Ponente: Javier Sanz Serrulla.

Call for Papers: Going Critical: 70 Years of Nuclear Energy

2012-03-08T13:11:00.000+01:00

Call for Papers "Going Critical: 70 Years of Nuclear Energy"

The History of Science Unit (HSU) of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra invites papers for the workshop "Going Critical: 70 Years of Nuclear Energy." It will take place at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, November 5th-7th, 2012.

Interdisciplinary and comparative approaches are encouraged. Please submit an abstract of approximately 300 words and a short CV to Albert Presas i Puig (albert.presas@upf.edu) by April 30, 2012.

Workshop description:

Seventy years ago, a select team of physicists working in secrecy at the University of Chicago carefully assembled the first reactor, Chicago Pile-1, a massive "atomic pile" of graphite bricks and uranium fuel which went critical on December 2, 1942. Under the direction of Enrico Fermi, the first man-made nuclear reactor came on line. Within the Manhattan Project aiming at building the world's first atomic bomb, the nuclear pioneers succeeded in controlling a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. This successful initiation of a chain-reacting pile was important not only for its help in assessing the properties of fission - needed for understanding the internal workings of an atomic bomb - but also because it would serve as a pilot plant for the power reactors.

Thereby begun the controlled release of nuclear energy. The atom bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 ushered the world into a new age of energy research. At that time, several nations began their own construction of nuclear reactors, primarily for military use, though research was also being undertaken for civilian electricity generation. December 1953 the US Administration started the "Atoms for Peace" program for the peaceful implementation of nuclear power. In 1955 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were created in order to promote a safe and sustainable nuclear powered world.

The birth and diffusion of nuclear science and technology are probably among the most far-reaching and significant changes in the organizational forms, social and economic role, structure, and contents of science and technology during the 20th century. The complexity and demands of the nuclear energy option in terms of technology, industry, economics and politics constitute strong enough reasons to examine it from a wide variety of perspectives. The aim of interdisciplinary historical reflection on the development of the atomic programs which is proposed in this Workshop is to make a paradigmatic contribution to the generation of a framework of analysis for the assessment of new policies of technological development in general, and of that of energy in particular.

From this point of view, it is important to think over the nature of the nuclear development programs between the 1950s and the 1980s in order to determine their internal dynamics, to establish their defining characteristics and to be able to bring the results to the present-day discussion. The aim of the Workshop is to provide a comparative historical and systematic study of the development and impact of nuclear programs in those European countries which hoped to reach higher levels of industrial and economic development by fostering nuclear power during the post-war period. This Workshop will help to show the historical character of processes of technological development, as well as the need to deploy co-ordinated economic theories and models in order to understand historical processes of techno-scientific and industrial development in contemporary societies. Because of the characteristics of nuclear energy, the results of this Workshop will be of great interest to politicians, the administrators of scientific and industrial policies, sociologists of science and technology, historians of technology and science and of economics, and general historians of 20th-century Europe.

Target questions to consider (among others):

From the point of view of scientific innovation, how was the need to develop nuclear energy justified? Can differences be identified, depending on the political context and the areas of influence of the superpowers?

What role international relations played in the transfer of nuclear technology?

What was the impact of nuclear programs on the scientific and technical development of the respective nations? What was their importance in industry and economic development?

How did nuclear programs influence scientific and technological training systems?

How did the countries receiving the new models of scientific development restructure their scientific-technological fabrics to adapt to the new demands?

What roles were played by such groups as scientists, technicians, politicians and administrators of development? How did scientists and technicians gain acceptance for their claims and findings?What is revealed by comparative studies of the political contexts and areas of influence of the superpowers during the Cold War?

What mechanisms were needed, apart from efforts made in training and innovation, to ensure stable economic development? How was this achieved?

What parameters are common to all of the projects? Where can differences and particularities be identified? Can a general analytical framework be derived for the study of these and other cases?

http://www.upf.edu/hsu/actualitat/going_critical.html

CALL FOR PAPERS: PSYCHICAL RESEARCH IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND THE SCIENCES

2012-03-08T13:04:00.000+01:00

CALL FOR PAPERS:
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND THE SCIENCES
14-15 SEPTEMBER 2012, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

Keynote speakers:
Ivor Grattan-Guinness & Sonu Shamdasani

The UCL Centre for the History of Psychological Disciplines invites original papers for a two-day conference on social, intellectual, epistemological and methodological aspects of psychical research and parapsychology in relation to orthodox medicine and the sciences in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Abstracts for 20-minutes papers should be around 300 words long and must be submitted by 15 June 2012.

We plan to publish a selection of papers in an edited volume.

For enquiries and abstract submissions, please e-mail a.sommer@ucl.ac.uk

Deadline for abstract submissions: 15 June 2012

--------------------------------------------------------------
Andreas Sommer, MA
Doctoral student
Centre for the History of Psychological Disciplines
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/cehp/chpd/current-phd-students/andreas-sommer