Distinguished Historians of 
Science and Scientists

Distinguished Historians of Science Lectures

Marc Rothenberg, "The History of Science in America 20 Years Later: The Creation Myth," (Minneapolis, MN, 2005)

Sally Gregory Kohlstedt (Denver, CO 2001)
In her Distinguished Historian Lecture for the Forum at the annual meeting of the History of Science Society on November 9, 2001, Sally Gregory Kohlstedt, member of the University of Minnesota's History of Science and Technology Program and the first president of our Forum, included a brief commentary on the Forum that might serve as an ongoing basis for discussion of our mission within and beyond the History of Science Society:

    In the 1970s, Americanists in the history of science often felt excluded.  My commitment to an evolving Forum for the History of Science in America came easily after activist participation in voter registration, Viet Nam teach-ins, and women's studies initiatives.  Determination intensified when the organizers ran into unanticipated opposition from a few senior historians of science that made some of our junior colleagues back away from the project.  Intellectually, too, the question of whether there was a "distinctly American science" (not our claim at all) prompted jibes from those outside the field as well as earnest, insightful responses from advocates like Nathan Reingold.  Our Forum was an effort to counterbalance what some perceived as narrow intellectual history and, equally important, it was an effort to connect not only to historians of science but also to colleagues in American history and American Studies.  As it happens, events have overtaken us even as we produce the newsletter and meet at annual meetings.  Traditionally trained historians of science are now deeply engaged in cultural and social investigations within and indeed well beyond North America and Europe, while scholars in American history and American studies have entire sessions at their annual meetings on eugenics, the rhetoric of nationalism in science, and a fascinating range of other topics.  Perhaps, as Ron Number recently suggested, we have become the establishment.  The governing board of the Forum is rethinking its mission and welcomes advice.  Even as the Forum has achieved a kind of equilibrium status, the new scholarship that examines the subtle meaning of images and imagination, concerns about voice and scholarly ethics, alongside political and economic forces and consequences may already be destabilizing what might otherwise have become comfortable narratives.  In a very different way, the weight of current events may challenge us to reposition our thinking about local and global situatedness.  Perhaps now we need to take more intellectual risks and to recognize our accountability, as scholars, to a broader public.

Home
Back to the Top
Distinguished Scientists

Charles Weiner (Pittsburgh, PA 1999)
Charles Weiner, emeritus professor in the Science, Technology, and Society Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, delivered the Forum's Distinguished Historian of Science Lecture at Pittsburgh on November 5.  Entitled “Shifting the Focus in the History of Science: An Eyewitness Account,” the talk included aspects of an illustrious career in the history of science:  from original work as an “experimental” graduate student at Case Institute of Technology in the 1960s, to trailblazing work in the 1970s and '80s with the Center for History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics, and concluding with his research and teaching in the STS Program at MIT. 

Distinguished Scientist Lectures

James Crow (Milwaukee, WI 2002)

Our Distinguished Scientist speaker is geneticist, James Crow. Professor Crow, now an emeritus Professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, is known for theoretical research in population genetics as well as laboratory research. His accomplishments include developing the concept of genetic load as well as studying DDT resistance in fruit flies. He will be discussing developments in genetics during the twentieth century in general and his role in the field in particular.

Estella B. Leopold (Vancouver, BC 2000)

Home
Back to the Top
Distinguished Historians