Programs

Undergraduate Program - Concentration Requirements

 

History of Science 97 - Sophomore Tutorial

The sophomore tutorial introduces students to basic problems, methods, and topics in the history of science.  The one-semester course is organized into small sections with weekly lectures to the entire class.  The course focuses on how research, reading, and writing are done in the history of science, with attention to exemplary secondary works and to relevant archival materials.  The specific topics and readings may vary from year to year.  Students are expected to develop skills in analyzing original sources and in oral and written presentation.  Tutors assign several papers on specific topics throughout the course.

History of Science 98 - Junior Research Seminar

During the junior year, students spend one term in History of Science 98, the junior research seminar, which is designed to help students come to a better understanding of the craft of historical research and writing.  Students meet in small groups of eight to ten.  For many students, the research seminar is their first opportunity to work closely with an adviser on a topic of their own choosing.  This can be an intellectually exhilarating experience, especially when the student develops a focused project and bibliographic strategy early and works diligently throughout the term.  Over the course of the semester, students identify a research topic, create a proposal, and research and write a 25-page paper.  Students who wish to write a senior thesis must meet certain standards by the end of the research seminar, and will be recommended for admission to History of Science 99, the senior tutorial. 

History of Science 99 - Senior Thesis

The senior tutorial is devoted entirely to writing a senior thesis.  In this project students draw together the different elements of their undergraduate education.  The wisdom and the knowledge they have acquired in the previous three years form the basis for taking a closer and more sustained look at some aspect of science in history.  Producing a good thesis is a deeply satisfying accomplishment but requires a good deal of thought, organization, and commitment.

Most students have some idea of what their general topic will be by the spring of their junior year.  From then on, students and advisers work closely to shape ideas into arguments and questions and to formulate a strategy and work schedule.  The intensity of this guided individual research is balanced by a variety of structures and inducements to collegiality.  Students registered for History of Science 99 participate in a faculty-led seminar that meets irregularly throughout the year to concentrate on the content and the form of the emerging thesis projects; students are also assigned an individual thesis adviser, who may be either a faculty member or an advanced graduate student.  Senior thesis writers are also encouraged to consult other tutors and faculty within and outside the Department.  A complete draft of one chapter must be completed and submitted to both the individual adviser and the seminar leader around mid-December; the finished thesis (25,000 words maximum) is due by early-March.

Students who choose to write a senior thesis are free to pursue a diverse range of topics.  Some examples of theses recently written by students in the concentration include: “On Lawrence Summers, Women, and Science: Changing Debates About the Biology of Sex Differences at Harvard Since 1969,” “Slightly Salivating, Over Your Fever: Mercury in Therapeutic Medicine During the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries,” “Not Gonna Crack? The Unlikely Story of How Lithium Broke into Modern Psychiatry,” “From Whaling to Whale Watching: Human Interaction With Whales in Coastal Massachusetts, 1820-1992,” “Population as Discourse: Medicine in Late Colonial Kenya,” “Whose Voice? Whose History? Human Representation in Edward Palmer's Ethnobotanical Collections, 1869-1896 “A Panel of Judges: The Response of the American Medical Profession to Koch's Discovery of the Tubercle Bacillus,” and “Wild Goose Chase: The Communal Science of Waterfowl Migration Study in North America, 1880-1940.”

Many of our theses go on to win College awards, and some have been published. Students are welcome to look through the collection of past and present senior theses, available in the Department of the History of Science, and also from the Harvard University Archives.

Science Area

Most students choose a straightforward Science area.  Ordinarily, courses should focus on one scientific area or department but students often, and with good reason, combine courses from different departments. 
  
History Area

These courses are split between history of science and such other historical fields as social history, intellectual history, economic history, and political history.  Students should normally take at least three of these courses within the Department of the History of Science.

The main purpose of studying history in conjunction with science as an undergraduate is to develop two parallel and distinct sensibilities.  In the science area, this is achieved by doing advanced work in a particular scientific field.  In the history area, students are expected to master a variety of historical materials and techniques.  One course in the History area should deal with a period before 1800, or with a setting other than North America or Western Europe; otherwise, the courses should combine to provide depth of experience in framing and pursuing historical questions.

Special Considerations for History Area

History courses occasionally show up in language departments, the Divini­ty School, Anthropology, the Kennedy School, the Science, Technology and Society Program at M.I.T.; such courses may be taken by students for concentration credit, provided they have a substantial historical component, as indicated on the syllabus.  Students must show the Director of Undergraduate Studies or Manager of Student Programs a syllabus to obtain approval before registering for the course.

Undergraduate Program