People

Jimena Canales

Associate Professor of the History of Science

Jimena Canales works on Experimental History of Science (EHS) in which the historical development of science is not judged according to contemporary standards. A Tenth of a Second argues that:

"Scientists observe, develop theory and experiment, but first they redraw metaphysical boundaries, redefining the very meaning of what is considered to be human, nonhuman, and beast. They shape the contours and alter hierarchies between the social, the political, the historical and the natural. It is more urgent to work on how these divisions arise and to understand their repercussions than it is to study derivative scientific controversies and results."

Canales sees the relation between science and history as the central intellectual problem of modern times starting at around 1850. This problem haunts the physical sciences (particularly thermodynamics), the life sciences (microbiology), theories of evolution, and history as a discipline. EHS focuses on the relation between science, technology and history as the central intellectual problem of modern times.

Publications:

For the final version of the following articles, please refer to the originals in print. The copyright for these texts is with the publisher. Please contact the publisher for any use other than private reading.

Book:

A Tenth of a Second: A History (Chicago: Chicago University Press, October 2009).

Speaking about "A Tenth of a Second" on “The Forum” BBC World Service, 29/08/2010

Articles & Book Chapters:

"Flash Force: A Visual History of Might, Right and Light," Seeing With Eyes Closed, ed. Elena Agudio and Ivana Franke (Fibo Druck und Design, Munich: 2011), pp. 34-41.
“Of Twins and Time,” In Neutrality in Twentieth-Century Europe: Intersections of Science, Culture and Politics after the First World War, Lettevall, Somsen, Widmalm eds. (Routledge Press: forthcoming 2011).
“A Science of Signals: Einstein, Inertia, and the Postal System,” Thresholds 39 (March 2011), pp. 12-25

“Desired Machines: Cinema and the World in its Own Image,” Science in Context 24 (2011), pp. 329-359.
“‘A Number of Scenes in a Badly Cut Film’: Observation in the Age of Strobe.” In Histories of Scientific Observation, ed. Lorraine Daston and Elizabeth Lunbeck (University of Chicago Press, 2011).
“Presentación de La Guerra del Tiempo: Einstein, Bergson y Poincaré: Un Debate Científico y Filosófico,” Revista de Occidente (October 2010), pp. 71 - 90.

“El Duelo del Tiempo,” ABCD: Las Artes y las Letras, Page 1, Page 2, 16 January 2010, No. 932, p.18-19.
“Putting Facts in their Proper Place,” In The Matter of Fact 2.0 (Exhibition Catalog, Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, 2009).
“Die Geschwindigkeit des Empfindens: Philosophie im Zeitalter der Bewegungstechnologien.” In Parasiten und Sirenen, ed. By Bernhard J. Dotzler and Henning Schmidgen (Transcript: Bielefeld, 2008), pp. 83-106.
“Pieles Criminales,” ABCD: Las Artes y las Letras (13-19 September 2008), pp. 6-7.
“Introduction.” In The Matter of Fact (Exhibition Catalog Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, 2008), pp. 2-3.
“Einstein, Bergson, and the Experiment that Failed: Intellectual Cooperation at the League of Nations,” Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science, ed. by Michal Kokowski (The Press of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2007), 723-724
“Sensational Differences: The Case of the Transit of Venus,” Cahiers François Viète 11-12 (2007): 15-40.
“Contacto Celestial: Un Instante en la Ciencia,” In Variedad Sin Límites: Las Representaciones en la Ciencia, edited by Edna Suárez Díaz, (México: UNAM and Limusa, forthcoming).
“Movement before Cinematography: The High-Speed Qualities of Sentiment,” Journal of Visual Culture 5 (2006): 275-294.
“Einstein, Bergson, and the Experiment that Failed: Intellectual Cooperation at the League of Nations,” Modern Language Notes 120 (2005): 1168-1191.
“Criminal Skins: Tattoos and Modern Architecture in the work of Adolf Loos,” Architectural History: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 48 (2005): 235-256.
“Cultures of Astronomy,” In Time, Life and Matter (Exhibition Catalog Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, 2007, p. 7.
“Photogenic Venus: The 'Cinematographic Turn' in Science and its Alternatives,” Isis 93 (2002): 585-613.
“Ornamento y Crimen: Tatuajes, Antropología Criminal, y Arquitectura Moderna,” Celeste (2001): 30-32.
“Exit the Frog, Enter the Human: Astronomy, Physiology and Experimental Psychology in the Nineteenth Century,” British Journal for the History of Science 34 (2001): 173-197.
“The Single Eye: Reevaluating Ancien Régime Science,” History of Science 39 (2001): 71-94.