Courses, 2011 - 2012
Primarily for Undergraduates
*History of Science 91r. Supervised Reading and ResearchCatalog Number: 1238
Anne Harrington and members of the Department
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Programs of directed reading and research to be conducted by a person approved by the Department.
*History of Science 97. Tutorial — Sophomore Year
Catalog Number: 5235
Anne Harrington
Half course (spring term). M., at 4, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 9
Sophomore tutorial is an introductory course that emphasizes the development of critical reading and discussion skills in the context of the study of the history of science. Students will read key texts written by prominent scholars in the broader discipline of science studies, highlighting critical theoretical and methodological issues in the understanding of science, technology, and medicine.
Note: Required for undergraduate concentration in History and Science.
*History of Science 98. Tutorial — Junior Year
Catalog Number: 1120
Maya Karin Peterson
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
This one-semester junior tutorial is a research-oriented tutorial taken in small groups. Focuses on enhancing research and writing skills through the completion of a directed research paper on subject matter of the student’s interest. Usually taken during the fall semester.
*History of Science 99. Tutorial — Senior Year
Catalog Number: 6619
Christopher James Phillips
Full course. Hours to be arranged.
Faculty-led seminar and intensive work with an individual advisor, directed towards production of the senior honors thesis.
Note: Ordinarily taken by seniors as a full course. May be taken as a half course only if special permission is obtained. Students are expected to complete a thesis or submit a research paper or other approved project in order to receive course credit.
Cross-listed Courses
Culture and Belief 11. Medicine and the Body in East Asia and in Europe
[Culture and Belief 20 (formerly Historical Study A-27). Reason and Faith in the West]
Culture and Belief 34 (formerly Historical Study A-87). Madness and Medicine: Themes in the History of Psychiatry
Culture and Belief 47 (formerly Historical Study B-45). The Darwinian Revolution
Environmental Science and Public Policy 78. Environmental Politics
*Freshman Seminar 25i. On the Witness Stand: Scientific Evidence in the American Courts
*Freshman Seminar 26y. Science, History, and Theatre - (New Course)
*Freshman Seminar 44t. The Atomic Bomb in History and Culture
*Freshman Seminar 45m. The Concept of Race in Science and Medicine in the United States
*Freshman Seminar 47j. Mapping the British Empire - (New Course)
[*History 83b. Historical Ontology]
[Science of Living Systems 12. Understanding Darwinism]
[Science of the Physical Universe 17 (formerly Science A-41). The Einstein Revolution]
United States in the World 13 (formerly Historical Study A-34). Medicine and Society in America
For Undergraduates and Graduates
History of Science 100. Knowing the World: An Introduction to the History of Science
Catalog Number: 0905
Adelheid Voskuhl
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11. EXAM GROUP: 13
In this class, we are concerned with the history of science from 1500 to the present, a period commonly thought of as being "modern," not only in matters of science but also in political, cultural, social, and economic matters. We ask what modern science is, how it came to be that way, and what relationships it has had with other parts of society. We discuss advancements as well as conflicts emerging from these relationships and ask how they have changed over time.
Note: This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Culture and Belief or the Core area requirement for Historical Study A. This course fulfills the requirement that one of the eight General Education courses also engages substantially with Study of the Past.
History of Science 101. Knowledge on the Move: Cultures of Science in the Medieval World - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 54617
Katharine Park and Ahmed Ragab (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). M., W., F., at 12. EXAM GROUP: 5
Explores the development of scientific ideas and practices in the medieval Middle East and Western Europe, focusing on the circulation of texts, people, and objects. Special attention to religious, intellectual, social, and institutional contexts.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3340.
[History of Science 106. History of Ancient Science]
Catalog Number: 3958
Mark Schiefsky
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 11. EXAM GROUP: 4
An examination of key aspects and issues in the development of ancient science, focusing on natural philosophy from the Presocratics to Aristotle as well as its relation to early Greek medicine and mathematics. Some consideration will also be given to the historiography of natural philosophy within this period.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
History of Science 108. Bodies, Sexualities, and Medicine in the Medieval Middle East Catalog Number: 81052
Ahmed Ragab (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 11. EXAM GROUP: 4
This course will examine the ways in which medical, religious, cultural, and political discourses and practices interacted in the medieval and early modern Middle East to create and reflect multiple understandings of human bodies and sexualities. Special attention to debates on health, sexuality, and gender and racial identities.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3587. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the Core area requirement for Historical Study B.
[History of Science 111. Two Scientific Revolutions: From the Classical Age of Islamic Sciences to the Scientific World of Early Modern Europe]
Catalog Number: 96159
Ahmed Ragab (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 11. EXAM GROUP: 4
Explores the emergence and consolidation in the Islamic Middle East of a new science and philosophy constructed in part out of Persian and Greek materials; the consolidation and development of this science in an Islamic context; and its connections with novel developments in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century European science. Attention to cultural context, including imperial projects, societal transformation, and religious worldviews.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the Core area requirement for Historical Study B.
[History of Science 112. Health, Medicine and Healing in Medieval and Renaissance Europe]
Catalog Number: 8576
Katharine Park
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 10. EXAM GROUP: 3
A survey of medical theory, organization, and practice in the broader context of healing, including magical and religious healing. Topics include the construction of medical authority and expertise, the play of sex and gender among healers and patients, the rise of hospitals, and responses to "new" diseases such as syphilis and plague.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the Core area requirement for Historical Study B.
[History of Science 113. Crusades, Plagues and Hospitals: Medicine and Society in the Islamic Middle Ages]
Catalog Number: 59744
Ahmed Ragab (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). M., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
Surveys the recasting of Islamic medical practices, traditions, and institutions in response to the many health challenges of the turbulent Middle Ages, from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries, including wars, invasions, and epidemics.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13. his course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the Core area requirement for Historical Study B.
[History of Science 117. Science, Philosophy, and Religion in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages]
Catalog Number: 9172
Instructor to be determined
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 11. EXAM GROUP: 4
Consideration of how science and natural philosophy found itself both opposed to and used by Christian, Judaic, and Islamic religious traditions and, as a crucial test case, how these traditions handled the divide between creation and the eternal world.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[History of Science 123. The Clockwork Universe]
Catalog Number: 6517
Jimena Canales
Half course (spring term). W., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
During the tumultuous period of the French Revolution scientists ironically found the universe to be stable and constant. But this stability soon gave way to an uncertain future. New theories predicted its end, its uncontrollable expansion, and even the need for God to keep it going. How have we thought about the Universe and its inhabitants (from Laplace to Einstein and from astronomy to physics) through classic scientific texts.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[History of Science 126. The Matter of Fact: Physics in the Modern Age]
Catalog Number: 5319 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Jimena Canales
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11. EXAM GROUP: 13
What is a scientific fact? What is a physical law? How are scientific facts and laws discovered, established, and, sometimes, overturned? These questions will be addressed by exploring important episodes in the history of facts, ranging from the Apollo moon landings to DNA evidence in the courtroom, with a special focus on the hard facts and laws of physics: electrons, molecules, X-rays, and the laws of thermodynamics.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
History of Science 127. The Making of a Scientist - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 66306
Christopher James Phillips
Half course (spring term). W., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
How does one become a scientist in the modern world? What are the conventions of scientific practice and how are they mastered? This course explores training in the sciences by combining an historical examination of key pedagogical sites and episodes with a study of Harvard’s own undergraduate program of science education. By looking at the tools, theories, and practices involved in the formation of scientists, we explore the nature of the scientific enterprise and of the intellectual and moral shaping of the men and women who participate in it.
*History of Science 134. Nature on Display: Conference Course
Catalog Number: 4987 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Janet Browne
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
This conference course is run as an advanced seminar for undergraduates. We explore the way that living beings were collected, displayed, and discussed, from the 18th century to today. This means we look carefully at the different places in which natural history could be encountered in the past, such as museums, zoos, botanical gardens, marine stations, parks, and reserves, circuses and shows. It offers an opportunity to engage with some current issues in historical research, notably popular science and the material culture and ’spaces’ of science. The course hopes to enlarge your understanding of the complex relations between display, entertainment, and knowledge. A visit to the Museum of Comparative Zoology is an integral part of our studies.
History of Science 138. Sex, Gender, and Evolution
Catalog Number: 30321
Sarah S. Richardson
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 10. EXAM GROUP: 12
Evolutionary theories of sex and gender and central controversies in human evolutionary biology from Darwin to the present. Topics include debates over the theory of sexual selection and the evolutionary basis of monogamy, sexual preference, physical attraction, rape, maternal instinct, and sex differences in cognition. Readings: primary texts and historical, philosophical, and feminist analyses.
[History of Science 139. The Postgenomic Moment]
Catalog Number: 81843
Sarah S. Richardson
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
Joining "postgenomic" assessments of the genome projects, this seminar examines the history and contemporary practice of genomics from a multidisciplinary perspective. Topics include the role of technology, government funding, private industry, and race, gender, and nationality in the historical development of genomics, the ways in which genomic research challenges traditional conceptions of biology and science, and the implications of emerging trends such as direct-to-consumer genomics and whole-genome sequencing.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[*History of Science 140. Disease and Society]
Catalog Number: 4471 Enrollment: Limited to 25.
Charles E. Rosenberg
Half course (spring term). W., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 9
A consideration of changing conceptions of disease during the past two centuries. We will discuss general intellectual trends as well as relevant cultural and institutional variables by focusing in good measure on case studies of particular ills, ranging from cholera to sickle cell anemia to anorexia and alcoholism.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
History of Science 141. The Social Life of Pharmaceuticals
Catalog Number: 8890
Jeremy Alan Greene
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
The evolution of the modern pharmaceutical industry over the long twentieth century--from its early intersection with the image and later the structure of scientific research, to its dramatic post-WWII expansion and late-century saturation of medical and marketing media--is tightly intertwined with broader social, cultural, economic, and political developments. This conference course engages primary and secondary works in the history and anthropology of pharmaceuticals to situation the prescription drug as cultural artifact.
*History of Science 145. Medicine and Deviance: Conference Course
Catalog Number: 2795 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Charles E. Rosenberg
Half course (fall term). Th., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
Sociologists and historians have described what they call the medicalization of deviance: explaining certain behaviors as the consequences of disease rather than culpable choice. I refer to a variety of behaviors ranging from homosexuality to substance abuse, from chronic fatigue syndrome to premenstrual syndrome. This course will focus on the interrelated legal, medical, policy, and professional history of such problematic “diseases” during the past century and a half.
[History of Science 148. History of Global Health]
Catalog Number: 21054
Jeremy Alan Greene
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11. EXAM GROUP: 13
A survey course for undergraduates and graduate students exploring the interrelated histories of public health, international health, and global health from the 19th to the 21st centuries, with attention to the relationship between Western and non-Western forms of scientific practice and health systems. This course will trace the role of health and medicine in mediating the relationships between metropolis and colony, state and citizen, North and South, public welfare and private interest, research practices and human subjects, the commodification of health and the body, and human rights discourse. The course will be divided chronologically into four parts, tracing imperial health formations in the long 19th century, the nascent internationalism of the interwar period, the construction of bureaucracies of development in the postwar and postcolonial era, and configurations of public- and private-sector actors in late 20th and early 21st century global health practices. This course will meet twice weekly for lectures and once a week in small group sections; graduate students can enroll in a separate graduate seminar section.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the Core area requirement for Historical Study A.
History of Science 150. History of the Human Sciences
Catalog Number: 0135
Rebecca M. Lemov
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 11. EXAM GROUP: 4
Examination of the growth and development of social sciences such as sociology, anthropology, psychoanalysis, psychology, political science, and economics from the Enlightenment to the present. Innovators devised these fields to provide new, scientific ways to gain insight into age-old philosophical and religious questions, such as, What is the nature of the "self" or the "soul"? What binds human beings to one another? What is free will? What are the limits of social control, behavioral engineering, and the possible reach of techniques for adjustment and manipulation?
[History of Science 151. Modern Pasts and Postmodern Futures]
Catalog Number: 22763
Jimena Canales
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11. EXAM GROUP: 13
This course analyzes the modern age through three complementary perspectives. First, it offers a historical perspective focusing on landmark changes of the period, particularly focusing on science (Pasteur, Darwin, Charcot, Maxwell) and technology (steam engines, rail, telegraphy, photography). Second, it analyzes the work of important writers on modernity and civilization (focusing on Marx, Bergson, Freud). Third: it studies theorists of postmodernity (mainly Lyotard, Jameson, Habermas) who describe the benefits, dangers and/or alternatives to modernity.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
*History of Science 152. Filming Science
Catalog Number: 8254 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Peter L. Galison and Robb Moss
Half course (fall term). M., 1–3, W., 1–4. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7, 8
Examination of the theory and practice of capturing scientific practice on film. Topics will include fictional, documentary, informational, and instructional films and raise problems emerging from film theory, visual anthropology and science studies. Each student will make and edit short film(s) about laboratory, field, or theoretical scientific work.
History of Science 153. History of Dietetics
Catalog Number: 1409 Enrollment: Limited to 35.
Steven Shapin
Half course (fall term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
A survey of the relationships between medical expertise and human eating habits from Antiquity to the present, giving special attention to the links between practical and moral concerns and between expert knowledge and common sense.
[*History of Science 154. Science and Business in Modern America]
Catalog Number: 7942 Enrollment: Limited to 25.
Steven Shapin
Half course (spring term). M., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
A survey of the relationships between the practice of science and the world of commerce in the United States since the beginning of the 20th century. Topics covered include the conduct and image of science in academia and industry, ideas about the connections between science and technology, and the development and understanding of entrepreneurial science.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
History of Science 155. Science and Technology in Modern Life - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 67097
Jamie Cohen-Cole
Half course (spring term). M., W., F., at 11. EXAM GROUP: 4
This lecture course surveys what made the last century a distinctive period of history. We will examine the critical transformations in, and interconnections among, politics, culture, science, technology, the arts, and social life. How has society, culture, and politics developed and changed because of technical developments ranging from electricity to the automobile, the computer, survey research, biotechnology, or atomic weapons? How have new scientific conceptions of the environment, of race and gender, of the market, the "public", of rationality, and of modernity both shaped and been impacted by new meanings of citizenship, democracy, and the nation state?
[History of Science 156. How We Think About Science and Why]
Catalog Number: 38436
Jimena Canales
Half course (fall term). Th., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
From the history of ideas to history scientific practices. From focusing on books to studying labs. From thinking about theories to revaluating objects. How we think about science and why.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[History of Science 157. Sociology of Science]
Catalog Number: 2434
Steven Shapin
Half course (fall term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
An introduction to a series of sociological topics concerning the scientific role, the scientific community, and scientific knowledge that are of special interest to historians. What are the social conditions for the institutionalization of science and for the support of the scientific role? What are the possibilities for a historical sociology of scientific knowledge? What social pressures have historically been exerted on our overall understanding of science and its relations with society?
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[History of Science 162. Science in the Enlightenment]
Catalog Number: 7570
Adelheid Voskuhl
Half course (spring term). W., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 9
What is the relationship between science and the period commonly referred to as the Enlightenment (ca. 1685-1815)? We will examine scientific theory, experimentation, and observation in the multiple contexts of social, philosophical, intellectual, and material cultures of the Enlightenment in Europe and North America. The course will explore the connections between Enlightenment science, technology, and engineering with the Industrial Revolution, Newtonianism, and the eventual reactions to Enlightenment ideals of reason and rationality.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
History of Science 164. Sense and Scientific Sensibility: Beyond Vision, From the Scientific Revolution to Now - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 35633
Hannah Sophia Roosth
Half course (fall term). M., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
Scientific inquiry is often considered an endeavor pursued using one?s sense of vision: scientists peer into microscopes and telescopes, and stare at graphs, diagrams, and computer screens. But on what other senses do scientists rely? Do they also gather data using senses of hearing, smell, taste, and touch? How are the senses technologically mediated, and how do researchers evaluate sensory evidence? To address such questions, this course combines readings in the history and anthropology of science with classic primary sources.
History of Science 165. Rethinking the Scientific Revolution - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 71921 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Alex Attila Csiszar
Half course (fall term). M., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 9
Before the emergence of modern science, knowing about the natural world was generally the domain of people called natural philosophers. In early modern Europe, what it meant to engage in this activity, even what nature was understood to be, underwent so many radical transformations that historians and philosophers later named the era the Scientific Revolution. This seminar will examine the diverse ? even conflicting ? meanings that have been given to the Scientific Revolution over time. We will pay special attention to the role of media in scientific, political, and social revolution. Other topics will include the experimental method, the nature of belief, instruments, gender, natural history, classification, and the role of narrative in knowledge-making. Students will have several opportunities to study artifacts in the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments and at Houghton Library.
[*History of Science 171. Narrative and Neurology]
Catalog Number: 3222
Anne Harrington
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
An exploration of the complex relationship between the making of brain science and the human stories/experiences of brain damaged people. Topics include iconic cases of brain damage like Phineas Gage and H.M (and who speaks for them), the emergence and historical function of neurological case histories, the study of brain-damaged soldiers in WWI, the "neurological novels" of Alexandr Luria, the popular writings of Oliver Sacks, the brain-injured patient as author, and internet-based writings celebrating "neurodiversity."
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[History of Science 173. The Abnormal Mind]
Catalog Number: 84089
Jamie Cohen-Cole
Half course (fall term). Th., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
This course examines how the abnormal mind has been understood from the origins of psychiatry and psychoanalysis to the development of psychopharmaceuticals. We will study classification of diseases and methods of treatment, the professional formation of psychiatry, changing definitions of normality, the interplay between social and mental norms, and ways that deviant or minority social groups have been explained through references to the character of their minds.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[History of Science 174. Critical Experiments in the Human Sciences]
Catalog Number: 1750
Rebecca M. Lemov
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 10. EXAM GROUP: 3
This course focuses on high-impact experiments - among them, the Milgram "Obedience" experiments and the Stanford Prison Experiment - carried out in the twentieth-century human sciences by anthropologists, sociologists, social psychologists, and/or experimental psychologists. Many dreamed of a "technology of human behavior" and conducted experiments toward this end. What were the results, and how do they continue to affect our thinking and daily lives today?
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[History of Science 175. Minds, Machines, and Computers]
Catalog Number: 32567
Jamie Cohen-Cole
Half course (fall term). M., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
How has what we know or believe about machines affected what we know and believe about the human mind? How have developments in the human sciences shaped the development of information technology? Topics covered in this course include Charles’ Babbage’s analytical engine, the Turing Machine, cyberspace, distributed cognition, and the origins, development, and criticism of research in artificial intelligence.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
*History of Science 176. Brainwashing and Modern Techniques of Mind Control
Catalog Number: 76277
Rebecca M. Lemov
Half course (spring term). M., W., F., at 10. EXAM GROUP: 3
This course examines the phenomenon of "brainwashing" as a modern set of techniques that can apparently force a subject radically to alter her beliefs against her will. The Cold War roots of ’brainwashing’ - both the myth and the reality -- lie in the politics of twentieth-century anti-Communism and the deeper fear that people’s most strongly held thoughts, ideas, and ideological commitments could be vulnerable to powerful infiltration. In order to understand the dynamics of this process we will examine case studies beginning with the Korean War-era emergence of the term ’brainwashing’, the American interdisciplinary science of "coercive persuasion" that arose in response, and successive waves of technological, political, and sociocultural developments. We will also look at how brainwashing and analogous persuasive techniques may operate among larger groups, crowds, organizations, and mass societies.
History of Science 178. Discovering the Mind
Catalog Number: 99196
Jamie Cohen-Cole
Half course (spring term). M., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
An introduction to the growth and development of scientific study of the mind since the nineteenth century and role of the mind sciences in shaping modern society, politics and culture. Topics include phrenology, the birth of experimental psychology, eugenics, personality testing, the SAT, behaviorism, cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and the use of mind science in politics, law, business, and education.
History of Science 180 (formerly East Asian Studies 175). The History of Modern Science and Technology in East Asia
Catalog Number: 5317
Yoshi Kikuchi
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Historical examination of the adoption and transformations of modern science and technology in East Asia; the interaction of local traditions with global knowledge and techniques.
Note: This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the Core area requirement for Historical Study A.
[History of Science 183. Democracy and Technology]
Catalog Number: 47674
Adelheid Voskuhl
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 11. EXAM GROUP: 4
What is the relationship between technology and politics in global democracies? This course explores various forms of technology, its artifacts and experts in relation to government and political decision-making. Does technology "rule" or "run" society, or, should it? How do democratic societies balance the need for specialized technological expertise with rule by elected representatives? Topics will include: industrial revolutions, factory production and consumer society, technological utopias, the Cold War, state policy, colonial and post-colonial rule, and engineers’ political visions.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[History of Science 186. Technology in the Social World]
Catalog Number: 2147
Adelheid Voskuhl
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 11. EXAM GROUP: 4
What role does technology play in the social world? This course explores a variety technological systems in social and historical contexts in Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia between 1300 and 2010. Topics include warfare, agriculture, communication technologies, transportation, consumerism, urbanization, and colonization. Special emphasis on the interrelations between technological artifacts and other forms of "cultural production" such as government, commerce, philosophy, and art.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
History of Science 191. Brave New World? Scientific and Technological Visions of Utopia and Dystopia in Russia and the Soviet Union - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 22899
Maya Karin Peterson
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
Focuses on the role of scientific and technological developments in creating the kinds of social, economic and ecological change that have inspired utopian thinking, as well as the rise of utopia’s counterpart, the dystopia, with a specific focus on Russia in the late-19th and 20th centuries. We will look at the way in which individuals and groups in Russia created and interpreted utopian visions based on scientific and technological innovations, and the extent to which imaginings of scientific utopias, or dystopias, projected in Russian and Soviet literature and the arts were reflected on the ground in the Soviet Union. Themes will include the relationship between science and the state, the evolving role of the scientist, the relationship between humans and machines, the influence of science on socialism and of socialist thought on Soviet science, and the relationship between the individual and the collective. Course materials will include works of fiction and science fiction, poetry, memoirs, films, and secondary works.
History of Science 195. Taking Science to the People: Popularization of Scientific Knowledge in the Modern Arab World - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 87155
Soha Hassan Bayoumi
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
In the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, in what has come to be known as the Arab Nahda, or Awakening, a new, dynamic process of popularization of modern scientific knowledge was started, notably in Egypt and in the Levant. This course will follow the popularization of modern science in the context of different social, political and intellectual debates, including evolutionary theory, sex and gender and public health. This course intends to follow how modern science and scientific knowledge, with the positivist slant that clearly marked it, was popularized in this key period of the modern history of the Arabic-speaking Middle East and how this process stirred different debates on modernization and development.
Cross-listed Courses
Classical Studies 165. Ancient Medicine[History 1345. The Human Sciences in the Modern West]
[History 1702 (formerly History 1923). Violence, Substances and Mental Illness: African Perspectives: Conference Course]
[History 1955. Humans and Germs in History: Conference Course]
History of Science 180 (formerly East Asian Studies 175). The History of Modern Science and Technology in East Asia
*MCB 142. Major Advances in Classical and Molecular Genetics
[Sociology 160. Medicine, Health Policy and Bioethics in Comparative and Global Perspective: Conference Course]
Sociology 190. Life and Death in the US: Medicine and Disease in Social Context
Primarily for Graduates
*History of Science 206r. Geometry and Mechanics
Catalog Number: 2410
Mark Schiefsky and Barry C. Mazur
Half course (spring term). Th., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
A seminar-course devoted to a philosophical and historical examination of appeals to motion and other "mechanical" notions in ancient geometry. We will read texts related to the three classical problems of Greek mathematics, the Mechanical Problems attributed to Aristotle, and the "mechanical method" of Archimedes, with examples and commentary drawn from early modern, and also contemporary, mathematics. Undergraduates and graduates welcome.
History of Science 209. Science and Religion: Debates, Approaches and Controversies: Seminar
Catalog Number: 74851
Ahmed Ragab (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). W., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 9
A critical examination of the historiography of science and religion in the medieval and modern Middle East. Focus on the effects of religious laws and traditions on scientific theory and practice and the influence of science and technology on religious and theological discourse and practice. Comparison with relevant European developments.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3341.
History of Science 212. The Sciences of Life, Medicine and the Body in Medieval and Renaissance Europe
Catalog Number: 0500
Katharine Park
Half course (fall term). Th., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
Graduate colloquium for students preparing for general examinations in the fields covered by the course, as well as other students wishing to develop a comprehensive picture of the subject through extensive reading of secondary sources.
[History of Science 215r. Science and Culture in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 4568
Katharine Park
Half course (fall term). Th., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
Topic for 2010-11: Utopia in the Age of the Scientific Revolution. Explores the relations between new forms of scientific knowledge and the new literary genre of the utopian fiction in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe, including works by More, Palissy, Brahe, Campanella, Bacon, Cavendish, and Fontenelle.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
Prerequisite: Some familiarity with the history of early modern European art or science and reading knowledge of at least one European language in addition to English.
History of Science 223. History of the Exact Sciences: Trust, Skepticism, and Objectivity - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 42293
Christopher James Phillips
Half course (fall term). M., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
Mathematics is both a grounded cultural practice and a mechanism for creating seemingly timeless and place-less knowledge; over the last three centuries the discipline has become both highly esoteric and ubiquitous. This course explores these developments and tensions by examining the key moments in the history of the exact sciences.
[History of Science 238. Rethinking the Darwinian Revolution: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 9533
Janet Browne
Half course (fall term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
Taking Charles Darwin as a well-documented case study, we will explore the historiography of evolutionary ideas from 1900 on, covering the political , social, and scientific commitments involved in the concept of a "Darwinian Revolution."
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
History of Science 239. Empire and Environment - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 74421
Maya Karin Peterson
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
Focus is on the Russian and British Empires. Examines the way in which these empires encountered and altered natural environments through imperial expansion, as well as the way in which the production of scientific knowledge about colonial environments helped to shape British and Russian imperial rule from the 18th into the 20th centuries.
[History of Science 240. The Body in Health and Disease: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 6821
Charles E. Rosenberg
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
“Sickness” and “health,” notions of inappropriate and appropriate behavior, are determined by conceptions of the body and its proper management. Discussion will focus first upon secondary studies and subsequently upon students’ research.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[History of Science 241. Lives and Letters]
Catalog Number: 5778
Janet Browne
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
This graduate conference course centers on recent critical interest in life-writing and the image or ’identity’ of a scientist (male and female) in the 19th and early 20th centuries. We explore the emergence of scientific biography as a genre and how it may have contributed to changing notions of science. We shall also cover the increasing emphasis on the personality of a scientist and in some cases the cult of celebrity. Sessions will include modern critical thinking about ’writing lives’ in scientific history, self-representations through autobiography; biography as a historically contingent genre; group biographies; and pay some attention to the presentation of scientific lives in non-textual media such as film and portraiture. A key part of the course concerns the documents of a recorded life, especially letters as a resource for historical analysis. There will be opportunities to engage with major editorial projects underway at Harvard featuring the Victorian physicist John Tyndall and the Charles Darwin Correspondence Project. Assessed by participation in weekly workshops, assignments and a research project.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
History of Science 243. The Making of Modern Medicine: Seminar
Catalog Number: 5572
Charles E. Rosenberg
Half course (fall term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
Focus on key works in the history of medicine, illustrating historiographical trends in the past half-century as well as the substantive aspects of the field that have attracted the historical concern.
History of Science 247. Current Issues in the History of Medicine: Seminar
Catalog Number: 28251
Allan M. Brandt
Half course (fall term). M., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 9
Explores new methods for understanding disease, medicine, and society, ranging from historical demography to cultural studies. Topics include patterns of health and disease, changes in medical science and clinical practice, the doctor-patient relationship, health care systems, alternative healing, and representations of the human body. The course will focus on historical problem-framing, research strategies, and writing.
History of Science 248. Ethics and Judgment in the History of Science and Medicine - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 61433
David Shumway Jones
Half course (spring term). M., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
Examines the tensions felt by historians and physicians between historicizing past ethical behaviors and norms and wanting to pass judgment on past actors and actions. Topics include contested diseases, controversial therapies, and accusations of unethical research.
[History of Science 249. Caregiving: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 43358
Charles E. Rosenberg and Arthur Kleinman
Half course (spring term). Th., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
In every time and place women and men have become ill and sought care. This course is organized around ethnographic and historical studies of caregiving, providing a framework for thinking comparatively about the illness experience in a variety of cultural and historical contexts. We will be examining the spectrum of care from local and family through highly bureaucratic and specialized settings. We will examine chronic as well as acute illness and disability and interrogate rationales for caregiving including the moral and emotional as well as the operational and instrumental.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
*History of Science 253. Bioethics, Law, and the Life Sciences
Catalog Number: 4500
Sheila S. Jasanoff (Kennedy School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 10–11:30. EXAM GROUP: 12, 13
Seeks to identify and explore salient ethical, legal, and policy issues – and possible solutions – associated with developments in biotechnology and the life sciences.
Note: Offered jointly with the Kennedy School as IGA-515. May not be taken for credit by students who have already taken IGA-515 (KSG).
[History of Science 256. Culture, Personality, and Self]
Catalog Number: 5086
Rebecca M. Lemov
Half course (fall term). Th., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 18
Examines the history of the culture and personality movement, considered narrowly and broadly, as well as technologies and techniques developed in the social and human sciences for measuring the self and its socialization processes.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
*History of Science 259. The History of the History of Science
Catalog Number: 68494
Steven Shapin
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
A critical survey of conceptions of the history of science over the past hundred years or so and an interpretative engagement with why what’s been said about science and its history have mattered so much.
History of Science 260. Readings on Science, Modernity, and the Long 20th Century - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 62019
Jamie Cohen-Cole
Half course (fall term). M., 12–2. EXAM GROUP: 5, 6
Readings on the relationship of science and modernity. A thematic, chronological, and methodological examination of the ways in which science, from its intellectual content to its instruments, products, practices, and institutional forms have participated in the cultural, political, and social life of the last century.
History of Science 270. Sciences of the Self - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 58523
Rebecca M. Lemov
Half course (spring term). Th., 12–2. EXAM GROUP: 14, 15
How social, human and behavioral scientists pursued a science of the self from French-revolution-era theories of the "bourgeois self" to Freud’s insights about hysterics to mid-twentieth-century American theories of "personality" to biological and computational models of the late-twentieth century (e.g., the "quantified self" movement). What is the relationship of self to soul and self to society? Some attention to the historiography of the psychological and social sciences will also be given.
History of Science 282. Communications Media in the Sciences - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 20399
Alex Attila Csiszar
Half course (fall term). W., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 9
This seminar will investigate how and to what extent knowledge is shaped by the communication practices and media through which it has been produced, from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century. The last decade has seen a convergence of concerns in book and media history with those in the history of science, including questions involving translation, standardization, intellectual property, technological determinism, and the materiality of knowledge. Participants will be encouraged to reconsider their own research interests in the light of these themes. Other topics will include the history of print genres and formats (books, letters, encyclopedias, journals, newspapers) in the sciences, information technologies, literary and rhetorical aspects of scientific argument, and scientific authors and readers. Secondary readings shall include Eisenstein, Johns, Latour, Daston, Bowker, Biagioli, Grafton, and Kittler.
[History of Science 284. Technology and the Text: Machines and Discourse in Historical and Literary Inquiry]
Catalog Number: 6779
Adelheid Voskuhl
Half course (fall term). Th., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 18
Investigates historically and theoretically the relationship between textuality and technology in recent works as well as in "classics" of the history of technology, cultural theory, and literary criticism. Readings include studies in media history and theory, and theories of technology and textuality; case studies in the history of technology and literature; and analyses of the mechanical reproduction of poetry and works of art from 19th- and 20th-c. German and French Social and Cultural Theory.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
*History of Science 285a. Science, Power and Politics I
Catalog Number: 5124
Sheila S. Jasanoff (Kennedy School)
Half course (fall term). W., 2:10–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
This is the fall term of a year-long seminar that introduces students to the major contributions of the field of science and technology studies (S&TS) to the understanding of politics and policymaking in democratic societies.
Note: Offered jointly with the Kennedy School as IGA-953. May not be taken for credit by students who have already taken IGA-953 (KSG). Either 285a or 285b may be taken as a separate course, but only with permission of the instructor.
[*History of Science 285b. Science, Power, and Politics II]
Catalog Number: 5291
Sheila S. Jasanoff (Kennedy School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2:10-4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
Introduction to major methodological approaches in the field of science and technology studies (S&TS), particularly focusing on the analysis of science politics and policymaking in democratic societies.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13. Either 285a or 285b may be taken as a separate course, but only with permission of the instructor.
[History of Science 286. History of Technology: Reformation to the Present]
Catalog Number: 0767
Adelheid Voskuhl
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Survey of history of technology during early modern and modern periods in Europe, North America, and Asia. Readings include social and cultural histories of technology, classics in the theory of technological modernity, and primary sources.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
History of Science 288. History and Philosophy of Technology: Proseminar
Catalog Number: 6645
Adelheid Voskuhl
Half course (spring term). Th., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 18
Graduate-level seminar on classic and recent influential works in the history and philosophy of technology, covering the early modern, modern, and late modern periods; industrial-technological, information-technological, and bio-technological systems; as well as philosophical accounts from the analytical and the continental traditions. Literature covers authors such as Karl Marx, Martin Heidegger, Jurgen Habermas, Thomas Hughes, Donna Haraway, Donald MacKenzie, David Landes, Hayden White, Emily Thompson, and Ken Alder.
[History of Science 290. Critical History: Curating Images, Objects, Media: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 62781 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Peter L. Galison and Jeffrey Schnapp
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
Examines recent writings on material culture and collecting as part of development of "Tangible Things": an exhibition drawing from the collections of Harvard museums. Seminar combines critical curatorial work with production of short films.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[History of Science 291. Science and Art (Graduate Seminar in General Education)]
Catalog Number: 45428
Jimena Canales
Half course (spring term). M., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
When perspective was invented in the 15th century, was it a scientific or an artistic discovery? Science and art sometimes meet, crash, and separate. This course will examine the shifting relations between art and science from the Early Modern period to the 20th century. Starting with canonical examples such as Vesalius’s anatomical atlas, Da Vinci’s work on human proportions, and Galileo’s astronomical drawings, the course will include visual culture more broadly, studying the impact of new technologies across fields from medicine to physics. The seminar will design and develop a General Education course on these themes for undergraduates.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[*History of Science 292. Gravity’s Rainbow: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 60535
Peter L. Galison
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
This course focuses on a single, extraordinary work of fiction, Thomas Pynchon’s *Gravity’s Rainbow*. By studying this work we explore Pynchon’s vision of modernity, but also important themes in the history of science and in philosophy. We will grapple with the weaponization of science in the twentieth century and on the one hand, and with clashing accounts of explanation on the other. How does one explain the world of V2 rocket-bombs exploding around London in World War II? Do we learn about the location of future detonations from the ones that come earlier as Pavlov might have had it? Or is the world, at root, inextricably random, with events utterly independent one from the other as Poisson would say? Such reflections on the world--and they extend through identity, love, war, and materiality-- feed back into the very nature of writing itself, and in the final sessions of the seminar, we will turn to literary-philosophical questions such this: How, in the absence of causality and continuity, does narrative itself function? What might be a postcausal (postmodern) novel? Along with Pynchon’s original text, we will read widely in the history of technology, warfare, science, literary theory, and philosophy.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
[*History of Science 294. Tools, Instruments, and Extended Cognition]
Catalog Number: 3303
Peter L. Galison and Peter Godfrey-Smith
Half course (fall term). W., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 9
Examination of the relation between external tools and cognition. Can the boundaries of a thinking agent extend beyond the skin? Perspectives from philosophy of mind and history of science, including Clark, Wilson, Galison and others.
Note: Expected to be given in 2012–13.
*History of Science 296. The Digital Self - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 74548 Enrollment: Limited to 25.
Peter L. Galison and Martha L. Minow (Law School)
Half course (spring term). W., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
Social theory, philosophical texts, and historical works help situate understandings of the human "self"; how do these and other materials shed light on conceptions and experiences of the "self" enacted in new digital technologies including the internet, surveillance, multi-person virtual games, and virtual realities? With attention to the implications of these new experiences for freedom of expression, theft and other crimes, democratic participation, and consumption, the course will include materials from law, history of science, and political and social theory.
Cross-listed Courses
[East Asian Studies 200. The Uses and Meaning of the New Arts of Presentation]
East Asian Studies 205. Approaches to the Comparative History of Medicine and the Body
East Asian Studies 230r (formerly East Asian Studies 230). The History of East Asian Medicine: Seminar
History 2462. Readings in the U.S. in the 20th Century: Proseminar
[Japanese History 260r. Topics in Japanese Cultural History]
*Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 2010. Science, Nature, and Gender (Graduate Seminar in General Education)
Graduate Courses of Reading and Research
*History of Science 300. Direction of Doctoral Dissertations
Catalog Number: 3388
Mario Biagioli 1756, Allan M. Brandt 3031, Janet Browne 5511, Jimena Canales 5070 (on leave 2011-12), Peter L. Galison 3239, Peter Godfrey-Smith 3338, Jeremy Alan Greene 6155, Evelynn M. Hammonds 4545, Anne Harrington 1895, Sheila S. Jasanoff (Kennedy School) 2248, Arthur Kleinman 7473, Shigehisa Kuriyama 5269, Rebecca M. Lemov 5570, Martha L. Minow (Law School) 2617, Katharine Park 2974, Charles E. Rosenberg 3784 (on leave spring term), Steven Shapin 3984 (on leave spring term), and Adelheid Voskuhl 5569
Note: Under special circumstances arrangements may be made for other instruction in guidance for doctoral dissertations.
*History of Science 301. Reading and Research
Catalog Number: 5641
Mario Biagioli 1756, Allan M. Brandt 3031, Janet Browne 5511, Jimena Canales 5070 (on leave 2011-12), Peter L. Galison 3239, Owen Gingerich 1159, Peter Godfrey-Smith 3338, Jeremy Alan Greene 6155, Evelynn M. Hammonds 4545, Anne Harrington 1895, Steven James Harris 4081, Erwin N. Hiebert 1187, Gerald Holton 1883, Sheila S. Jasanoff (Kennedy School) 2248, Arthur Kleinman 7473, Shigehisa Kuriyama 5269, Andrew Lakoff (University of California, San Diego) 6152, Rebecca M. Lemov 5570, Everett I. Mendelsohn 2700, Martha L. Minow (Law School) 2617, Katharine Park 2974, Antoine Picon (Design School) 4295, Charles E. Rosenberg 3784 (on leave spring term), Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz 3651, A. I. Sabra 2702, Steven Shapin 3984 (on leave spring term), and Adelheid Voskuhl 5569
Individual work in preparation for the General Examination for the PhD degree.
*History of Science 302. Guided Research
Catalog Number: 5282
Mario Biagioli 1756, Allan M. Brandt 3031, Janet Browne 5511, Jimena Canales 5070 (on leave 2011-12), Peter L. Galison 3239, Owen Gingerich 1159, Peter Godfrey-Smith 3338, Jeremy Alan Greene 6155, Evelynn M. Hammonds 4545, Anne Harrington 1895, Erwin N. Hiebert 1187, Gerald Holton 1883, Sarah Jansen 4107 (spring term only), Sheila S. Jasanoff (Kennedy School) 2248, Arthur Kleinman 7473, Shigehisa Kuriyama 5269, Rebecca M. Lemov 5570, Everett I. Mendelsohn 2700, Martha L. Minow (Law School) 2617, Robb Moss 1392, Katharine Park 2974, Antoine Picon (Design School) 4295, Charles E. Rosenberg 3784 (on leave spring term), Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz 3651, A. I. Sabra 2702, Steven Shapin 3984 (on leave spring term), and Adelheid Voskuhl 5569
Through regular meetings with faculty advisor, each student will focus on research and writing with the purpose of developing a publishable research paper.
*History of Science 310hf (formerly *History of Science 310). History of Science Salon
Catalog Number: 1047
Katharine Park 2974
Half course (throughout the year). Hours to be arranged.
What is history of science about as a discipline and profession? This half-course meets evenings throughout the academic year to introduce first-year graduate students to the range of debates, questions, and research practices currently shaping the field.
Note: The course is required for first year students in the PhD program and students in the AM program in the History of Science. For the purpose of degree requirements for these students, HS 310 fulfills the HS 201 requirement, as HS 201 has been withdrawn.
