Programs
Graduate Working Groups
History of Physical Sciences Working Group
Coordinators: Hallam Stevens and Daniela Helbig
The History of the Physical Sciences Working Group (HPSWG) is designed to provide an ongoing forum for graduate students studying the history of physics and related fields to present their work and maintain familiarity with the current historiography of the physical sciences through discussion of recent works. The working group is also used to maintain contact with a number of scholars in the Boston area, and we plan to bring in two special speakers per year. The HPSWG has been meeting for the past four years, receiving dedicated funding from GSAS for the past two years. HPSWG has become one of the most active and well-attended working groups in history of science at Harvard. Past presentations have included graduate students in the History of Science department, professors from the department, and visiting speakers from MIT, Iowa State University, the philosophy department, the physics department, and Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security. The workshop has become an invaluable resource for graduate students who study the history of physics, allowing them to develop contacts in a wider community while also obtaining useful feedback on their projects. Past student presentations have ranged from preliminary discussions of work in progress, to practice talks for upcoming conferences, to pieces nearly ready to be submitted for journal publication. Recently, several valuable discussions have been held concerning the development of General Exam Database to assist pre-generals students to prepare reading lists in the history of the physical sciences. These events have been well-attended by students and faculty from Harvard and surrounding institutions, and have all sparked lively and fruitful discussions.
