ISSN 0739-4934 NEWSLETTER I {!STORY OF SCIENCE _iu_'i_i_u~-~-~-o~_9_N_u_M_B_E_R_3__________ S00ETY AAASREPORT HSSEXECUTIVE A Larger Role for History of Science COMMITTEE PRESIDENT in Undergraduate Education STEPHEN G. BRUSH, University of Maryland NORRISS S. HETHERINGTON VICE-PRESIDENT Office for the History of Science and Technology, SALLY GREGORY KOHLSTEDT, University of California, Berkeley University of Minnesota EXECU11VESECRETARY HISTORIANS OF SCIENCE have often been called to contribute to under­ MICHAEL M. SOKAL, Worcester graduate education. As HSS President Stephen G. Brush notes jNewsletter, Polytechnic Institute January 1990, pp. 1, 8-10), historically oriented science courses could be­ TREASURER come a valuable part of the core curriculum at many institutions, and fac­ MARY LOUISE GLEASON, New York City ulty at many colleges-especially science professors-have expressed strong EDITDR interest in using materials and perspectives from history of science. RONALD L. NUMBERS, University of We are now called again, this time by the American Association for the Wisconsin-Madison Advancement of Science. The Liberal Art of Science: Agenda for Action, published by the AAAS in May 1990, argues that science is one of the liberal The Newsletter of the History of Science arts and that it should be taught as such, as integrated into the totality of Society is published in January, April, July, and October. Regular issues are sent to individual human experience. This argument and advice may seem obvious to histori­ members of the Society who reside in North ans of science, but it is a revolutionary departure from tradition for many America. Airmail copies are sent to those scientists, and one that could transform both undergraduate education and members overseas who pay $5 yearly to cover postal costs: The Newsletter is available to the role of our discipline. nonmembers and institutions for $20 a year. Historians of science, with intellectual and cultural interests bridging the The Newsletter is overseen by a Steering ~ humanities and the sciences, clearly have a key role to play in the reform of Committee consisting of the President, the Executive Secretary, and the Editor of the His­ undergraduate education recommended by AAAS. Traditionally tugged be­ tory of Science Society. It is edited by the Execu­ tween the "two cultures," we used to meet in alternate years with scientists tive Secretary, Dr. Michael M. Sokal, and is produced at the Society's Publications Office AAAS Report continued on page 6 under the supervision of Dr. Frances Kohler. Send news items to Newsletter, History of Science Society, c/o Michael M. Sokal, 35 Dean Street, Worcester, MA 01609. The deadline for receipt of news is the fust of the month prior to publication, though urgent announcements will be accepted until the tenth of the month. Articles and other long pieces should be sub­ mitted at least two weeks before the first. INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1990 ELECTION 2 BALLOT 5 ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAM 9 PREREGISTRATION AND Conference honors Thomas S. Kuhn: see RESERVATION FORMS 18 story, and other meeting reports, on page 24. Photograph by fehane R. Kuhn. page 2 History ofScience Society Newsletter William B. Ashworth fr. Keith R. Benson Bruce Eastwood Robert A. Hatch Daniel P. !ones and optics. Professional activities: THE 1990 HSS ELECTION HSS-Committee on Education, 1986- 89; Derek Price Award Committee, CANDIDATES' BIOGRAPHIES 1989-90, chair, 1990. Selected publica­ tions: Astronomy and Optics from FOR COUNCIL tee, Forum for the History of Science in Pliny to Descartes (Variorum, 1989); America, 1987-90. Founder and direc­ coauthor, Aratea: Kommentar zum Ara­ William B. Ashworth, Jr. tor, Columbia History of Science Group, tus des Germanic us, ms. Voss. lat. Q. 79 Associate Professor, Department of His­ 1983-present. Chair, Division of the (1989); "Plinian Astronomical Diagrams tory, University of Missouri-Kansas History and Philosophy of Biology, in the Early Middle Ages," in Mathe­ City; Consultant, History of Science, American Society of Zoologists, 1987- matics and Its Applications to Science Linda Hall Library. Ph.D., University of 89. Bookshelf Committee, [ournal of and Natural Philosophy in the Middle Wisconsin, 1975. Specialties: Renais­ the History of Biology, 1984-present. Ages, ed. E. Grant and J. Murdoch sance and seventeenth-century science; Editorial Board, History and Philosophy (Cambridge, 1987); "Plinian Astronomy natural history; astronomy; Jesuit sci­ of the Life Sciences, 1989-present. Se­ in the Middle Ages and Renaissance ence; scientific illustration; emblems of lected publications: editor (with Jane Science in the Early Roman Empire science. Professional activities: HSS ­ Maienschein and Ronald Rainger), The Pliny the Elder, His Sources and Influ­ Program chair, 1989 Gainesville meet­ American Development of Biology ence, ed. R. French and F. Greenaw ing; Visiting Historian of Science, 1988- (Pennsylvania, 1988) and The American (Barnes & Noble, 1986). Current proj­ 90; Committee on Meetings and Pro­ Expansion of Biology (Rutgers, forth­ ect: "Before Copernicus: Solar Forces grams, 1989-91. Selected publications: corning); "From Museum Research to and Circumsolar Planets from Late "Natural History and the Emblematic Laboratory Research: The Transforma­ tiquity to the Twelfth Century." World View," in Reappraisals of the Sci­ tion of Natural History into Academic entific Revolution, ed. D. C. Lindberg Biology," in The American Develop­ Robert A. Hatch and R. Westman (Cambridge, 1990); ment of Biology; "Biology's Phoenix: Associate Professor of Histo~ of Sci­ "Light of Reason, Light of Nature: Historical Perspectives on the Impor­ ence, Department of History, University Catholic and Protestant Metaphors of tance of the Organism," American Zo­ of Florida. Ph.D., University of Wiscon­ Scientific Progress," Science in Context, ologist, 1989, 29:1067-1074; "Review sin, 1978. Specialties: Scientific Revolu­ 1990, 3(1):89-107; The Face of the Paper: The Naples Stazione Zoologica tion; French science; correspondence Moon: Galileo to Apollo (Linda Hall Li­ and Its Impact on the Emergence of networks and informal societies. Profes­ brary, 1989); "Iconography for a New American Marine Biology," foumal of sional activities: HSS-Local Arrange­ Physics," History and Technology, the History of Biology, 1988, 21:331- ments cochair, 1989 Gainesville meet­ 1987, 4:263-293; "Catholicism ·and 341; "Laboratories on the New England ing; Program cochair, 1983 Norwalk Early Modem Science," in God and Na­ Shore: The Somewhat Different Direc­ meeting; National Committee, Visiting ture: Historical Essays on the Encoun­ tion of American Marine Biology," New Historians of Science Program, 1986- ter between Christianity and Science, England Quarterly, 1988, 56:53-78; 88; Watson Davis Prize Committee, ed. D. C. Lindberg and R. L. Numbers "The Journal of Morphology as Window 1985-86 chair, 1986; Committee on (California, 1986); [esuit Science in the and Mirror: Reflections and Glimpses Meetings and Programs, 1988- 90; Com­ Age of Galileo (Linda Hall Library, on the Birth of American Biology," fom­ mittee on Education, 1988-90; Com­ 1986). nal of Morphology, 1987, 194:221- 234. mittee on the Quincentennial. Advisory Current project: a book on the role of Board Intematiooa.l Conference on His- Keith R. Benson marine biology stations (MBL, Scripps, tory and Philosop Science in Edu- Associate Professor of Medical History Hopkins Marine Station, Friday Harbor cation, 1990-93_ History • Science Edi­ and Ethics, University of Washington. Laboratories) in the growth of American tor, The Eighteenth ,... n Gun Ph.D., Oregon State University, 1979. biology from 1880 to 1915. Bibliography. Selected puhliations: Specialties: history of American sci­ The Collection Boulliau ·entory ence; nineteenth-century American bi­ Bruce Eastwood (American Philosophical S 1982). ology; history of marine biology. Profes­ Professor of History, University of Ken­ Current projects: A caien<la:r ot the sional activities: HSS-Local tucky. Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Boulliau correspondence a biography of Arrangements chair, 1990 Seattle meet­ 1964. Specialties: Western science from Boulliau; and "Republica Scientarum: A ing; Committee on Meetings and Pro­ late antiquity to the seventeenth cen­ Biographical Guide to the Scientific grams, 1989-91. Coordinating Commit- tury, especially astronomy, cosmology, Revolution." July 1990 page 3 Peggy Aldrich Kidwell David Kohn Pamela E. Mack Theodore M. Porter Spencer R. Weart Daniel P. Jones David Kohn role of science education and women in Program Officer for Humanities, Sci­ Oxnam Professor of Science and Society science in the American scientific com­ ence, and Technology, Division of Re­ and Chair of the Graduate Program in munity, 1837-1940, using Mount Hol­ search Programs, National Endowment Nineteenth-Century Studies, Drew yoke College as the primary case study for the Humanities. Ph.D., University of University. Ph.D., University of Massa­ (with Miriam Levin). Wisconsin, 1969. Specialties: nine­ chusetts, 1976. Specialties: Charles teenth- and twentieth-century chemis­ Darwin; science and Victorian culture; Theodore M. Porter try; history of American science, tech­ science and religion; nineteenth-cen­ Associate Professor of History, Univer­ nology, and medicine. Professional tury life sciences. Selected publications: sity of Virginia. Ph.D., Princeton Uni­ activities: AAHM-Committee on De­ editor, The Darwinian Heritage (Prince­ versity, 1981.