Vol. 38, No. 1, January 2009 NEWSletter of the History of Science Society I’ve discovered that the TV weather report was invent- ed by discharged military meteorologists during the late 1940s, who combined the narrative form of the pre-fl ight briefi ng with com- ic art to produce a popular and broadly accessible form of public science. Roger Turner with poster at the 2008 HSS Meeting. (Photo courtesy Sage Ross) LAUGHING AT THE WEATHER? THE SERIOUS WORLD OF WEATHER CARTOONS Roger Turner, a Ph.D. candidate in cartooning meteorologists. on images. A history of aeronautical History and Sociology of Science But fi rst, the medium. I hadn’t meteorology in the fi rst half of the at the University of Pennsylvania, touched static visual media since a 20th century, my research tracks a discusses his experiences as part of bitter experience in a high school group of Scandinavian and American the inaugural poster session at the language arts class. I love museums, meteorologists through their writ- 2008 HSS Meeting. though, so I took wall exhibits as ings in operations manuals, research my model. Posters are good for a journals, memos, and textbooks. visual argument, allowing audiences Out of all these, one drawing from a y fi rst thought on reading to linger over several images and to 1943 textbook stuck out. It shows the Mthe call for papers was not compare them. Standing next to a hand of reason pulling back a curtain noble. I’m on the job market, and a poster also lets you have a longer chat marked “Weather Superstitions and poster seemed a reliable route onto with an audience, but the poster’s text Fallacies,” to reveal a winding path the program. After all, how many and images must form a complete posted with signs like “Bacon, Gali- historians make posters? What began story in the absence of an external leo, Torricelli, Boyle,” and “Air Mass as a resume builder ended up as an presenter. Unlike a verbal presenta- Analysis,” and leading to a gleaming exploration of popular print culture tion, narrative is hard to control; peak labeled “Weather Control.” Sort in America and its intersection with hardly anybody starts reading at the of a cartoon history of meteorology. weather forecasting; from Wonder top left. Inspired by that cartoon, I Woman and her lasso of truth (created Unfortunately, my dissertation looked more closely at materials from by the inventor of the lie detector) to project is long on narrative and short World War II. continued, page 4 Notes from the Inside What’s in a meeting? IN THIS ISSUE As of this writing, 329 attendees of the 2008 HSS/PSA conferences had responded to our meeting survey, a 33% response rate and a 14% increase over the last joint-meeting results. What have we learned? Most delegates said they were either satisfi ed or very satisfi ed with Pittsburgh Restoring Science as Culture in and the Omni William Penn (the conference hotel), 71% and 85% re- 10 Portugal spectively. Th is was our third meeting in Pittsburgh in the last 25 years and each time, the city has not disappointed. Since our goal is to meet in interesting cities, we asked which fi rst-tier cities, such as Berlin, New Spencer Weart and his History of York, and San Francisco, would be most appealing. Chicago came out on 12 Science top, followed closely by San Francisco and then Seattle. Th e most popular city outside the U.S. was London, but fewer than a third of respondents preferred London, with costs the apparent limiting factor. In fact, over 40% of respondents recorded that they would not spend more than $175 Where is History in the Science U.S. per night for any hotel venue, eff ectively ruling out most major cities. 14 Classroom? Indeed, when asked to identify obstacles for attending the meeting, 65% cited costs, followed by problems receiving funding, covering classes, and excessive travel time to Pittsburgh. Since second-tier cities typically off er HSS 2008 Prize Winners less expensive hotel rates, but also are more diffi cult to reach, we asked 20 respondents to indicate which of these they would most like to visit. Portland, Oregon was mentioned most often, followed by Nashville, Ten- nessee. Some of those surveyed suggested that we meet in cities with easy access to large cities, but most people do not fi nd the idea of meeting in a suburb enticing. Some delegates stated that they rarely leave the confer- 3 Letters ence hotel anyway, no matter where it is located, and so had no preference 5 Call or Papers for HSS 2009 Meeting for where we meet. But since experience shows that an attractive venue 6 News & Inquiries can swell the meeting numbers – as we experienced in Vancouver – and 7 HSS/NASA Fellowship since expense looms so large in determining whether or not people can 8 International Congress of History of Science attend, and since attendance aff ects whether or not we lose money on a Travel Grants meeting, we will continue to balance all of these factors while planning 15 Thank you to HSS Volunteers future HSS meetings. Organizing the HSS conferences gives me sympathy 16-17 Future Meetings/Jobs for the alchemists, since, like the chymists of old, I rely on a combination 17 Request for HSS Prize Nominations of science and art, and, sometimes, the dross does not turn into gold. 19 Donations to NEH Challenge Fund Th ank you for your membership in the HSS. History of Science Society – Jay Malone, Executive Director EXECUTIVE OFFICE Postal Address Physical Address EDITORIAL POLICIES, ADVERTISING AND SUBMISSIONS PO Box 117360 3310 Turlington Hall The History of Science Society Newsletter is published in January, April, July, and October, University of Florida University of Florida and sent to all individual members of the Society; those who reside outside of North America Gainesville, FL 32611-7360 Gainesville, FL 32611 pay an additional $5 annually to cover a portion of airmail charges. The Newsletter is available to nonmembers and institutions for $25 a year. Phone: 352-392-1677/Fax: 352-392-2795 The Newsletter is edited and desktop published in the Executive Offi ce. The format and E-mail: [email protected] editorial policies are determined by the Executive Director in consultation with the Committee Web site: http://www.hssonline.org/ on Publications and the Society Editor. All advertising copy must be submitted in electronic form. 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Please send all material to Please notify both the HSS Executive Offi ce and the Univer- the attention of the managing editor, Michal Meyer: [email protected]. sity of Chicago Press. © 2009 by the History of Science Society 2 History of Science Society Newsletter •January 2009 LETTERS A Note on the History of Science in Portugal Portugal.”6 I was surprised and disappointed to see no reference made to To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Paracel- the late Professor A. Jorge Andrade de Gouveia or to the Lisbon sus, Professor Gouveia arranged for additional lectures given at Academy of Sciences in Dr. Ana Simões discussion of the “His- the University of Coimbra and the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, tory of Science in Portugal: Where Do We Stand?”1 A former which were published in 1996.7 Unfortunately, illness and ad- Rector of the University of Coimbra and a prominent chemist, vancing age brought a halt to these eff orts. Nevertheless, I think Professor Gouveia had a long interest in the history of science. that it is hard to judge the state of the history of science in Portu- He had a special interest in the history of chemistry in Portugal gal without taking into account Professor Gouveia’s devotion and where there was an early acceptance of the new chemistry of signifi cant contributions to the fi eld. Lavoisier.2 He had earlier invited Professor R. Hooykaas to lec- – Allen G. Debus, Th e University of Chicago ture at Coimbra and he invited me in 1983 where I gave a series of four lectures on the historiography of the history of science at 3 6. William R. Shea, editor, Revolutions in Science: Th eir Meaning and Coimbra and the Academy of Sciences in Lisbon. Relevance (Canton, MA: Science History Publications, 1988), p. 9. Th e following year Professor Gouveia was instrumental in 7. Allen G. Debus, Paracelsus and the Chemical Factor in the organizing the fi rst of two symposia on the development of the Scientifi c Revolution, introduction by A.J. Andrade Gouveia and sciences in Portugal with Professor Pinto Peixoto at the Academy J. Simões Redinha (Lisbon: Academia das Ciências, 1996). Th ese of Science in Lisbon.