ISSN 0739-4934 -~EWSLETTER I IISTORY OF SCIENCE VOLUME 29 NUMBER 2 April 2000 SOCIETY THE AMERICANIZATION OF T HE HISTORY OF SCIENCE SOCIETY: WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Ronald L. Numbers, HSS President anuary 1, 2000, not looked on America primarily ARTICLES ON AMERICAN SCIENCE only ushered in what J asasceneof scientific"failure," IN Isis BY DECADE many consider a new which he charitably attributed 1930s 17 millennium but also a to indifference to research and 1940s 13 new era in the History of weak minds. 1950s 23 Science Society. For the The first call for greater 1960s 12 first time since its attention to American 1970s 29 founding in 1924 all of scientific developments came 1980s 35 the executive officers of 1990s 43 the society are from Shryock. Writing in Isis Americanises, as is the in 1944, he sought to carve out a distinctive space for American executive director. For science-in American history. "The value of studies in the history of Americanises, who long American science is not to be found primarily in contributions to the felt marginalized in the history of science as such," he wrote, "but rather to the history of the RONALD L. NUMBERS HSS, this represents a United States." Inspired by the American-made atomic bomb, the distinguished Harvard historian Arthur M. Schlesinger similarly gratifying turn of events. But there is nothing revolutionary about it. argued that American historians should explore the external connections During the first half-century of the HSS few American historians between science and participated in the society and fewer still served as officers. Of the first society rather than the 37 presidents of the society, whose terms spanned the years 1924 to internal development 1992, only one, the historian of medicine Richard H. Shryock (1940- CONTENTS of scientific theory. 42), was primarilyanAmericanist. George Sanon may have published Thirty-five years April 2000 the odd essay on science in America during his 40-year tenure as editor ago, when I looked into of Isis, but he never took American science seriously. Certainly he felt the possibility of Joint Meeting 3-7 no need to appoint an advisory editor for that specialty, recognition working on American that did not come until the early 1970s. HSS Elections 8-11 science rn the The early cultivators of the history of American science found it department of the News & Inquiries 12-13, 15 difficult to justify their specialty at a time when most historians of history of science at science were exploring the period before the U.S. was even born. Awards, Honors, & Wisconsin, I was told Mainstream historians of science, who stressed the transnational Appointments 14 that my interests were nature of scientific knowledge and celebrated contributions of better suited to the Jobs, Fellowships, international significance, typically prized scientific expertise more Grants & Prizes 16-17 history department. lan historical sophistication. Sarron's former student I. Bernard Eventually, I went to ohen, who devoted a major book to Benjamin Franklin, one of the Future Meetings 18-20 Berkeley to work with few Americans worthy of inclusion in the history of science proper, ISIS Books Received 20-23 A. Hunter Dupree, a Schlesinger student HSS Ballot 24 2 HISTORY OF SCIENCE SOCIETY NEWSLETTER APRIL 2000 and one of the few Americanists actively training graduate students in History of Science Society Executive Office the history of science. Bur even he felt beleaguered. As Charles Rosenberg described the situation in the late 1960s, "The historian of University of Washington American science is not fully accepted as either an American historian Box 351330 or an historian of science. Most American historians are simply Seattle, Washington 98195-1330 indifferent to the field; but beyond this, more than a few historians of Phone: 206/543-9366 science are openly scornful." Fax: 206/685-9544 In the late 1970s a small group of second-generation Americanists-Clark Elliott, Michele Aldrich, Sally Kohlstedt, e-mail: [email protected] Margaret Rossiter, Stanley Guralnick, Marc Rothenberg, and 1- Web site: http:!ldepts.washington.edu/hssexec/ began getting together at meetings of the HSS to discuss common Physical address (Fed-Ex, UPS): interests. Shortly after these get-togethers began, a well-meaning Johnson Hall, Room 226 colleague warned me that I risked damaging my professional reputation University of Washington by associating with such marginal people. Kohlstedt later became the Seattle, Washington 98195-1330 second Americanist elected to the presidency of the HSS (1992-93), Subscription Inquiries: ISIS and HSS Newsletter Rossiter assumed the editorship of Isis in 1994, and Rothenberg Please contact the University of Chicago Press directly, at: accepted an appointment as treasurer. From this enterprise came the [email protected], (fax) 773/753-0811, or write Forum for the History of Science in America, which now represents University of Chicago Press, Subscription Fulfillment Manager, the largest interest group in the HSS. P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, IL 60637. The efflorescence of American science in the HSS has owed as Moving? much to changes in the history of science generally as to the conscious Please notify both the HSS Executive Office and the University efforts of its practitioners. The dramatic shift in interest toward the of Chicago Press at the above addresses. past two centuries, the increasing attention to place, the virtual erasure HSS Newsletter Editorial Policies, Advertising, and Submissions of the longstanding internalist-externalist divide, and the emergence The History ofScience Society Newsletter is published in January of the U.S. as a scientific powerhouse all played contributing roles. As April, July, and October, and sent to all individual members of the the historiography ofscience became more critical than celebratory, it Society; those who reside ourside ofNorthAmerica pay an additional created more room for America's "failures. " $5 annually to cover a portion of first-class airmail charges. The Having moved from the basement to the boardroom of the HSS, Newsletter is available to nonmembers and institutions for $25 a we Americanists have just cause for celebration, but others need not year. fear that evil lurks. We may focus our attention on the United States, The Newsletter is edited and desktop published by Melissa but our interests and approaches are as varied as those of other 0 liver in the Executive Office on an Apple Power Macintosh system historians of science. And we remain as strongly committed as Sarton using Microsoft Word and Adobe PageMaker.The format and editorial policies are determined by the Executive Director in ever was to fostering a truly international sociery hospitable to the consultation with the HSS Executive Committee. All advertising exploration of science in every age, in every nation. copy must be submitted camera-ready. Advertisements are accepted on a space-available basis only, and the Society reserves the right not to accept a submission. The rates are as follows: Full page (9 x 7.5"), $350; Half page (4.5 x 7.5''), $200; Quarter page (3 x 5"), $100. The deadline for insertion orders and REMEMBER TO VOTE! camera-ready copy is six weeks prior to the month ofpublication BALLOTS DUE 31MAY2000. (e. g., November 15 for the January Newsletter) and should be sent to the attention of the HSS Executive Office at the above address. HSS recommends that all camera-ready ads be sent via overnight or 2-day mail to the physical address above. The deadline for news, announcements, and job/fellowship/ prize listings is firm: The first of the month prior to the month REMINDER-The Isis Bibliography from 1975 to the present is ofpublication. Long items (feature stories) should be submitted six available onlinewith the Research Libraries Group (RLG). Members of weeks prior to the month of publication as e-mail file attachment' the Society may access the RLG website, and the History of Science and or on a 3.5'' disk (along with a hard copy). 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