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News Archives

2017

  • History Department 2017 Newsletter – “The Past in the Present”

    History Newsletter 2017-18 – “The Past in the Present” Chair’s Welcome Twenty Years of ARCHIVE Drunk History Nature’s Metropolis Turns 25 Wisconsin 101 Progress Report Faculty/Emeriti News News Professorships Graduate Student/Alumni Notes Undergraduate/Graduate Awards and …

  • African Studies celebrates the contributions of Florence Bernault

    The African Studies Program congratulates and bids a fond farewell to longtime colleague Florence Bernault, who will be returning to her home country of France for a senior professorship in African History at the Institut …

  • Making Tracks: Gregg Mitman

    A recent autobiographical essay on how Gregg Mitman became an environmental historian, commissioned by the Rachel Carson Center. Read the essay on their blog, Seeing the Woods.

  • History of Science Brown Bag – Marie Hicks

    “Searching for Genderqueerness in the Archive” Marie Hicks UW-Madison, Department of History Upcoming History of Science brown bag: December 8th with Lynn Nyhart – Town Hall

  • Lecture: Evan Laksmana

    “Reshuffling the Deck?: Organizational Evolution, Officer Promotion, and Military Reform in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia” Evan Laksmana Doctoral Candidate Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Syracuse University Senior Researcher Center of Strategic and International Studies Jakarta …

  • Lecture: Susan Brewer

    “A Place Called Home: Family and Identity on Oneida Land” with Susan Brewer Tuesday, December 5, 2017 4:00 PM 7191 Helen C. White Susan Brewer investigates the history of Oneida Indian land in central New …

  • Better Health Through the Humanities

    A new certificate teaches students historical, cultural and philosophical ways people intersect with health care and provides them a broader, more nuanced understanding of health. Last spring in a Biology and Society course, Makenzie Wydra …

  • Seminar: Mira Green

    “Digesting Bodies: Status, Gender, and Mastery in Roman Society and Homes” Mira Green History, University of Washington Classics Monday, December 4, 2017 3:30 – 5:00 PM 212 University Club Providing a distinct window into the …

  • History of Science Colloquium

    “Saints and Science in Early Modern Italy: Filippo Neri and Francesco Borgia as Patron Saints of Earthquakes” Prof. Monica Azzolini Dept. of Philosophy and Communication U. of Bologna; Davis Center, Princeton Friday, December 1, 2017 …

  • Lecture: Dr. Zach Fredman

    “The Jeep Girl Crisis of 1945: American Servicemen and Chinese Women in Wartime China” Dr. Zach Fredman U.S. Foreign Policy and International Security Fellow Dartmouth College Thursday, November 30, 2017 3:30 – 5:00 Masley Media …

  • More 2017 posts

2016

  • Prof. Lederer named UNC Distinguished Visiting Professor

    January 2016 Susan E. Lederer, Robert Turell Professor of Medical History and Bioethics and department chair, will spend Spring 2016 in North Carolina. She will be the Nannerl O. Keohane Distinguished Visiting Professor at the …

  • Gómez receives UW IRH residential fellowship

    January 2016 Assistant Professor Pablo Gómez has been awarded a UW Institute for Research in the Humanities (IRH) residential fellowship for the coming Fall semester. Pablo will be working on his second book project during …

  • All History of Science Department Events for Spring 2016

    January 22 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag Welcome to Spring Semester! BB organization and scheduling. Location: 204 Bradley Memorial January 29 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag: Mitra Sharafi, Law School, UW-Madison “Blood Testing and Fear …

  • All History of Science Department Events for Fall 2016

    September 9 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag Welcome, introductions, and planning for the semester. For the remainder of the hour, we’ll have an informal discussion about current problems with academic publishing, which seems increasingly dysfunctional. …

  • Post-Soviet Lustration and Contemporary Hierarchical Relations with Russia

    Professor Yuval Weber National Research University — Higher School of Economics (Moscow) Thursday, December 8, 2016 4:00 PM 206 Ingraham Hall A key challenge for post-authoritarian governments is to consolidate political authority; one of the …

  • What’s in a Name?: Searching for the African Origins of “Samba” and “Zumbi” in Brazil

    Marc Hertzman Professor of History University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Wednesday, November 30, 2016 3:30 – 5:00 PM 8417 Social Science This presentation explores the contours and significance of prolonged searches for African origins of …

  • The Ottoman Empire Through a Greek Lens

    Molly Greene Professor of History and Hellenic Studies Princeton University Wednesday, Novemeber 30, 2016 5:00-7:00 PM Rm 225 Pyle Center Molly Greene studies the history of the Mediterranean Basin, the Ottoman Empire, and the Greek …

  • Megan Raby wins 2016 Derek Price/Rod Webster Prize

    November 2016 History of Science alumna Megan Raby has received the 2016 Derek Price/Rod Webster Prize presented at the recent History of Science Society (HSS) annual meeting in Atlanta. Awarded for the best article in …

  • History Department Colloquium

    Panel on “Gender and the Ancient Economy: Thinking Through Some Problems” Prof. Claire Taylor “Why Buy the Cow When You Can Get the Milk For Free?: Gender Politics & Protest in Wisconsin Dairy Country” Jillian …

  • Stitching Wartime History: The Case of the French Resistance

    Enjoy a special afternoon with textile-collection donors and friends of the School of Human Ecology featuring Stitching History from the Holocaust, an original exhibit created by and on loan from the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee. …

  • More 2016 posts

2015

  • All History of Science Department Events for Fall 2015

    September 4 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag Welcome, introductions, and planning for the semester Location: 204 Bradley Memorial September 11 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag: Stephen Neal, History of Science, UW-Madison “Making Science Global During …

  • “Journeys with Baron Ungern: Biography and Empire in the Russian Revolution”

    Willard Sunderland, Professor of Russian History, University of Cincinnati Friday, December 4, 2015 1:30 – 3:00 PM 212 University Club Sponsored by: Alice D. Mortensen/Petrovich Chair in Russian History, the George L. Mosse Program in …

  • Workshop: Rethinking Borderlands

    Thursday December 3, 2015 Memorial Library Room 126 3:30 to 5:00 pm Kathryn Ciancia on Inter-war Poland Assistant Professor of History, UW-Madison Judd Kinzley on the Early People’s Republic of China Assistant Professor of History, …

  • First Book Award to Nicole Nelson

    November 2015 The UW Center for the Humanities has awarded History of Science Assistant Professor Nicole Nelson a First Book Award, one of the three UW junior faculty in the humanities and interpretive social sciences …

  • Department well-represented at the annual HSS meeting

    November 2015 The UW History of Science Department will be well-represented at the annual History of Science Society (HSS) meeting this month in San Francisco. Graduate students James Brannon, Melissa Charenko, Bridget Collins, Dana Freiburger, …

  • Ujamaa Urbanists: Street Archives and City Life in Socialist Tanzania

    Emily Callaci Assistant Professor of History UW-Madison Nov. 23, 2015 3:30 – 4:30 PM 212 University Club Building Urban migration in Africa in the second half of the twentieth century has been one of the …

  • “Why is China so Big? Rethinking the Boundaries of Civilized Empire under the Qing”

    Professor University of Chicago Nov. 13, 2015 1:30 – 3:00 PM Conrad A Elvehjem Building, Room L140 Prof. Pomeranz is a specialist on society and economy in late Imperial and twentieth-century China and the past …

  • Kutler Lectures

    Lila Corwin Berman, Temple University “The Death and Life of Jewish Urbanism” Monday, November 9, 2015 4:00 p.m. Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery (330 N. Orchard St.) In modern times, Jews emerged as the consummate urban …

  • Thirty-Seventh Annual Merle Curti Lecture Series

    “Past Belief: Visions of Early Christianity in Early Modern Europe” Featuring Professor Anthony T. Grafton Princeton University November 3 – November 5, 2015 4:00 PM Pyle Center Vandeberg Auditorium Topics Tuesday, Nov 3rd “How Jesus …

  • Florence Hsia pens piece on Pope Francis, the Jesuits, and Science

    October 2015 History of Science Professor Florence Hsia recently penned a piece for The Conversation about Pope Francis, the Jesuits, and science. Titled “Jesuits as science missionaries for the Catholic Church”, Hsia ponders the historical …

  • More 2015 posts

2014

  • Disclosing/Enclosing Thematic Cluster

    December 2014 Assistant Professor Nicole Nelson from History of Science and a trio of Medical History and Bioethics faculty – Linda Hogle, Pilar Ossorio, and Kris Saha – form the team leaders of an exciting …

  • Keller named Associate Dean of Division of International Studies

    December 2014 Professor Richard C. Keller, Department of Medical History and Bioethics and History of Science, has been named as associate dean of the UW–Madison Division of International Studies. Starting January 2015, Keller will serve …

  • All History of Science Department Events for Fall 2014

    September 5 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag Introductions and Planning Location: 204 Bradley Memorial September 12 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag: Michael Shank, History of Science, UW-Madison “Rethinking Mathematical Culture from Pythagoras to Cusa: David …

  • Emeritus Professor Robert Siegfried dies, first department PhD

    November 2014 Robert Siegfried, professor emeritus of the History of Science department and its first Ph.D. awardee, passed away on September 2, 2014. Siegfried taught in the department for many years after completing his doctorate …

  • Professor Pablo F. Gómez garners UW ‘First Book Award

    November 2014 Hearty congratulations to Assistant Professor Pablo F. Gómez, History of Science and Medical History and Bioethics, who has received a 2014-15 “First Book Award” from the UW Center for the Humanities. Pablo’s book, …

  • Elmer L. Andersen Research Scholars Award to Charenko

    November 2014 Graduate student Melissa Charenko has received a research award from the Elmer L. Andersen Research Scholars program at the University of Minnesota Libraries. She plans to use this award next year to look …

  • Gregg Mitman – participates in a Congressional briefing Nov. 17 on the Ebola crisis in Africa

    Professor Gregg Mitman participated in a Congressional briefing on Ebola and the African Health Crisis in Washington, D.C. The briefing was be held on Monday, November 17, 2014 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. in the Gold …

  • The Harvey Goldberg Memorial Lecture

    The U.S. Green Energy Transformation: Controlling Climate Change and Expanding Job Opportunities Professor Robert Pollin Distinguished Professor of Economics University of Massachusetts-Amherst and alumnus of the UW Department of History Thursday, November 6, 2014 5:00 …

  • Kathryn Ciancia Awarded “First Book” Award

    Congratulating Kathryn Ciancia who has been awarded the Center for the Humanities “First Book Award.” Kathryn follows Emily Callaci, Daniel Ussishkin, and Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen in winning the award. “The Center’s First Book Award is funded …

  • Congratulations to Bill Reese

    Congratulations to Bill Reese, who recently learned that his book Testing Wars in the Public Schools: A Forgotten History (Harvard, 2013) is this year’s winner of the annual book award from the History of Education …

  • More 2014 posts

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

  • All History of Science Department Events for Fall 2008

    September 5 (Friday) at Noon Introductions and Planning September 12 (Friday) at Noon James Secord, Cambridge “Paper Comets: Prophecy, Science and the End of the World in the Nineteenth-century Press.” September 15 (Monday) at 4:00 …

  • Selected Articles and Books

    Susan E. Lederer, Flesh and Blood: Organ Transplantation and Blood Transfusion in Twentieth-Century America (Oxford University Press, 2008)

  • All History of Science Department Events for Spring 2008

    January 25 (Friday) at Noon Walton Schalick, UW-Madison “Mephibosheth in the Middle Ages: Disability and Children, 1000-1400.” February 1 (Friday) at Noon Scott Prinster, UW-Madison “Who’s Watching the Watchers? Why Some Historians Call Institutional Review …

  • Ronald Numbers Awarded the Sarton Medal

    November 2008 Ronald L. Numbers, Hilldale Professor of the History of Science, received the Sarton Medal at the annual meeting of the History of Science Society in Pittsburg. It is the highest honor conferred by …

  • Eric Schatzberg Repeats as Winner of the Usher Prize

    October 2008 For the second time, Eric Schatzberg has won the Usher Prize from the Society for the History of Technology, a prize given to the author of the best scholarly work published during the …

  • Shank named Herbert and Evelyn Howe Bascom Professor

    September 2008 Michael Shank was named a Herbert and Evelyn Howe Bascom Professor in Integrated Liberal Studies for 2008-2010. The professorship honors contributions Evelyn Howe, emerita lecturer in ILS, and Herbert Howe, professor emeritus of …

  • More 2008 posts

2007

  • All History of Science Department Events for Spring 2007

    January 26 (Friday) at Noon Christina Matta and Richard Staley, UW-Madison “A Graduate Student’s Guide to Publishing.” February 2 (Friday) at Noon Kellen Backer, UW-Madison February 8 (Thursday) at 3:45 pm Colloquium: Naomi Oreskes, University …

  • All History of Science Department Events for Fall 2007

    September 7 (Friday) at Noon Introductions and Planning September 12 (Wednesday) at 4:00 pm Colloquium: Ann Blair, Harvard University “Managing Information in Big Books, 1500-1700.” Location: 6104 Social Science September 14 (Friday) at Noon Claire …

  • Selected Articles and Books

    Richard C. Keller, “Clinician and Revolutionary: Frantz Fanon, Biography, and the History of Colonial Medicine,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 81 (2007): 823-841. Richard C. Keller, Colonial Madness: Psychiatry in French North Africa (Chicago: …

  • Welcome Susan Lederer and Walton Schalick

    August 2007 The Program in History of Science, Technology and Medicine is pleased to welcome Professor Susan Lederer to our faculty. Sue comes to us from the Section of the History of Medicine at Yale …

  • Faculty in the News

    June 2007 Gregg Mitman was profiled in the Madison Capital Times on June 11, 2007.

  • Faculty Departure

    May 2007 Warwick Anderson is leaving UW-Madison for University of Sydney, where he will be University Research Professor in the History Department and the Centre on Values, Ethics, and the Law in Medicine. We will …

  • Matthew Lavine garners ILS TA Award

    April 2007 History of Science doctoral candidate and ILS TA Matthew Lavine received an ILS Teaching Assistant Excellence Award. Congratulations to Matt on a job well done!

  • Warwick Anderson wins Guggenheim Fellowship

    April 2007 Warwick Anderson has won a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship for his project, “The Science of Race Mixing in the Twentieth Century,” which looks at the transnational network of research on race mixing, or miscegenation.

  • More 2007 posts

2006

  • All History of Science Department Events for Fall 2006

    September 8 (Friday) at Noon Introductions and Planning September 11 (Monday) at 3:45 pm Colloquium: Shigehisa Kuriyama, Harvard University “The Life of Money and the Afflictions of the Body.” Location: 8417 Social Science September 15 …

  • Selected Articles and Books

    Judith A. Houck, Hot and Bothered: Women, Medicine and Menopause in Modern America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006). Gregg Mitman, “Where Ecology, Nature, and Politics Meet: Reclaiming the Death of Nature” Isis 97 (2006): 496-504. …

  • New History of Science Faculty Associates

    August 2006 Three UW-Madison faculty have joined the department as affiliates: Rima Apple, professor emeritus, School of Human Ecology; Greg Downey, associate professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communications and of Library and Information Studies; …

  • Gregg Mitman co-PI on $3 million NSF Grant

    June 2006 Gregg Mitman helped write and is co-PI on a $3,000,000 NSF grant, “Vulnerability and Sustainability in Coupled Human-Natural Systems: An Integrative Traineeship in Sustainability and the Global Environment.”

  • Mitman wins Aldo Leopold-Ralph W. Hidy Award for 2005

    April 2006 Gregg Mitman won the Aldo Leopold-Ralph W. Hidy Award for 2005 from the American Society for Environmental History for his April 2005 article “In Search of Health: Landscape and Disease in American Environmental …

  • More 2006 posts

2005

  • Selected Articles and Books

    Walton O. Schalick, “Speculum medicinae: Reflections of a Medievalist-Clinician,” in J. Duffin, ed. Clio in the Clinic (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 27-45.

  • Ronald Number elected Fellow of the AAAS

    November 2005 In recognition of his contributions to science, Ronald Numbers was elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  • Gregg Mitman on the Air

    September 2005 Professor Gregg Mitman of our faculty will be a featured guest at 8:00 p.m. Thursday September 8 on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Here on Earth” program. An expert on nature films, Gregg will talk …

  • New Fellowship honoring William Coleman

    September 2005 The Department of the History of Science and the Institute for Research in the Humanities are pleased to announce the Coleman Dissertation Fellowship in the History of Science. The fellowship honors the distinguished …

  • Ronald Number to become President of the DHST/IUHPS

    July 2005 Ronald Numbers has been elected to a four-year term (2005-2009) as president of the Division of History of Science and Technology of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science.

  • Thomas H. Broman receives NEH Fellowship

    February 2005 Associate Professor Thomas H. Broman has received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for academic year 2005-2006 for his project, “The Role of the Press in Shaping the Authority of Science in …

  • Michael Shank to chair Center for Early Modern Studies

    January 2005 Professor Michael H. Shank has been appointed chair of the new UW Center for Early Modern Studies, effective January 2005.

  • More 2005 posts

2004

  • Lecture: Evan Laksmana

    “Reshuffling the Deck?: Organizational Evolution, Officer Promotion, and Military Reform in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia” Evan Laksmana Doctoral Candidate Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Syracuse University Senior Researcher Center of Strategic and International Studies Jakarta …

  • NOVA documentary on Typhoid Mary

    October 2004 On Oct. 12, 2004, PBS aired a NOVA documentary based on Professor Judith Leavitt’s book, Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public’s Health. This documentary, “The Most Dangerous Woman in America,” features commentary by …

  • Judith Leavitt named Rupple-Bascom Professor

    September 2004 Professor Judith Walzer Leavitt has been named the UW Foundation Chair Rupple-Bascom Professor. These at-large professorships, created with funds from the UW Foundation, recognize faculty for their balanced contributions to the University’s teaching, …

  • New Chair of Medical History and Bioethics

    August 2004 Warwick Anderson has been appointed Turell Professor of Medical History and Population Health and chair of the Department of Medical History and Bioethics.

  • History of Medicine Collections Has Moved

    July 2004 In July 2004, the History of Medicine Collections moved to the Ebling Library, a fantastic new facility in the Health Sciences Learning Center. This building now houses the historical collections previously located at …

  • Professors Keller and Anderson Receive $30K Grant

    May 2004 The Office of International Studies and Programs of the University of Wisconsin has awarded $30,000 to Richard Keller and co-PI Warwick Anderson for their project “Globalizing the Unconscious: Cross-Cultural Encounters with Colonial Psychoanalysis.”

  • Professor Judith Leavitt wins Hilldale Award

    April 2004 Judith Walzer Leavitt, the Ruth Bleier WARF professor of medical history, history of science and women’s studies, has received the 2003-2004 Hilldale Award in the Arts and Humanities Division from the University of …

  • Gregg Mitman Receives Two National Fellowships

    April 2004 Professor Gregg Mitman has received a National Humanities Center Fellowship for academic year 2004-2005 and a Guggenheim Fellowship for 2005-2006, for his project, “Breathing Space: An Ecological History of Allergy in America.”

  • More 2004 posts

2003

  • The Latest from Lindberg and Numbers

    October 2003 In October 2003, the University of Chicago Press will be releasing When Science and Christianity Meet, co-edited by David Lindberg and Ronald Numbers. Three volumes of their jointly edited eight-volume Cambridge History of …

  • Professor Ronald Numbers wins Hilldale Award

    April 2003 Professor Ronald L. Numbers received the 2002-2003 Hilldale Award in the Arts and Humanities Division from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The prestigious Hilldale Awards, which recognize excellence in teaching, research and service, are …

  • Brent Ruswick garners ILS TA Award

    April 2003 History of Science doctoral candidate and ILS TA Brent Ruswick received an ILS Teaching Assistant Excellence Award. Congratulations to Brent on a job well done!

  • More 2003 posts

2002

  • Daniel Thurs garners ILS TA Award

    April 2002 History of Science doctoral candidate and ILS TA Daniel Thurs received an ILS Teaching Assistant Excellence Award. Congratulations to Dan on a job well done!

  • Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra wins two AHA Book Awards

    March 2002 UW History of Science alumnus Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, Assistant Professor in the History department at SUNY-Buffalo, has been awarded two prizes from the American Historical Association for his book How to Write the History …

  • By recent alumna Louise Robbins

    January 2002 Louise E. Robbins has published Elephant Slaves and Pampered Parrots: Exotic Animals in Eighteenth-Century Paris (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002). From the publisher: “Based on wide-ranging and imaginative research, Elephant Slaves and …

  • More 2002 posts