Call for paper: The 7th Tensions of Europe Conference, Stockholm, 3‐6 September 2015

[via Nina Worms]

The 7th Tensions of Europe Conference

Organizers: Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology together with the KTH Environmental Humanities Laboratory.

Conference theme: Technology and Environment

Tensions of Europe Conference will have as its main theme the interaction between technology and the environment. One way of understanding the environment is to think of it as nature appropriated by humankind through technological, scientific and representational means. From farming to space travel, we use technologies and natural resources to sustain our lives. Our use of technologies leaves traces behind in the form of altered environments. Changes at global historical and geological scales are accumulated as heritage and geophysical strata respectively. The intersection of technology and the environment can also be understood culturally or socially. We use technology in our understanding and appreciation of nature (religious, poetic or physical), in monitoring it, assessing it representing it. Further, technology can be a lens and a tool in shaping our relation to the environment. Technologies not only assist in shaping and transforming nature, they also assist us to perceive, observe, record and communicate natures and environments, including imaginative representations of techno‐natures in art, literature and film.

The conference also invites scholarship in the general themes of the Tensions of Europe network, such as trans‐border flows, common resources, conflicting interests, hidden integration and cultural practices.

We not only invite traditional panel‐sessions with a number of papers and a commentator, but also strongly encourage different formats and new ideas. As long as quality can be demonstrated, the programme committee will not prioritize between formats. By quality we mean suggestions that promise constructive, stimulating and engaging discussion.

We invite scholars from all relevant fields to submit proposals to:

7toe‐2015@kth.se

by 15 February 2015. All proposals should include a title, a short abstract, the academic title and affiliation of the applicant(s) and a short bio.  Please name your file with your surname.

Abstracts for individual papers and posters should be no more than 300 words. For panels, we ask for a description of the theme of the panel (max 300 words) together with shorter abstracts (max 150 words) of the individual papers. If you wish to suggest a presentation of a different format, please use these word limits as guidelines.

We will inform applicants by 1 April 2015 whether their contribution has been accepted.

A second call for papers, with information about keynote speakers and the  conference website, will be distributed before the end of 2014.

Welcome to Stockholm in September 2015!

Nina Wormbs
Head of Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment
KTH Royal Institute of technology

CFP: Teknik- och vetenskapshistoriska dagar 2015

[via TVHD]

Den 15–17 april 2015 anordnas den nationella konferensen Teknik- och vetenskapshistoriska dagar i Lund. Konferensen anordnas vartannat år och riktar sig till forskare och doktorander inom teknik- och vetenskapshistoria och angränsande forskningsfält samt till personer verksamma inom museisektorn. Arrangör för 2015 års konferens är avdelningen för idé- och lärdomshistoria vid Lunds universitet i samarbete med Svenska Nationalkommittén för teknik- och vetenskapshistoria.

Inbjuden key-noteföreläsare är Kristin Asdal, Senter for teknologi, innovasjon og kultur (TIK) vid Oslo universitet.

Historiska studier av vetenskap och teknik bedrivs inom en rad discipliner och områden, alltifrån teknik- och vetenskapshistoria, idéhistoria, medicinhistoria, miljöhistoria, ekonomisk historia och teknik- och vetenskapsstudier till etnologi, sociologi och kulturstudier och vi vill uppmuntra doktorander och forskare från samtliga dessa discipliner att delta.

Vi välkomnar deltagare med följande typer av bidrag:

– Individuella papers eller presentationer på valfritt tema

– Förslag på sessioner på valfritt tema

– Individuella bidrag som anknyter till konferensens tema/teman

Inom ramen för konferensen planeras ett antal teman varav ett är ”Universitetshistoria – vägar till vitalisering och reflexion”. Universitetshistoria som genre har varit påfallande traditionell och främst producerats av enskilda lärosäten i samband med olika jubileer. Det universitetshistoriska temat vill därför inbjuda till en bred diskussion om hur denna genre kan förnyas men också göras mer allmängiltig och relevant. Inte minst mot bakgrund av universitetets snabba förändring under senare tid är det angeläget att utveckla en historieskrivning som kan ge nya perspektiv på universitetet som central kunskapsinstitution i samhället. Det inbegriper även kunskapsproduktionens villkor inom andra akademiska institutioner och miljöer samt hur denna kunskap tillämpas inom olika delar av samhället.

På fredag eftermiddag kommer det att finnas möjlighet för konferensens deltagare att besöka kärnkraftverket i Barsebäck för en guidad tur. Noteras bör att antalet platser på denna rundtur är begränsat. Konferensens språk är svenska, övriga skandinaviska språk samt engelska. Sista dag för anmälan av individuella abstracts (250 ord) och förslag på sessioner är 15 januari 2015. Anmälan sker på konferensens hemsida, där även praktisk information om boende, konferensavgift etc. kommer fortlöpande att uppdateras.

Eventuella övriga frågor skickas till: TVHD2015@kultur.lu.se

English summary: 
A national conference on the History of Science and Technology will be held in Lund, April 15–17, 2015. The conference is held every two years and is aimed at graduate students and researchers in the history of technology and science and adjacent research fields and to people working in the museum sector. Organizer for the 2015 conference is the Department of History of Science and Ideas, Lund University in cooperation with the the Swedish National Committee of the History of Technology and Science. The main topic of the conference 
is ”University History—ways to revitalization and reflection.” For further information, please send a message to: TVHD2015@kultur.lu.se or visit our website.

Call for Papers: ”Science as Profession”, the 26th Baltic Conference in History of Science, 21-22 August 2014, Helsinki

[via bahps]

How did science come to be a profession – and how were careers in science structured before professionalization in its modern sense? What kind of interaction does the formation of institutional structures have with the process of professionalization? What has the role of the public image of science and scientists been in various historical contexts? How has the changing gender ratio contributed to the professionalization of scientists? What kind of a role have non-professionals played in development of science? Have heretics added their valuable contributions or rather disturbed the ”normal development” of the scientific world?

Nearly one hundred years ago, in 1919 Max Weber published his article Wissenschaft als Beruf, Science as a Vocation. Indeed, scientists and engineers play a visible role in our society, and yet the desired ways to educate, enrol and employ these experts are still as much in constant negotiation in Western societies as they were in Weber’s time. Time has come to make sense of the corresponding developments in the countries of the Baltic Rim and beyond. Therefore, the 26th Baltic Conference in History of Science will focus on the multiple questions concerning the past processes of professionalization and career-building of scientists and engineers. The questions above and many other related aspects in their historical contexts will be discussed in close cooperation with the philosophers who add to their conceptual understanding.

The Science as Profession conference will take place in August, 21st – 22nd, 2014 in Helsinki. We welcome papers which address any relevant questions asked above from the point of view of history of natural and social sciences, mathematics, arts and humanities, technology and medicine as well as philosophy of science and science studies. The choice of topics is neither limited to any geographical area, although special interest will of course be paid to developments in countries in the Baltic Sea area.

A selection of papers presented in this conference will be published in the Acta Baltica Historiae et Philosophiae Scientiarum.

Submitting an abstract

We welcome abstracts of 300-500 words.

The length of individual papers is 20 minutes.

The language of the abstracts as well as the papers is English.

To submit an abstract, please use our electronic form:

Submit your abstract here

Deadline for proposals is March 31st, 2014

To contact the organizers, please use the following email address: bahps2014@gmail.com

Call for Papers: The International Workshop on the History of Chemistry, March 2-4, 2015, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

The years between the 1920s and the 1960s saw a transformation of chemistry in several aspects. These included the development of biochemistry, polymer chemistry, quantum chemistry, and computational chemistry, as well as the instrumental revolution. New methods, theories, and technologies opened up new fields of chemical sciences, and the chemical industry grew to be one of the most important branches of industry that supported national economies. Chemistry was greatly influenced by World War II and the Cold War, when it was directed especially to military and security needs, while the public image of chemistry also changed, due largely to the environmental problems caused by synthetic chemical materials.

These years also saw developments in Japanese chemistry. The first generation of Japanese chemists started their research in the early 20th century. Born and educated after the Meiji Restoration, the starting point of Japan’s full-fledged modernization, some of them founded a research strategy that aimed to study the structure of components of Japan’s local natural products using methods newly developed in Europe, in order to compete with chemists in the West. However, after several decades, the accomplishments of seven Japanese Nobel laureates in chemistry became not fundamentally different from those of their Western counterparts. Their researches, performed mostly from the 1950s to the 1970s, developed new methods and theories and opened new fields. Clearly, there must have been a transformation of chemistry research in Japan between the 1920s and the 1960s as well.

The aim of the workshop “Transformation of Chemistry from the 1920s to the 1960s” is to stimulate a discussion of the transformation of chemistry in Japan and/or in the world during the period with comparative perspectives. The workshop may take an interdisciplinary approach and pay special attention to the social dimension of chemistry.

This subject has only recently started to be discussed and even then it has only been considered intermittently. This workshop attempts to bring those interested in the history of chemistry in the 20th century together for dialogue and debate from various perspectives. It will comprise thematic four keynote lectures, sessions with papers and commentaries, and a concluding general discussion.

Keynote speakers:

Professor Jeffrey Johnson, Villanova University, USA
Professor Mary Jo Nye, Oregon State University, USA
Professor Ernst Homburg, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands
With an introductory lecture on the theme and on the Japanese Society for the History of Chemistry by its president, Professor Yasu Furukawa, Nihon University, Japan

The workshop organizing committee invites proposals for papers on the following themes, though other topics within the broad framework of the workshop are also encouraged:

• Emergence of polymer chemistry, quantum chemistry, and computational chemistry
• Biochemistry and the origins of molecular biology
• Instrumental revolution in chemistry
• Development of chemical engineering
• Changes in the chemical industry
• Chemistry and the environment
• Chemistry and World War II
• Chemistry and the Cold War
• International communication in chemistry
• Chemical heritages

Abstracts of less than 400 words should be submitted no later than May 30, 2014 by posting through the submission form on the workshop website. General inquiries should be sent through the contact form on the same website. The format of the workshop will not allow for more than about 20 papers. Applicants will be notified if their papers have been accepted or not by July 1, 2014.

Full versions of papers are due to be submitted for commentators by December 16, 2014. Papers should be no more than 7,000 words in length. They will be made available only to registered participants in the workshop via a restricted section of the website before the workshop.

The registration fee will be 10,000 JPY, conference dinner 8,000 JPY, and excursion optional. It will be possible to obtain limited economic support for travel expenses of paper presenters from abroad. Please indicate in the application if such support is required for attendance and what level of support will be needed. More information will be announced later.

Workshop venue: Tokyo Institute of Technology (2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8552). The workshop will be two full days, from morning to late afternoon March 3-4, 2015. Late afternoon/evening March 2 is reserved for registration, reception, and possibly one keynote lecture. The workshop language will be English (with simultaneous Japanese translation).

It is possible to apply for participation (to attend) without giving a paper. The deadline for such applications is December 1, 2014.

Selected papers from the workshop will be considered for publication.

The workshop is organized by the Japanese Society for the History of Chemistry (JSHC) with support from the History of Science Society of Japan and the Chemical Society of Japan. The workshop will be held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the foundation of JSHC. The Commission on the History of Modern Chemistry (CHMC) will be co-sponsor of the workshop. The workshop is supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number 24300295.

Welcome!

Call for paper: The Promises of Science: Historical Perspectives, San Sebastian, Spain, 7-8 april 2014

[via UPV/EHU]

Frontispiece Francis Bacon’s Instauratio Magna (1620).

Ever since the famous frontispiece of Francis Bacon’s Instauratio Magna, modern science has been portrayed in terms of future promises. The vessels daring to sail beyond the Pillars of Hercules were an obvious metaphor of the wonders to come if a new epistemic culture was implemented: the motto “multi pertransibunt et augebitur scientia” has both verbs in the future tense. The new Organon, the new method and the new logics were to be trusted on the basis of promises of things to come rather than on actual achievements. At stake was, many have argued, a secularisation of the religious notion of redemption through a uniform and tightly methodical science. Later on, the rhetoric of “promise” was at the very core of the ideals of the European Enlightenment in the eighteenth century and its enthroning of the goddess reason.

This workshop will explore the ways the category of “promise” can help us understand the history of science and, with it, contemporary ideas on what science is or is perceived to be. It will include contributions by historians of science, philosophers and sociologist committed to explore the notion of “promise” as a historiographical tool in the history of science. The papers will be circumscribed to case-studies from the last two hundred years, including some recent episodes in science so as to make the study relevant beyond the confined limits of academic history of science.

We invite contributions of individual papers to join us in the workshop “The Promises of Science. Historical Perspectives”, to be held in San Sebastian/Donostia (Spain) on 7—9 April, 2014. The workshop will gather historians, philosophers and sociologists of science in the task of analysing the category of “promise” as a historiographical tool to help us understand past and present perceptions of science.

Abstracts of 500 words aprox. are welcome until December 15th 2013 to the following e-mail address: jaume.navarro@ehu.es.

For more information, please see the conference website.

Call for paper: Ninth annual British Society for Literature and Science conference, University of Surrey, Guildford, 10-12 April 2014

[Via BSLS]

The ninth annual conference of the British Society for Literature and Science will take place at the University of Surrey, Guildford, on 10-12 April 2014. Keynote speakers will include Professor Mary Orr (University of Southampton) and Professor Bernard Lightman (York University, Toronto). The conference will finish with an opportunity to visit Down House, the home of Charles Darwin, on the afternoon of Saturday 12 April.

The BSLS invites proposals for twenty-minute papers, or panels of three papers, on any subjects within the field of literature and science. This year the organisers would particularly welcome proposals addressing links between science and European and world literatures, and proposals for papers or panels on teaching literature and science. However, the BSLS remains committed to supporting and showcasing work on all aspects of literature and science.

Proposals of no more than 250 words, together with the name and institutional affiliation of the speaker, should be sent in the body of messages (not in attachments) to g.tate@surrey.ac.uk. Proposals for panels should include a separate proposal for each paper. The closing date for submissions is Friday 6 December 2013.

The conference fee will be waived for two graduate students in exchange for written reports on the conference, to be published in the BSLS Newsletter. If you are interested in being selected for one of these awards, please mention this when sending in your proposal. To qualify you will need to be registered for a postgraduate degree at the time of the conference.

Accommodation: please note that those attending the conference will need to make their own arrangements for accommodation. Information on local hotels will shortly be made available on the conference website.

Membership: conference delegates will need to register as members of the BSLS (annual membership: £25 waged / £10 unwaged). It will be possible to join the BSLS when registering for the conference online.

For further information about the conference, please contact Gregory Tate (g.tate@surrey.ac.uk).