Call for Papers: Materia Medica on the Move II – Contextualizing Drug Components as Collectables, Commodities, and Cultural Markers in the Early Modern Period (Amsterdam, October 4-6, 2017; Deadline 19 June 2017)

After the successful Materia medica on the move conference in 2015, Utrecht University Descartes Centre, Huygens/ING, and Naturalis Biodiversity Centre will host a three-day follow-up conference, again devoted to the circulation of knowledge regarding non-native natural substances that were used in medicine in the early modern period (1500-1800). The conference will take place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 4 until 6 October 2017.

After the successful Materia medica on the move conference in 2015, Utrecht University Descartes Centre, Huygens/ING, and Naturalis Biodiversity Centre will host a three-day follow-up conference, again devoted to the circulation of knowledge regarding non-native natural substances that were used in medicine in the early modern period (1500-1800). The conference will take place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 4 until 6 October 2017. Lees meer…

First Teylers Meeting on History of Astronomy and Physics, “Crossing Borders: Internationalism in 20th Century Astronomy and Physics.” (12 April 2017, Teylers Museum, Haarlem)

A remarkable feature of the history of modern astronomy and physics might be the increasing ability to effortlessly work in an international environment. At least, seemingly effortlessly. At this meeting we would like to focus on the mixes of international collaboration and competition in these fields during the 20th century.

A remarkable feature of the history of modern astronomy and physics might be the increasing ability to effortlessly work in an international environment. At least, seemingly effortlessly. At this meeting we would like to focus on the mixes of international collaboration and competition in these fields during the 20th century. Lees meer…

Call for Papers Reminder: History of Science Society Annual Meeting (Toronto, 9-12 November 2017; Deadline 3 April 2017)

The History of Science Society (HSS) will hold its 2017 conference in the Sheraton City Centre in downtown Toronto. The HSS encourages submissions on all topics. Proposals (250-word maximum for abstracts) must be submitted via the HSS submissions page or on the annual meeting proposal forms that are available from the HSS Executive Office: info@hssonline.org. Lees meer…

Call for Papers: The Laboratory Revolution. The Rise of the Laboratory and the Changing Nature of the University, 1850-1950 (Groningen, 26-27 October 2017; Deadline: 15 May 2017)


Laboratories are the ultimate place where knowledge is created. What originally had been the workplace of chemists and alchemists, by the end of the nineteenth century had become a standard element in the infrastructure of science. The rise of the laboratory revolutionized the sciences in many ways and continues to do so.

The conference ‘The Laboratory Revolution’ intends to bring together scholars from different backgrounds to study how the laboratory changed both science and the university. By merging the expertise of historians of science and scholarship, historians of architecture, social and cultural historians, and historians of the university, the organizers hope to create a better understanding of the revolution brought about by the rise of the laboratory – a revolution that is still going on. Lees meer…

Research Project: The Art of Reasoning: Techniques of Scientific Argumentation in the Medieval Latin West

We are grateful to Mariken Teeuwen for offering a description of her new research project. But we are also very much interested in publishing descriptions of your research projects, particularly new initiatives. If you have something you’d like to share, please get in touch. Since June 2016, we started a new project, following up our previous one (Marginal Scholarship) but with a new main focus, with a new addition to our team and stretching out over a longer period. The title of the project is The Art of Reasoning: Techniques of Scientific Argumentation in the Medieval Latin West. The main focus of the project is to analyze how scholars dealt with their authoritative texts on rhetoric and dialectic, both before and in the period of the medieval universities. The techniques of dialectical argumentation, we argue, did not develop in the period of the universities, but were already used before that, only not in the shape of new texts, but rather in the shape of marginal annotations added to texts. A view on those marginal practices and texts, so we argue, will allow us to understand the historical roots of the dialectical method better. Lees meer…

Verslag: boekpresentatie “Computerpioniers. Het begin van het computertijdperk in Nederland” (Abel Streefland)

Door Abel Streefland

Op 6 maart vond bij Spui25 de presentatie plaats van het boek ComputerpioniersHet begin van het computertijdperk in Nederland, geschreven door Gerard Alberts en Bas van Vlijmen. Het zaaltje bleek eigenlijk te klein voor het bonte gezelschap. Hoofdrolspelers uit het boek, zoals de 90-jarige Delftse computerpionier Willem van der Poel, waren naar Amsterdam gekomen, maar ook familieleden van reeds overleden pioniers. Lees meer…