Michael D. Gordin, Princeton University
Penn Humanities Forum
Time: 5:00pm
Location: Rainey Auditorium, Penn Museum, 3260 South Street
By the turn of the 20th century, scientific knowledge was being produced in so many different national languages that individual scientists could no longer follow the important developments. Some thought the best way out of this linguistic logjam was to adapt one of the so-called "artificial languages," such as Esperanto, to the purposes of scientific communication. Award-winning historian Michael Gordin illuminates this curious moment of crisis and adaptation in the history of modern science.
Michael D. Gordin is a professor of history at Princeton University, where he teaches the history of modern science. He is also the Director of the Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies. He arrived at Princeton in 2003 after taking undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Harvard University and completing a term as a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows.