The Working Group on the History of the Physical Sciences meets monthly to discuss a colleague’s work in progress or to discuss readings that are of particular interest to participants.

Meetings are usually held at the Consortium offices in Philadelphia from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. on third Fridays. Scholars located anywhere can also participate online.

To join this working group, click "Request group membership" at right. You will receive instructions for participating online or in person.

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Participants at Consortium activities will treat each other with respect and consideration to create a collegial, inclusive, and professional environment that is free from any form of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.

Participants will avoid any inappropriate actions or statements based on individual characteristics such as age, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, nationality, political affiliation, ability status, educational background, or any other characteristic protected by law. Disruptive or harassing behavior of any kind will not be tolerated. Harassment includes but is not limited to inappropriate or intimidating behavior and language, unwelcome jokes or comments, unwanted touching or attention, offensive images, photography without permission, and stalking.

Participants may send reports or concerns about violations of this policy to conduct@chstm.org.

Past Meetings

Myles Jackson, Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, on "Radio Engineers, Scientists, Musicians, and the Trautonium."

Gregory Good, American Institute of Physics, on space weather: "Between the Sun and the Earth, Between Science, Environment, Technology." This session will be a power point presentation and discussion. 

Tiffany Nichols, Harvard University, "'From California to the New York Island, from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters': LIGO's Site Selection History." 

Dagomar Degroot, Georgetown University, "Civilization and the Cosmos: Introducing the Environmental History of the Solar System."

Theo Dryer, UCSD, "Statistical Indeterminacy and the Destruction Data Economy, 1900-1945."

David Cahan, University of Nebraska, will discuss a chapter from his new book, Helmholtz: A Life in Science (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2018): "The Burdens of Building Physics" (chapter 18).

Mary X. Mitchell, Purdue University, will discuss her article draft, "The Cosmology of Evidence: Citizenship, Law, and Biological Knowledge after Three Mile Island."

Climerio Paula da Silva Neto, Universidade Federal do Oeste da Bahia, Brazil. "The Early Days of Soviet Quantum Electronics and Transnational Exchanges in the Cold War"

Gabriel Henderson, Postdoctoral Research Associate, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD.  "Resurrecting Maunder's Ghost: John 'Jack' Eddy, the Maunder Minimum, and the Rise of a Dilettante Astrophysicist."

Melinda (Lindy) Baldwin, Books Editor, Physics Today, American Institute of Physics. "How 'real' science' became peer reviewed: Tracing the role of scientific refereeing through the 19th and 20th centuries."

Matthew Shindell, National Air and Space Museum, "From European Novice to American Nobelist: The Early Scientific Career of Harold C. Urey"

A. Emilie Gehl Skulberg, University of Cambridge, "Building Around a Black Hole: Materiality and Embodiment in Visual Representations of Black Holes, c. 1965-2017."

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Ryan Dahn, “Denazification in Postwar German Physics: The Case of Pascual Jordan."

Jonnie Penn, University of Cambridge, "Inventing Intelligence: Exploring the Origins of Artificial Intelligence as Social Technology"

Dan Liu, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: "Crystals, Colloids, and Fibers."

Sarah Robey, Temple University: "The Fallout from Fallout: The Peacetime Threat, 1954-1960." This paper will be a chapter from Sarah's dissertation on The Atomic American: Citizenship in a Nuclear State, 1945-1963.

Deborah Coen, Barnard/Columbia: "Climate and the Power of Difference in Austria-Hungary"

Michael Barany (Dartmouth College) introduced his recent article, “Fellow Travelers and Traveling Fellows: The Intercontinental Shaping of Modern Mathematics in Mid-Twentieth Century Latin America,” Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences, Vol. 46, Number 5, pps. 669–709. A copy of his article can be accessed here.

Sarah Bridger (CalPoly), discussed her paper, "Disgruntled Women Scientists in the 1970s."

John Krige of Georgia Tech discussed chapter two from his book Sharing Knowledge, Shaping Europe (MIT 2016).

Group Conveners

112 Members

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