Department of the History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science

Friday, May 3, 2013, 2:00 pm EDT

May 3 & 4 Organized by Dominique A. Tobbell, PhD, assistant professor, Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, University of Minnesota In May 2013, the Department of the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania will be hosting a symposium to celebrate the career and scholarship of Professor Ruth Schwartz Cowan. The theme of the two-day symposium will be to highlight the scholarship of senior and early career scholars who work at the multiple intersections of the histories of science, technology, medicine, genetics, and gender.  In this way, the symposium will not only celebrate the important interdisciplinary work that Professor Cowan has done but will also promote the work of early career scholars, something to which Professor Cowan is very committed. The speakers will be Robert Kohler (University of Pennsylvania), Deborah Coen (Barnard College), Daniel Kevles (Yale University), Helen Curry (Cambridge University), Paul Lombardo (Georgia State College of Law), Lara Marks (King’s College London), Alison Kraft (University of Exeter), Donald MacKenzie (University of Edinburgh), and Caitlin Zaloom (New York University). For more information, to register, and a complete schedule, please visit the HSS page. Session A: Ways of Knowing in the Field Sciences



  • “Resident observing in field science.”

    Rob Kohler, PhD

    Professor

    Department of History and Sociology of Science

    University of Pennsylvania

  • “The Regionalizing Sciences.”

    Deborah Coen

    Assistant Professor

    Department of History

    Barnard College


Session B: The Science and Culture of Horticultural Practice



  • “Fruits of the American Vine: Sex, Property, and Etiquette in mid-Nineteenth Century Horticulture.”

    Daniel Kevles, PhD

    Stanley Woodward Professor of History, Professor of History of Medicine, American Studies, and Law

    Department of History

    Yale University

  • “Gamma Rays and Garden Flowers: American Horticulture Encounters the Atomic Age.”

    Helen Anne Curry, PhD

    University Lecturer

    Department of the History and Philosophy of Science

    University of Cambridge


Session C: Dangerous Reproductions



  • “Crime, Eugenics and the Honeymoon Homicide of 1936.”

    Paul Lombardo, PhD, JD

    Bobby Lee Cook Professor of Law

    Georgia State University College of Law

  • “The History of Early Pregnancy Loss.”

    Lara Freidenfelds, PhD

    Independent Scholar


Session D: The Making of Biomedical Technologies



  • “Going beyond the bench: The first clinical applications of monoclonal antibodies.”

    Lara Marks, PhD

    Senior Research Fellow

    King’s College London

  • “Bombs, blood, borders: Radiostrontium – a biography.”

    Alison Kraft, PhD

    Egenis Research Fellow

    University of Exeter


Session E: Technologies and Expertise in Financial Markets



  • “ABS CDOs: A Historical Sociology of Toxic Assets.”

    Donald MacKenzie, PhD

    Professor

    Department of Sociology

    University of Edinburgh

  • “The Paradox of Personal Finance.”

    Caitlin M. Zaloom, PhD

    Associate Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis

    New York University