Congratulations to Mina Carson, whose biography of Ava Helen Pauling provides a long-awaited study of a crucial yet often-neglected figure in the history of science and peace activism. Among its many merits is how well the book highlights the rich collections we have at Oregon State University. Here’s the book the description. It is so [...]
Archive for the ‘Faculty’ Category
Mina Carson’s new book: Ava Helen Pauling
Wednesday, April 24th, 2013Reflection: Bolzano and Brentano
Thursday, October 25th, 2012by Andre Hahn* On October 17, Professor David Luft gave a lecture entitled “Philosophy and Science in Nineteenth-Century Austria: Bernard Bolzano (1781-1848) and Franz Brentano (1838-1917).” The theme of Professor Luft’s talk was to give Bolzano and Brentano more credit and attention than they normally receive among English speaking historians and philosophers. Bolzano warrants [...]
Colonial Science, Contagion and the Imaginarium of Marseille
Saturday, April 14th, 2012by Michael A. Osborne* Marseille continually reinterprets its colonial heritage. The city constitutes an imaginarium of material and immaterial symbols revealing of its history. No French city has been more wedded to colonization than this cross roads of Mediterranean peoples. Historians signal frequently its lavish colonial expositions of 1906 and 1922, and a visitor to [...]
Mary Jo Nye and the Social Construction of Science
Monday, January 16th, 2012Congratulations to Mary Jo Nye (Emerita Horning Professor in the Humanities) on the publication of her long-awaited study of Michael Polanyi, the celebrated scientist, philosopher, and critic of positivism. The title is Michael Polanyi and his Generation: Origins of the Social Construction of Science (Chicago, 2011). The book has already gained widespread acclaim, including a [...]
Finley challenges the science of Maximum Sustainable Yield
Friday, September 30th, 2011Congratulations to Carmel Finley, who has published a new book that calls into question one of the longest standing concepts in fisheries and marine science. The book, All the Fish in the Sea: Maximum Sustainable Yield and the Failure of Fisheries Management (Chicago, 2011), is the first sustained historical treatment of MSY in the United [...]
Is it Wrong to Analyze Culture with Google Books?
Monday, August 8th, 2011Oregon State University’s Horning Professor in the Humanities, Anita Guerrini, levels a critique at recent work in the “digital humanities.” She writes, “Discovering fun facts by graphing terms found among the 5 million volumes of the Google Books project sure is amusing — but this pursuit dubbed ‘culturomics’ is not the same as being an [...]
Natural and Supernatural Healing
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011Congratulations to Gary B. Ferngren on being named Sandy and Elva Sanders Eminent Professor for 2011, in recognition of his many contributions to historical scholarship and teaching through the University Honors College. This timely acknowledgment coincides with the publication of a major work on the history of science and medicine in the Ancient world. Ferngren’s [...]
Historians and scientists look back at Linus Pauling
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011Long-time OSU historians Mina Carson and Mary Jo Nye (emerita) contributed to a fascinating OPB documentary on chemist and activist Linus Pauling. It includes substantial discussion of the science, the political controversies, and his partnership with Ava Helen Pauling.
Nature versus Nurture
Thursday, May 19th, 2011Nature vs Nurture? Contemporary and Historical Perspectives on Vitalism and Epigenetics by Michael A. Osborne For portions of the next three years I’ll be a Senior Fellow at the Aix-Marseille Institute for Advanced Study and working on epigenetic inheritance systems. I have mapped out collaborations with European colleagues on the theme of “Scientific and Social [...]
The English Diet: Roast Beef and … Salad?
Friday, May 13th, 2011By Anita Guerrini The English diet has been mythologised as one of roasted meats and few vegetables but, as Anita Guerrini concludes from a survey of early modern writings on the subject, the nation’s approach to food has been rather more complicated than that. (Read more in History Today)
