The History of Science
Fall 2019
Mondays 1-4pm
Units: 3-0-9
Professor Robin Scheffler
In the Fall of 2019 STS.310 will approach the history of science along the axis of current questions surrounding innovation. The history of science has often been critiqued for its focus on ideas and discoveries rather than the more mundane work of doing science and maintaining scientific infrastructure. By following themes such as labor, craft, material culture, geography, and technoscience we will develop a more varied portrait of discovery and innovation in the history of science, from the Greeks to the Genome. Along the way we will consider what particular sets of research methods drawn from areas such as economic analysis, ethnographic work, and the archive offer historians of science in defining and exploring their field. No prior background in the history of science is assumed.