4) Elections: A nomination committee is now working in preparation for a
Fall 2010 election for Chair Elect 2011-12 (who will become chair for 2013-
14); Secretary-Treasurer; and Councillor. If you have interest in sharing your
talents with your division, please contact me. Again, thank you for your
support. I look forward to continuing to serve you as Past Chair in support of
Tom Strom as 2011 chair. HIST is your division to meet your needs for your
professional and personal interests. Let us hear from you on how we can
better serve you.
Jan Hayes
Message from Tom Strom, HIST Division Chair 2011-2012
I am feeling a little intimidated by the thought that I will become Chair of
HIST this next January 1. The intimidation factor comes about because of
the high quality of preceding chairs, such as Jan Hayes, Roger Egolf, and
Jeff Seeman, to name just the three most recent. However, I reflect that, with
the wonderful slate of HIST officers, both present and those to be elected,
and with the diverse, intelligent group of HIST members, I can’t go very far
wrong.
My goals are the expected ones of increasing the numbers in and visibility of
HIST. Surely all of you share those goals and are willing to help HIST
achieve them. I think we can partner with other divisions to present and
celebrate their individual histories. The Baekeland symposium of last spring,
which POLY and PMSE co-sponsored, and the upcoming “Pioneers of
Quantum Chemistry” symposium, cosponsored by COMP and PHYS, can be
models for partnerships of this type.
One ongoing concern that I have is the relatively small numbers of
contributed papers. The contributed papers this spring went up over those
from last fall, but the number for Boston has declined again. I think EVERY
member of HIST has an oral presentation lurking in his/her consciousness. It
might involve a mentor, a colleague, an institution, a research path, a book,
an instrument, etc. It’s there if you dig deep, and remember, with HIST you
can be sure of an oral presentation.
Please contact me via e-mail at (tomstrom@juno.com) to share your ideas. I
look forward to meeting many of you personally in the next few years.
E. Thomas (Tom) Strom
Denver, 27-31 March 2011
General Papers. Seth C. Rasmussen, Department of Chemistry and
Molecular Biology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105,
Phone: 701-231-8747, seth.rasmussen@ndsu.edu
IYC 2011: A Philatelic Celebration. Dan Rabinovich, Department of
Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City
-37-
Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28223, Phone: (704) 687-4442, Email:
drabinov@uncc.edu and; Ron Hill, 7590 West Caley Drive, Littleton, CO
80123, Phone: (303) 241-5409, Email: hillwright@mac.com
Calls for Papers
8
th
International Conference on History of Chemistry (ICHC)
“Pathways of Knowledge”
The Working Party (WP) on History of Chemistry of the European
Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS) will hold its
bi-annual International Conference on History of Chemistry (8
th
ICHC) in
Rostock, Germany, from 14-16 September 2011.
From 12-14 September 2011 the National Conference of the Working
division on History of Chemistry of the German Chemical Society will be
held in Rostock, too. At this conference historians of science and technology
and chemists will meet around several themes in history of chemistry.
Everybody has the interesting option of visiting both events in Rostock.
The 8
th
ICHC will focus on the theme “Pathways of Knowledge.” This
theme is in direct connection to the general aim of the conferences organized
by the WP, namely to facilitate communication between historically
interested chemists and historians of chemistry from all over Europe.
Previous conferences organized by the WP were held in Budapest in 2003
(Communication in Chemistry in Europe), Lisbon 2005 (Chemistry,
Technology and Society), Leuven 2007 (Neighbours and Territories: The
Evolving Identity in Chemistry) and Sopron 2009 (Consumers and Experts:
The Use of Chemistry and Alchemy).
Deadline: Scholars who want to present a 20 minutes paper at the conference
are invited to submit with the help of the online-registration system a one-
page abstract before 4 February 2011. The instructions to authors will be
available at
www.gdch.de/ichc2011).
Contact
(a) For questions concerning the Scientific Programme:
Peter Morris, the Chairman of the International Programme Committee, at
peter.morris@nmsi.ac.uk
(b) For questions concerning the local arrangements:
Caroline Kilb, Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker e.V., c.kilb@gdch.de
Gisela Boeck, Institut für Chemie, Universität Rostock at gisela.boeck@uni-
rostock.de
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Hazardous Chemicals: Agents of Risk and Change (1800-2000)
Conveners: Deutsches Museum Research Institute; Department of History,
Maastricht University; and Rachel Carson Center for Environment and
Society
Location: Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany
Date: 27-29 April 2012
The Research Institute of the Deutsches Museum, the Department of History
at Maastricht University and the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and
Society are planning a joint workshop to be held at the Deutsches Museum,
Munich, in April 2012 dealing with the history of hazardous chemicals.
Chemistry is undoubtedly a science with a great social and economic impact.
During the past two centuries millions of new substances have been
described, and thousands of them have become novel industrial products. In
several cases the scale of production, together with by-products and wastes,
has led to previously unknown effects on human health and on the
environment. Growing awareness of the impacts of hazardous substances on
the economy, society and the environment has stimulated new scientific
insights, discussion of risk perception, and new legislation. Advances in
analysis and detection of chemicals have played a large role in this respect.
Since the 1960s, industrialized countries have adopted a framework for
assessing and regulating toxic chemicals that remains in force today. By this
means attempts have been made, with varying degrees of success, to control
individual pollutants using scientific and technical tools, including risk
assessment, toxicological testing, epidemiological investigations, pollution
control devices, trace measurements, and waste treatment and disposal
technologies.
The present workshop will focus on the interaction between (a) the growing
presence of hazardous substances in the economy and the environment, and
(b) the cultural, scientific, regulatory and legal responses by modern society
to these hazards. In each paper a specific chemical, or group of related
chemicals, will take centre stage: from the start of its industrial production,
via the proliferation of its uses, and the discovery of its effects on workers,
consumers and/or on the biosphere, to attempts to control its emission and
use, including the development of alternative products. The workshop will
focus in particular on the history of specific chemicals which have had a
profound impact on the way in which ecological and health effects have
been perceived. Using a ‘biographical approach’ it will trace the entire ‘life
history’ (production, use, problems, risk assessment, management strategies,
and disposal) of those hazardous substances, culminating at the point at
which legislative controls or alternative technicalpathways were finally
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established. The focus will be on the main period of chemical
industrialisation (ca. 1800-2000).
Examples of substances that have had profound effects on ecological
thinking and on legislation, and which would be welcome candidates for
analysis using this kind of ‘biographical approach,’ are: Arsenic, lead,
mercury, cadmium, nitrates, cyanides, sulphur dioxide, radioactive
substances, DDT and other halocarbons (including dioxins), aniline and
aromatic amines, benzene, azo dyes, vinyl chloride, CO
2
, PCB’s, and CFC’s.
Of course, papers on other important cases are also most welcome!
In all cases, we prefer papers having a global or at least an international
outlook; national overviews could certainly also be of great value. However,
studies which have a regional or local focus are unsuitable in the context of
this workshop.
Since the approach to this topic is interdisciplinary, chemists, toxicologists,
historians of science and medicine, environmental historians, sociologists
and scholars, active in environmental organisations, etc., are all invited to
participate and to contribute a paper.
Papers that satisfy the final reviewing procedure will be published in a
volume with the working title Hazardous chemicals: Agents of risk and
change (1800-2000). Papers should be no longer than 10,000 words. The
conference language will be English.
The Rachel Carson Center will cover the travel cost and accommodation
expenses for all participants invited to deliver a paper. The conference will
take place in the Kerschensteiner Kolleg of the Deutsches Museum in
Munich.
For the present we would like those interested in participating in the
workshop to forward an abstract of the proposed paper, of approximately
600-800 words, as well as a CV. Please send these documents to the three
organisers of the workshop:
Ernst Homburg (e.homburg@maastrichtuniversity.nl), Elisabeth Vaupel
(e.vaupel@deutsches-museum.de)
and
Paul
Erker
(Paul.Erker@carsoncenter.lmu.de) before 1 July 2011.
Papers will be pre-circulated and should be received no later than 1 February
2012.
FORTHCOMING CONFERENCES
7
th
Laboratory History Conference
Leuven, 6-8 June 2011
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The 7
th
Laboratory History Conference will be organized in Leuven
(Belgium) from 6-8 June 2011. This conference is the first Laboratory
History Conference to be staged in Europe. Earlier conferences have been
organized in Baltimore (2009) and Brookhaven (2010). Host of the
conference is the Research Unit Cultural History after 1750 at K.U. Leuven
(http://www.arts.kuleuven.be/culturalhistory/).
The aim of the conference is to investigate the history of the modern
laboratory in relation to its institutional environment, ranging over national
styles of research, different disciplines and both formal and informal
functions. We welcome contributions that address such topics as the early
modern laboratory; the laboratory in the colonial and developing world; field
stations, observatories, research vessels and other non-traditional
laboratories; the practice of testing, measuring and quality control;
biomedical laboratories and clinics; virtual laboratories and the cultural
representation of the laboratory. We are also interested in papers that discuss
strategies for documenting the history of the laboratory, such as oral sources,
archives, photography, and ‘born digital’ records.
The deadline for papers has already passed on 15 January 2011. Acceptance
of the papers will be announced in early February.
For further information please contact Prof. Geert Vanpaemel or Eline Van
Assche at labhist7@arts.kuleuven.be.
Renewing the Heritage of Chemistry in the 21
st
Century: Conversations
on the Preservation, Presentation and Utilization of Sources, Sites and
Artefacts
A Symposium of the Commission on the History of Modern Chemistry
(CHMC) [1] in Conjunction with the IUPAC-UNESCO International
Year of Chemistry, 2011
We invite all those interested in the heritage of chemistry in the twentieth
and twenty-first centuries, including historians, chemists, archivists, museum
curators, librarians, and industrial archaeologists, to join us in Paris on 21-24
June 2011 for a symposium involving conversations among experts from
many different perspectives. Our intention is to present not only the views of
historians on how best to use the sources, sites and artefacts of chemistry in
the contemporary era, but also the views of those concerned with the
technical problems related to the preservation and presentation to historians
and the general public of those sources, sites, and artefacts.
The goal of the proposed symposium, to be held in Paris in the centenary
year of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry awarded to Marie Curie, is to bring
together a wide range of experts to discuss the challenges associated with
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understanding, preserving, and presenting the heritage of chemistry in the
twenty-first century. We have entered an era in which new scientific ideas
and new technologies have changed not only the face of chemistry itself –
which has become a highly diversified discipline and profession – but also
the nature of the sources for its future history. Along with the paper
documents, oral histories, instruments, and other artefacts that have
previously embodied the heritage of chemistry we now need to include
sources and artefacts that represent the chemistry of the present and future,
including electronic documents, images, videos, databases, software, and the
hardware needed to preserve and use these sources. How can the new
technologies be best applied to preserve and enhance the use of older sources
and artefacts as well as the new ones? How will historians need to adapt
their methods of research to utilize these new technologies and sources, and
how will the resulting changes affect the process of writing and publishing
results, including electronic publications? How can archivists, librarians and
museum curators best obtain, preserve, and ensure their future accessibility
to interested specialists? Besides the preservation and use of these materials,
historians must also be increasingly concerned with the preservation of key
sites associated with the heritage of chemistry, including academic and
industrial research laboratories as well as centres of technological
innovation, because the historical development of scientific and
technological innovations may often be most clearly understood by seeing
the original apparatus and equipment in their original settings. This raises the
further question: how can the specialists and institutions concerned with the
heritage of modern chemistry, including industrial archaeologists, best
present critical sources, sites and artefacts to the general public, in ways that
will highlight key developments and avoid misconceptions? In view of the
rapid development of current technologies and the many challenges that they
present, the organizers wish to engage specialists from different national,
professional and institutional backgrounds in conversations that may help to
produce constructive and ongoing interactions among all concerned.
We will therefore welcome the participation of a broad range of experts
concerned with the heritage of chemistry. These should include historians of
science and technology; curators, industrial archaeologists, and directors of
public and private museums and cultural sites as well as directors and staff
of libraries and archives of all kinds, including those in industrial settings;
experts in electronic media concerned with the heritage of chemistry; and of
course chemists in all types of institutions. Ultimately we hope to promote a
better understanding of how best to deal with the current and future
challenges for shaping the heritage of chemistry in a new era.
Deadlines: The deadline for submissions has passed on 15 January 2011.
The programme committee will review all submissions by 15 February 2011.
-42-
By 20 February submitters will receive notification by email as to the
committee’s decisions.
Symposium costs: Registration fees: 200 Euros (including a reception on
the evening of 21 June, and lunches on 22 and 23 June). The conference
dinner on the evening of Thursday, 23 June, will be paid for separately (cost
to be determined).
Further information and particulars about registration and methods of
payment will be available shortly on the symposium website at
www.chmc2011.fr
For enquiries contact: Jeffrey A. Johnson (incoming president, CHMC;
Villanova University, USA): Jeffrey.Johnson@villanova.edu
British Society for the History of Science: Annual Conference, 2011
The BSHS Annual Conference will take place at the University of Exeter
from 14-17 July 2011. The conference will start with a buffet lunch on 14
July, followed by a plenary lecture. The main venue is the Queen’s Building,
located on the main campus of the University of Exeter, a former private
botanical garden and arboretum. The conference dinner will be held in
Holland Hall, overlooking the Exe valley.
The programme will include parallel themed sessions, plenary lectures,
education and outreach activities, and an opportunity to explore the
resources available in Exeter for historians of STM. An inclusive conference
package will be available. Besides the attractions of Exeter, especially its
twelfth-century Norman cathedral, the city itself is an ideal base for
extending your stay and exploring the spectacular coastlines and moors of
Devon and Cornwall, with their many geological and archaeological
remains. Participation is in no way limited to members of the BSHS
although members will receive a discount on the registration fee.
The deadline for submitting proposals has already passed on 21 January
2011.
Enquiries concerning the academic programme should be directed to
bshs2011programme@bshs.org.uk
Those relating to the local arrangements should be directed to
bshsExeter2011@bshs.org.uk
Please also see the conference website
http://www.bshs.org.uk/conferences/annual-conference/2011-exeter
Lucy Tetlow
BSHS Executive Secretary
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ADVANCED NOTICE
Joint meeting with Dyes in History and Archaeology, Derby.
This will be held at the University of Derby, Thursday and Friday 13-14
October 2011, with social events on the Wednesday evening and all day
Saturday 15 October; and the conference banquet on Thursday evening.
Details, including costs, will follow in our late summer Newsletter.
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