The Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology has announced the appointments of 19 senior, 11 postdoctoral and 11 graduate fellows for 1999-2000. Senior fellows and their research topics are:
Associate Professor Davis Baird, Department of Philosophy, University of South Carolina -- scientific instruments.
Professor Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Universit� Paris X -- "Nature and Artifact in Chemical Industries, 1900-2000."
Christine Blondel, Charg�e de Recherche at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France -- "French Amateurs in Electricity at the End of the 18th Century."
Professor David Bloor, University of Edinburgh -- sound-locator equipment as developed by the Germans, British, French and Americans.
Professor Emeritus of History of Science William Brock, University of Leicester, UK -- "Sir William Crookes (1832-1919) and the Business of Science."
Professor of History Kenneth Caneva, University of North Carolina at Greensboro -- "The Reconstruction of Scientific Knowledge: From Personal Conviction to Collective Acceptance."
Associate Professor Claudine Cohen, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris -- the interactions betwen French and American paleontological sciences from 1830-1950.
Professor Jack Copeland, University of Canterbury, New Zealand -- "Synopsis of 'Turing's Machines,' A Work in the History and Philosophy of Computation."
Professor of Science Studies Mor-dechai Feingold, Virginia Polytechnic Institute -- "Cast a Giant Shadow: A History of the Royal Society, 1660-1850, Vol. I: A House Divided, A House Besieged 1660-1727."
Professeur Titulaire Yves Gingras, Department of History, University of Qu�bec at Montr�al -- the relationship between the mathematization of physics and the transformation of the notion of substance.
Senior Lecturer Ruth Glasner, Hebrew University -- "The Hebrew Supercommentaries on Aristotle's Physics."
Professor Helen Lang, chair of the philosophy department, Trinity College -- "Place and Extension: The Problems and Language of Ancient Physics."
Research Professor Wenlin Li, Institute of Mathematics, Academia Sinica, Beijing -- mathematical exchanges between China and western countries.
Professor Nancy Nersessian, Program in Cognitive Science, Georgia Institute of Technology -- "Culture in Cognition: Toward an Integrative Analysis of Representation in Science."
Professor William Newman, Indiana University -- the laboratory notebooks of George Starkey and Robert Boyle, and a reconsideration of early modern matter-theory.
Associate Professor Lawrence Principe, Johns Hopkins University -- the importance of experiment in 17th-century alchemy and the influence of George Starkey on Robert Boyle (working with Fellow William Newman).
Assistant Professor Gregor Schiemann, Humboldt Unversit������t, Institut f��r Philosophie, Berlin -- "Aristotle and Descartes' Concept of Nature and the Transformation of Psychology in the 16th and 17th Centuries."
Assistant Professor Ana Sim�es, Department of Physics, University of Lisbon -- a history of quantum chemistry, and a biography of Jos� Correia da Serra (1750-1823), a Portuguese botanist and diplomat.
Associate Professor of Mathematics John Stillwell, Monash University, Australia -- "Exceptional Objects" and their role in the history of mathematics.
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS
Luca Ciancio, "Interpreting the Temple of Serapis. A Case Study in the Relationship between Geology and Antiquarianism (1750-1830)"; Slava Gerovitch, a history of Soviet cybernetics; Michael Gorman, a reappraisal of the origins of Jesuit science practice against the background of the "science policy" of the Jesuit order; Christophe Lecuyer, "From the Lab to the Fab: Physics Research, Manufacturing Practice, and Ion Implantation at High Voltage Engineering Corporation and Fairchild Semiconductor, 1962-1978;" Massimo Mazzotti, "Conservative Thought and Scientific Knowledge: A Socio-Historical Perspective;" Jutta Schickore, "Constructive Constraints: Exploring Errors and Pitfalls in Microscopy;" Brett Steele, Department of History, UCLA, "The Ballistics Revolution: Military and Scientific Change from Robins to Napoleon"; and R. Andre Wakefield, "An Early Modern Chemistry of the Mines, 1710-1800."
The Dibner Institute has reappointed the following to a second year as postdoctoral fellows: Arne Hessenbruch, "Scientific Quantification and Money;" Klaus Staubermann, the scientific practice of astrophoto-metrists G. M��ller, E. Pickering and C. Pritchard at Oxford; and Benno van Dalen, "The Activities of Muslim Astronomers in China During the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty (1260-1368)."
GRADUATE FELLOWS
The following 11 PhD candidates at Dibner Institute consortium-member institutions (MIT, Boston University and Harvard University) have been awarded fellowships:
Babak Ashrafi, MIT, "From Relativistic Electrons to Quantum Fields;" David Kaiser, Harvard, "Making Theory: Training American Theoretical Physicists in an Age of Big Science, 1948-1969;" Matthew Jones, Harvard, "The Aesthetics of Inference: The Mathematics of Descartes and Leibniz and the Dream of Systematic Public Knowledge in the 17th Century;" Robert Martello, MIT, Paul Revere's lifelong technological education and his development of America's first copper rolling mill; Benjamin Pinney, MIT, "Organizing Engineering Labor: A History of Project Management to 1970;" Gerald A. Ward, Boston University, "From Merchant Adventurers to Merchants of Light: The Development of English Oceanic Commerce and New World Colonies and the Making of Bacon's Great Instauration;" and Timothy Wolters, MIT, "Carrier Aviation Policy and Procurement in the US Navy, 1936-1955."
A version of this article appeared in the April 28, 1999 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 43, Number 28).
