The Paper Turn?

I just finished reading David Kaiser's new book, Drawing Theories Apart: The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics. Like other recent books in what one might call "the paper turn" in the history of science--Andrew Warwick's Masters of Theory, or Ursula Klein's Experiments, Models, Paper Tools, for example--Kaiser urges us to look at theoretical work on paper with the same practice-minded, analytical scrutiny as laboratory experiments or field work. These historians taking the paper turn, in my opinion, have found a good way to engage their interest in theoretical science with wider concerns in the field, and for that they should be commended.

It is interesting that all three of the books I just mentioned examine the physical sciences. Can we see similar things happening the the life sciences, earth sciences, or human sciences? (Or in medicine and technology?) Perhaps there haven't been such long-term productive paper tool systems comparable to Feynman diagrams or Berzelian chemical formulas in these fields. On the other hand, one thinks of phylogenetic trees in biology, perhaps, or kinship diagrams in social anthropology. (One might even put Rob Kohler's drosophila biologists, from Lords of the Fly, with their gene "mapping" diagrams in this category...) Any other ideas?

Alex Pang Has a Blog

I've recently discovered that Penn grad Alex Pang has a blog. It's called "Relevant History" (see the new link I just added on the right-hand side of the page!) His latest posting, "Blogging, Academic Careers, and Self-Fashioning" might be of particular interest to members of this community.

Penn Party at SHOT/HSS

Pat in the HSS Dept. office asked me to post the following reminder for all Penn attendees (and alums!) who will be at the SHOT/HSS meeting coming up this week:

"YES, there will be a Penn Party at the SHOT/HSS meeting in Minneapolis.>> AND, with the help of Jennifer Gunn, we have found a terrific place to > hold it.>> TRIPLE ESPRESSO Bistro and Bar, 1410 Nicollet Avenue, South. Just one > block from the Hyatt and the Millenium Hotels.>> 9-12PM, Friday night, November 4th.>> WE WILL HAVE a private room, with piano(!) and a full service bar and > bistro.>> PENN will subsidize all tabs.>> LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE!> Ruth Schwartz Cowan> History and Sociology of Science> University of Pennsylvania"

Also, Dominique has informed me that her session has been MOVED from Friday morning to Saturday morning. I will try to change the previous message (below) to reflect the change if possible. (Any other corrections, feel free to post a comment directly on the message, since I may not have good on-line access for the next few days...)