Scientific Objects and their Materiality in the History of Chemistry
Workshop at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin,
Germany
24. to 26. June 2010
Call for Papers
For both experimental inquiry and technical application, the sciences
depend on working with material things and processes. In this respect,
chemistry is arguably the material science par excellence, primarily
through the crucial role of the synthesis of chemical compounds, and the
strong interactions with technological institutions and industry. In
terms of the representation of its objects of inquiry, chemistry has a
peculiarly materialized semiology in a long-standing tradition of
graphic formulae and three-dimensional structural models, as well as a
rich heritage of ordering systems such as the periodic table.
In the middle-ground between representation and intervention there stand
certain kinds of principles and entities, some of them invisible, that
are both objects of experimental inquiry and theoretical speculation.
Concepts such as the atom, element, or phlogiston have laid the
groundwork for chemical research in defining the units of ordering
systems, constituting the goals for material production, serving as
limitations to the extent of chemical practice, or having crucial
heuristic roles. And all of them have experienced variation,
re-definition, development, suppression, and sometimes even extinction
in the course of history. It is the aim of this conference to track down
the history of such superordinated scientific concepts and objects, and
to contribute to the understanding of their working modes.
Commonly, the materiality of scientific objects has been described by
two, arguably conflicting, dimensions: First, by studies of
materially-intervening practice—the ways in which 'real things' are
involved in and condition such practice. Second, by the significance and
meaning ascribed to things in discursive practice. These two dimensions
are not necessarily in contradiction, and their tension can be used in
productive and innovative ways. The proposed conference will build on
these traditions and their tensions, focusing multi-disciplinary efforts
on a single science and its concepts and objects of inquiry. However, it
most importantly seeks to yield new directions in history of chemistry,
concentrating on the relation of the concepts of this science, their
embodiment in experimental techniques, instruments, and material
substances, their representations, and their subsequent re-definition.
Moreover, although the conference is based on cutting-edge themes in
history of science and wishes to contribute to their development, its
projected audience escapes the boundaries of this field, and extends
into history, science studies, philosophy of science, and of course
chemistry itself.
Topics may center on one of the following concepts/objects. This list is
meant as being indicative, not exclusive:
• earth, air, water, fire, ether
• sal, mercur, sulfur
• phlogiston, caloric, oxygen, lumière
• element, compound, composition, mixture, alloy
• electron, atom, bond, molecule, structure
• polymer, colloid, crystal, glass
• salt, base, acid
• metal, halogen, rare earth
• gas, liquid, solid, plasma
• natural product, synthetic product
• supramolecular, nano
• pure, impure
• chemical reaction
The workshop will consist of ca. 15 precirculated papers. We await
proposals with a length of max. 350 words by December 1, 2009. Inquiries
and abstracts should be sent by email to
[log in to unmask]
Michael Gordin (Princeton), Ursula Klein (Berlin), and Carsten Reinhardt
(Bielefeld)
--
Prof. Dr. Carsten Reinhardt
Institut fuer Wissenschafts- und Technikforschung
Postfach 100131
Universitaet Bielefeld
D 33501 Bielefeld
Fon: + 49 (0) 521 106-4665
Fax: + 49 (0) 521 106-6418
[log in to unmask]
http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/iwt/personen/reinhardt/kontakt.html
--
Prof. Dr. Carsten Reinhardt
Institut fuer Wissenschafts- und Technikforschung
Postfach 100131
Universitaet Bielefeld
D 33501 Bielefeld
Fon: + 49 (0) 521 106-4665
Fax: + 49 (0) 521 106-6418
[log in to unmask]
http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/iwt/personen/reinhardt/kontakt.html
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