“Rivaling Oxford: The Teaching of Astronomy at the University of Paris in the 13^th and 14^th Centuries”

Joseph Baxley (University of Notre Dame)

The Astronomy curriculum at the University of Paris remains to a large extent undetermined. The medieval Arts professors left little indication in their statutes as to which books students were expected to read, unlike Oxford and Cambridge. However, building off of the manuscript study done by Olaf Pederson and looking at contemporaneous descriptions of Astronomy at the University of Paris, it appears possible to reconstruct both the place of Astronomy with respect to the other sciences and the material that a medieval student was expected to know. This is the purpose of my current project

“The Scientists' Wars: Cold War Politics and Nuclear Futures in Leo Szilard's Fact and Fiction”

Anna Dvorak (Oregon State University)

In my dissertation I find it just as important to understand the political and diplomatic climate Leo Szilard was operating in, and against, as it is to understand the science behind the development of the atomic bomb. Szilard stood at unique intersection in the history of the atomic bomb and decisions surrounding its development, use, and proliferation, but he also turned to fiction to present his ideas when he believed people were not fully accepting the gravity of the situation or just plain ignoring it. This naturally allowed him some creative license and means that separating the truth from the fiction is essential to understanding Szilard’s arguments, but for Szilard reality and his fiction were closely linked.

“Romancing the Vital Essence: Iatromechanical Sturm meets Naturphilosophie Drang in Studies of the Brain”

Alexander Greff (University of Minnesota, TC)

Romanticism and natural philosophy collided in Germany at the end of the eighteenth century. The metaphysical tenets of Naturphilosophie - transcendentalism, organicism, and a love of poetic description - exercised new influence over the development of medical knowledge. In the physiological studies of a Werther-esque young doctor, August Winkelmann, we see the strange merging of Enlightenment vitalism, iatromechanism, and medical police, which typified the Sturm und Drang of Romantic Natural Philosophy.

“Hidden in Plain Sight: Map Usage in the Site Selection of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Large-Scale Interferometers”

Tiffany Nichols (Harvard University)

This paper explores the use of maps in identifying sites for placement of large-scale interferometers by LIGO and affiliated researchers involved in the site selection process which has been overlooked in research directed to the history of gravitational wave detection. Specifically, I seek to show the content portrayed in maps led to placement of the interferometers in unexpectedly noisy areas. Although the topographic maps provided the information to determine the flatness of the land, a highly sought after quality for the sites, these maps did not provide sufficient information concerning localized disturbances that would affect the ability of the interferometers to detect gravitational waves. These decisions necessitated engineering solutions that would stabilize the interferometer to avoid masking gravitational waves which deform the spacetime fabric on the order of 1 x 10-22 characteristic strain. Surprisingly, due to the unexpectedly noisy sites, the engineered solutions allowed for increases of sensitivity in the magnitude range of 1 x 10-22 characteristic strain, which resulted in the detection event on September 14, 2015.

“New Methods in Examining Historical Intersections in Land Use Change and Emerging Diseases”

Emily Webster (University of Chicago)

This talk will introduce my nascent research project on the relationship between land use change and emerging diseases in the nineteenth century British Empire, particularly in Melbourne, the British Isles, and Bombay. By examining the impact of British regional and urban development on existing and newly-introduced ecologies, I will ague that the evolutionary theory of niche construction provides a unique lens through which to examine the cultural and ecological pressures that contribute to the success of particular microbial life within newly constructed human environments. I will also assert that the application of this distinctly biological framework allows for a more holistic and multi-scalar approach to studies in the history of human-microbial interaction.

“Botanical Gardens: The Physical and the Perceptual”

Reba Juetten (University of Minnesota)

Botanical gardens are physical spaces and defined places but they are also complex conceptual entities. When glimpsed from the perspectives of their botanical researchers, international plant collectors, horticulturalists, education staff, tourists, and

“Philology as a way of Knowing”

Kristine Palmieri (The University of Chicago)

Philology has frequently been referred to as Queen of the Sciences. But how was this title earned and why? This flash talk outlines the scope of my dissertation research, which explores the constitution of philology as a recognizably modern discipline thr