History of Science

Latest Articles

Science & Tech	Powers of Hearing: The Military Science of Sound Location During WWI the act of hearing was recast as a tactical activity — one that could determine human and even national survival. Gascia Ouzounian \| Jul 26, 2021
Science & Tech	Alphonse Bertillon and the Troubling Pursuit of Human Metrics To measure was to apprehend and be made accountable, and nowhere was this more resonant than in the identification and classification of criminals. Jessica Helfand \| May 5, 2021
Science & Tech	When Birds Migrated to the Moon From the ancient Greeks to the 17th century, a terrestrial phenomenon baffled scientists: Where did the birds go in winter? Alice Gorman \| Dec 1, 2020
Environment	New Chemistry and the Birth of Public Hygiene Controlling pollutions through disinfection, rather than preventing them outright, marked a critical feature of the chemical revolution that crested in the 1770s. François Jarrige and Thomas Le Roux \| Nov 20, 2020
Philosophy	The Classification of Humankind, and the Birth of Population Science Only after new methods emerged for assessing statistics did the previously invisible entity now called ‘population’ become a target for objective investigation. Thomas Moynihan \| Nov 2, 2020
Science & Tech	The Moon of Science or the Moon of Lovers? When space entered the realm of scientific inquiry, many wondered if the eternal mystique of the Moon could survive the onslaught of cold, hard science. Alice Gorman \| Sep 29, 2020
Culture	The Symbolic Use of Barrier Contraceptives in American and English Literature The diaphragm and cervical cap have been used to signify extramarital sex, working-class status, embarrassment, sorrow, and the onset of adulthood — but rarely a joyful or pleasant sexual encounter. Donna J. Drucker \| May 14, 2020
Science & Tech	Of Maritime Quarantines, the Third Plague Pandemic, and Hygienic Utopia The authors of "Sulphuric Utopias" chart the history of ideas about fumigation and quarantine, and shed light on the origins of epidemic photography. The Editors \| Apr 2, 2020
Science & Tech	Samuel Morse and the Quest for the Daguerreotype Portrait When the French government announced a remarkable new invention by painter Louis Daguerre, American inventor Samuel Morse sensed its commercial potential, sending his imagination wild. Sarah Kate Gillespie \| Mar 16, 2020
Science & Tech	The Most Important Scientific Problems Have Yet to Be Solved If certain areas of science appear to be quite mature, others are in the process of development, and yet others remain to be born. Santiago Ramón y Cajal \| Jan 6, 2020