Categorie: Nieuws
Call for papers: Does Science need Heroes? (Nobel) Prize cultures in the Netherlands
The history of the Nobel Prize, the most prestigious and visible science award in the world, is since the very beginning in 1901 intertwined with Dutch science history. Counting more than twenty Dutch laureates to date, among others Einthoven, van ’t Hoff and Tinbergen, the Netherlands rank among the top ten nations in the statistics of Nobelists per country.
Having said that, our understanding of how awards have been and are used as a symbol for excellence has remained poor. Using the Netherlands as a case-study, this symposium aims at investigating how scientific prizes in general and the Nobel Prize in particular are enacted in different settings (museums, universities, cities) and for various purposes. Drawing on current discussions about ‘heroes’ in science (vs. teamwork), we wish to explore the meanings and motives of scientific accolades in the Netherlands and beyond.
Lees verder “Call for papers: Does Science need Heroes? (Nobel) Prize cultures in the Netherlands”Kennismaken met: Jolien Gijbels
Het bestuur heeft het genoegen u voor te stellen aan ons nieuwe bestuurslid en Wonderkamer redacteur Jolien Gijbels. Jolien is als postdoctoraal onderzoeker verbonden aan de Leuvense onderzoeksgroep Cultuurgeschiedenis vanaf 1750.
Kennismaken met: Tinne Claes
Graag introduceert het bestuur u aan ons nieuwe hoofdredacteur van Wonderkamer, Tinne Claes.
Tinne schrijft: “Ik ben postdoctoraal onderzoeker van het FWO, verbonden aan de KU Leuven. Mijn specialisatie is de geschiedenis van geneeskunde, gender en seksualiteit in de negentiende en twintigste eeuw. Mijn huidige onderzoek gaat over de geschiedenis van ongewenste kinderloosheid.
Lees verder “Kennismaken met: Tinne Claes”CALL FOR PAPERS: 9th Gewina Woudschoten Conference
Contested Expertise: Trust in Science and Technology
Zeist, 17–18 June 2022
Deadline for proposals: 18 March 2022
On 17-18 June 2022 Gewina, the Belgian-Dutch Society for the History of Science and Universities, will hold its 9th biannual meeting in the Woudschoten Hotel & Conference Centre (Zeist). This two-day conference brings together historians of science, humanities, medicine, universities and technology; and all those from other fields with an interest in the history of knowledge. The theme of this year’s conference is Contested Expertise: Trust in Science and Technology.
Thematic scope of the Woudschoten conference
If there is anything that the Covid-19 pandemic shows, it is that social trust in science and technology is not self-evident. Expert claims about the severity of the disease and the dynamics of infection are met with skepticism and sometimes outright dismissal. This distrust is a sign of a broader development since the late twentieth century, in which expert knowledge seems to be losing ground in society. Knowledge institutions, such as universities, expert agencies and other professional mediators are under pressure as part of a more general sentiment to question foundations of ‘modern’ Western science and technology. At the same time, the humanities and social sciences face crises of trust in the form of the decolonization debate and the replication crisis. An overall crisis of trust in scientific knowledge (broadly conceived!) looms large. However, trust in these institutions and their knowledge practices has never been natural. Modern knowledge institutions rose to prominence in the early modern period and did so at the expense of other institutions such as guilds, churches, and the republic of letters. Scientific knowledge acquired social and cultural status at the expense of artisanal knowledge; disciplinary experts marginalized the polymath scholar. Trust had to be gained, and it has had to be continually maintained. The current crisis puts new pressure on the status of science and technology and the question what the response will be.
Lees verder “CALL FOR PAPERS: 9th Gewina Woudschoten Conference”Wonderkamer 4: Het tweede leven van de dinosauriër
66 miljoen jaar geleden stierf de dinosauriër uit. 200 jaar geleden gunde de mens hem een tweede leven. Niet als een echt dier natuurlijk, maar als een product van wetenschappelijke inzichten en verbeelding.
Het nieuwste nummer van Wonderkamer: Magazine voor wetenschapsgeschiedenis gaat over dit tweede leven van de dino. Hoe ontstond onze fascinatie voor dit uitgestorven dier? En wat zegt dat eigenlijk over ons?
Lees verder “Wonderkamer 4: Het tweede leven van de dinosauriër”