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Call for applications
*** Background ***
The International Laboratory for the History of Science is a joint project of the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Cambridge MA, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, the Cohn Center, Tel-Aviv University, the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Florence, and the Center for the History of Science, University of Athens. It brings together junior and senior scholars for seven to ten days each year to confront a focused and novel research topic through hands-on contact with instruments, techniques, as well as the study of texts. Approximately a dozen fellows meet with five or six senior scholars, experts in the topic to be dealt with in the particular year, for an intensive seminar under the sponsorship of one of the five participating institutions. The unity of the International Laboratory is one of approach rather than of theme: a workbench-like emphasis on the concrete sources of past scientific experience, whether embedded in objects, mediated by techniques, or displayed in words and images.
The goals of the International Laboratory for the History of Science are: (1) to expand the preparation of younger scholars in the history of science and related fields by exposure to sources and methods not ordinarily included in graduate training; (2) to introduce techniques and perspectives from other disciplines (e.g. archaeology, cognitive science, art history) as they intersect with problems in the history of science; (3) to promote interactions of junior and senior scholars around a focused topic across national boundaries; and (4) to stimulate research on new areas in the history of science by concentrating scholarly attention on them by means of the seminars.
The first International Laboratory for the History of Science took place in June 1998. It was organized by the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Cambridge (MA) and worked on "Hidden Entities and the Devices that Manipulate them in the 18th and 19th Centuries". The second Laboratory will be hosted by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany. Junior scholars of all nationalities are herewith invited to apply for participation.
*** The Material Culture of Calculation ***
The second meeting of the International Laboratory will examine the historical development of ethnomathematics and of abstract arithmetic from proto-arithmetical practices in rural communities to sophisticated arithmetical techniques used by ancient, medieval and early modern administrators and merchants. For each level of historical achievements the work will be focused on the relation between material tools and operations by means of which calculations were actually performed, on the one hand, and the cognitive preconditions and outcomes of their application in the institutional contexts of economy and public administration, on the other hand. Arithmetical techniques will be studied in particular, that are known from
- the Far East,
- Mesopotamia before and after the invention of the sexagesimal positional
system,
- Europe during the transition from the use of Roman numerals to the introduction
of the Indo-Arabic decimal positional system, and
- pre-Columbian cultures before and in the sequel of cultural exchange with
European colonizers.
In some cases, the theoretical consequences of these technologies were far-reaching. Nevertheless, the manipulations and tricks of the trade which were once second nature to the communities of calculators have been largely submerged in the history of exact sciences. The very fact that such techniques were second nature to the experts who wielded them renders them effectively invisible, especially to historians who have grown up with different techniques for solving the same class of problems. There is a need for a hands-on excavation of these arithmetical techniques in close conjunction with careful examination of primary texts that document their former practice as well as of devices and techniques still used today by indigenous people in various cultures. At this meeting of the International Laboratory for the History of Science, the preconditions and implications of arithmetical techniques to be studied will be explored by actually practicing them and comparing the outcomes.
*** Host Institution of the second meeting: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
*** Organizers: Ubiratan D'Ambrosio and Peter Damerow
*** Dates: arrival: Saturday, June 19, 1999; departure: Sunday, June 26, 1999
*** Location: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Wilhelmstr. 44, 10117 Berlin, Germany
*** Language: the working language of the Laboratory will be English.
*** Senior Scholars: Ubiratan D'Ambrosio (University of Campinas), Michael Closs (University of Ottawa), Peter Damerow (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science), Robert K. Englund (University of California at Los Angeles), Menso Folkerts (University of Munchen), Joran Friberg (University of Goteborg), Frank Swetz (Pennstate University)
*** Expenses: The Institute will cover the costs for travel, food and lodging.
*** Applications: Applications are open to scholars from all nationalities. As a rule, applicants should have doctorates not older than seven years. Exceptions are possible, but will need special justification. The following items are requested for application:
- a brief explanation why they want to attend and how the theme of the meeting
fits into their previous and planned work,
- one or more names and addresses of persons who are willing to write a letter
of recommendation,
- CV and publication list.
Applications should be sent to: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, International Laboratory, Wilhelmstr. 44, 10117 Berlin, Germany
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