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In recent decades the study of visual representations has
become one of the most active areas in history of science,
technology and medicine. But visual studies of science have
a long and interdisciplinary history. As long ago as 1939,
George Sarton called for “Iconographic Honesty”, in
remarking on the low levels of interest and critical rigor
that historians of science applied to portraits compared
with texts.
Since the 1970s this field of inquiry has deepened and
diversified to include not only portraits, but also a wide
range of visual representations produced in scientific
practice, of techniques of representation, and of practices
of production of meaning. The analysis of the production,
circulation and use of visual representations in science has
benefited from interaction between such disciplines as
history, sociology and philosophy of science, art history,
book history, history of education, education studies, and
science popularization. Furthermore, it converges on current
debates aiming at blurring the traditional distinction
between the making and the communication of scientific
knowledge.
In fact, images occupy a special place in this context, for their
power to encapsulate scientific knowledge, their capacity to
communicate to various publics, and their flexibility in the
production of meanings by the interaction of producers and
users. Moreover, images contain special codes and modes of
representation which constrain their intended meanings, and
a wide diversity of visual cultures contributes further to
shape scientific knowledge through processes of visual
appropriation which feed back into production. For its
special characteristics, visual knowledge differs from
textual knowledge, although there are interesting
intersections and interactions between them.
Scientific practice produces a wide range of visual representations of
nature which are also tools for the production of new
knowledge. Visual representations in science often cut
across the categories of research, teaching, and the
popular. The study of the reproduction, circulation, and
appropriation of images offers an excellent basis from which
to understand the shaping of scientific knowledge. The
analysis of the production and manipulation of images, the
debates around these practices and the making of visual
standards can have a major role in our understanding of
disciplinary change and in the design of new narratives in
history of science. Paradoxically, in spite of the
centrality of visual representations in the making of
science, its analysis is still underdeveloped due the
traditional bias in history of science towards written
sources.
The 6th European Spring School in History of Science and
Popularization is structured by three lectures a poster
session and three
workshops which address the classic questions of “who”, “why”,
“how” and “for whom”, through case studies ranging from the
early modern period to the present day, covering Europe and
the Americas, and dealing with a large set of representation
techniques (including drawing, engraving, lithography and
photography). Central questions for this school are:
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Who have been the authors of visual representations and what is their
status in science?
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How have techniques of visual representation and practices of visual
appropriation shaped the making of scientific knowledge?
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How can we classify scientific images, what are the ways of
characterizing their specific properties, and how do they
interact with the objects that they represent?
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What interactions have there been between visual, textual and oral
knowledge?
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How has visual knowledge circulated and how has it been appropriated?
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Are there national, disciplinary, and social cultures of visual
representation and appropriation in science, technology
and medicine?
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How can we improve our understanding of visual representations in
history of science, technology and medicine?
PROGRAMME
Thursday 19 May 2011
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Morning |
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9:30-11:30 |
Registration |
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11:30-12:30 |
Welcome and
Introduction |
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Evening |
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16:00-17:00 |
Daniela
Bleichmar (University of South California)
"Visual
Epistemology and Multimedia Knowledge in Early Modern Science" |
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17:00-17:30 |
Discussion |
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17:30-18:00 |
Coffee break |
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18:00-20:00
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Workshop 1
Meghan Doherty (Mellon/ACLS Recent Doctoral Recipient
Fellow). “Resolving the Night Sky: Visual Astronomy and the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society”.
Sophie Brockmann (University of Cambridge). “Maps and Text
in Central America, c.1770-1840”.
Frances Robertson (Glasgow School of Art). “David Kirkaldy
(1820-1897) and his Museum of Destruction: the Visual
Dilemmas of an Engineer as Man of Science”.
Mirjam Brusius (University of Cambridge). “Objects without
Status - Pictures without Purpose: the Organisation and
Visualisation of Middle Eastern Archaeological Findings in
19th-century Europe”.
W1 abstracts |
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Supervision: Klaus Hentschel & Daniela Bleichmar |
Friday 20 May 2011
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Morning |
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9:30-10:30 |
Nick Hopwood
(University of Cambridge)
"Copying Pictures, Making
Icons: from Alleged Forgeries to
Textbook Illustrations"
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10:30-11:00 |
Discussion |
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11:00-11:30 |
Coffee break |
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11:30-13:30
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Workshop 2
Aaron Wright (University of Toronto). “Visual reasoning and
the ‘Renaissance’ of General Relativity, 1955–1975”.
Ari Gross (University of Toronto). “Of
Sausages and Skeletons: Kekulé and Crum Brown's diagrams, and
the desirable features of chemical visual representations”.
Anindita Nag (Max Planck Institute for the History of
Science). “Images of Hunger, Appeal of Emotions: Famine
Photography and the Spectacle of Suffering”.
Tom Schilling (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
“Geoinformatics and Indigenous Representation: Visualization
and Conflict over Uranium Exploration in the Arctic”
W2 abstracts |
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Supervision: Nick Hopwood & Klaus Hentschel |
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Evening |
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15:45-16:15 |
Coffee served |
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16:00-17:00
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Poster Session
(Posters will be displayed since the first day)
“Ut pictura cosmographia in the Spanish Court of the
Habsburg in the Sixteenth Century” by Antonio Sánchez (CIUHCT,
University of Lisbon)
“To Have and Have not (Feet): Early Modern Representations
of the Bird of Paradise” by José Ramón Marcaida (Centre of
Humanities and Social Sciences, CSIC)
“Personhood before birth? – Early modern images of the
unborn” by Sebastian Pranghofer (Durham University)
“Graphics and Metaphor in English Natural Philosophy,
1650-1720” by Alexander Wragge-Morley (University of
Cambridge/MPIWG)
“Exhibiting Longitude: The ‘longitude lunatic’ in Hogarth’s
A Rake’s Progress” by Katy Barrett (University of Cambridge)
“An Evolutionary Armature: A Window to Human Progress during
England’s Gothic Revival” by Courtney S. Long (University of
Pittsburgh)
“Outline and Fixed Colour: Constructing Images of Geology in
Britain, 1790-1820” by Allison Ksiazkiewicz (University of
Cambridge)
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17:15-18:15 |
Klaus Hentschel (Universität Stuttgart)
"Towards
a Comparative History of Visual Science Cultures" |
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18:15-18:45 |
Discussion |
Saturday 21 May 2011
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Morning |
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9:30-11:30 |
Workshop 3
Practical workshop devoted to presentation, examination
and analysis of images |
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Daniela Bleichmar, Klaus Hentschel & Nick
Hopwood |
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11:30-12:00 |
Coffee break |
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12:00-12:30 |
Concluding Remarks. Alfons Zarzoso & Josep Simon |
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12:30-13:30 |
General discussion |
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14:00 |
Closing lunch |
The School sessions and discussion will be conducted in
English
Place: Institut Menorquí d’Estudis (Camí des Castell, Maó,
Menorca)
REGISTRATION
Registration Pack 1: 300 euros
(includes conference fees, lodging in individual room and
lunches)
Registration Pack 2: 200 euros
(includes conference fees, lodging in shared room and
lunches)
Registration Pack 3: 100 euros
(includes conference fees and lunches)
DISCOUNT
Early registrants (before March 30, 2011) receive a 50 euros
discount on conference fees.
DEADLINES
February, 16th, 2011: deadline for grants
application
March, 15th, 2011:Deadline for submission of
students papers for pre-circulation
March, 22nd, 2011:
Announcement of grants
March,
30th, 2011:
Deadline for registration with discount
April, 25th, 2011: Deadline for registration
May, 19-21, 2011: Spring School
PAYMENT PROCEDURE
The organisation strongly recommends payment by
bank transfer to:
2100 0963 67 0200031280, IBAN: ES30 2100 0963 6702 0003 1280
Caixa d’Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona, BIC: CAIXESBBXXX
(Branch 0963, carrer del Carme 44 , 08001 Barcelona)
Holder: I.E.C. Soc. Catalana Història de la Ciència
Payment by cheque adressed to SCHCT Institut d’Estdis
Catalans is also possible. Please send it to:
SCHCT Institut d'Estudis Catalans
C. Carme 47 - 08001 Barcelona (SPAIN)
REGISTRATION FORM
Registration forms can be downloaded from:
DOWNLOAD REGISTRATION FORM
GRANTS
A
limited number of grants will be provided in order to cover
school fees, accommodation and/or travel expenses.
Applicants may apply by sending a CV and a letter by e-mail
to
springschool2011@iec.cat before 16th February 2011.
The
letter should include a statement of interests, a financial
statement, and a draft title and abstract (300 words) – if
submitting a paper.
Credit card information (number and expiry date) will be
provided by awarded participants in order to guaranteeing
their attendance to the school.
previous
schools
I.
Museums (May
17-19, 2001)
II.
Journalism (April 3-5, 2003)
III.
Cinema
(April 14-16, 2005)
IV.
Publicity
and Propaganda (May 17-19, 2007)
V. Radioactivity in the Public Sphere (May 21-23, 2009)
Former lecturers
Benet, Vicente (Universitat Jaume I, Castelló)
Bennett, Jim (University of Oxford, England)
Bergeron, Andrée (Palais de la Découverte, Paris)
Brenni, Paolo (Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza,
Firenze, Italy)
Cantor, Geoffrey (University of Leeds, England)
Jurdant, Baudouin (Université de Paris VII, France)
Martinet, Alexis (Institut de Cinématographie Scientifique,
Meudon, France)
Menéndez-Navarro, Alfredo (Departamento de A. P. e Historia de la Ciencia, Universidad de Granada)
Olmi, Giuseppe (Università di Bologna, Italy)
Pickstone, John (University of Manchester, England)
Rasmussen, Anne (Université de Strasbourg, France)
Smith, Melissa (Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester)
Soubiran, Sébastien (Institut de Recherches Interdisciplinaires sur les Sciences et la Technologie, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg)
Tansey, Tilli (Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of
Medicine, London)
Walker, Mark (Union College, Schenectady NY)
Weinants, Thomas (Visual Media, Belgium)
Weingart, Peter (Bielefeld Universität, Germany)
FURTHER INFORMATION
For further information please contact:
Josep Simon,
josicas@alumni.uv.es
Alfons Zarzoso,
azarzoso@museudelamedicina.cat
Organizing Commitee: Josep Miquel Vidal, Alfons Zarzoso,
Josep Simon
Institut Menorquí d'Estudis
Camí des Castell, 28
07702 Maó (Menorca)
info.ime@cime.es
Tel.: 971 35 15 00
Fax: 971 35 16 42
http://www.ime.cat/
Institut d’Estudis Catalans
Societat Catalana d’Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica
Carrer del Carme 47 – 08001 Barcelona
schct@iec.cat
Tel. +34 93 324 85 81
Fax: +34 93 270 11 89
http://schct.iec.cat
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