|
 |
STS
current: BSc | MSc | MPhil/PhD | STS global citizenship programme | STS observatory (forum) |
|
Undergraduate Courses Graduate Courses Main Administrative Duties Full CV including publications and selected presentations: click here Temperature. Inventing Temperature: Measurement and Scientific Progress was published by Oxford University Press in 2004 (paperback in 2007). To view the introduction and contents of the book, click here. Water. My current major research project is a philosophical history of water, which will result in a book titled Is Water H2O? Evidence, Pluralism and Realism (forthcoming from Springer). Water was considered an element up to the late 18th century, and took about a hundred years to become what we believe now. My investigations range across the histories of chemistry, physics and meteorology, and the philosophical focus is on how we can become sure about things that we cannot observe. Chlorine and Electricity (undergraduate research projects) . From 2000 to 2005, I directed a collaborative research project with undergraduate students, through the course HPSCC313, in which students pass on their works from year to year for cumulative improvement. A collection of these studies, edited by myself and Catherine Jackson, has been published as a BSHS Monograph, An Element of Controversy: the Life of Chlorine in Science, Medicine, Technology and War. For a full description of this unique educational experiment, see my article "Turning an undergraduate class into a professional research community". This project was supported by a secondment grant from UCL's Centre for Advancement of Learning and Teaching (CALT), and also an ESCILTA grant. Now we are in the second phase of this project, since 2007, on the theme of "Electricity: Invention and Discovery" (the course has now been renumbered as HPSC3007). Historical Experiments: Boiling and Batteries. I am engaged in the replication and development of some curious chemical and physical experiments reported in the 18th and 19th centuries. The first series of experiments concerned variations in the boiling point of water (see online paper including video footage of some experiments). The current series is on early electrochemistry, starting with Volta's work. This experimental workis being supported through grants from the Leverhulme Trust, and the generosity of the Department of Chemistry. Evidence in the Natural Sciences. This was part of the multi-disciplinary project Evidence, Inference and Enquiry: Towards an Integrated Science of Evidence, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the ESRC; for a fuller description of my portion of this project, click here. Grant Fisher was a research fellow on this project. Analysis and Synthesis in 19th-century Chemistry. This was a collaborative project funded by the Leverhulme Trust, in which we attempted to write a new philosophical history of chemical practice, focusing on the development of the methods of analysis and synthesis. The other project members were: Georgette Taylor, research fellow; Catherine Jackson, PhD student; Rosemary Coates, admin and research assistant. See project website for more information. HPS as an integrated subject. Consideration of the aims and methodology of the history and philosophy of science remains one of my central research interests, and informs almost all other research and teaching I do. My main thoughts on this subject are summarised in the last chapter of Inventing Temperature. In 2006 we began a series of annual workshops on the future of integrated HPS between UCL and Leeds, now also with the participation of groups at Durham and Exeter. I am also a founding member of the Committee for Integrated History and Philosophy of Science, an international group devoted to the same aim, which held its first two conferences at the University of Pittsburgh and at the University of Notre Dame, in 2007 and 2009; the third and fourth conferences are scheduled for 2010 at Indiana University, and 2011 at the University of Athens. Philosophy of Science in Practice. Philosophy of science has an unfortunate tendency to become removed from the practice and application of science. The Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice is a network of scholars trying to reach a better understanding of, and closer engagement with, scientific practice. We had our first biennial conference in August 2007 at the University of Twente, and the second conference in June 2009 at the University of Minnesota. The third conference will be held in 2011 at the University of Exeter. Re-creation of an 18th-century periodical. I believe that a new dimension of historical understanding can be reached through the simulation of a past scientific community. I have been piloting this idea through my course HPSC2007 (previously HPSCB218) with the help of a secondment grant from UCL's department of Education and Professional Development (EPD). In the course of the term we "publish" several issues of our "Virtual Nicholson's Journal", modelled after William Nicholson's Journal of Chemistry, Natural Philosophy and the Arts. Students are first introduced to a real debate from the history of science, and asked to continue the debate as if they were "gentlemen scientists" from the late 18th century. History of chemistry group ("AD HOC"). In the summer of 2004 I started an informal study group in the history (and philosophy) of chemistry. Through monthly meetings and additional communications, we intend to help each other keep up-to-date on recent advances in the field, as well as study key primary sources and recover the best from some neglected older secondary literature. Some meetings have guest speakers. Activities of this group are now supported by a grant from the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC). Reading materials for recent and upcoming meetings can be found here. Scientific Realism. This is a topic on which I have been slowly yet steadily developing my own point of view. See the papers "A Case for Old-Fashioned Observability, and a Reconstructed Constructive Empiricism", "Preservative Realism and Its Discontents: Revisiting Caloric", and "How to Take Realism Beyond Foot-stamping" History and philosophy of modern physics. Although this is no longer an active area of my research, I maintain a strong interest in this field. My current focus is in making the subject accessible to students without very technical backgrounds. Crime Science. For two years (2003-05) I taught "Thinking Scientifically", a required course in the new MSc in Crime Science offered by UCL's Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science. (Currently the course is being taught by Dr Eleonora Montuschi of the LSE.) Supervision of Student Research. Much
of my learning takes place through the supervision of student research.
Aside from the special project on chlorine described above, there
are of course dissertations at all levels.
|
| Created by Hasok Chang. Last modified
05-Aug-2009
Department of Science and Technology Studies - University College London - Gower Street - London - WC1E 6BT - United Kingdom 020 7679 1328 office - Web: www.ucl.ac.uk/sts For visitors and deliveries, departmental offices are located in 22 Gordon Square Copyright © 1998-2010 UCL || Disclaimer | Accessibility | Privacy | Advanced Search |