HISTORY OF SCIENCE
2002-2003 witnessed substantial modification and
reorganization of the department’s courses in technology and American
life, history of medicine, and science, technology, and human values.
Professor Beaver in the
Science Quad near West College.
Donald deB. Beaver, Professor of the History of Science,
continued his work on Sarah Bowdich’s manuscript, “Africa,”
and on her biography. A stroke of good luck led to acquisition of the original
document certifying her husband’s admission in March, 1820 to membership
in the Wetterauische Gesellschaft für die Gesamte Naturkunde (Hanau). The
reverse notes that an identical membership certificate follows for Sarah.
Professor Beaver, a member of the International Society
for Scientometrics and Informetrics, has been invited to speak on the topic of
collaboration in scientific research at its 9th International Conference on
Scientometrics and Informetrics, to be held in Beijing, China, August 25-29,
2003. With the aim of using research productivity at Williams as a focus, he
and 3 students, Patrick J. K. H. Frey ‘03, Mitchell H. Green ‘04,
and Rachael G. Holmes ‘03, spent the spring semester gathering,
organizing, and analyzing data from the Report of Science at Williams for the
period 1965 to 2002.
During the past year, Prof. Beaver published two reviews
in ISIS, the journal of the History of Science Society, and continued as a
general referee for Spectrum, a journal of the IEEE.
