News of the Consortium
October 8, 2023
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DNA Papers Episode 9: Erwin Chargaff
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In Episode 9 of the DNA Papers, we discuss a set of papers by the first scientist to make a sustained effort into uncovering the secret behind the specificity of nucleic acids. The principle author, Erwin Chargaff, a European-American biochemist from Columbia University in New York, determined that the relative ratios of the four nucleotide bases—A, T, G and C—were not present in all DNA in equal amounts as widely assumed, but, rather, that they varied in proportion from one to another, with the amount of the A and G bases being equal to the T and C bases respectively. Furthermore, he also demonstrated that the ratio of these amounts was specific and consistent for a given species. He first laid out his vision for determining the role of nucleic acids in 1947, and over the next decade or so, proceeded to probe the finer details of DNA chemistry with the then state-of-the art innovations in techniques such as chromatography and UV spectroscopy.
Joining us to illuminate the role of Chargaff and his experiments in the history of DNA are:
 Pnina Abir-Am
Brandeis University
 Kersten Hall
University of Leeds
 Hans-Jörg Rheinberger
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Michelle Frank (Consortium Fellow 2021-2022) is a member of Women in the History of Quantum Physics (WiHQP), which is an international and interdisciplinary team of authors including physicists, historians, philosophers, and writers currently producing a peer-reviewed anthology that will amplify the history of women's contributions to quantum physics. They are soliciting chapter proposals to expand the number of chapters that focus on women of color and/or women from the Global South.
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The Consortium invites applications for:
- NEH Fellowships for research in the collections of member institutions
- Emanuel Fellowships for scholars who are independent, or whose positions do not offer support for research
- Research Fellowships for scholars who would like to conduct research in the collections of two or more Consortium member institutions.
For more information and to apply, please visit our fellowships page.
Applications must be submitted online by December 15, 2023.
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The Consortium's working groups are held online and are open to all interested scholars. Each working group convenes monthly for discussions of works-in-progress or important published texts on a wide variety of specialized subfields in history of science, technology and medicine. Join one or more groups, and participate in the conversation.
You can also submit a paper for discussion in one of the working groups.
History of the Language Sciences
Tuesday, October 10, 2023 9:00 am EDT
James McElvenny, Universität Siegen
Floris Solleveld, KU Leuven
"Australian Languages and Cultures: Histories of Documentation"
James McElvenny, Universität Siegen
"Colonial science between Kleinstaaterei and the Word of God: The 1838 Lutheran mission to South Australia"
History and Philosophy of Contemporary Theoretical Physics
Wednesday, October 11, 2023 9:30 am EDT
Yemima Ben-Menahem, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"Poincaré and some of his critics"
Henri Poincaré: Science and Hypothsis (1905, chp. 3 + a bit from chp. 4)
History and Philosophy of Science
Wednesday, October 11, 2023 6:30 pm EDT
Reading: Ryan Neftd, "Motivating a Scientific Modelling Continuum: The case of natural models in the Covid-19 pandemic" (2023, Philosophy of Science)
Plants in Africa and the Global South: Multi-Species Materialities, Ecologies, and Aesthetics (MMEA)
Thursday, October 12, 2023 10:00 am EDT
Ali Gholamifard, Lorestan University
"Flagship Species of Lizards and Plants of Iran: A Measure for Indicating Biodiversity"
Collection Ecologies
Thursday, October 12, 2023 12:00 pm EDT
Catarina Madruga, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
Nuala P. Caomhanach, New York University & American Museum of Natural History
Déborah Dubald, University of Strasbourg
“Introducing the Collection Ecologies Working Group”
Objects, Images, and Spaces of Health
Friday, October 13, 2023 11:00 am EDT
Tara Nummedal, Brown University
"'The Männel is a root, it should be called an Allraune': A Mandrake, Magic, and Money in Seventeenth-Century Saxony"
Response: Alisha Rankin, Tufts University
Energy History
Friday, October 13, 2023 1:30 pm EDT
Chao Ren, University of Michigan
“Global Circulation of Low-End Expertise: Knowledge, Hierarchy, and Labor Migration in a Burmese Oilfield”
History of Science in Early South Asia
Monday, October 16, 2023 10:30 am EDT
Reading: Philipp Maas & Gudrun Melzer, "Ancient manuscript fragments of the Carakasaṃhitā and their text genealogical relevance"
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