Graduate Degrees - History of Science

In conjunction with its rapidly growing graduate program, the Department of History at the University of Florida offers programs of study in the History of Science leading to the MA and PhD. The interests of the faculty range widely from the development of scientific ideas themselves to the analysis of the interactions of science, culture, society, and institutions. Students in the program are encouraged to work with affiliated faculty in other departments at the university while completing their requirements.

The Doctoral Program (PhD & MA) and Undergraduate Program (BA) in the History of Science was instituted at the University of Florida in 1978 and shortly thereafter approved by the State of Florida.  During the last several decades our Program has graduated 7 PhD students (with 5 or 6 more in the ‘pipeline’), over 30 MAs, and several dozen others with PhD or MA Minors in the History of Science.  Among our students receiving the BA and MA degrees in the History of Science, a number have gone on to take their Doctorate degree in the History of Science at Cambridge (2), Harvard, Emory, North Carolina, Yale, and other prestigious institutions, while others continued their studies in related area at Stanford, Michigan, San Diego, Wisconsin, and the London School of Economics. 

History of Science has brought national and international attention to the University of Florida, most recently as institutional host for the History of Science Society.  Established in 1924, the HSS is the oldest and largest international  organization in the discipline.  Having previously hosted the annual meeting of the HSS, Florida faculty members have held major offices in the Society and received several of its most prestigious awards.  Program members have also received major grants, among them several of the largest awards received at the University of Florida from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and most recently, a major grant from VW.  History of Science faculty are also proud of a strong teaching tradition, having collectively receiving over a dozen awards including CLAS, University, and other national awards and international prizes.

The Department of History, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the University of Florida each offer fellowships to qualified applicants. The Department itself administers special funds intended for graduate students in the History of Science. Special fellowships are available for minority and economically disadvantaged students and for women entering non-traditional careers. Non-Florida student tuition waivers are provided for Graduate Fellows, Special Fellows, and Graduate Assistants. Applications to the Program and for financial aid for the Fall term must be received by the first day of February. More specific information is supplied in the Department graduate manual published on the web. Always consult the current Graduate Catalogue, which is definitive. Basic requirements for the MA and PhD in the History of Science, Technology & Medicine are listed below. For information and suggestions on how to survive as a Graduate Student, click here.

Bachelor's Degree - History of Science, Technology & Medicine

The bachelor's program integrates an interdisciplinary concentration without an overly structured course of study for undergraduate students. Students working toward a degree in history of science, technology and medicine are encouraged to develop individual courses of study emphasizing their chosen specialties, for example, medicine, engineering, pharmacy, physics, etc. A special selection of courses is suggested for pre-med students, a selection which includes a highly unusual combination of scientific depth and humanistic breadth.

The core courses of the program represent all major conceptual areas of the fields of science, technology and medicine (from ancient to modern times), treating their internal structure and development as well as their intellectual, cultural, and social settings. For a list of general resources in the History of Science, Technology & Medicine program at the University of Florida, click here. For basic requirements and an overview of the HSTM major, click here.

History of Science Faculty

Frederick Gregory, Professor of History of Science, came to the Department of Physical Sciences at UF in 1978. A year later he joined the History Department, where he has served ever since. Trained in history of science at the University of Wisconsin (MA) and Harvard (Ph.D.), his interests range widely across both physical and biological scientific disciplines. The chronological foci of his research lies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while its geographical center has been primarily (although not exclusively) Germany. Most recently he has pursued a number of issues in the historical relationship between religion and science. His “Intersections of Physical Science and Religion in the Nineteenth Century,” will appear shortly in Modern Physical Science, Volume 5 of the forthcoming Cambridge History of Science (New York: Cambridge University Press), while his “From Warfare to Cultural History: Historical Writing about Science and Religion in the Nineteenth Century,” is scheduled to appear as Chapter 12 in David Cahan, ed. From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences: Historiographical Essays on Nineteenth-Century Science (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).

Bob Hatch works in the periodization traditionally called the Scientific Revolution, as well as in Early Modern European Intellectual & Cultural history. Although his particular interest is the early modern science (Copernicus to Newton) his research and teaching interests extend from ancient Greece through the mid-18th century. Here his interests aim at science, philosophy, theology, classical studies, and the broader context of manuscript & print culture, especially communication networks. Bob has published articles, chapters, and essays (particularly on Boulliau, Gassendi, and Peiresc) and some 75 reviews in several dozen journals. He has lectured in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands, and was History of Science Editor of the ECCB for two decades. He has received major grants from NEH, NSF, the American Philosophical Society, and was recently awarded the HSS Joseph H. Hazen Prize. Current publishing projects include ‘Clio Electric:  Primary Texts & Digital Research’, an invited article that launches a new series of Essay Reviews in ISIS on Digital Humanities;  ‘Nature’s Profoundest Secret:  First Inklings, Second Guesses, Second Thoughts’ [Background to the Inverse-Square Law of Universal Gravitation], Lehrstuhl fur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Munich, in Algorismus; an invited Historiographical Introduction to the landmark Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (Springer - Verlag International, Berlin, projected 3 Vols.); and now in press, «Singes et Perroquets, ô meilleur de la chair ! Descartes & Gassendi représentant des 'points & parties' » [Monkeys & Parrots, O Best of Flesh! Descartes & Gassendi Representing Points & Parts’] in Actes, Colloque Pierre Gassendi, Brepols.  His next book is Boulliau’s Europe: Science & Learning in 17th-Century France.

Steve McKnight researches intellectual and cultural history since the Renaissance. Among his most recent publications are two co-edited volumes entitled Politics, Order and History, and International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Eric Voegelin. He is also the author of a number of articles, including "Prisca Theologia" and "Utopias" in Wilbur Applebaum's Encyclopedia of the Scientific Revolution, and "Medieval Order and Disorder in Voegelin's History of Political Ideas" in Political Science Reviewer. His research has been funded by the Earhart Foundation, the Wilbur Foundation, among others. Professor McKnight has been selected Neikirk Term Professor by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Maria Portuondo became a historian of science and technology after a successful career as an electrical engineer and entrepreneur.  She has a B. S. in electrical engineering from the University of Miami and a Ph. D. from Johns Hopkins University. Her principal interests are early modern scientific practices, geography, the transfer of scientific and technological knowledge, and the development of science in Latin America. She is currently writing book based on he dissertation research titled "Secret Science: Cosmography and the New World." The book explores the role of Spanish court cosmographers during the late-sixteenth-century and the assimilation of geographic information about the New World into European conceptual frameworks. She is also the author of "Plantation Factories: Science and Technology in Late-Eighteenth-Century Cuba." Technology and Culture 44, no. 2 (2003):231-257.

History of Science - Associated Faculty

Jack E. Davis works with students whose interests lie in southern, civil rights, and environmental history. Having received training in ecological science while pursuing graduate studies in US history, he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on the New South and environmental history. He also teaches undergraduate courses in Florida history and sport history. He is currently writing a book on the Everglades activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas. In addition to examining Douglas's eighty-year relationship with the Everglades, the book will explore nature as a historical agent in south Florida life, the feminization of nature protection, and the state-federal nexus in environmental politics and policy. His next book, which he co-edited, is an anthology on the environmental history of Florida.

Antoinette Emch-Deriaz earned a maturite scientifique from the College de Geneve in 1955 and a MS in biophysics from the Universite de Geneve in 1960. She also hold degrees from the University of Rochester (MA in History 1978, PhD in intellectual history 1984, adviser E. Fox-Genovese) She came to UF in 1993 from the University of Mississippi where she had implemented new programs in history of science and in history of medicine. Her field of research is in 18th-century francophone Europe, in particular she is interested in the concept of health, the teaching of medicine, hospital reform, and the interactions between social structures and the concept of disease. She has published a book: Tissot, Physician of the Enlightenment (1992), several chapters in books, among them "the non-naturals made easy" in Roy Porter, ed. The Popularization of Medicine (1992); substantive entries for the International Encyclopedia of Learned Societies and Academies (1993), Medical Sciences in the 18th Century in Enciclopedia Italiana (2000); and a dozen articles in professional journals on diverse subjects of medical history. She is a regular participant to national and international symposia in the history of medicine and of 18th-century studies. At the University of Florida, she teaches courses on medical history that explore physiological and pathological theories and health and disease in 17th and 18th-century Europe. Here she explores the mutual influence of political, social, and cultural contexts on the lives of the population at all levels. aedz@history.ufl.edu

Robert "Jay" Malone received his Ph.D. in the History of Science from the University of Florida (1996) and recently joined the faculty as Executive Director of the History of Science Society in Fall 2003. He has taught at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and Appalachian State University. His most recent course at UF examined science in America in the 18th and 19th centuries. The HSS Executive Office, which moved to UF from the University of Washington in 2003, is staffed by the Executive Director, an Information Manager, and three graduate students. The HSS web site at http://www.hssonline.org/ describes the many functions of the Society and the Executive Office. In his spare time, Jay teaches the history of science with a focus on American science and science in the South during the 18th and 19th centuries. Students read heavily in primary materials, such as William Bartram's Travels, and are challenged to think critically about sources. One of Jay's current projects is a book-length manuscript on science in the Old Southwest.

Steve Noll's research and teaching focus on the history of disability. His first book, Feeble-Minded in Our Midst: Institutions for the Mentally Retarded in the South, 1900-1940, was published by UNC Press in 1995. He is currently co-editing two works, one on the history of retardation in America and the other on disability in the American South in historical perspective. He is especially interested in the evolution of categories of disability and their relation to the welfare state. He is also employed as a special education teacher in the Alachua County school system, working as an adaptive technology teacher at Sidney Lanier School in Gainesville. Office - 353 392-027. noll_s@firn.edu

Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis received her PhD from Cornell University in 1988 in the graduate field of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and in the Program for the History and Philosophy of Science. Her research interests include the history of evolutionary biology, genetics, ecology and systematics and the history of American botany in the twentieth century. Her teaching interests include the history of biology, the history of evolution, the history and evolution of infectious disease, and science and exploration in the age of empire. She is the author of numerous articles on the history of modern evolutionary biology and a book titled Unifying Biology: The Evolutionary Synthesis and Evolutionary Biology (Princeton University Press, 1996). She is presently completing a biography of the plant geneticist and evolutionist, G. Ledyard Stebbins.

History of Science - UF Campus Faculty


D'AMICO, Robert (PhD, SUNY, Buffalo, assoc. prof.) Philosophy - philosophy of science, theories of science. Professor Robert D'Amico, Department Chair of Philosophy, works in the areas of philosophy of social science, history of social science, and history of modern philosophy. Recently, his interests have been in the history of philosophy in the late 19th and early 20th century, the problem of law-like explanations in social science, and criticisms of naturalized epistemology. Among his recent publications are Historicism and Knowledge (1988), Contemporary Continental Philosophy (2000), "Spreading Disease: A Controversy Concerning the Metaphysics of Disease" History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (1999) "Three Kinds of Argument in Political Philosophy" Rechtstheorie 18 (1998) "Impossible Laws" Philosophy of the Social Sciences (1997),"Is Disease a Natural Kind?" Journal of Medicine and Philosophy (1995), "Sed Amentes Sunt Isti: Against Michel Foucault's Account of Cartesian Skepticism and Madness" Philosophical Forum (1994).

DEWSBURY, Donald A. (PhD, Michigan, prof., retired) Psychology - History of psychology. Donald A. Dewsbury is a Professor of Psychology with primary interests in the history of psychology and related fields. He received an A. B. from Bucknell University and a PhD from the University of Michigan and did postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley, all in psychology. His emphasis is on the field of comparative psychology/animal behavior studies and his long-term project is a book on the history of the Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology as they existed in Orange Park, Florida from 1930-1965. Other projects deal with the careers of individual psychologists, academic organizations, and patronage for research.

GILBERT, Pamela (PhD, Southern California 1994) English. Associate Professor Gilbert's first book, Disease, Desire and the Body in Victorian Women’s Popular Novels, was published by Cambridge University Press in 1997. She is currently working on books on the construction of the social body and cholera in England 1832-1866 and an edited collection entitled Imagined Londons (forthcoming from SUNY Press, 2002). She has also co-edited Beyond Sensation: Mary Elizabeth Braddon in Context (SUNY Press, 1999, with Marlene Tromp and Aeron Haynie), and is series editor of SUNY Press’s series, Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century. Her recent articles include “‘Scarcely To Be Described’: Urban Extremes as Real Spaces and Mythic Places in the London Cholera Epidemic of 1854.” in Nineteenth Century Studies; “M.E. Braddon and Victorian Realism: Joshua Haggard’s Daughter” in Mary Elizabeth Braddon In Context; “Ouida and the Other New Woman” in Victorian Woman Writers and the Woman Question; and “‘A Sinful and Suffering Nation’: Cholera and the Evolution of Medical and Religious Authority in Britain, 1832–1866” in Nineteenth Century Prose; and “Meditations Upon Hypertext: A Rhetorethics for Cyborgs,” JAC: Journal of Composition Theory. Professor Gilbert’s research interests include gender, the Victorian novel, genre, the body, and Victorian cultural and medical history. She teaches in the Victorian literature; cultural studies; and feminisms, genders, and sexualities tracks. She is currently Chair of the English Department. Office phone: (352) 392-6650, ext. 294; Email: pgilbert@english.ufl.edu

GOTTESMAN, Stephen (PhD, Manchester, 1967, retired) Astronomy. Professor. Dr Gottesman is by profession a radio astronomer with research interests in the properties of galaxies, both luminous and dark, and has published extensively in these areas. He received his PhD from the University of Manchester (UK, 1967), taught at the University of Keele (UK), and later held postdoctoral positions at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and at the California Institute of Technology. A faculty member at the University of Florida since 1972, his interest in the history of astronomy and cosmology can be traced to his graduate student years when he was fortunate to know several seminal figures conducting research on galaxies, the Milky Way, and cosmology. These early experiences prompted him to read many of the early papers in these fields, and not surprisingly his interests in history and philosophy are closely associated with these professional concerns. Among those interests he is particularly interested in the question of how we came to understand the nature of galaxies and of their distribution in space (cosmology); at at technical level, the role of technology in the growth of these ideas, and conversely, how the requirements of these sciences have influenced the development of the technology; at the social level, the influence of social perspectives on the questions asked of the science and the answers found, and conversely, the influence of new developments in astronomy and cosmology on social perceptions. Not least, his interests focus on how these ideas affect our understanding of science itself. Professor Gottesman has taught courses addressing these issues from Newton through and beyond Hubble.


LIU, Chuang (PhD, Pittsburgh, assoc. prof.) Philosophy - Philosophy of Science - Chuang Liu, associate professor at the Department of Philosophy, works mainly in philosophy of science (in general) and in philosophy of physics (in particular), and has published works in the following areas: philosophy of space-time, philosophy of quantum field theories, philosophy of thermostatistical physics, idealization/approximation and model-building in science, and structures of scientific theories; and these works have appeared in journals such as Philosophy of Science, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, Synthese, Erkenntnis, British Journal for the History of Science. For more information, go to http://web.phil.ufl.edu/faculty/liu.html - Email: cliu@phil.ufl.edu


PORTER, Charlotte M. (PhD, Harvard 1976; assoc. prof.) Florida State Museum, History of Science; - American natural history in the modern period. Charlotte is a curator/professor at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, and currently teaches and supervises students in the undergraduate Honors Program and graduate program in Museum Studies (Fine Arts). For 15 years, she curated more than 30 temporary and traveling exhibits (most recently, Leonardo da Vinci: Science and Imagination) with funds from NSF, NEH, FEH, NEA, IBM, and SAC (Southern Arts Council). Porter has participated in the History of Science Society, American Association of Museums, Society for the Bibliography of Natural History, Florida Historical Society, and Organization of American Historians, and special symposia hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Winterthur, the Smithsonian, Prince Michael of Kent, and the National Park System. She has taught ElderHostel. Besides the catalogus and other materials, Porter's research and publications have involved the history of natural history and museum history. In 1986, her book, The Eagle's Nest: Natural History and American Ideas, 1812-1842, inaugurated the History of American Science and Technology Series at the University of Alabama Press. She wrote the chapter on natural history museums for The Museum: A Reference Guide, ed. Michael Steven Shapiro, 1990. In 1991, Porter contributed a chapter, acclaimed by the AAM reviewer, to Paisley S. Cato and Clyde Jones, eds., Natural History Museums: Directions for Growth, and her chapter, "Better than Gold: Plants of the New World," was included in Ann L. Henderson and Gary R. Mormino, eds., bilingual edition, Spanish Pathways in Florida/ Caminos Espanoles en La Florida. Porter is also the author of papers for scholarly journals. She is presently completing three books, the first about the naturalist William Bartram (1739-1823), the second, Science and conScience, a two-volume work on the 16th-century neotropical experience, and the third, The Middle Museum, a museum studies reader. Email: cmporter@flmnh.ufl.edu

SMITH, Stephanie (PhD, Berkeley 1990, assoc. prof.) - Associate Professor Stephanie Smith took her Ph.D. from Berkeley (1990). Prior to coming to the University of Florida, she free-lanced, worked as an editor for Western Imprints, as an assistant at Glamour and Mademoiselle Magazines, at David Godine in Boston, and at Representations. She is co-editor with N. Katherine Hayles (UCLA) for the Science and Literature series at Michigan and is a consultant for Feminist Studies. A novelist, she is the author of: Other Nature (1995), The-Boy-Who-Was-Thrown-Away (1987) and Snow-Eyes (1985) and has won fiction residencies at Hedgebrook and Norcroft. Examining the intersection of science, literature, politics, race and gender, her essays appear in differences, Criticism, Genders, and American Literature. A 1998 Visiting NEH Scholar at UCLA, she is the author of Conceived By Liberty: Maternal Figures and 19th-Century American Literature (Cornell 1995.) Recent excerpts from her new book on language and democracy appear in Body Politics and the Fictional Double and The Cambridge Companion to Women’s Writing. Office phone: (352) 392-6650, ext. 253; Email: ssmith@english.ufl.edu HomePage: http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/ssmith

History of Science - Library Resources

KISLING, Vernon (Collection Management Coordinator & History of Science Selector, Marston Science Library) - Vernon Kisling is History of Science Selector for the University of Florida and has a MS degree in wildlife biology (U. of Georgia), MS in library studies (FSU), and D.P.A. in public administration (Nova U.). Previously Vernon served as Curator at the Atlanta Zoo and the Miami Zoo, and he has done wildlife conservation field research in Papua New Guinea and in Chile. Since the early 1980s his research interests have been in the history of zoos, wildlife conservation, and frontier exploration. Vernon also served as the History Committee Chair for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association for ten years, and he has written numerous articles on zoo history, wildlife conservation, and zoo libraries. His latest book is Zoo and Aquarium History: Ancient Animal Collections to Zoological Gardens, and most recently he has been developing several databases concerned with the History of Florida natural history and the History of Florida Agriculture. Vernon is best reached by email: vkisling@mail.uflib.ufl.edu

Past Graduates – A Selected List:  History of Science PhD & MA

7 PhD Graduates, History of Science Major:  Drs Adams, Brautigam, Koehler, Lesney, Malone, Sheffield, Weisel.

Some 30 MA History of Science Majors:  Masters Abbatunano, Adkins, Brautigam, Davis, Doran, Dorn, Fischelschweigger, Fleming, Futch, Gerofsky, Hampton, Kinney, Kroll, Lambert, Lashmet, Levitt, Lombardo, Malone, Relyea-Chew, Urbanc, Boner, Lucchi, Wagner, Terceira, Dana Matthews,  McCain, Prevost, Kreitzer, Allard, etc.  

PhD & MA Minors -- Too many to list, over 30 graduate HOS minors; most recently Stephen Matthews, Jace Stuckey, Mark Correl, etc.

Former HOS BA & MA Students with PhD elsewhere including, among many others, Mark Barrow (PhD, Harvard); G. Matt Adkins (PhD, UNC); Fritz Davis (PhD, Yale); Michael Futch (PhD, Emory); Brian Dolan (PhD, Cambridge); Patrick Boner (PhD, Cambridge), etc.

History of Science, Technology & Medicine
Undergraduate Requirements - History of Science Undergraduate Major:

The History of Science major differs slightly from the general history major. Students who wish to concentrate in the history of science, technology and medicine should contact a faculty member in the field or discuss requirements with an adviser in that concentration. Please use the following checklist to track your progress.

• 35 hours minimum in history, 26 at the 3000-4000 level, including History Practicum and History of Science Research Seminar.
• 18 hours in history of science, technology and medicine, including at least three hours in history of technology or history of medicine.
• These courses also meet the history of science requirement: AST 3043 (History of Astronomy), BSC 3402 (Theory and Practice in the Biological Sciences ), LIT 4431 (Literature of Science), PSY  4604 (History of Systems of Psychology) and MHF 4404 (History of Mathematics).
• 9 hours in history courses at the 3000-4000 level outside the history of science. Select from courses with the following prefix: AMH, EUH, LAH, AFH, ASH and/or WOH.
• 9 hours of science or mathematics that are listed as requirements for majors in that discipline.

Undergraduate Courses (NB: See Current UF Catalogue)

HIS 3460 History of Science and Religion
Credits: 3
A survey of the interaction between the religious and scientific communities in the West from the time of the early church to the present.

HIS 3463 History of Science: Origins to Newton. F
Credits: 3
An introduction to the emergence of scientific thought from its mythopoeic beginnings to the time of Newton. The course will focus on the interrelationships among science, philosophy and religion in Greece, Islam and the Latin West. Special emphasis is given to Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes and Newton. (H, I)

HIS 3464 Introduction to the History of Science: Renaissance to the Present. S
Credits: 3
A general survey of the major issues in physical and biological science from the time of Galileo to the present. Emphasis will be placed on the impact of scientific development on society, culture and thought. (H, I) GR-E†

HIS 3465 The Scientific Revolution
Credits: 3; Prereq: 3 hours of history
The emergence of modern science from Copernicus to Newton exploring the notions of empiricism, experiment, mechanism, materialism, and the historical concepts of continuity, change, revolution, and progress. (H) GR-E†

HIS 3466 Newton, Darwin, Freud
Credits: 3
This course focuses upon what has been called "the emergence of the modern mind" from the perspective of three symbolic heroes of western science and culture. Beginning biographically, the course raises issues regarding notions of the Great Man, Great Books, Great Ideas, as well as theories of identity, genius, rationality, creativity, change, and the relations between science and the humanities, biography and history.

HIS 3467 Science, Sex, Race
Credits: 3
In this course we focus on issues from the history and philosophy of science involving theories of sex and race in modern Western culture. Topics include: Classification, Taxonomy, Disease, Measurement, Eugenics.

HIS 3468 Special Topics in the History of Science
Credits: 3; May be repeated with change of content up to a maximum of 9 credits
Individual episodes from the history of science dealing with the historical development either of a particular science or of a specific theme. Examples include history of evolutionary thought and scientific exploration in an age of discovery.

HIS 3470 History of Technology I. F
Credits: 3
The development of technology and engineering from antiquity to approximately 1750 with emphasis on the relationship of this development to the growth of western civilization. (H, I) GR-E†

HIS 3471 History of Technology II. S
Credits: 3
The development of technology and engineering from approximately 1750 to WW I with emphasis on the relationship of this development to the changing patterns of life in western civilization. (H) GR-E†

HIS 3481 Magic and the Occult in the Age of Reason
Credits: 3; Prereq: 3 hours of history
Explores the historical roots of astrology, alchemy, witchcraft and hermeticism in a cultural climate increasingly dominated by rationalism and science (1450-1700). Draws on theory and methods of intellectual and cultural history, anthropology, sociology and literary theory. (H)

HIS 3483 The Nuclear Age
Credits: 3; Prereq: 3 hours of history
History of the changing perception of the political and social significance of science since the discovery of nuclear fission.

HIS 3490 History of Western Medicine
Credits: 3
Beginning with primitive societies, the course will trace the development of ideas of medical treatment, concepts of disease, and the growth of medical knowledge over the centuries. Students will also have the opportunity to perform research on an aspect of medical history of interest to them. (H) GR-E†

HIS 3495 Evolution of Infectious Diseases
Credits: 3; Prereq: 3 hours of history
This course places the emergence of new infectious diseases in a historical and cultural context. The course emphasizes the history of well-documented infectious diseases such as leprosy, bubonic plague, cholera, smallpox, yellow fever, tuberculosis, influenza, polio, venereal disease and AIDS, as well as the more recent Ebola viral-type outbreaks.

HIS 3501 The History of Modern Biological Thought
Credits: 3
This course will examine selected areas of modern biological thought after 1800. Topics include Darwin, genetics, the Evolutionary Synthesis, molecular biology and sociobiology. (H) GR-E†

HIS 3506 Science, Evidence, Law
Credits: 3; Prereq: 3 hours of history
This course traces the emergence of modern concepts of truth and justice by focusing on the historical use of evidence in both science and law. Beginning with 16th-century witchcraft (concepts of act, theory, proof and observation) the course concludes with cases involving DNA, child testimony, expert witnesses, and false memory. Themes include observation and interpretation, identity and possession, competence and expertise.

HIS 4472 History of Evolutionary Thought from the Enlightenment to the Present
Credits: 3; Prereq: some background in evolutionary science or history of science is desirable
This is an advanced history of science course that examines the history of evolutionary thought from the Enlightenment to the present. Emphasis is on the specific development of Darwinian evolutionary theory, and the lives of key theorists such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. Sociopolitical and national contexts will be considered.

HIS 4473 History of Scientific Exploration in the Age of Empire
Credits: 3; Prereq: HIS 2464 or HIS 3501 or permission of instructor
This is an advanced history of science course that explores the connections between science, exploration and national interests in the age of empire. The ultimate goal is to understand science as cultural activity.

HIS 4502 The History of Genetics and Molecular Biology
Credits: 3; Prereq: 6 hours of history and knowledge of the history of science and biology desirable
This is an advance history of science course that explores the history of genetics and molecular biology.

EUH 4602 Renaissance to the Scientific Revolution: Intellectual & Cultural History of Europe
Credits: 3; Prereq: 6 hours of history
An examination of fundamental European intellectual, cultural, and social developments from the early Renaissance to the Scientific Revolution. Includes interdisciplinary study of key ideas in religion, philosophy, art and literature. (H, I) GR-E†

History of Science
Graduate Requirements - History of Science

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The Graduate Program in History of Science at the University of Florida provides Doctoral Degrees and a Doctoral Minor with the following general Guidelines.

NB: Always consult the most recent Graduate Catalogue, always consult the Graduate Coordinator and the appropriate HOS faculty advisor.

Graduate Catalogue: http://gradschool.rgp.ufl.edu/students/catalog.html

PhD Major Field:  Doctoral students will show themselves professionally competent in issues and historiographical approaches in the History of Science through written and oral qualifying examinations.  These examinations represent four fields of History of Science, two defined chronologically and two thematically.  In order to give a general familiarity with History of Science over time and across disciplines, students will choose two of three chronological fields:  Ancient & Medieval Science; Scientific Revolution through the Enlightenment; Modern Science.  To provide acquaintance with the specialized development of science, students, in concert with their Committee Chair and with the approval of the Committee, will propose two fields involving thematic treatments of science over at least two centuries.  Examples of possible fields include science & religion; science in France; history of biology; cultural studies of science.

Graduate instruction in History of Science differs from geographically-defined historical areas in the distinction made between courses taught at the 5000 and 6000 levels.  Given the intrinsically interdisciplinary nature of History of Science, it is likely that students wishing to study the subject do not possess sufficient training in both History and in Science.  Courses at the 5000 level are designed to acquaint students with the fundamental issues and methods in areas defined broadly in chronological and disciplinary terms.  Doctoral students normally will complete a minimum of four courses at this level, preferably before undertaking corresponding research seminars focussed in specific problems at the 6000 level.

PhD Minor Field:  Doctoral students minoring in History of Science will demonstrate by written and oral examinations a sufficient grasp of the major themes in a broad chronological period of History of Science and with the current approaches to those themes in order to show themselves capable of teaching an introductory course in History of Science over the period.  They will designate two of the following three fields for the examinations:  Ancient & Medieval Science;  Scientific Revolution through the Enlightenment; Modern Science (Traditionally: Physical; Biological).  Normally PhD minors will include three courses at the 5000 level and one at the 6000 level, selected to correspond with fields chosen for examination. 

Students electing to pursue a Doctoral Major or Minor in the History of Science are responsible for defining their fields in concert with their History of Science Supervisor.  After their Department Committee has been selected, History of Science Majors and Minors are responsible for submitting a brief (3-page) summary that outlines their interests in the field, defines their areas of focused study, and provides a tentative list of proposed courses.  While this written summary can be revised in the course of study, it should be submitted to the Supervisor during the first semester of graduate study.

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