The Gordon Cain Conference is a gathering of scholars in the history of science and related fields. Each conference is organized by an eminent scholar who worked with staff to develop a theme of broad contemporary relevance. Centered on a topic chosen by the conference organizer, the conference consists of an evening public lecture, a symposium, and a collected volume. It is hosted by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry and supported by a generous gift from Gordon Cain.
2023 Gordon Cain Conference
This year’s conference, Embedded Connections: Science in Humanities, Humanities in Science, will be held October 4–6, 2023, at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia.
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- Past Conferences, 1998−2022
2022
Let’s Get to Work: Bringing Labor History and the History of Science Together
Organized by Alexandra (Alix) Hui, Mississippi State University; Lissa L. Roberts, University of Twente; and Seth Rockman, Brown University
2021
Diplomatic Studies of Science: The Interplay of Science, Technology, and International Affairs after the Second World War
Organized by Maria Rentetzi, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
2018
Where to Put It All? Some Thoughts about Collections, Museums, and History
Organized by Steven Conn, Miami University
2017
Chemistry in the Americas, 1500–1800
Organized by John Christie, University of Oxford, and Carin Berkowitz, Science History Institute
My Data, My Self: A Century of Self-Tracking Health Technologies
Organized by Deanna Day, Amanda L. Mahoney, and Ramya M. Rajagopalan, Science History Institute
2016
Life in the Universe: Past and Present
Organized by David DeVorkin, National Air and Space Museum
2015
Curators, Popularizers, and Showmen: Science in Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American Exhibitions and Museums
Organized by Bernard Lightman, York University
2014
Chemical Reactions: Chemistry and Global History
Organized by Lissa L. Roberts, University of Twente
2013
Sensing Change: Environmental Issues in Art and Science
Organized by Dehlia Hannah, Arizona State University
2012
E pluribus unum: Bringing Biological Parts and Wholes into Philosophical Perspective
Organized by Lynn Nyhart, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Scott Lidgard, Field Museum of Natural History
2011
Chemical Weather and Chemical Climate: Body, Place, Planet in Historical Perspective
Organized by Jim Fleming, Colby College
Request the collected volume.
2010
Personalizing Medicine Here and Now: Empirical Studies of Post-Genomic Medicine
Organized by Alberto Cambrosio, McGill University
2009
Technology Transfer and Diffusion in Comparative Perspective
Organized by Bruce Seely, Michigan Technological University
2008
The Dilemma of Dual Use
Organized by Roy MacLeod, University of Sydney
2007
New Chemical Bodies
Organized by Jody A. Roberts, Science History Institute
Request the whitepaper.
2006
Towards a History and Philosophy of Expertise
Organized by Christopher Hamlin, University of Notre Dame
2005
Nano before There Was Nano: Historical Perspectives on the Constituent Communities of Nanotechnology
Organized by Cyrus C. M. Mody, Cornell University
2004
City, Industry, and Environment in Transatlantic Perspective
Organized by Donna Rilling, State University of New York at Stony Brook
2003
Risk and Safety in Medical Innovation
Organized by Arthur Daemmrich, Cornell University2002
Industry and Governance: Changing Relations among Science-Based Corporations, Government, and the Public
Organized by Arthur Daemmrich, Cornell University
2001
The Chemical Industry and the Environment
Organized by Christian W. Simon, University of Basel, Switzerland
1999
Pharmaceutical Innovation: Revolutionizing Human Health
Organized by David B. Sicilia, University of Maryland
1998
The Twentieth-Century American Chemical Industry
Organized by Stephen B. Adams, Lucent Technologies