Alison McManus

Alison McManus is a historian of modern chemistry. Her research interests include (but are not limited to) synthetic herbicides, patent disputes, organophosphates, residual tests, scientific journals, and poison ivy extract. Her current book project, The Other Secret Weapons, examines chemical weapons research and development in Germany, the UK, and the US during the Second World War, a conflict typically remembered for its relationship to physics. At the Science History Institute, she will develop a new project on quantum chemical software, examining its invention, circulation, and gradual integration into intellectual property regimes.

Alison received her PhD in History of Science from Princeton University in 2023 and is presently Assistant Professor in the Department of History of Science and Technology at Johns Hopkins University. Her work has been supported by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, the Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, and the American Institute of Physics.