History of Science

Inspired by her years of ballet training, Whitney Laemmli, Member (2021–22) in the School of Historical Studies, spent her time at IAS investigating the strange legacy of transcribing human motion. The resulting book, Making Movement Modern, reveals how a 1920s dance notation system fundamentally reshaped our view of the body from a vessel of expression into a technology to be analyzed, optimized, and controlled.

Govind Menon, Erik Ellentuck Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Study's School of Mathematics (2025–26), introduces the Mathematical Folklore Project, an initiative to reconnect with centuries of mathematical culture. He reflects on the exhilaration of contact with the past—and the discipline of letting ideas shine through.

Elena Aronova, Willis F. Doney Member in the School of Historical Studies (2024–25), discusses her research on the history of modern life sciences and non-linear conceptions of time. She reflects on how her project evolved at the Institute for Advanced Study, weaving academic insights with personal experiences of time.

Brad Bolman, Member in the Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Historical Studies (2023–25), details his investigations into the kingdom of fungi, including walks through the Institute Woods where his work was nourished by the campus’s mycological offerings.

In his book Lab Dog: What Global Science Owes American Beagles, Brad Bolman, Member in the School of Historical Studies, illuminates how beagles became vital yet overlooked contributors to knowledge during World War II. His work also highlights how incremental, methodical research forms an essential foundation of scientific progress and understanding.

In a recent book with Princeton University Press titled Broadcasting Fidelity, Myles W. Jackson, Albers-Schönberg Professor in the History of Science in the School of Historical Studies, delves into the origin, invention, and impact of a unique electronic instrument: the trautonium.

The research of Brad Bolman, Founders' Circle Member in the School of Historical Studies, focuses on the history of knowledge about organisms since the nineteenth century. "I study how scientists and other interested parties come to know what an organism is, whether it’s a beagle, a rose, or a truffle," he explains.

On April 2, 2019, Projit Bihari Mukharji, Associate Professor of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania, gave a public lecture titled "Race by Numbers: Statistics and Race in Inter-War British India" as part of the...

On March 5, 2019, Yulia Frumer, Bo Jung and Soon Young Kim Professor of East Asian Science and Technology at Johns Hopkins University, gave a public lecture titled "Robocon is Zazen: Psychology and Buddhism in Mori Masahiro's Robotics" as part of...

On February 26, 2019, Stephanie Dick, Assistant Professor of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania, gave a public lecture titled "After Math: Reasoning, Proving, and Computing in the Postwar United States" as part of the...