History of Medicine and Science

L-132 Sterling Hall of Medicine, 785.4338
M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.

Chair and Director of Graduate Studies
Frederic Holmes (frederic.holmes@yale.edu)

Faculty
John Heilbron (Visiting, History), Frederic Holmes, Daniel Kevles (History), Martin Klein (Emeritus, Physics), Susan Lederer, David Musto (Child Study), William Summers (Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry), John Harley Warner

Affiliated Faculty
Robert Gordon (Geophysics & Applied Mechanics), Dimitri Gutas (Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations), Cynthia Russett (History), Frank Snowden (History), Frank Turner (History)

Fields of Study
Fields of study can be pursued in all periods and areas of the history of medicine and science. Special fields of interest of the core and affiliated faculty include history of medical ethics, Arabic science and medicine, American medicine, disease, therapeutics, psychiatry, alcohol and drug abuse, women in science and medicine, science and medicine in Asia, history of physics, chemistry, physiology, biochemistry, microbiology, molecular biology, and neurobiology.

Special Admissions Requirements
Applicants should have a strong undergraduate background in history and in a science relevant to the direction of their graduate interests. These requirements will be applied with flexibility, and outstanding performance in any field pertinent to the program will be taken into consideration.

Special Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree
Students are normally required to pass reading proficiency requirements in French and German. A student intending to concentrate in a field or period that requires another foreign language, ancient or modern, may, with approval, substitute that language for either French or German.

Students will ordinarily take twelve term courses during the first two years. All students will normally take the graduate seminar HSHM 601a/602b (Introduction to the History of Medicine and Science), four additional graduate seminars in history of science or medicine, and one graduate seminar in a field of history outside of science or medicine. The remaining courses can be taken in history of medicine or science, history, science, or any other field of demonstrated special relevance to the student's scholarly objectives.

Students who enter having previously completed graduate work may negotiate some reduction in the total course requirement at Yale, the amount being contingent on the extent and nature of the previous work and its fit with intended future work.

All students are expected to demonstrate, prior to entering on their dissertation work, a general command of two of the three fields of: (1) history of the life sciences; (2) history of medicine; (3) history of the physical sciences. This competence may be acquired through a combination of course work take at Yale or elsewhere and preparation for the oral examination.

Students will normally spend the summer following their second year preparing for the oral qualifying exam to be taken soon after the beginning of the third year. The student will be examined in four fields:

1. One broadly based field, to be chosen from areas such as the following:

History of the life sciences before 1800

History of the life sciences since 1800

History of medicine before 1800

History of medicine since 1800

History of the physical sciences before 1800

History of the physical sciences since 1800

History of a major science, such as chemistry, geology, astronomy, or physiology, without period

History of science or medicine in a major geographic region, such as the history of medicine in America

2 & 3. Two fields with content and boundaries to be established by agreement with the adviser for each field. If the broadly based field (no. 1, above) is in history of science, at least one of these fields must fall within the history of medicine, and vice versa. One of these two fields may be in an area of history outside of medicine or science.

4. One field in an area of history outside of history of science or medicine.

Master's Degrees
M.Phil. and M.A. See Graduate School requirements.

Master's Degree Program
The M.A. program is designed particularly for those who plan to combine teaching or scholarship in these fields with a professional career in medicine or science. Students who enroll in the terminal master's degree program leading to the M.A. are expected to complete six term courses during two terms of study and submit an acceptable master's paper. Course work must include the graduate seminar HSHM 601a/602b and one additional graduate seminar in history of medicine or science. The remaining courses are to be chosen in consultation with the director of graduate studies.

Program materials are available upon request to the Director of Graduate Studies, History of Medicine and Science, Yale University, PO Box 208015, New Haven CT 06520-8015.

Courses
HSHM 601au/602bu, Introduction to the History of Medicine and Science. John Harley Warner, Daniel Kevles, Frederic Holmes, Susan Lederer. Wednesday 2.30-4.20 [F], Wednesday 1.30-3.20 [Sp]
Part one of a two-semester linked sequence. An examination of significant works in the history of science and history of medicine from the seventeenth through the twentieth century. Discussions emphasize themes, methods, and controversies that have shaped these fields during the last three decades. Topics include the history and historiography of medicine, public health, the physical sciences, chemistry, and the life sciences. Also HIST 930a, 931b.

HSHM 620bu, Gender, Science, and Sexuality. William Summers.
Primary and secondary source readings in the history of the scientific study of sexuality with particular attention to how these texts both reflect and construct norms of gender and sexuality.

HSHM 622bu, Introduction to the History of Life Sciences. William Summers, Frederic Holmes.
A study of landmark investigations in the history of the life sciences, from antiquity to the mid-twentieth century.

HSHM 625au, Women and Medicine. Naomi Rogers. Tuesday 9.30-11.20

HSHM 628au, Issues and Literature in the History of Science and Medicine. Frederic Holmes.
A seminar intended to acquaint students majoring in history of science and medicine with representative recent literature in the field, historiographic issues, and methods used in historical writing. The subject this year is the writings of and historical interpretations of the work of William Harvey, Antoine Lavoisier, and Charles Darwin.

HSHM 631au, Culture of Western Medicine. John Harley Warner. Mon/Wed 10.30-11.20

HSHM 637bu, Race and Medicine in America 1800-2000. Susan Lederer. Tuesday 1.30-3.20
An examination of the history of race and medicine in the United States, primarily but not exclusively focused on African Americans' encounters with the health care system. Topics include slavery and health; doctors, immigrants, and epidemics; the Tuskegee syphilis study and the use of minorities as research subjects; and race and genetic disease.

HSHM 642au, Plagues Old and New. William Summers. Monday 1.30-3.20

HSHM 643au, Nuclear America. Daniel Kevles.
A history of the nuclear enterprise from its pre-World War II origins to recent times, covering its military and civilian uses and its impact on scientific research and on the environment, regional economies, and American politics and culture.

[HSHM 645bu, Medical Ethics in America since 1847.]

HSHM 677bu, Biology and Society in the Twentieth Century. Daniel Kevles.
An exploration of issues in the understanding, engineering, and control of life, focusing on the history of genetics, molecular biology, and biotechnology and their interaction with politics, economics, law, and culture, mainly in the United States.

HSHM 711a, Experimentation in the History of Life Sciences. Frederic Holmes. Monday 1.30-3.20

HSHM 714b, Seminar in Science and Technology in the Twentieth Century. Daniel Kevles, John Heilbron.
An examination of the development of the scientific and technological enterprise in Europe and the United States, including its major intellectual achievements, academic and industrial institutions, relationship to war and the state, and standing in general culture. Among topics that might be considered are atomic, nuclear, and particle physics, genetics and molecular biology, microelectronics and computers. Also HIST 933b.

[HSHM 912a, Reading Seminar in the History of Disease and Public Health in America.]

HSHM 913b, Reading Seminar in the History of Life Sciences. Frederic Holmes.
Close reading and discussion of recent historical writings and primary sources in selected topics within the history of the life sciences. This term's topic is the history of experimentation in the life sciences.

HSHM 914a or b, Research Tutorial I.
By arrangement with faculty.

HSHM 915a or b, Research Tutorial II.
By arrangement with faculty.

HSHM 919b, Research Seminar in the History of Medicine and Science. John Harley Warner.
An exploration of research methods and the craft of writing in the history of science and medicine. Participants are expected to produce full-length research papers, and these individual research programs are the central focus of the group's discussions.

HSHM 920a or b, Independent Reading.
By arrangement with faculty.

HSHM 930a or b, Independent Research.
By arrangement with faculty.

Next: Immunobiology