Science, Technology & Medicine
The Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta offers a wide range of expertise in the history of science, technology and medicine. Our faculty members’ interests range from the early modern period to the present day with a particular focus on the history of science, technology and medicine in the United States.
Our fields of graduate study in Science, Technology and Medicine include the following:
Geographic:
- U.S. (Ede, R.Smith, S.Smith)
- Britain (Cormack, R.Smith)
Thematic:
- Chemistry (Ede)
- Geography and Mathematics (Cormack)
- Medicine & Public Health (S.Smith)
- Physical Sciences (R.Smith)
- Science in Society (Ede)
- Technology (R.Smith)
Linkages
The study of the history of science, technology and medicine is supported by strong links to several interdisciplinary programs on campus. For example, students have the opportunity to attend a monthly seminar series on medical history and to present their own research at the annual History of Medicine Day. This event is sponsored by the History of Medicine Program, established in 2004 as a joint program of the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. The Science, Technology and Society Program in the Faculty of Arts also hosts regular seminars and talks.
Research Infrastructure
The University’s libraries house a very rich collection of primary and secondary sources in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. The Scott Health Sciences Library, for example, contains a rich collection of medical history books and health science journals. The Cameron Library houses, among many other collections, the William C. Wonders Map Collection and the William A.S. Sarjeant Collection which is particularly rich in the history of science.
Faculty members’ areas of graduate teaching and supervision:
Lesley Cormack (Ph.D. Toronto)
Early modern science, especially geography and mathematics in Sixteenth Century England
Andrew Ede (Ph.D. Toronto)
History of science and technology, history of chemistry, science in society, science in the U.S.
Robert Smith (Ph.D. Cambridge)
History of Science and Technology in the 19th to the 21st centuries, especially the history of astronomy in Britain and the U.S.
Susan L. Smith (Ph.D. Wisconsin)
20th-century U.S., medicine and public health, war and health