thema
wetenschapper
kunstenaar
Geert Somsen
Geert Somsen is a university lecturer in the history of science at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (University of Maastricht).
Research interests
- Social and ideological uses of science in Britain and the Netherlands, 1850-1950.
- Universalism in art and science.
1998-present
Assistant Professor in history of science, University of Maastricht
1997-1998
Othmer Postdoctoral Fellow, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia
1992-1998
PhD candidate in history of science, Utrecht University; advisor: H.A.M. Snelders
Summer 1996
Visiting student, Wellcome Unit, University of Cambridge
1995
Visiting student, Science Studies Program, University of California, San Diego; supervisor Steven Shapin (on Dutch National Science Foundation grant)
March 1992
Undergraduate degree with honours in chemistry, Free University, Amsterdam
Publications (selection)
'Mondrian in the Making: a Science Studies Look at Universalist Art', (in preparation for Leonardo).
'Modern versus Traditional in Colloid and Macromolecular Chemistry', special issue on Modernism in the Sciences, series Sonderforschungsbereich Wissenskulturen und gesellschaftlicher Wandel, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin (forthcoming).
'Breaking Through: J.M. Burgers and the Social Relations of Science Movement in the Netherlands', Minerva special issue on Politically Engaged Scientists (forthcoming).
'What’s European About Science? Scientific Internationalism and the Place of Europe', Minerva (forthcoming).
with H. Kamminga (eds.), Pursuing the Unity of Science: Ideology and Scientific Practice Between the Great War and the Cold War (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing; forthcoming).
'Changing Universalism: Olympic and Socialist Conceptions of Internationalism in Interwar Science' in ibid.
with R. de Wilde, 'Government as Scientific Process in H.G. Wells’ World State' in ibid.
(ed.), De Doorbraak van de Experts: Wetenschap en Maatschappelijke Vernieuwing rond 1945 (Rotterdam: Erasmus Publishing, 2002).
'Waardevolle Wetenschap. Bespiegelingen over Natuurwetenschap, Moraal en Samenleving in de Aanloop naar Doorbraak-Beweging' in: ibid., 19-36.
with P.J. Ramberg, 'The Young J. H. van ’t Hoff: The Background to the Publication of his 1874 Pamphlet on the Tetrahedral Carbon Atom, Together with a New English Translation', Annals of Science 58 (2001) 51-74.
'Colloid Chemistry', in Arne Hessenbruch (ed.), Reader’s Guide to the History of Science (London en Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000).
'Selling Science: Dutch Debates on the Industrial Significance of University Chemistry, 1900-1932' in: A.S. Travis et al. (eds.), Determinants in the Evolution of the European Chemical Industry, 1900-1939: New Technologies, Political Frameworks, Markets, Companies (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 1998) 143-168.
‘Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek en Algemeen Belang’. De Chemie van H.R. Kruyt, 1882-1959 (Delft: Delft University Press, 1998).
'P.J. Flory', Encyclopaedia Brittannica on-line (forthcoming).
Meetings organised (selection)
'Mediating Missions: the Self-fashioning of Small and Netral Nations in the International World of Science, Peace, and Literature', international workshop at the Nobel Museum, Stockholm, Sweden (planned for Spring 2007).
'Socialism and Internationalism in Science', session at ESHS conference, Cracow, Poland 2006.
'Science in Europe – Europe in Science', Maastricht 2004 (member program committee).
Speaking engagements (selection)
'Modern versus Traditional in Colloid and Macromolecular Chemistry', International Conference “Modernism in the Sciences, ca. 1900-1940”, Frankfurt, 2006.
'De Kracht van het Midden: H.G. Wells tussen Wetenschap en Literatuur', Symposium 'Wetenschap Verwoord', Den Haag, 2005.
'Breaking Through: J.M. Burgers and the Social Relations of Science Movement in the Netherlands', International Conference on History of Science, Beijing, 2005.
Geert J. Somsen
Department of History
Faculty of Arts and Culture
University of Maastricht
The Netherlands
Research interests
- Social and ideological uses of science in Britain and the Netherlands, 1850-1950.
- Universalism in art and science.
1998-present
Assistant Professor in history of science, University of Maastricht
1997-1998
Othmer Postdoctoral Fellow, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia
1992-1998
PhD candidate in history of science, Utrecht University; advisor: H.A.M. Snelders
Summer 1996
Visiting student, Wellcome Unit, University of Cambridge
1995
Visiting student, Science Studies Program, University of California, San Diego; supervisor Steven Shapin (on Dutch National Science Foundation grant)
March 1992
Undergraduate degree with honours in chemistry, Free University, Amsterdam
Publications (selection)
'Mondrian in the Making: a Science Studies Look at Universalist Art', (in preparation for Leonardo).
'Modern versus Traditional in Colloid and Macromolecular Chemistry', special issue on Modernism in the Sciences, series Sonderforschungsbereich Wissenskulturen und gesellschaftlicher Wandel, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin (forthcoming).
'Breaking Through: J.M. Burgers and the Social Relations of Science Movement in the Netherlands', Minerva special issue on Politically Engaged Scientists (forthcoming).
'What’s European About Science? Scientific Internationalism and the Place of Europe', Minerva (forthcoming).
with H. Kamminga (eds.), Pursuing the Unity of Science: Ideology and Scientific Practice Between the Great War and the Cold War (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing; forthcoming).
'Changing Universalism: Olympic and Socialist Conceptions of Internationalism in Interwar Science' in ibid.
with R. de Wilde, 'Government as Scientific Process in H.G. Wells’ World State' in ibid.
(ed.), De Doorbraak van de Experts: Wetenschap en Maatschappelijke Vernieuwing rond 1945 (Rotterdam: Erasmus Publishing, 2002).
'Waardevolle Wetenschap. Bespiegelingen over Natuurwetenschap, Moraal en Samenleving in de Aanloop naar Doorbraak-Beweging' in: ibid., 19-36.
with P.J. Ramberg, 'The Young J. H. van ’t Hoff: The Background to the Publication of his 1874 Pamphlet on the Tetrahedral Carbon Atom, Together with a New English Translation', Annals of Science 58 (2001) 51-74.
'Colloid Chemistry', in Arne Hessenbruch (ed.), Reader’s Guide to the History of Science (London en Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000).
'Selling Science: Dutch Debates on the Industrial Significance of University Chemistry, 1900-1932' in: A.S. Travis et al. (eds.), Determinants in the Evolution of the European Chemical Industry, 1900-1939: New Technologies, Political Frameworks, Markets, Companies (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 1998) 143-168.
‘Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek en Algemeen Belang’. De Chemie van H.R. Kruyt, 1882-1959 (Delft: Delft University Press, 1998).
'P.J. Flory', Encyclopaedia Brittannica on-line (forthcoming).
Meetings organised (selection)
'Mediating Missions: the Self-fashioning of Small and Netral Nations in the International World of Science, Peace, and Literature', international workshop at the Nobel Museum, Stockholm, Sweden (planned for Spring 2007).
'Socialism and Internationalism in Science', session at ESHS conference, Cracow, Poland 2006.
'Science in Europe – Europe in Science', Maastricht 2004 (member program committee).
Speaking engagements (selection)
'Modern versus Traditional in Colloid and Macromolecular Chemistry', International Conference “Modernism in the Sciences, ca. 1900-1940”, Frankfurt, 2006.
'De Kracht van het Midden: H.G. Wells tussen Wetenschap en Literatuur', Symposium 'Wetenschap Verwoord', Den Haag, 2005.
'Breaking Through: J.M. Burgers and the Social Relations of Science Movement in the Netherlands', International Conference on History of Science, Beijing, 2005.
Geert J. Somsen
Department of History
Faculty of Arts and Culture
University of Maastricht
The Netherlands
