Science, Medicine, & Technology

The history of science, medicine, and technology examines how humanity’s understanding of the natural world—science and medicine—and how its ability to manipulate it—medicine and technology—have changed over time. Scholars in the Corcoran Department of History approach these questions from a variety of vantage points.  Some of us look at the technical development of science, medicine, and technology; some of us focus on the broader social and cultural impacts of science, medicine, and technology; some of us do both.  We are interested in issues as diverse as the formation of communities of experts and the impact of scientific, medical, and technological knowledge on economic practices and political decision-making, and we use a wide range of sources—from laboratory notebooks and other archival materials to technical publications to instruments to the popular press—to inform our historical analyses.