October 2017
David N. Schwartz – How Fermi Became Fermi
Drawing on research undertaken in preparation for his forthcoming biography of Fermi, “The Last Man Who Knew Everything: The Life and Times of Enrico Fermi, Father of the Nuclear Age” (Basic Books, December 5, 2017) David N. Schwartz will discuss the development of Fermi as a physicist.
Find out more »Jason Fagone – Poet, Codebreaker, Nazi Hunter: The Puzzle-Solving Adventures of Elizebeth Smith Friedman
Journalist Jason Fagone visits to share stories from his just-published book about Elizebeth Smith Friedman, THE WOMAN WHO SMASHED CODES, and to discuss the life of this remarkable, pioneering woman at the root of American intelligence.
Find out more »Whitney Laemmli – Measured Movements: Weimar Germany, Labanotation, and the Choreography of Corporate Life
In 1928, the German choreographer Rudolf Laban announced what he believed to be an explosive development in the history of dance: the creation of an inscription system that could “objectively” record human movement on paper. The technique, known as “Labanotation,” relied upon byzantine combinations of lines, tick marks, and boxes. In this talk, Dr. Laemmli will explore two seemingly distant, but in fact closely-linked, moments from Labanotation’s history: its origins in the anxiety-ridden, vibratory atmosphere of Weimar Germany and its use in the American and British corporate office in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
Find out more »Columbia Design Challenge: Addressing the Opioid Epidemic
Columbia Engineering is pleased to announce the Columbia Design Challenge: Addressing the Opioid Epidemic. Student teams could address production, prescription/ dispensing, policy and lobbying, and many other fundamental challenges, all of which would benefit from cross-disciplinary solutions.
Find out more »The Power of Telling Your Own Story: Workshop
This fall, educators are invited join the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Public Library, and Brooklyn Brainery in an interdisciplinary journey of storytelling and science.
Find out more »South-South II: Materiality and Embodiment in Greater Asia and Africa Conference
The conference will be a forum for facilitating interdisciplinary and transregional engagement with global histories of science and the history of and from the Global South.
Find out more »Textiles, Dyes and Knowledge Oeconomies in the French Enlightenment
This symposium brings together scholars working on the interlocking histories of science, artisanal production, and commerce in Enlightenment France. Following the circulation of knowledge and materials among various sites, scientific academies, royal administrative bodies, merchant companies, and workshops, the papers will examine the complex relationship between handicrafts, trade, and science in the eighteenth-century.
Find out more »Linda B. Parshall – Adventures in the Landscape Parks and Drawing Rooms of Regency Britain: Prince Pückler’s Letters of a Dead Man
Linda B. Parshall, Ph.D., independent scholar will conduct a seminar exploring the prince of Pückler-Muskau and his lively letters written on a during a tour of England, Wales, and Ireland in 1826.
Find out more »Benjamin Breen – Explorations in the Medical Humanities: Three Ways of Looking at an Opium Ball
This lecture series will explore the enigma of how what we write relates back to the experience of bodies, healthy and unwell. Our speakers will explore how the medical humanities build on and revise earlier notions of the “medical arts.”
Find out more »The Age of the Individual: 500 Years Ago Today Conference
The Age of the Individual: 500 Years Ago Today is The Center on Capitalism and Society's 15th annual conference. Join leading scholars in economics, philosophy and sociology as they explore themes of individualism, emancipation and self-actualization that trace their roots to the day Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg on October 31st, 1517.
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