Columbia and Barnard have particular faculty strengths in late medieval, early modern and twentieth-century US history of science, public health, and medicine, and growing strength in the global history of science. We aim to train students able to integrate the history of science, medicine, and of knowledge-formation into larger regional histories. Comparison among areas of the world and consideration of the international dynamics of knowledge-production will be strongly encouraged. The depth of the faculty at Columbia and Barnard in international and world history facilitates such comparative and international perspectives.
In addition to training historians of science, we offer scholars of all regions and periods powerful tools for historically understanding the roles of science as a significant force within modern societies with ramifications of all kinds—social, intellectual, cultural. Far from isolating the history of science from history, we work to include science in a more substantial way in survey teaching and graduate training in the humanities, more generally.
Core Faculty, Department of History
| Richard Bulliet, History, Technology and Culture in the Middle East |
| James Colgrove, History and Ethics of Public Health, Modern Global Public Health |
| Matt Connelly, History, Biopolitics, Population in the 20th Century |
| Marwa Elshakry, History, Darwinism and Biology in Egypt and the Middle East |
| Amy Fairchild, History and Ethics of Public Health, History of Public Health |
| Frank Guridy, History, Sport, Urban, and African Diaspora History |
| Karl Jacoby, History, Environmental History |
| Richard John, School of Journalism, Networks of Communication, Research Institutions, Science |
| Matthew Jones, History, History of Mathematics, Scientific Revolution |
| Joel Kaye, History, Science and Medicine in the Middle Ages |
| William Leach, History, 19th Century Natural History |
| Eugenia Lean, History, East Asian Languages and Cultures, History of Medicine, Modern China |
| Malgorzata Mazurek, History, 19th and 20th Century Social Sciences in Eastern Europe |
| Gerald Oppenheimer, History and Ethics of Public Health |
| Alexandre Roberts, History, Cultural and Intellectual History of Byzantium and the Middle East |
| Samuel Roberts, History, Public Health in 19th- and 20th Century Americas |
| David Rosner, History and Ethics of Public Health, Health and Safety; Industry and Public Health |
| David Rothman, History, History of Medicine |
| Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, History and Ethics of Public Health; Science and Public Health in South Asia |
| Pamela Smith, History, Scientific Revolution, Craft and Science |
| Nancy Stepan, History, emerita |
| Rhiannon Stephens, History, Pre-colonial Africa, Medicine and Health |
| Adam Tooze, History, Modern German and Economic History |
| Carl Wennerlind, History, History of the Social Sciences and Economic Thought |
Core Faculty across Columbia University
| David Albert, Philosophy, Philosophy of Physics |
| Stefan Andriopoulos, Germanic Languages |
| Brian Boyd, Anthropology, Anthropology of Technology |
| Michael Cole, Art History |
| Zoe Crossland, Anthropology, Archeological Anthropology |
| Nadia Abu El-Haj, Anthropology |
| Stuart Firestein, Biological Sciences |
| David Freedberg, Art History, Director of Italian Academy |
| Alan Gabbey, emeritus, Philosophy, Philosophy of science |
| Stathis Gourgouris, Classics and Institute for Comparative Literature and Society |
| Marguerite Holloway, School of Journalism, Science Writer |
| Richard John, School of Journalism, Networks of Communication, public sphere, science |
| Rebecca Jordan-Young, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies |
| Laura Kay, Physics and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies |
| Philip Kitcher, Philosophy, Evolutionary Biology |
| Robert Klitzman, Psychiatry, Bioethics |
| Christia Mercer, Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy, Leibniz |
| Timothy Mitchell, Anthropology, Technology and Development in Egypt and the Middle East |
| John Morrison, Philosophy |
| Alondra Nelson, Sociology, Sociology of Science, Biology |
| Benjamin Orlove, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Anthropology, Climate Change |
| Robert Pollack, Biological Sciences, Science, Religion, Subjectivity |
| George Saliba, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, History of Islamic Science |
| Lesley A. Sharp, Anthropology and Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health |
| Joanna Stalnaker, French, Science and Knowledge in the Enlightenment |
| Katharina Volk, Classics |
| Jonathan Weiner, School of Journalism, Science Writer |
| Paige West, Anthropology |
