Writing about Lives in Science (eBook)

(Auto)Biography, Gender, and Genre

Paola Govoni, Zelda Alice Franceschi (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: PDF

2014 | 1. Auflage
287 Seiten
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Unipress (Verlag)
978-3-8470-0263-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Following discussions on scientific biography carried out over the past few decades, this book proposes a kaleidoscopic survey of the uses of biography as a tool to understand science and its context. It offers food for thought on the role played by the gender of the biographer and the biographee in the process of writing. To provide orientation in such a challenging field, some of the authors have accepted to write about their own professional experience while reflecting on the case studies they have been working on. Focusing on (auto)biography may help us to build bridges between different approaches to men and women's lives in science. The authors belong to a variety of academic and professional fields, including the history of science, anthropology, literary studies, and science journalism. The period covered spans from 1732, when Laura Bassi was the first woman to get a tenured professorship of physics, to 2009, when Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider were the first women's team to have won a Nobel Prize in science.

Zelda Alice Franceschi is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Bologna. She is the author of books and articles on life stories/autobiographies in the history of anthropology, the Wichí population of Misíon Nueva Pompeya (Argentina), and on gender issues.

Inhalt

Table of Contents 5
Body 7
Paola Govoni: Crafting Scientific (Auto).Biographies 7
I. Positioning Biography and Autobiography within the History of Science 10
II. The Trouble with Biography 14
III. Featuring Diversity 18
IV. Back to (Auto).Biography 20
Part I Between Biography and Autobiography 31
Evelyn Fox Keller: Pot-holes Everywhere: How (not) to Read my Biography of Barbara McClintock 33
I. Act One: Circa 1977 33
II. Act Two: Feminist Responses after the Nobel Prize 37
III. Act Three: The Scientific Community Responds to the Nobel Prize 40
Londa Schiebinger: Following the Story: From The Mind Has No Sex? to Gendered Innovations 43
Georgina Ferry: Telling Stories or Making History? Two Lives in X-ray Crystallography 55
I. Dorothy Hodgkin's Life and Work 56
II. The Biographical Process 58
III. Max Perutz 59
IV. The Reception of Scientific Biography 61
V. Science on Stage 62
VI. Conclusion 63
Part II Shaping Biographies 65
Marta Cavazza: The Biographies of Laura Bassi 67
I. Towards a Laura Bassi Metabiography? 69
II. Rhetorical Strategies 78
III. Appendix: Laura Bassi's Biographies 82
Paula Findlen: Listening to the Archives: Searching for the Eighteenth-Century Women of Science 87
I. Between the Archive and the Encyclopedia 90
II. The Biographer's Subjectivity 102
III. Observing the Biographer at Work 106
Massimo Mazzotti: Rethinking Scientific Biography: The Enlightenment of Maria Gaetana Agnesi 117
I. Scientific Biography as a Genre 118
II. The Enigma of Agnesi 123
III. Mysticism and Logic 130
IV. Conclusion 135
Part III Networking 139
Vita Fortunati: Mirror Shards: Conflicting Images between Marie Curie's Autobiography and her Biographies 141
I. Biographies, Biographers, and Biographees 142
II. The Case of Marie Curie 146
III. Between History and Fiction 154
Zelda Alice Franceschi: Women in the Field: Writing the History. Genealogies and Science in Margaret Mead's Autobiographical Writings 161
I. Margaret Mead: Autobiography and History of the Discipline 167
II. Her Mentor's Biography: An Anthropologist at Work (1959) 179
III. Conclusion 185
Paola Govoni: The Making of Italo Calvino: Women and Men in the `Two Cultures' Home Laboratory 187
I. The `Old Russian Writer': Olga Resnevic Signorelli 192
II. Signorina Beatrice Duval 198
III. Efisio Mameli, His `Uncle the Chemist' 200
IV. Anna Mannessier Mameli, His `Aunt the Chemist' 205
V. Eva Mameli: From Sardinia to Lombardy 207
VI. Mario Calvino, Agronomist and Traveler 211
VII. The Calvino Mamelis: In South America and Back to Fascist Italy 213
VIII. Conclusion 219
Pnina G. Abir-Am: Women Scientists of the 1970s: An Ego-Histoire of a Lost Generation 223
I. Prologue: How did I Come to Focus on this Trio of Women Scientists? 223
II. The First ever Team of Women Nobel Laureates: Elizabeth (Liz) Blackburn and Carol W. Greider 237
III. The Discrete Charm of `Ellen's Story': Why Historicize a `Scientist, Interrupted'? 244
IV. Conclusions 256
V. Appendix: Career Trajectories as Historical Data 258
Afterword 261
Zelda Alice Franceschi: On the Margins of the Margins: Awareness and Delay 263
Biographies and the Writing of Biographies 272
Contributors 277
Acknowledgments 279

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 14.5.2014
• Reihe/Serie: Interfacing Science, Literature, and the Humanities.
• Reihe/Serie: Interfacing Science, Literature, and the Humanities / ACUME 2
• Reihe/Serie: Interfacing Science, Literature, and the Humanities / ACUME 2
• Reihe/Serie: Interfacing Science, Literature, and the Humanities / ACUME 2.
• Co-Autor: Pnina G. Abir-Am, Marta Cavazza, Georgina Ferry, Paula Findlen, Vita Fortunati, Evelyn Fox Keller, Paola Govoni, Zelda Alice Franceschi, Massimo Mazzotti, Londa Schiebinger
• Verlagsort: Göttingen
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
• Schlagworte: Autobiografie • Autobiographie • Biografie • Gender Studies • Geschlechterrolle • Naturwissenschaftler
• ISBN-10: 3-8470-0263-5 / 3847002635
• ISBN-13: 978-3-8470-0263-5 / 9783847002635