Graduate Program in History of Science
Director of Graduate Studies: Professor Angela N.H. Creager
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The goal of the graduate Program in History of Science at Princeton is
to enhance our students' enthusiasm for the subject while also training
them for the joint professional responsibilities of teaching and research.
Under the aegis of the Department of History, the Program in History of
Science treats science as an intellectual, cultural, and social phenomenon.
Recognizing that the study of the history and social aspects of science
requires special training and techniques not normally included in the education
of professional historians or other scholars, the program provides qualified
students with that special training while at the same time preparing them
to teach and work in general history.
Our approach to graduate training is also distinctive in the extent
to which it requires formal qualifications in other areas of history. Graduate
students in this Program are simultaneously members of the History Department;
in fact, they earn their Ph.D. degrees in History, not just History of
Science. Faculty members in the program are also members of the History
Department.
The maximum period of enrollment in the Program (as in the History Department
at large) is five years, including time spent on research in absentia.
Program students can normally expect financial support throughout those
five years at a level at least equal to that offered them upon admission
to the Graduate School, presuming of course that they make satisfactory
progress toward the Ph.D. degree.
GENERAL INFORMATION
For information on the Program in History of Science write: Program in
History of Science, 129 Dickinson Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 or
call: (609-258-6705)
ADMISSION FOR SEPTEMBER, 2002
Application deadline for Fall 2002 is Wednesday, January 2, 2002. To receive
the Application and Guide to Graduate Admission at Princeton University,
please write to: Graduate Admissions Office, Princeton University, Nassau
Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, or call (609) 258-3034 to request an
application.
You may apply on-line via the World Wide Web at http://www.princeton.edu/~gradcol/.
The on-line application provides a quick and convenient way to apply directly
to the Graduate School. The application fee is $50 US dollars for applications
submitted by December 1, and $75 US dollars for applications submitted
after December 1. The deadline for submitting all applications for the
2002-2003 academic year is Wednesday, January 2, 2002.
GRADUATE STUDY REQUIREMENTS
During the first two years, students pursue a pattern of course work aimed
at preparing them for the general examination and training them in the
research techniques of professional scholarship. Students normally participate
in two to three graduate courses per term. Students lacking prior background
are encouraged to take undergraduate courses to supplement their graduate
training. Although the precise pattern of courses depends on the individual,
students plan their programs within the broad outlines set by the general
examination.
The general examination consists of three sets of written and oral examinations
in (1) a major field in the history of science; (2) a minor field in another
area of history; and (3) one of the following options: (a) "general" history
of science--traditionally known as "Plato-to-NATO," (b) a second special
field in t he history of science, (c) a second field in regular history,
or (d) a field in some related subject, e.g., philosophy of science or
some branch of science or mathematics. Precise definitions of fields, and
special concentrations within them, are worked out in consultation with
the director of graduate studies for the Program in History of Science
and an appropriate faculty member in another area of history or another
department.
Usually in conjunction with their seminar work, students are expected
to write at least two research papers to prepare for the work of a dissertation.
The dissertation ordinarily falls within a special field in the History
of Science that constitutes part of the student's general examination.
LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS
Program students should demonstrate a reading knowledge of two foreign
languages as soon as possible after enrollment. French and German are normally
recommended, but other languages relevant to the student's prospective
research may be substituted with the approval of the Director of Graduate
Studies. Examinations in different languages are administered by the History
Department at regular intervals during the year, and special introductory
courses for reading knowledge in these languages are offered during the
summer for French and German. (Tuition charges for these courses is usually
covered by the History Department.) By University statute, the language
requirement must be met before the student completes his or her General
Examination or is admitted to a third year of graduate study. We may deny
readmission for a second year of study to any Program student who has not
yet passed an examination in at least one of the two required languages.
PROGRAM SEMINAR
As part of their training in scholarship, all students are expected to
participate in the Program Seminar when in residence. The Seminar will
normally meet once a week throughout the academic year, primarily to discuss
reports on research in progress. These reports may include, for example,
draft articles or book chapters by faculty, draft dissertation chapters
by students in their fourth and fifth year, dissertation prospectuses by
those in their third year, and research papers by those in the first and
second years. Other sessions may be devoted to the discussion of recent
publications of historiographical importance, while still others may address
general matters of interest to the discipline of the history of science
at large or the Program at Princeton.
HISTORY OF SCIENCE COLLOQUIUM
All students in residence are expected to participate in the History of
Science Colloquium.
The Colloquium normally meets once or twice a month during each semester
to discuss papers by visiting scholars, and is designed mainly to afford
students the opportunity to learn about work being done at the research
front in the history of science at other institutions.
Each year the Program faculty intend to mount a series of three or four
workshops on a particular theme which will culminate in a published volume.
Two or three invited speakers will come for each one-day workshop, normally
meeting on Saturday. Graduate students should be active participants as
readers and discussants of precirculated papers, as commentators and sometimes
as presenters of papers. Other regular participants will come from regional
institutions
on the Boston to Washington axis. Thus the workshops will provide an unusual
opportunity for entering into the professional community of History of
Science and for establishing personal contacts with other scholars.
INQUIRIES
For more information about the Program and the Graduate School, let us
know who you are and
where we can reach you.