Graduate Program in History of Science
Director of Graduate Studies: Professor Gerald L. Geison
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, 1998
Application deadline for Fall 1998 is Monday, January 5, 1998. 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.
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.