Science in the Archives
Pasts, Presents, Futures
9780226432366
9780226432533
Science in the Archives
Pasts, Presents, Futures
Archives bring to mind rooms filled with old papers and dusty artifacts. But for scientists, the detritus of the past can be a treasure trove of material vital to present and future research: fossils collected by geologists; data banks assembled by geneticists; weather diaries trawled by climate scientists; libraries visited by historians. These are the vital collections, assembled and maintained over decades, centuries, and even millennia, which define the sciences of the archives.
With Science in the Archives, Lorraine Daston and her co-authors offer the first study of the important role that these archives play in the natural and human sciences. Reaching across disciplines and centuries, contributors cover episodes in the history of astronomy, geology, genetics, philology, climatology, medicine, and more—as well as fundamental practices such as collecting, retrieval, and data mining. Chapters cover topics ranging from doxology in Greco-Roman Antiquity to NSA surveillance techniques of the twenty-first century. Thoroughly exploring the practices, politics, economics, and potential of the sciences of the archives, this volume reveals the essential historical dimension of the sciences, while also adding a much-needed long-term perspective to contemporary debates over the uses of Big Data in science.
With Science in the Archives, Lorraine Daston and her co-authors offer the first study of the important role that these archives play in the natural and human sciences. Reaching across disciplines and centuries, contributors cover episodes in the history of astronomy, geology, genetics, philology, climatology, medicine, and more—as well as fundamental practices such as collecting, retrieval, and data mining. Chapters cover topics ranging from doxology in Greco-Roman Antiquity to NSA surveillance techniques of the twenty-first century. Thoroughly exploring the practices, politics, economics, and potential of the sciences of the archives, this volume reveals the essential historical dimension of the sciences, while also adding a much-needed long-term perspective to contemporary debates over the uses of Big Data in science.
392 pages | 25 halftones, 11 line drawings, 1 table | 6 x 9 | © 2017
Biological Sciences: Natural History
Earth Sciences: History of Earth Sciences
History: History of Technology
Physical Sciences: History and Philosophy of Physical Sciences
Reviews
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction: Third Nature
Lorraine Daston
I. Nature's Own Canon: Archives of the Historical Sciences
1. Astronomy after the Deluge
Florence Hsia
2. The Earth as Archive: Contingency, Narrative, and the History of Life
David Sepkoski
3. Empiricism in the Library: Medicine’s Case Histories
Andrew Mendelsohn
II. Spanning the Centuries: Archives from Ancient to Modern
4. Archiving Scientific Ideas in Greco-Roman Antiquity
Liba Taub
5. Ancient History in the Age of Archival Research
Suzanne Marchand
6. The Immortal Archive: Nineteenth-Century Science Imagines the Future
Lorraine Daston
III. Problems and Politics: Controversies in the Global Archive
7. The “Data Deluge”: Turning Private Data into Public Archives
Bruno J. Strasser
8. Evolutionary Genetics and the Politics of the Human Archive
Cathy Gere
9. Montage and Metamorphosis: Climatological Data Archiving and the U.S. National Climate Program
Vladimir Janković
IV. The Future of Data: Archives of the New Millennium
10. Archives-of-Self: The Vicissitudes of Time and Self in a Technologically Determinist Future
Rebecca Lemov
11. An Archive of Words
Daniel Rosenberg
12. Querying the Archive: Data Mining from Apriori to PageRank
Matthew L. Jones
Epilogue: The Time of the Archive
Lorraine Daston
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
Introduction: Third Nature
Lorraine Daston
I. Nature's Own Canon: Archives of the Historical Sciences
1. Astronomy after the Deluge
Florence Hsia
2. The Earth as Archive: Contingency, Narrative, and the History of Life
David Sepkoski
3. Empiricism in the Library: Medicine’s Case Histories
Andrew Mendelsohn
II. Spanning the Centuries: Archives from Ancient to Modern
4. Archiving Scientific Ideas in Greco-Roman Antiquity
Liba Taub
5. Ancient History in the Age of Archival Research
Suzanne Marchand
6. The Immortal Archive: Nineteenth-Century Science Imagines the Future
Lorraine Daston
III. Problems and Politics: Controversies in the Global Archive
7. The “Data Deluge”: Turning Private Data into Public Archives
Bruno J. Strasser
8. Evolutionary Genetics and the Politics of the Human Archive
Cathy Gere
9. Montage and Metamorphosis: Climatological Data Archiving and the U.S. National Climate Program
Vladimir Janković
IV. The Future of Data: Archives of the New Millennium
10. Archives-of-Self: The Vicissitudes of Time and Self in a Technologically Determinist Future
Rebecca Lemov
11. An Archive of Words
Daniel Rosenberg
12. Querying the Archive: Data Mining from Apriori to PageRank
Matthew L. Jones
Epilogue: The Time of the Archive
Lorraine Daston
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
Be the first to know
Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!