I presented my paper at the conference 'Science and Society in the Age of Revolutions'. My panel was “Marvels of Science and Sight.”

The conference was held Thursday, September 25th to Friday, September 26th, at the American Philosophical Society and the Science History Institute in Philadelphia.

Conference Abstract

Science took place both thanks to and in spite of the age of revolutions. In Philadelphia, the era saw the creation of the American colonies’ first hospital and school of medicine. Collaboration between astronomers, instrument-makers, and surveyors benefited from increased association-building activity that marked the period. Engineers and electrical experimenters endeavored to solve problems like access to clean drinking water and energy storage. Yet, the optimism and problem-solving impulses of this age of scientific revolutions also exploited inequalities and refracted power dynamics, making science a useful lens for exploring the impact of the age of revolutions on science and society.

As the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence drives increased interest in the founding of the United States, this conference, co-hosted by the American Philosophical Society’s Library & Museum, the Science History Institute, and the College of Physicians aims to widen the scope of such conversations. Inspired in part by the APS’s 2025 exhibition, Philadelphia: The Revolutionary City and “America’s Scientific Revolutionaries,” a multiyear project funded by the Lounsbery Foundation this conference will feature research that illuminates the intersections of science and society in the Atlantic World between 1764 and 1804.