Keynote Lecture

1. Otto Sibum (Hans Rausing Professor of History of Science & Director, Office for History of Science, Uppsala University). In James Joule’s laboratory: Gestural Knowledge and Scientific Change in Early Victorian Britain (coord. per Xavier Roqué, CEHIC-UAB). In collaboration with CEHIC-UAB. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 31/10/2012, 19:00.

This talk is concerned with the relationship between knowledge and science and the role of the human body in scientific knowledge production. It focuses on an early nineteenth-century landmark of scientific change, the birth of thermodynamics, i.e. James Joule’s performance of experimental research on the nature of heat. A historical reconstruction based on a new understanding of the relation between knowledge and action demonstrates that Joule’s great discovery has to be reinterpreted to shed new light onto our current understanding of the relation between knowledge and science in early Victorian Culture.

SEMINAR SERIES

1. TOXIC ATMOSPHERES. “The toxic atmospheres of industrial society”.
Coordinated by Ximo Guillem-Llobat and José Ramón Bertomeu (IHMC ‘López Piñero’), in collaboration with Clara Florensa and Agustín López (CEHIC-UAB). 04/12/2012-16/04/2013.

Talks are held in Barcelona (Institut d’Estudis Catalans) or Valencia (IHMC ‘Lopez Piñero’), but will be broadcasted simultaneously in both places.

Environmental history is undoubtedly one of the most dynamic emerging academic areas within the historical studies of science, technology and medicine. So far, not many specific initiatives have been launched in the Catalan countries but other academic communities such as the German and mainly the North American have not hesitated to invest significant efforts to promote journals, annual conferences and research centres specializing in environmental history. The seminar series on Toxic Atmospheres appears as a new opportunity to engage our local community in this area of significant value for the future of the discipline.

In this seminar series we will approach environmental history from a perspective which has a greater tradition in our context; that linked to the history of public health. Specifically, by focusing on environmental and occupational health studies we shall connect health and environment, tradition and innovation. We thus expect to stimulate intense debates and maybe even redirect future careers, but also to connect with the general public, which has stated on many occasions its interest in the environmental challenges of our society.

The series will offer a broad perspective by including researchers from Germany, France, England and Spain. Moreover, the lectures will perfectly complement each other by considering the environmental impacts of industrial society in rural and urban areas and its impact on the health of workers as well as on that of local inhabitants. The controversies will be tackled through different case studies such as: urban fumes, pesticides and countryside silicosis in mines and industry. These cases will be analysed by considering the reactions of various stakeholders including scientists, unions and local authorities.

1.1 Round table to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson. With Joandomènec Ros (UB – ecologist and author of the most recent Spanish translation of Carson’s book), Miquel Porta (Hospital del Mar – Medical Research Institute researcher and expert on persistent toxic compounds), Antonio Buj Buj (UB – historian on agriculture pests in Spain and Africa), Joaquim Elcacho (science and environmental journalist), Gustavo Duch (environmental activist, author of several books and coordinator of the journal Soberania Alimentaria). Coordidated by C. Florensa & A. Lopez (CEHIC-UAB). Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 04/12/2012, 19:00.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the publication of “Silent Spring”, which denounced the dangers of some pesticides like DDT for the health of men and other living beings. The popularity of “Silent Spring” contributed to launch a process that led to the prohibition of certain uses of DDT in the U.S. in 1972 and later in most parts of the world. This toxic compound was the first insecticide produced on a large scale and a significant source of revenue for the major agrochemical companies emerged in the first half of the twentieth century. The social, economic and political impact of this book was enormous. However, it also received huge criticism. Some alerted of the damage that banning of DDT could provoke in fighting malaria in some African countries. The best seller, the environmentalist icon, the lonely scientist and the fighter against the Goliath of big firms are different aspects of the same phenomenon that must be analyzed in all its complexity. It is worth to develop a debate on Silent Spring, tackling this phenomenon from different perspectives and interests to approach the book in a comprehensive manner. This is the objective of this round table, which includes a range of experts who will discuss the significance of Carson’s work from different angles, including history, communication, ecology, economics and social studies of science and technology, among others.

This initiative includes a blog (Primavera Silenciosa 2012), containing materials helping to prepare the debate, and a twitter account (@SilentSpring12) with the latest news on the round table.

1.2. Frank Uekoetter (Rachel Carson Center. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Fellow). “Urbanity Spoiled. Pollution in the City in and beyond the Age of Smoke”. 07/02/2013, IHMC, Valencia, 17:00.

1.3. Nathalie Jas (Unité RiTME, INRA). “Agricultural Pesticides & Public Health in the Twentieth Century”. 28/02/2013, IHMC, Valencia, 17:00.

1.4. Joseph Melling (Centre for Medical History, University of Exeter). “Dangerous Trade. Histories of Industrial Hazard across a Globalizing World”. 07/03/2013, IHMC, Valencia, 17:00.

1.5. Thomas Le Roux (Maison Française d’Oxford-CNRS). “Industrial pollution and risk: the great French shift, 1750-1850”. 21/03/2013, IHMC, Valencia, 17:00.

1.6. Alfredo Menéndez Navarro (Universidad de Granada). “Amianto: de problema laboral a riesgo ambiental, 1960-1980”. 16/04/2013, IHMC, Valencia, 17:00.

2. STONES AND BONES. “The Social Life of Stones and Bones: New Perspectives in the History of Archaeology, Paleontology and Paleoanthropology”. Coord. Clara Florensa (CEHIC, UAB), Miquel Carandell (CEHIC, UAB) and Oliver Hochadel (Institució Milà i Fontanals). In collaboration with Institució Milà i Fontanals. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 30/10/2012-14/03/2013.

It is no coincidence that Indiana Jones, the protagonist of one the most successful blockbuster movies is an archaeologist. The search for our origins and the studies of ancient civilizations has always raised great interest in the general public. Who are we? Where do we come from? These are questions that go to the core of our personal, social, cultural, religious and national identity. For this very reason there seems to be a closer relationship between these “origin sciences” and the public sphere than with other areas of knowledge. The aim of this series of lectures is to analyze archaeology, paleontology and paleoanthropology with the help of three different approaches: looking at the popular culture that emerged around these disciplines, their relationship with the mass media and finally, their role in the construction of nation states.

Admiration, curiosity, mystery and fear mix up in the construction of a popular imagination that has given rise to varied cultural creations: the novels of Jules Verne, the documentaries about the origin of man and the great pharaohs, the recurring dino-mania or the archaeologist with the whip, to give but a few examples. Television, cinema, literature … there are many cultural industries that took their cues from these disciplines. To analyze them may help us to understand the historical development of these disciplines. One may ask what popular concept emerges from it, how research results are presented to the general public or what how controversial findings are dealt with. This approach may yield new perspectives for a more comprehensive history of these sciences.

What is more, this popular dimension of these paleo-sciences explains their strong impact in the mass media. Press and television always have picked up on spectacular discoveries and controversies. At times the media themselves have turned into battlefields for scientists arguing with each other. The media became a forum to defend or discredit ideas and on occasion the standard procedure to first discuss a new theory in scientific publications has been circumvented. This may be described as a mutual process: journalists “use” scientists in their search for attractive headlines. And at times scientists “use” the media in order to increase their visibility not least to secure funding for their research. Thus we might be able to investigate the role of the media in the epistemology of these disciplines. In how far do they contribute to the validation of scientific knowledge?

Questions such as Who are we? Where do we come from? connect these disciplines with issues of collective identities. For this very reason, their discoveries have been used and still are used as elements for the creation and affirmation of nations. The quest to find “the oldest ancestor” of a people or a territory often led to dubious conclusions or even fraud. At the same time the remains found were used to represent the beginning of national histories. This series of lectures will try to analyze how this strong relationship with identity politics has influenced the development of these disciplines. How did the scholars act in this highly ideologically and politically charged field of their work?

Archaeology, paleontology and in particular paleoanthropology are relatively “young” sciences. Their history has not been studied much. With this series of lectures we would like to provide an opportunity to discuss and pursue promising historiographical questions. We will analyze images and discourses that – in a sense – the general public is already very much familiar with.

2.1. Cornelius Holtorf (Linnaeus University, Kalmar): “From Las Vegas to the Bosnian Pyramids. Archaeology as popular culture”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 30/10/2012, 19:00.

2.2. Miquel Carandell (CEHIC-UAB): “Una dimensió diferent: la controvèrsia pública de l’Home d’Orce”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 29/11/2012, 19:00.

2.3. Margarita Díaz-Andreu (UB): “Arqueologia y Sociedad – una relación de pareja”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 13/12/2012, 19:00.

2.4. Oliver Hochadel (IMF-CSIC): “Hacer una montaña mágica (presentación del libro sobre el proyecto de Atapuerca)”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 17/01/2012, 19:00.

2.5. Carlos Tabernero (CEHIC-UAB): “Caos, orden y dinosaurios: las ciencias de Jurassic Park”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 14/02/2013, 19:00.

2.6. José Luis Sanz (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid): “La Mitología de los Dinosaurios”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 14/03/2013, 19:00.

3. WOMEN AND THE BODY. “The Woman and her Body: Culture and Sexual Reproduction in Spain, between Francoism and the Transition to Democracy”. Coord. Sara Fajula (Museu d’Història de la Medicina de Catalunya i Col·legi de Metges de Barcelona). 11/12/2012-11/04/2013.

The talks composing these series aim to show the experience of women with regard to contraception, sex life and the ways in which, individually or in an organized manner, they have incorporated, resisted or promoted changes in the experience of the body and the relationships with the health system and its professionals.

During the 1970s and 1980s there was an intense activity in Spain in favor of the legalization of contraceptive methods and the development of infrastructure that would facilitate access to them for women and couples. The movement, which was called generally as Family Planning, had two phases, until 1980, when it reached the legalization of all contraceptive methods, and between 1980 and 1985, when it focused on the expansion the new form of private and public health care in the form of health practice and family planning centers and in the debate and activism for the decriminalization of abortion.

The process as a whole involved a social change of major individual, professional and welfare consequences in the field of health and sexuality in the field of health and sexuality and it involved health professionals, feminist groups, political parties, residents associations and, of course, large sectors of the population, especially women from different social backgrounds and places of residence.

In this framework, Barcelona and its women had an important role in the fight for the decriminalization of contraceptive methods and the creation of Family Planning Centres in the city and its province. A movement in which the feminist movements participated, driven by the 1^st Catalan Days of Women, held in Barcelona in 1976, the representation of women in resident associations, and also the new women and men trained as medical doctors, especially at the Hospital Clínic.

In this first series of talks the speakers will present a panorama of the situation of Family Planning in Spain. In a second series, we will focus in the Catalan case, and in particular in Barcelona.

3.1 Teresa Ortiz Gómez (Universidad de Granada). “Anticoncepción, medicina y feminismo en España. Derechos políticos y prácticas de salud”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 11/12/2012, 19:00.

3.2. Esteban Rodríguez Ocaña (Universidad de Granada). “Hormónas de síntesis y prevención del embarazo. Una discusión científica y dogmática en la España franquista”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 12/12/2012, 19:00.

3.3. Ágata Ignaciuk (Universidad de Granada). “Movimiento feminista y sanitario por la Planificación familiar en Sevilla durante la transición democrática”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 09/04/2012, 19:00.

3.4. Eugenia Gil (Universidad de Sevilla). “Reproducción y anticoncepción en Sevilla desde finales del franquismo a la transición democrática”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 11/04/2012, 19:00.

4. LOST AND FOUND OBJECTS: Explaining and Exposing Science in Museums and Other Public Spaces”. Coord. Alfons Zarzoso (Museu d’Historia de la Medicina de Catalunya and CEHIC-UAB). In collaboration with the Museu d’Historia de la Medicina de Catalunya. 22/01/2013-12/03/2013.

History of science in museums and other public places is an issue of general interest from a research perspective and, increasingly, a way of developing a career. This series is intended to explore the two sides and to debate on the circulation of objects and the public, as well as to provide clues about job opportunities for young people trained in history of science. Aspects seemingly obvious as these are in fact still like a Lost and Found office, both as regards to the use of scientific heritage available to historians and for the narrow range of professional opportunities that relate history, science, and its sites and material culture.

The series consists of four seminars divided into two parts. In the first part we consider controversial spaces in science communication, such as urban shows and itinerant performances . Our aim is to explore some of these sites that reveal highly complex urban environments with objects and public in circulation which blur the lines that supposedly define the worlds of the expert and the layman.

The second part explores the idea of ​​showing job opportunities for young people trained in history of science. The experience of the speakers should allow the opening of other communicative spheres (not just the academic!). We propose to reconcile the research effort required to explain science, with the brevity of the communicative act and the ephemeral nature of the action represented by an exhibition. Thus this series is aimed at briding the gap between several professional communities, and in particular focused on the need of overcoming the limitations of the restrictive academic framework, in order to generate other forms of communication and public debate.

4.1. Nike Fakiner (Instituto de Filosofía-CSIC). “El asco y el ojo inexperto: retórica visual del museo anatómico de Gustav Zeiller”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 22/01/2013, 19:00.

4.2. Alfons Zarzoso (MHMC/CEHIC-UAB). “Una història evanescent vs. el retorn del Museu Roca: Un espectacle d’anatomia humana a la Barcelona del primer terç del s. XX”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 05/02/2013, 19:00.

4.3. Josep Perelló (UB). “Experiències arran de la trobada entre ciència i art a Barcelona”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 26/02/2013, 19:00.

4.4. Dani Freixes (Varis Arquitectes). “Explicar objectes, exposar conceptes, evocar històries: apunts sobre muntatges efímers en espais públics”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 12/03/2013, 19:00.

5. TURING 100 YEARS. “Around the Centenary of the Birth of the Computational Scientist Alan M. Turing (1912-1954)”. Coord. Jordi Fornés (UPC), Xavier Roque (CEHIC-UAB) and Nestor Herran (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris). 13/09/2012-25/10/2012.

This year marks the centenary of the birth of Alan Turing. With this seminar series we intend to contribute to the commemorative celebrations that are held around the world, with a historical outlook providing a critical perspective on the context in which took place Alan M. Turing’s scientific contributions.

In 1936, in a seminal article, Turing clarified the scope of Gödel’s incompleteness theorem. Concomitantly, he laid the foundations of “computer science” with his proposal of a universal machine, now known as the Turing machine. During World War II he played an important role at Bletchley Park, deciphering the German Enigma code. In this top-secret British operation, the first electronic computer was developed: Colossus, which after the war was destroyed by order of Churchill. Without being able to communicate publicly that he had previously done it, Turing proposed in 1946 the building of a computer at the National Physics Laboratory, the ACE (Automatic Computing Engine), of which he presented a prototype, the ACE Pilot, in 1950. In 1948, he accepted to be part of the group of Max Neumann, at the Computer Laboratory of the University of Manchester, working on the development of his machines. Towards the end of his life, Turing was also interested in computer simulation of plant growth and produced another seminal article on morphogenesis. Alan M. Turing died in 1954, poisoned with cyanide.

5.1. Miquel Barceló (UPC). “Enginyeria”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 13/09/2012, 19:00.

5.2. Ton Sales Porta (UPC). “Lògica”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 03/10/2012, 19:00.

5.3. David Link (Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig). “The first programs of the Manchester Mark I”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 11/10/2012, 19:00.

5.4. Ricard V. Solé (ICREA-UPF). “Morfogènesi”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 25/10/2012, 19:00.

6. BEYOND GREECE. “Beyond Greece: Towards a Multicultural Vision of Mathematics”. Coord. per Josep Pla (Universitat de Barcelona) and Mònica Blanco (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya). 01/03/2013-24/05/2013.

Ideas, their generation, as well as their expression, change according to the cultural context wherein they develop. In particular, this can be applied to mathematical ideas. It is well known that Western mathematics is embedded in the Greek tradition and its rationality. Meanwhile, Eastern mathematics, from non-Greek origins, evolved as a practical science to help calculate the calendar, manage the harvest of crops, organize civil works and collect taxes. Since Eastern mathematics is based upon practical arithmetic and measure, it is less theoretical than Western mathematics and supplies numerical, geometrical and algebraic techniques, creatively adapted to the specific context in which they originated.

However, Euro-centrism, as the dominant stream, has excluded the mathematical ideas of non-Western cultures from the Western mathematical debates. The aim of this series is to introduce a number of mathematical questions as developed by non-Greek cultures, thus offering a multicultural view of mathematics. This series consists of four talks that will provide an overview of a number of mathematical ideas arisen in Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, Japan and Islam in different periods of their history, in an attempt to establish differences and parallelisms among them, and between them and Western mathematics.

6.1. Josep Pla (UB). “Egipte versus Babilònia: una comparació matemática”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 01/03/2013, 19:00.

6.2. Carles Dorce (UB). “Les matemàtiques a Al-Andalus”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 05/04/2013, 19:00.

6.3. Ramon Nolla (IES ‘Pont d’Icart’, Tarragona). “Sangakus. Àlgebra i geometria al Japó de l’època EDO (1600-1868)”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 26/04/2013, 19:00.

6.4. Iolanda Guevara (IES Badalona VII). “Pitàgores a la Xina, o el procediment Gou Gu”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 24/05/2013, 19:00.

7. LIMITS OF SCIENCE. “The Debate on the Limits of Science and the Study of Paranormal Phenomena”. Coord. per Annette Mülberger (CEHIC-UAB). In collaboration with CEHIC-UAB. 26/03/2013-24/04/2013.

Is there a limit between science and other fields of knowledge or is science a way of seeing life and the world that includes everything? Although the use of dichotomies such as science – religion or science – metaphysics may suggest the existence of clear demarcations, this is a complex question that has received different answers over time, primarily based on the definition of what is meant by “science.”

In this series of talks we study how the practice of spiritism, which spread through Europe and the United States from the late 19th century on, became a challenge for science. The moment the hypothesis of fraud was discarded, phenomena that did not behave following the established natural laws needed to be explained. Therefore we find scientists organizing, observing and participating in spiritualists sessions. In some cases they finally denounced spiritualist practice, in others they supported it. Although some scientists certified the authenticity of certain paranormal phenomena, while seeking for an explanation, they usually did not follow the kardecian doctrine but develop a natural explanation, more in line with other scientific theories. These attempts let to the supposed discovery of new physical (eg, discovery of “new” rays) and mental phenomena (new properties are attributed to the unconscious) and to the foundation of a new psychological science, called parapsychology or metapsychics. The latter enforced the elaboration of a kind of “catalogue” to classify the observed paranormal phenomena. Throughout the 20 th century many important scientists were involved in the evaluation of these phenomena as was the astronomer Josep Comas, the physicist Blas Cabrera or the physician and bacteriologist Jaume Ferran, among many others.

The following talks present some cases of scientific study of some paranormal phenomena and the debate to which they let. In such debates usually participated historical actors from different social groups such as scientists, reporters and spiritualists.

7.1. Annette Mülberger (CEHIC-UAB). “La història de l’estudi dels fenòmens paranormals: espiritisme i investigación psíquica”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 26/03/2013, 19:00.

7.2. Ángel González de Pablo (Universidad Complutense de Madrid). “El hipnotismo en España en las primeras décadas del s. XX”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 02/04/2013, 19:00.

7.3. Nicole Edelman (Université Paris Ouest). “Voyances en Europe occidentale entre les deux guerres”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 16/04/2013, 19:00

7.4. Mònica Balltondre (UAB). “La pràctica de la metapsíquica a Espanya: entre ciència i religió”. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 24/04/2013, 19:00.

8. VERNE. “From Science To Imagination: A Scientific Reading of Jules Verne”.. Coordinat per Pasqual Bernat (CEHIC-UAB and Agrupacio Astronòmica d’Osona). In collaboration with the Xarxa de Biblioteques de la Diputació de Barcelona and the Societat Catalana Jules Verne. 02/10/2012-18/12/2012.

Reading a story by Jules Verne is starting a travel in time to the second half of the 19^th century, when explorers still left to conquer the untouched regions of the world, when scientists amazed everybody with more and more surprising discoveries, when faith in progress was an unavoidable mindset… Verne, son of his time, creates a particular universe, full of adventure and knowledge, but also incredible objects and machines with bold shapes and designs, placed in a foreseeable future rather than in a present reality.

Because Verne, from his nineteenth-century daily live, often takes us to a rational future built with the ingredients of science, which was well-known to him and a constant in his story lines. Indeed, the main feature in most of Verne’s novels is the high confidence in science and technology as means to command nature and guarantee human social progress. It is a work that, being scientific knowledge its central theme, has become the greatest example of what is known, from Verne’s time, as “science novels” and that, in addition to fascinate generations, has become the starting point for many scientific careers worldwide.

This series of talks, conceived as well as a monographic book club on Verne and his work, will deal not only with Verne’s narrative, but also with the writer itself, analyzing his life in its own context. This context will be tackled particularly from its scientific point of view, highlighting the interaction between the author and his work with the scientific and technological knowledge of his time.

The series will be divided into four sessions. The first of them will deal with Jules Verne and the meaning of his “science novel”. In the rest, the participants will read three works by the author, which will let them see and discuss from the source the literary realization of the scientific and ideological universe that the spreading knowledge project of Verne has left as a legacy.

8.1. “Una literatura a la recerca d’autor. El cas de Jules Verne i la novel·la de la ciència”. Biblioteca Sagrada Família, Barcelona, 02/10/2012, 19:00.

8.2 “Viatge al centre de la Terra. Un descens trepidant al cor del coneixement i la ciència del segle XIX”. Biblioteca Sagrada Família, Barcelona, 23/10/2012, 19:00.

8.3 “Els cinc-cents milions de la Begum. Ciència, política i utopia”. Biblioteca Sagrada Família, Barcelona, 14/11/2012, 19:00.

8.4 “París al segle XX. La ciència deshumanitzada pren el control”. Biblioteca Sagrada Família, Barcelona, 18/12/2012, 19:00.

This series has its foundations in the success of the previous series “Science and Literature: An Inevitable Crossroads” (2011-2012) coordinated by Pasqual Bernat in collaboration with the Sagrada Família library, one of the members of the Barcelona public library network, specialized in science.

9. XEHC! Xerrades d’Estudiants en Història de la Ciència

The XeHC! is an informal group of History of Science postgraduate Students, that organize gatherings periodically at various cafes, bars and parks in Barcelona. The XeHC! organizes discussions about history of science, historiography, and practical questions on how to work in the history of science academic and professional context.

Developing the XeHC! agenda has a fundamental role in the development of the history of science as a discipline in Barcelona and Catalonia. The XeHC! has already an excellent track record, having organized more than 15 presentations followed by discussions in the year and a half since its establishment. Students from various History of Science departments have also participated in its sessions, establishing also connections with students working beyond Barcelona, in departments such as the History and Philosophy of Science Department at the University of Cambridge or the Institut d’Història de la Medicina i de la Ciència, López Piñero in València.

The XeHC! uses different digital media and social networking: a mailing list, a blog (http://xerradesestudiants.blogspot.com/), Twitter (@XEHC1) and Facebook. Our activities are listed on the global agenda Arban, and also collaborates closely with the Catalan Society for the History of Science, SCHCT.

This term XeHC! activities include, for instance, a talk on how to organize a round table on “Silent Spring”, that two XeHC! members are coordinating in early December, a talk on Barcelona’s Family Planning Centers after Franco’s dictatorship, or a Reading Club on Jim Secord’s “Knowledge in Transit”.

Next Spring 2013, the XeHC! plans to expand its work to a wider audience and engage in a broader history of science popularization campaign. With this aim, the XeHC! will organize a series of films projections in collaboration with a community center in Barcelona, the Casal de Joves Palau Alòs. This series of films will deal with scientist’s popular image, and will be followed by a discussion among general audiences. The series aims to discuss popular ideas such as the image of the creative genius, the scientist isolated from the world, or the gap between theoretical science and applied science.

10. SEMINARS IN OSONA (SCHCT-AAO). Coord. Pasqual Bernat. In collaboration with the Osona Astronomical Group.

10.1. Ximo Guillem (IHMC, València). “De la Cuina a la Fàbrica. L’aliment industrial i el frau (1850-1930)”. Agrupació Astrònomica d’Osona, Vic, 06/11/2013, 20:00.

10.2 Xavier Duran. “La revolució industrial i la literatura a Catalunya“.Agrupació Astronòmica d’Osona, Vic, 12/02/2013, 20:00.

10.3 Jaume Valentines (UPC). “Catalanistes i tecnòcrates a la II República: els enginyers industrials, de Barcelona a Núria (passant per Vic)“. Agrupació Astronòmica d’Osona, Vic, 11/06/2013, 20:00.

OTHER EVENTS

10. VII Simposi sobre Ensenyament i Història de la Ciència. Orientació, Metodologies i Perspectives. SCHCT-SEHCYT. 15 i 16 de març de 2013, Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona.

11. 7th Spring School in History of Science and Popularization. SCHCT-IME. 16-18 May 2013, Institut Menorquí d’Estudis, Maó.

12. Congrès Internacional Jules Verne. Organitzat per Societat Catalana Jules Verne, Sociedad Hispánica Jules Verne & SCHCT. Setembre de 2013, IEC, Barcelona.

SCHCT Seminar Committee:

Pasqual Bernat (pasqual.bernat@gmail.com)
Miquel Carandell (m_baruzzi00@hotmail.com)
Sara Fajula (sfajula@comb.cat)
Jordi Ferran (jferranb@uoc.edu)
Clara Florensa (cflorensa@gmail.com)
Ximo Guillem (joaquim.guillem@uv.es)
Agustin López (jagustin.lopez@yahoo.es)
Jaume Sastre (jaume_sastre@hotmail.com)
Josep Simon (josicas@alumni.uv.es) [coordinator] Jaume Valentines (jaume.valentines@upc.edu)