Mailing list archive
Message 14: 28 May 2013
Dear colleagues
To those who have recently registered: welcome to the Congress mailing list! We are now sending out weekly updates on Tuesdays, with occasional additional announcements. There will usually be a full update of the Congress programme at http://www.ichstm2013.com/programme/guide/ each Monday before the message.
As this mailing list will be used to carry important practical information about the Congress, we ask that everyone who has registered or intends to register remains subscribed. If you wish to unsubscribe, however, you can do so via the link at the bottom of any message.
Here are this week’s announcements:
1. Accommodation reservations update
2. Special sessions programme
3. Public events
4. History of geology field trips
5. Congress blog
6. Mailing list archive
7. Withdrawing from the programme
1. ACCOMMODATION RESERVATIONS UPDATE
The official deadline for booking accommodation via the Congress was last Tuesday (21 May). However, while some options have now closed, our colleagues in the conference services office advise us that there are still limited numbers of rooms available at special Congress rates in some of the hotels and halls of residence (dorms). For availability, see the registration page:
https://www.meeting.co.uk/confercare/ichstm2013-reg/registration/
and for details of the venues:
http://www.ichstm2013.com/hotels/
If you have already registered, and want to add accommodation to your booking, please email the University of Manchester conference office at mcc.reg@manchester.ac.uk with full details of your accommodation requirements.
See also our page of advice on booking alternative accommodation in Manchester:
http://www.ichstm2013.com/hotels/alternative.html
2. SPECIAL SESSIONS PROGRAMME
Alongside the conventional symposia and compiled paper sessions, the Congress will feature a variety of ‘special sessions’. These follow the same timeslot structure as the others, but use a variety of different formats including roundtable discussion, film screenings and performance. The full listing is at
http://www.ichstm2013.com/programme/guide/m/special.html
Confirmed sessions include the following:
- E302. Social media, public engagement and the history of science, technology and medicine (Monday afternoon). Discussion on using new technologies to work with wider audiences – including online participation from colleagues attending a simultaneous session at the Science in Public Conference in Nottingham!
- E118. ICOHTEC 40th anniversary symposium (Monday daytime). Retrospective presentations and discussion on the International Committee for the History of Technology and its work through and beyond the Cold War.
- E301. The future of journals in the history of science, technology, and medicine (Tuesday afternoon). Discussion on problems and opportunities for scholarly journals in the field, including the Open Access agenda and the growing international dominance of writing in English. The convener, Robert Fox, welcomes suggestions for topics to be included: please email robert.fox@history.ox.ac.uk .
- E309. Manchester in the history of science, technology and medicine: lessons from local heritage (Tuesday afternoon). Two sessions on how researchers based locally are using the city’s heritage, with wider discussion on the possibilities of campus and city histories for increasing interest in HSTM.
- E307. Screening: The Man Who Mapped the Shaking Earth (Wednesday morning). A documentary celebrating the life of Rochdale-born John Milne (1850-1913), pioneer of modern seismography. The screening will be followed by discussion from the film-maker, Will Twycross, and Milne’s biographers.
- E300. Neu-Whitrow Bibliography Prize presentation (Friday afternoon). Inauguaral award of the DHST Commission on Bibliography and Documentation prize, plus a talk from Stephen Weldon on the history of history-of-science bibliography.
- E306. Screening: The Rutherford Documentary (Friday afternoon). An episode from the first documentary dedicated to the Nobel-winning physicist Ernest Rutherford, focusing on Rutherford’s time at McGill and at Manchester, where he developed the concept of the atomic nucleus and demonstrated the artificial disintegration of the atom. (The site of this pioneering work is almost adjacent to the Congress venue, and there will be guided tours: details to be announced later.) The screening will be introduced by the film-maker, John Campbell, who will take questions.
We are also delighted to announce special Congress-only previews of two events from the public programme: Victorian science spectacular (Tuesday morning) and The tables turned (Friday afternoon). See below for full details.
3. PUBLIC EVENTS
Engaging with audiences who are not specialists in our discipline – and not only the ‘general public’, but also policymakers and professional scientists who may question the usefulness of history – has been recognised increasingly as a crucial obligation in recent years. This is reflected in the discussion matter of several symposia, but we are pleased to be able to put the point into practice with a number of public events during the Congress. All are designed and promoted for general audiences, but Congress-goers are equally welcome to attend. The listing is at
http://www.ichstm2013.com/programme/guide/m/public.html
Confirmed events are:
- Strange ice (Tuesday afternoon). An investigation into the peculiar properties of ice from Andrea Sella, well known for his captivating demonstrations of chemical phenomena. Sponsored by the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, in association with the University of Manchester School of Chemistry.
- Victorian science spectacular (Tuesday evening). Costumed historical re-creation of public lecture presentations from over a century ago, including magic-lantern images and chemical and electrical demonstrations.
- BSHS Dingle Prize 2013 (Friday evening). The Dingle Prize is awarded every two years by the British Society for the History of Science for a book in the field aimed at a wide audience of non-specialists.
- The tables turned (Friday evening). Developed by the BSHS Outreach and Education Committee for audiences of young people, this film/performance/discussion event explores a nineteenth-century séance and the relationship between spiritualism and scientific authority.
We have been lucky enough to secure suitably historic venues for several events. The 1806 Portico Library is the venue for ‘Victorian science spectacular’ and ‘The tables turned’, while the Dingle Prize event takes place in the Great Hall of the imposing former Technical School.
4. HISTORY OF GEOLOGY FIELD TRIPS
Spaces are available on two of the three field trips being run by INHIGEO, the international commission on the history of geology in collaboration with the Geological Society of London’s History of Geology Group (HOGG).
- Buxton spar and spa is a whole-day excursion for Thursday 25 July, based on the 1904 Geologists’ Association excursion to Buxton and North Derbyshire. This excursion finishes in time to return for the evening Congress reception at the Museum of Science and Industry.
- Ruskin’s geology is a longer excursion beginning at the end of the Congress on Sunday 28 July and lasting three days/two nights, focusing on the Lake District around Windermere and exploring how John Ruskin’s geological work influenced his art.
For prices, full details of both trips, and online registration, please see the History of Geology website:
http://inhigeo2013.historyofgeologygroup.co.uk/?page_id=225
Places will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis, according to when online payment is received. Please note that the deadline for field trip registration is Saturday 15 June.
Please address any queries to our HOGG colleagues (see http://inhigeo2013.historyofgeologygroup.co.uk/?page_id=18), NOT to the Congress organisers.
5. CONGRESS BLOG
The Congress blog at
http://www.ichstm2013.com/blog/
continues with its regular sequence of postings on research themes to be discussed at the Congress, with recent pieces on the science of military officer selection, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the British Board of Longitude and the consequences of asbestos mining. There will also be occasional additional postings likely to be of interest to those visiting Manchester for the Congress and those following the proceedings remotely. Stay tuned!
6. MAILING LIST ARCHIVE
An archive of past messages from this mailing list is now available at:
http://www.ichstm2013.com/mailinglist-archive/
7. WITHDRAWING FROM THE PROGRAMME
If your name appears on the Congress programme, but you find that you are unable to attend, we’re sorry to lose you. Please tell us as soon as possible by writing to submissions@ichstm2013.com. Responses may take several days, but all will be processed in due course.
If you are withdrawing and are the co-presenter of a paper, please clarify whether your co-presenter/s is/are also withdrawing, or whether the paper should remain on the programme without your name attached.
In addition, if you are withdrawing from an organised symposium (code numbers beginning S, P and W on the programme), please contact the symposium organisers to advise them.
If you have already registered and need to withdraw, please also contact mcc.reg@manchester.ac.uk with your details.
Thanks again for all your contributions to the Congress!
Best regards
iCHSTM 2013 Local Organising Committee