Graduate Program
Introduction
The Department of the History of Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the oldest department of its kind in North America and continues as a leader in graduate education. Its coverage includes the history of science, medicine, and technology, with attention both to developments internal to these disciplines and to their broader social and intellectual contexts. While concentrating on Western Europe and America, our coverage extends to other areas of the world that experienced significant encounters with Western science and medicine (such as the medieval Islamic world, China during the seventeenth century, and north Africa since the late nineteenth century). Our graduate faculty includes historians with primary appointments in the Department of the History of Science and the Department of Medical History and Bioethics; many of these faculty also have affiliations with other departments and programs. The Department of the History of Science also cooperates closely with the Department of History and with the Science and Technology Studies Program.
Graduate Degrees Offered
The department offers the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, as well as the Ph.D. minor for students enrolled in other Ph.D. programs at UW-Madison. Basic information on M.A. and Ph.D. degree requirements is available from the Graduate Catalog; for more information, see the History of Science Graduate Handbook. Requirements for the Ph.D. minor are available here.
Applying to the Department of the History of Science
Applicants to the graduate program should note the following deadline for submitting application materials to the Department of History of Science:
- December 15 - Applications for fall admission, including all requests for financial aid
- The department does not accept applications for spring admissions.
Read more about our application procedures.
Campus Resources
The Memorial Library of the University of Wisconsin-Madison is an exceptionally fine general research library and is particularly strong in the history of science. Because of the early interest in the history of science at Wisconsin, Memorial Library has been actively collecting periodicals, reference works, historical monographs, and research materials for many years. Especially noteworthy are the holdings of early scientific journals and the special collections of early works relating to the history of chemistry, medicine, and pharmacy. Memorial Library is also very strong in the history of physics and mathematics, in works relating to science in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and in nineteenth-century German scientific journals. The history of medicine collection, housed in the Middleton Health Sciences Library, provides outstanding opportunities for research in the history of European and American medicine from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries. Of particular interest to historians of American science, technology, and medicine is the library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, which is one of America's great research libraries in its own right. The State Historical Society newspaper holdings are second only to those of the Library of Congress.
Tailoring the Program
Graduate students come to the Department of the History of science from a variety of backgrounds in the sciences and humanities and with diverse professional goals. The department maintains a policy of maximum flexibility and, insofar as possible, tailors the program to fit the individual. Students are encouraged to undertake work in related departments such as history, philosophy, Science and Technology Studies, and the various sciences. Joint degrees in the History of Science and another field are possible. In past years such Ph.D. programs have been successfully completed with the departments of Philosophy, Classics, Psychology, History, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. The department has formally organized joint Ph.D. programs with the departments of History and Philosophy and is an active contributor to the forthcoming Ph.D. minor in Science and Technology Studies. A description of the first two joint programs appears in sections 9 and 10 below. Available upon request is information of interest to students with an M.D. degree who wish to undertake graduate study in the history of medicine. Although most students who enter the graduate program anticipate completing a Ph.D. in history of science, the department welcomes applications from students whose career goals will be furthered by the M.A. degree.
Graduate students in the department undertake research on an impressively diverse range of topics. For a sample, see the list of dissertations in progress.
Financial Aid
The Department of the History of Science provides financial aid for graduate students in a variety of forms, primarily through teaching and project assistantships. The department also grants two named fellowships, which were funded by generous donations from emeritus faculty. These are the John Neu Distinguished Graduate Fellowship and the David C. and Greta J. Lindberg Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. The Department also jointly administers the Coleman Dissertation Fellowship in cooperation with the Center for Research on the Humanities.
Applicants may also compete for University Fellowships and for a variety of national fellowships offered by the National Science Foundation and other agencies. In addition, the Department of Medical History and Bioethics is able to provide financial support for some students concentrating in the history of the biomedical sciences. The application for admission constitutes an application for financial aid in the Department of the History of Science and also for University Fellowships.
Current graduate students should consult the graduate handbook for more information on the department's financial aid policies. Additional information is available here.