Les instruments scientifiques à l'époque moderne

Inventing Science
Iconography on Scientific Instruments in the Early Modern Period

Wuppertal, 28-30 August 2013

The workshop ” Inventing Science: Iconography on Scientific Instruments in the Early Modern Period” is organised by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Science and Technology Studies (IZWT) at the Bergische Universität Wuppertal.

The development, production and use of scientific instruments is a well-established research field in the history of science and technology and it is with the aim of expanding the scope of research that we wish to devote our conference to systematically exploring the worlds of images appearing upon the instruments and their place within the visual culture of the time. We hope that this interdisciplinary approach will open up new perspectives on the historical and scientific significance of the instruments and foster a closer collaboration between scholars of different background, such as historians of art or of science and technology, curators of museum collections, philosophers and scholars from cultural studies. The first step in the investigation of the iconography on scientific instruments will be an attempt at mapping the landscape: beside pictures offering information on how the instruments had to be used, we may expect to find inscribed on them images connected to a multitude of visual contexts, for example aimed at constructing traditions, evoking myths and legends, transmitting and popularizing knowledge, or positioning instruments and their makers within theoretical debates or scientific frameworks.

The workshop aims at promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and therefore proposals contributing to any aspect of the topic are welcome. Special consideration will be given to proposals from young scholars.

The language of the workshop is English. Submissions must include a title, an abstract (about 1 page) of a 30 minute presentation, and a short CV. Submissions should be sent to Volker Remmert at remmert@uni-wuppertal.de no later than April 5, 2013.

Contributors’ overnight accommodation costs will be covered. But because funds are limited, please let us know well in advance if you will need support to cover travelling expenses.

The organisers, Arianna Borrelli and Volker Remmert, look forward to your participation and would also be grateful if you could inform others, especially young academics, about the workshop and this call for papers.