Application Information and Deadlines
All application materials for Fall 2010 admission are due by December 15, 2009. Access the electronic application form for information about applying and the Graduate Division of the School of Arts and Sciences. NOTE: All application materials must be submitted electronically, with the exception of the writing sample.
Click here for information about the process within the Department of History and Sociology of Science.
The following mailing address should be used for sending the writing sample:
University of Pennsylvania
Ernestine Williams
History and Sociology of Science
249 S. 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6304
About the Program
The Department of History and Sociology of Science is distinctive for its scope of study and its emphasis on an integrated program that explores the relationships between disciplines. In general, the Department admits students who wish to be prepared for research careers in any of the Department's areas of faculty strength, namely history of life sciences, medicine, technology, social sciences in Europe and the United States from the late 17th century on, and science, technology, and medicine in Russia, Africa, and East Asia. The program focuses on a balance of technical, social, and cultural aspects of natural knowledge. Students are encouraged to integrate these aspects in research and to explore the applications of history to contemporary issues in industrial, health, and science policy.
Visit the pages of this website for to see the achievements of graduates from our doctoral program, the success of our recent graduates, lists of current graduate students, and graduate student news.
In addition to doctoral students, the department admits students seeking a terminal master's degree, including part-time students.
Graduate Chair: Dr. Robert Aronowitz
The Graduate Group in History and Sociology of Science comprises faculty from across departments in the School of Arts and Sciences and the University who share scholarly interests and expertise around science, technology and medicine.
Mark Adams (HSSC)
Robert Aronowitz (HSSC)
David Barnes (HSSC)
Charles Bosk (Sociology)
Arthur Caplan (Bioethics)
Randall Collins (Sociology)
Ruth Schwartz Cowan (HSSC)
Peter Dodson (Anatomy)
Nathan Ensmenger (HSSC)
Julie A. Fairman (Nursing)
Steven Feierman (HSSC)
Robert Giegangack (Geology/Environmental Science)
Gary Hatfield (Philosophy)
Thomas P. Hughes (HSSC)
Michael Katz (History)
Robert E. Kohler (HSSC)
Alan C. Kors (History)
Henrika Kuklick (HSSC)
Walter Licht (History)
Mary Susan Lindee (HSSC)
Beth Linker (HSSC)
Carolyn Marvin (Communications)
Jonathan Moreno (HSSC)
Ann Moyer (History)
Erin O'Connor (English)
Kathy Peiss (History)
Adrianna Petryna (Anthropology)
Daniel Raff (Management )
Jeremy Sabloff (Anthropology)
Jason Schnittker (Sociology)
Nathan Sivin (HSSC)
Rosemary Stevens (HSSC)
Thomas J. Sugrue (History)
Arnold Thackeray (HSSC)
Janet Tighe (HSSC)
John Tresch (HSSC)
Leonard Warren (Wistar Institute)
Michael Weisberg (Philosophy)
Combined MD-PhD Program
The Department also offers a combined MD-PhD program, in coordination with the Medical School. Students must be accepted by both Penn Medical School and the Department of History and Sociology of Science, and must complete all requirements for both degrees, but the program has many advantages, integrating technical and historical training, and preparing students for careers as both historical scholars and practicing physicians or researchers. Interested applicants can visit the Medical School website for general information about the MD-PhD program (which includes the option of earning a PhD in a relevant science), and can contact Professor Skip Brass in the medical school.
MD-PhD Program alumni include Carla Keirns (December 2004), currently at the University of Michigan in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, and Chris Feudtner (1995), who is now teaching in the department and on staff at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
History and Social Study of Medicine and Health
For information about the program in the history and social study of medicine and health, contact faculty members in HSSC, including Professor Robert Aronowitz [Graduate Chair], Professor Steven Feierman, Professor David Barnes, and Professor Beth Linker. Graduates of this program over the last decade have been extremely successful in pursuing research and clinical careers, and in developing professional work in the history and social study of medicine [see Alumni PhDs]
Employment
Although the job market is competitive, our graduates have faired very well over the years. The majority work at universities, and they are members of the faculty at Binghamton, Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Pennsylvania State, Rensselaer Polytechnic, Rutgers University, Stanford, the Universities of California, Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Amsterdam, Sydney and New South Wales. Others work in museums, archives, research organizations, foundations and for business corporations. Several graduates combine careers in medical history and the clinical practice of medicine. For information about our most recent graduates and their current positions, click here.
Penn has an outstanding network of alumni who play a key role in helping us place our current students. Faculty in the department have a strong commitment to training students to learn all the skills they will need to be competitive in the academic job market. The Graduate Group prepares scholars for careers not only in these fields but also in historic preservation, government service, and technology and health policy for which their knowledge not only of technical work, but of its social and political contexts strongly qualifies them.
Facilities
The Philadelphia Area is rich in library and archival sources for historical research. Major collections held at Penn in the library and University Archives include the E.F. Smith Collections in the history of chemistry and the papers of key scientists, engineers and physicians who had ties to Penn. The Bates Center for the History of Nursing holds significant manuscript collections in medical history. Other resources strong in the program's disciplines include
- Philadelphia Library Company
- American Philosophical Society Library (especially strong in the history of technology and the biological sciences)
- Franklin Institute
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania
- Academy of Natural Sciences
- The library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia
- The Othmer Library of the Chemical Heritage Foundation
- The Eleutherian-Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware (which is forty-five minutes away)
- Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science, a recently founded organization supported by the National Science Foundation which “promotes scholarly and public understanding of history of medicine, science and technology.”
In close striking distance, via Amtrak, are the remarkable library and archival resources of Washington D.C.
If you have any questions about graduate admission, courses, faculty or the requirements of the program, contact our Graduate Chair Professor Robert Aronowitz.
