2000 HSS/PSA Program 1 - History of Science Society

HSS Abstracts
Marianne␣ Gosztonyi Ainley University of Northern British Columbia
Gendered Careers? Canadian Women in Science, 1890-1970
During the 1890-1970 period, numerous women scientists were employed in
Canada but remained in low-level positions for longer than did their male
peers. Most women scientists performed “women’s work”—poorly paid and
under-valued jobs men did not want, and were not expected, to do. In fact,
even the seemingly successful women scientists, such as the geneticist Carrie
Derick (1862-1941), the chemist Clara Benson (1875-1964), the economist
Mabel Timlin (1891-1976), the astronomer Helen Hogg (1905-1993), and the
physicist Barbara Judek (b.1923) faced difficulties because of their gender. In
this paper I will draw upon my research in the history of Canadian science to
provide the context within which to discuss the experiences of women scientists
who worked at various universities and government institutions.
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Brian Greene University of California, Los Angeles
Making the Invisible Visible:
The Public Health Efforts of Dr. W. W. Peter and Dr. Tee Han Kee
in Early 20th Century China and The Philippines
This paper will examine the public health efforts of two figures during the early
twentieth century. W. W. Peter, who received his Ph.D. in Public Health from Yale
University, spent nearly twenty years (1911-1929) in China promoting public health
through the use of visual tropes in public lectures. Dr. Tee Han Kee received his
L.M.S. degree from Hong Kong Medical College in 1902. He then went to Manila,
Philippines, where he promoted public health among the huaqiao (overseas
Chinese) community up through the 1930s. The common link between these two
figures is a learned and similar modern medical knowledge that they both utilized
in their efforts to control diseases, such as cholera, among Chinese populations. In
the case of Dr. Peter, his work in China reflects larger trends in early 20th century
American science and American expansionist politics. Peter’s public health work
also illuminates the problematic details of deploying knowledge and practice in
an area having its own cultural norms and behavior. In the case of Dr. Tee, we
have the opportunity to see another facet of the transmission of medical knowledge
in a Chinese context. Tee is among the first generation of Chinese who study
western medicine in China. However, in an interesting twist of circumstances, Tee
then carries this medical knowledge beyond the geographic boundaries of China
and deploys it among the Chinese population of Manila. Chinese history has
traditionally operated in the mode followed by many historical studies, that of the
national history. With this, most histories of China, including those written in
China, have focused on events that unfolded within what is defined spatially as
China. Recently, studies of huaqiao have appeared in cultural studies literature,
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