Klopsteg Lectures
All lectures for 2025-26 are free open to the public, thanks to the generosity of The Klopsteg fund. Unless otherwise noted, they will be held in University Hall, Hagstrum Room 201, on Mondays 4:30-6:00pm.
Program Director: Lydia Barnett
Fall Quarter
Please Note: The Sept 29 Town Hall will be held in Fisk Hall, Room 217
September 29 - Town Hall - Evanston Campus - Fisk Hall, Room 217
STEM under Threat: The Past, Present, and Future of STEM Research Funding
This town hall addressed the current crisis in STEM funding by placing federal support for STEM research in the U.S. – and its current unprecedented retrenchment – in social and historical context
October 6 - Deborah Coen, History of Science & Medicine - Yale
"The Atmospheric Commons: Adaptation Science from the Old Regime to the Climate Regime"
To begin to approach the atmosphere as a commons is to recognize its finitude and its susceptibility to the influence of human activities. In this sense, reframing the atmosphere as a commons is a problem for knowledge-making as much as for policy-making. A just and sustainable allocation of a common pool resource must engage stakeholders in a process of collective learning to understand how their lives depend on that resource and therefore on the choices made by everyone else who shares it. What tools of observation and analysis could stakeholders use to understand how their actions impact others by virtue of impacting the atmosphere? This is the question that animated a forgotten tradition in the history of science, one that that made the atmosphere perceptible as a medium of connection and communication for all living things. This neglected history holds essential clues to promoting just and peaceful approaches to the challenges of adapting to climate change.
October 20 - Joshua Howe, History and Environmental Studies - Reed College and Alexander Lemons, former U.S. Marine Corps
"Warbody: "Historical Anatomy" and the Ecology of Military Exposures"
Former Marine Corps sniper Alexander Lemons and Reed College Professor of History and Environmental Studies Joshua Howe talk about the making of their innovative co-authored book, Warbody, a deep dive into the experience of war's violence that goes beyond bullets and bombs to address the less visible and often even more impactful harm facing combatants and civilians alike from toxic exposures and lasting trauma.
Please Note:
The Klopsteg Lecture for Nov 19, will be held in Harris 107 at 5:00pm
Wednesday, November 19 - Nydia Pineda de Avilia, History - UC San Diego
Filmmaking as Method for the History of Science: A screening and discussion of “American Skies"