The Lone Star History of Science Group was founded in Austin in March 1988 and (apart from the Covid-19 year of 2020) has met each spring ever since. (The 2021 and 2022 meetings were held online.) Here we list the date, city, host institution, speaker, and topic for each meeting, as well as where we went to dinner that night. Brief accounts of most of these meetings were published in the History of Science Society Newsletter, often with a photograph of the assembled worthies; clicking on the date will take you to a PDF of the Newsletter report, if we have it. We'll add more photos to this website as time goes on.
36. 1 April 2023
Austin
University of Texas
University of Texas
Luis Campos
"Blue Vegetation on the Red Planet: Soviet Astrobotany and Early Earth Analogues"
Gabriel's Cafe
35. 1 April 2022
online
Fred Nadis
"Science in Toyland: The Rise and Fall of the Erector Set"
34. 26 March 2021
online
Johnny Miri
33. [2020 — cancelled due to covid-19]
32. 5 April 2019
Austin
University of Texas
Bruce J. Hunt
Austin
University of Texas
Bruce J. Hunt
"To Rule the Waves: Britain’s Cable Empire and the Making of ‘Maxwell’s Equations'"
Clay Pit Indian Restaurant
31. 6 April 2018
San Marcos
Texas State University
Don Olson
"Astronomy in Art, History, and Literature"
Palmer's Restaurant
San Marcos
Texas State University
Don Olson
"Astronomy in Art, History, and Literature"
Palmer's Restaurant
30. 7 April 2017
College Station
Texas A&M University
John Tracy
"How Lead Gets Into Our Water and Why We Don't Want It There"
College Station
Texas A&M University
John Tracy
"How Lead Gets Into Our Water and Why We Don't Want It There"
Paolo's Restaurant
29. 15 April 2016
Austin
University of Texas
Conevery Valencius
"Earthquakes, Fracking, and Public Perception of Science"
Austin
University of Texas
Conevery Valencius
"Earthquakes, Fracking, and Public Perception of Science"
Isalia's Restaurant
28. 3 April 2015
Houston
University of Houston
Alistair Sponsel
"Writing the Origin with Burned Fingers: Darwin's Penance for the 'Sin of Speculation'"
Eric's Restaurant
Houston
University of Houston
Alistair Sponsel
"Writing the Origin with Burned Fingers: Darwin's Penance for the 'Sin of Speculation'"
Eric's Restaurant
27. 11 April 2014
College Station
Texas A&M University
Andrew Dessler
"The Science and History of the Human Influence on Climate"
Cenare Italian Restaurant
26. 5 April 2013
Austin
University of Texas
Gregory Cushman
"First Science: The Cosmology of Don Joan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua, circa 1610"
Sao Paolo’s Brazilian Restaurante
25. 6 April 2012
Houston
Rice University
Martin Melosi
"Democracy of Science No More: The Untimely Discovery of Nuclear Fission in the 1930s"
Piola Restaurant
24. 22 April 2011
Austin
University of Texas
Ian Russell
"The Tenerife Project and the Role of Serendipity in Science"
Clay Pit Indian Restaurant
23. 26 March 2010
College Station
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University
Adam Jones
"Mate Choice and Sexual Selection: What Have We Learned Since Darwin?"
Fritella’s Italian Restaurant
22. 27 March 2009
Houston
Rice University
Angela Creager
"Tracing Radioisotopes through the Biomedical Complex, 1935-1955: From Gift Exchange to Commodification in the Atomic Age"
Black Lab Pub
21. 28 March 2008
Austin
University of Texas
Albert Van Helden
"Early Telescopic Astronomy"
Fonda San Miguel Restaurant
20. 13 April 2007
Bryan
Messina Hof Winery
Steve Kirkpatrick
"Judgment at Paris: The Impact of Scientific Method on American Wine"
Messina Hof Restaurant
19. 21 April 2006
Georgetown
Southwestern University
Alberto Martinez
"Subtractive History: Writing about Einstein in 1905
(after the 2005 Commotion has Finally Died Down)"
Chola Indian Restaurant (Round Rock)
18. 8 April 2005
Austin
University of Texas
Matthias Dörries
"Laboratory Earth: Volcanism, Climate, and the Origins of Global Science"
Clay Pit Indian Restaurant
17. 2 April 2004
College Station
Texas A&M University
Ludy Benjamin
"Harry Hollingsworth and the Shame of Applied Psychology"
Texas A&M Faculty Club—Rudder Tower
16. 4 April 2003
Austin
University of Texas
Elizabeth Green Musselman
"Natural Knowledge in the Cape Colony: Re-Writing Imperial Science"
Fonda San Miguel Restaurant
15. 5 April 2002
Georgetown
Southwestern University
Brad D. Hume
"Quantifying Characters: Polygenist Anthropologists and the Hardening of Heredity"
Star of India Restaurant (Round Rock)
14. 6 April 2001
College Station
Texas A&M University
Marlene Bradford
"Scanning the Skies: A History of Tornado Forecasting in America"
Epicure’s Cafe
13. 7 April 2000
Houston
Rice University
Karl D. Stephan
"A Texan at Harvard: Did Success Spoil George W. Pierce?"
Panda Garden Restaurant
12. 26 March 1999
San Antonio
Central Library
Gül Russell
"Arabic Impact in the Age of the Scientific Revolution:
The Example of Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding"
restaurant on the Riverwalk in San Antonio
11. 10 April 1998
Austin
University of Texas
David S. Evans
"Jean-Charles Houzeau (1820–1888) and His Sojourns in Texas"
Fonda San Miguel Restaurant
10. 28 March 1997
College Station
Texas A&M University
Loyd Swenson
"Cosmic Evolution: Holism and Complexity for History of Science"
Briarcrest Country Club
9. 5 April 1996
Houston
Rice University
Stephen J. Cross
"The Unreconciled: Non-Conformist Notions of Community in Modern Science"
8. 7 April 1995
Austin
University of Texas
Iwan Morus
"Manufacturing Nature: Science, Technology, and Victorian Consumer Culture"
Fonda San Miguel Restaurant
7. 8 April 1994
Houston
University of Houston
Hannah Decker
"The Lure of Non-Materialism in Materialistic Europe:
Investigations of Dissociative Phenomena, 1880–1915"
Shanghai Red's Restaurant
6. 26 March 1993
College Station
Texas A&M University
Ronald Rainger
"Reroasting an Old Chestnut: A New View of the Naturalist/Experimentalist Debate"
Texas A&M Faculty Club—Rudder Tower
Austin
University of Texas
Walter Wetzels
"Early Popularizations of Copernicus and Newton:
Fontenelle (1686), Algarotti (1737), and Euler (1770)"
Fonda San Miguel Restaurant
Nacogdoches
Stephen F. Austin University
Bruce J. Hunt
"Cables and Field Theory in the Victorian British Empire"
picnic at Charles Nall’s home
3. 6 April 1990
College Station
Texas A&M University
Albert Van Helden
"How Astronomy Became a Visual Science"
Texas A&M Faculty Club—Rudder Tower
Houston
Rice University
Ronald Rainger
"Henry Fairfield Osborn and American Evolutionary Theory"
Daniel Wong Restaurant—House of Good Food
Austin
University of Texas
Robert Palter
"New Light on Newton's
Natural Philosophy"
Fonda San Miguel
Restaurant