History of the Laboratory

Catalog description

Few spaces better represent progress and profit than laboratories. Industrial, commercial, public, and private labs are seen as catalysts for moving society forward and inching toward a technotopian future. In the meantime, such spaces produce better medicines, goods, and knowledge. However, these modern laboratories have a history. From their beginnings in the ancient world through medieval, early modern, and finally twenty-first-century forms, these spaces changed in the face of emerging cultural, social, and intellectual forces. This course traces this history while taking into consideration factors such as non-Western influences, colonialism, and history “from below.” From alchemical experiments to Franklin’s electricity to modern medical research, we will trace the development of laboratories through primary and secondary sources including ancient archaeological finds, prison notebooks, and the classic film Frankenstein. P