Martin Rudwick Papers on the UC San Diego Science Studies Program, 1987-1998 (MSS 769)

Founded in 1989, the UC San Diego Science Studies Program is an interdisciplinary program offered through the departments of History, Sociology, Philosophy, and Communication. The program primarily supports graduate students, but includes undergraduate courses and postdoctoral fellowships. Graduate students select one of the departments as the focus of their work, attend a core science studies seminar and colloquia, participate in a scientific internship, and are encouraged to select dissertation topics that offer a cross-disciplinary approach. Founding faculty included Robert Marc Friedman, Martin Rudwick, and Robert S. Westman in History; Paul Churchland, Gerald Doppelt, Philip Kitcher, and Sandra Mitchell in Philosophy; and Chandra Mukerji, Andrew Scull and Steven Shapin in Sociology.

Martin Rudwick joined the UC San Diego History Department in 1988 as a history professor, and had a critical role developing the new Science Studies Program. He later served as acting director of the program from 1993-1994. Formerly at Princeton University, Rudwick was also an affiliated research scholar at Cambridge University's Department of History and Philosophy of Science. His research background included history of earth and life sciences, 18th and 19th century European science, and the prehuman history of the earth.