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Portland State University

History of Science, Technology, and Medicine

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Full-Text Articles in History

Don't Breathe: An Analysis Of The Factors Of The Victorian River Thames' Restoration, Lucie N. Jain Apr 2022

Don't Breathe: An Analysis Of The Factors Of The Victorian River Thames' Restoration, Lucie N. Jain

Young Historians Conference

In the summer of 1858, the River Thames of London was polluted beyond recognition, producing an intolerable smell that reached all corners of the city and inspired a surge of rhetoric commenting on the state of the once adored river. Prior to the nineteenth century, the Thames was the jewel of London and the main source of the city’s prosperity. However, industrialism took a toll on the river’s beauty and health, and the once pristine waterway was quickly spoiled in the space of mere decades. Tracing back to nineteenth century London, this paper aims to explore the causes of the …


Bad Blood: Hemophilia And It’S Detriment To The Russian Imperial Family, Tessia A. Hoffman Apr 2022

Bad Blood: Hemophilia And It’S Detriment To The Russian Imperial Family, Tessia A. Hoffman

Young Historians Conference

Monarchies have often defined the flow of history. Their decisions and ideas affect whole countries, which can lead to a crisis if the ruler is unable to lead effectively. A lack of leadership can bring about war, famine, political instability, and political unrest, all of which occurred in Russia during the 19th and 20th centuries. The poor decision-making of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra brought about civic unrest that eventually led to their downfall. In addition to the unstable country, the Imperial family was also struggling with the state of their only heir, who had inherited the genetic disorder …


The United States' Relationship With The Insanity Defense Before And After United States V. Hinckley, Natalie R. Peterman May 2019

The United States' Relationship With The Insanity Defense Before And After United States V. Hinckley, Natalie R. Peterman

Young Historians Conference

The United States legal system has had a fluctuating relationship with the insanity defense for decades, and the trial of United States v. Hinckley was a critical milestone for this development. Before John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and the jury of his trial found him not guilty, American society generally supported the insanity defense, but both the public and the government were outraged after Hinckley’s verdict. This outrage and the subsequent political backlash against the insanity defense were motivated by progress in the area of mental illness treatment in the United States. In the …


Liberté, Égalité, Santé: The Evolution Of Medicine In Revolution-Era France, Jasmine Yu May 2019

Liberté, Égalité, Santé: The Evolution Of Medicine In Revolution-Era France, Jasmine Yu

Young Historians Conference

Modern practice of medicine is reliably grounded in thorough observation and experimental study before application in a clinical setting. Yet before the universality of verifiable scientific justification, theoretical—and generally fallacious—models for the workings of the human body predominated, including the philosophy of the four elemental humors introduced by Hippocrates and Galen. In France, the decline of humorism’s supremacy did not occur until the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the same time period during which the long-standing convention of absolute monarchy was violently eradicated by the French Revolution. How, if at all, was the ending of humoral remedies like bloodletting …


An Analysis Of The Evolution Of Medicine In Nineteenth Century England Via The Development Of The Anatomical Model Per Human Dissection, Isabelle C. Freeman May 2019

An Analysis Of The Evolution Of Medicine In Nineteenth Century England Via The Development Of The Anatomical Model Per Human Dissection, Isabelle C. Freeman

Young Historians Conference

An Analysis of the Evolution of Medicine in Nineteenth Century England via The Development of the Anatomical Model per Human Dissection

The development of the human anatomical model was, through a modern lens, an incredibly inhumane process. In England, during the nineteenth century, the bodies of many common folk and criminals were used as cadavers without their consent; either sold, stolen, and/or killed. Though many medical advancements were made, such as the development of more invasive surgeries; there was a huge moral cost. The purpose of this paper is to create a timeline regarding the evolution of the human anatomical …


Depiction And Function Of Madness In Elizabethan And Jacobean Literature, Yeiji Seo May 2019

Depiction And Function Of Madness In Elizabethan And Jacobean Literature, Yeiji Seo

Young Historians Conference

Since the ancient times of Israel, Greece, and Rome, people with mental illnesses have been regarded as different from others in society. This paper aims to analyze the motives of authors of medical and dramatic texts of Elizabethan and Jacobean literature in regards to mental illness by specifically observing William Shakespeare’s King Lear and Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy. This paper also considers the views of other scholars of the field to compose a complete insight on Shakespeare and Burton’s goals in depicting mental illness and finally advocates further research and understanding to positively contribute towards disability reform today.


The Pivotal Role That Race Plays In Medical Research: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Kristin X. Wong Apr 2018

The Pivotal Role That Race Plays In Medical Research: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Kristin X. Wong

Young Historians Conference

This research attempts to answer the question, "To what extent was race or racial bias a factor in the conception and execution of the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male?" The goal is to reevaluate the degree to which the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (TSS) was driven by the racial bias in the face of modern counter-narratives. This has been done by examining events such as the Oslo Study and the Rosenwald Demonstration Project, organizations such as the Public Health Service and Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and primary and secondary sources including interviews, a collection of …


Galen: The Philosophical Physician, Chloe Sellers Apr 2018

Galen: The Philosophical Physician, Chloe Sellers

Young Historians Conference

Analyzing the works of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, this paper reveals the specific influences each of the three had upon Galen’s medical practice, asserting that the influence of philosophy was ultimately responsible for distinguishing Galen from his contemporaries. Drawing from various primary sources, including Plato’s “The Apology,” Timaeus and The Republic, as well as Aristotle’s Physics, and comparing them to Galen’s works, “The Art of Medicine” and “A Method of Medicine to Glaucon,” numerous similarities are revealed between the works of Galen and those of the philosophical trio. By evaluating these many connections among the works, as well as using …


The Dreams Of An Inventor In 1420, Bennett Gilbert Jan 2018

The Dreams Of An Inventor In 1420, Bennett Gilbert

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bennett Gilbert peruses the sketchbook of 15th-century engineer Johannes de Fontana, a catalogue of designs for a variety of fantastic and often impossible inventions, including fire-breathing automatons, pulley-powered angels, and the earliest surviving drawing of a magic lantern device.


Galen’S Analogy: Animal Experimentation And Anatomy In The Second Century C.E., Annastasia Conner Aug 2017

Galen’S Analogy: Animal Experimentation And Anatomy In The Second Century C.E., Annastasia Conner

Anthós

Galen of Pergamum (129 – ca. 216 C.E.) is truly one of the most pivotal characters in the history of medicine, and particularly the field of anatomy. A physician in the ancient Roman Empire, he did not allow his work to be constrained by contemporary boundaries, instead delving further into the field of anatomy and physiology than any doctor had yet done. He built upon the existing work of his predecessors as well as making new discoveries through which he would shape contemporary and future understandings of anatomy, and of medicine as a whole. Although a luminary in his field, …


Clickbait Science: A Review Of Rhetorical Patterns Within The Royal Society, Bryan T. Le Apr 2017

Clickbait Science: A Review Of Rhetorical Patterns Within The Royal Society, Bryan T. Le

Young Historians Conference

King Charles II of England gave birth to the Royal Society and the right for it to publish without interference in the seventeenth century. Out of this society came forth Philosophical Transactions, the first ever science journal. The journal, however, was not strictly bound to science. Articles within the journal exhibit a variety of unusual bits of information ranging from making water colors to constructing a bee-house. This paper shows that the Royal Society included articles that weren’t science but human interest to gather a following for themselves.


Tainted Benevolence: Sources Of Funding For The Liverpool School Of Tropical Medicine From 1898-1915, Lucy Cummins Apr 2017

Tainted Benevolence: Sources Of Funding For The Liverpool School Of Tropical Medicine From 1898-1915, Lucy Cummins

Young Historians Conference

The final two decades of the nineteenth century saw a race among European powers to secure vast tracts of land in Africa for colonization and exploitation. However, the empires of the West soon found that effective occupation of this new continent would not end with a physical takeover. In order to benefit politically and financially from their new territories, colonial governments would have to confront a series of unforeseen challenges, one of the largest of which was the prevalence of so-called "tropical" diseases. Few doctors in Europe had any experience with or understanding of conditions from sleeping sickness to Guinea …


The Escalation Of Human Sterilization In The 1900s, Rebecca S. Lumbantobing Apr 2017

The Escalation Of Human Sterilization In The 1900s, Rebecca S. Lumbantobing

Young Historians Conference

The sterilizations of over 200,000 Americans is an often forgotten part of Western science’s not so distant past. Sterilization was proposed as a eugenic solution to combat societal issues attributed to genetics, such as criminality, pauperism, and feeblemindedness. Sterilization laws began to be implemented in several American states. However, it was not until the 1920s, that eugenics advocates E.S. Gosney and Paul Popenoe created the Human Betterment Foundation to introduce the complex conjecture of eugenics to the layman. Drawing upon the original publications by the HBF, Sterilization for Human Benefit and “Human Sterilization Today”, and contemporary reviews, this paper explores …


Stellar Works: Searching For The Lives Of Women In Science, Jennifer Elizabeth Woodman Jun 2016

Stellar Works: Searching For The Lives Of Women In Science, Jennifer Elizabeth Woodman

Dissertations and Theses

While women have had a profound impact in the world of science, they struggle to gain an equal foothold in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields today. This has led to considerable public and private sector efforts to recruit women into these arenas. In order to understand how schools and nonprofits engage today's young women in STEM studies, this account includes time spent both in high school science classrooms and with ChickTech -- a Portland-based organization that works to provide a pathway into tech careers for high school-aged girls.

A historical perspective reveals that modern women aren't treading …


What’S Your Temperament: The Humoral Theory’S Influence On Medicine In Ancient Greece, Riley Sebers Apr 2016

What’S Your Temperament: The Humoral Theory’S Influence On Medicine In Ancient Greece, Riley Sebers

Young Historians Conference

Prior to the birth of Hippocrates of Cos in 460 BCE, medicine in ancient Greece revolved around the gods and magic. During Hippocrates lifetime, he remastered an old practice called the humoral theory: an idea stating that every individual person has a unique balance of substances called humors in their body. The balance of these humors is what keeps a man healthy, and if a specific amount is disturbed, sickness sets in. This theory allowed physicians in ancient Greece to move away from dominantly using magic to treat illness and start using the humoral theory instead.


The Rise And Fall Of Human Dissection In Hellenistic Alexandria, Ellie H. Barany Apr 2016

The Rise And Fall Of Human Dissection In Hellenistic Alexandria, Ellie H. Barany

Young Historians Conference

Classical and Hellenistic Greece were known to be a hub of scientific research. However, the potential for scientific discovery was limited by dominating religious beliefs. Advancements in the study of human anatomy were inhibited by religious taboos that prevented the practice of human dissection. These taboos took hold of Greek society, with a consequence of exile to anyone who violated them. The exception however, is in Hellenistic Alexandria under the rule of the Ptolemaic Kings, Soter and Philadelphus. This paper examines the factors under which the Greek scientist Herophilus was allowed to practice systematic human dissection, as well as the …


The Divine Viscera: Medicine And Religion In The Islamic Golden Age, Isabella A. Pua Apr 2016

The Divine Viscera: Medicine And Religion In The Islamic Golden Age, Isabella A. Pua

Young Historians Conference

Islamic medicine is largely ignored in Western tradition, but in an era when Western European medical practice relied more on mysticism than science and had lost the advances made by Classical Greece, the Islamic Empire entered a golden age of scientific thought. The impetus for the Golden Age medicine that developed can be partially attributed to the Islamic religion itself. This paper explores the role of Islam as both a unifying force and a set of broad cultural values in creating that atmosphere that allowed for the study of medicine, within the context of the scientific-religious duality that characterized discovery …


To What Extent Did British Advancements In Cryptanalysis During World War Ii Influence The Development Of Computer Technology?, Hayley A. Leblanc Apr 2016

To What Extent Did British Advancements In Cryptanalysis During World War Ii Influence The Development Of Computer Technology?, Hayley A. Leblanc

Young Historians Conference

This investigation will focus on the advancements made in the field of computing by British codebreakers working on German ciphers during World War II (1939­1945). Along with examining the state of code­breaking technology before the war, it will discuss the nature of computing after the war up until the present to determine the impact of the war on computers. It will consider being electronic (rather than electromechanical) as the defining characteristic of modern computers. This investigation will not discuss the cryptanalysis effort by any other country during the war, nor will it consider cryptography ­related advancements after the war. However, …


Rationalism And The Understanding Of Irrationality, Sophie Hamilton Apr 2015

Rationalism And The Understanding Of Irrationality, Sophie Hamilton

Young Historians Conference

The Scientific Revolution is an era heavily scrutinized by historians and history teachers alike; the works of Francis Bacon, Andreas Vesalius, and Isaac Newton are included in nearly every textbook and course covering the Enlightenment era. But many people don’t realize that the scientific discoveries of the Enlightenment were not limited to mathematics, astronomy, and anatomy; a revolution in psychiatry was also occurring.

"Rationalism and the Understanding of Irrationality" explores how the rationalist movement in the Enlightenment, which emphasized the use of reason and individualism, enabled leaders in the mental health industry to raise living standards and redefine treatment for …


Copernicus’ Role In The Scientific Revolution: Philosophical Merits And Influence On Later Scientists, Jonathan Huston Apr 2014

Copernicus’ Role In The Scientific Revolution: Philosophical Merits And Influence On Later Scientists, Jonathan Huston

Young Historians Conference

Nicolaus Copernicus' publication of De Revolutionibus Orbium Coesltium marks the beginning of a revolution in the field of astronomy and physics. Within 150 years, a heliocentric system became almost universally accepted in the scientific community. Copernicus’ model was significant not because it of its scientific merit, but because of its ideological appeal to scientists during the 16th through 18th century. This paper explores the philosophical foundations of Copernicus' model, and examines his influence in later work of four significant astronomers and physicists, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton.


Griswold V. Connecticut: A Study Of Resistance To Sexual Revolution In Connecticut, 1961, Natalie Pearson Apr 2014

Griswold V. Connecticut: A Study Of Resistance To Sexual Revolution In Connecticut, 1961, Natalie Pearson

Young Historians Conference

In 1965, the last remaining anticontraceptive law in the United States was made unconstitutional in Griswold v. Connecticut. Despite widespread acceptance of the use of contraceptives, Connecticut legislatures put up incredible resistance to the sexual revolution of the 1960s and subsequent demand that the statute--outlawing individual use of contraceptives--be removed. This paper asserts Connecticut's foundation as a haven for Protestant values as the reason for this determined resistance to the acceptance of contraceptives.


Entanglement: Health, Healing And Society In Africa, Haley Noel Jul 2012

Entanglement: Health, Healing And Society In Africa, Haley Noel

Anthós

As a continent, Africa has been explored, exploited, and largely abandoned by the West. During the colonial era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, foreign powers encountered diverse cultures, superstitions and disease before promptly labeling the entire continent a dangerous and primitive place. For early explorers and colonialists, disease and the threat of ill health is what defined Africa. They overlooked the pre-existing strategies and practices that Africans had adapted to guard against certain diseases, either ignoring them or labeling the misunderstood safety nets as primitive. Also overlooked was the importance of societal organization and communal cooperation among …


On The Sacred Disease: The Historical Significance Of Hippocratic Humanism, Rationality And Scientific Procedure, Leah Haykin Apr 2012

On The Sacred Disease: The Historical Significance Of Hippocratic Humanism, Rationality And Scientific Procedure, Leah Haykin

Young Historians Conference

Although many of the Hippocratic Corpus' anatomical, physiological and pathological doctrines have since been superseded, the premise of On the Sacred Disease - that disease is of a physical origin - stimulated the rise of rational, secular, and systematic medicine over magico-religious healing and the recognition of medicine as a true techne, or science. Before the time of Hippocrates, 'pre-scientific' Western medicine was predominantly magico-religious or characterized by magic-based appeals to supernatural beings. In On the Sacred Disease, however, Hippocrates attributes disease to both internal and external factors. Further holding that prognosis should be based on thorough examination, Hippocrates required …


The Anatomical Renaissance, Chloe Zimmerman May 2011

The Anatomical Renaissance, Chloe Zimmerman

Young Historians Conference

The mystical element of the human cadaver has long determined how people interact with it. Ancient cultures often feared the wrath of a higher power arising from an investigation into the sanctity of the human corpse, a fear that for the most part stemmed from religious traditions. Despite the taboos associated with this practice, the dawn of the Italian Renaissance saw a gradual shift in this traditional perspective that allowed for scholars, particularly those in Northern Italy, to explore the subject of anatomy with greater freedom. This paper explores the factors that contributed to the proliferation of anatomical dissection throughout …


Doing The History Of Science And The Suspension Of Belief, Richard H. Beyler Oct 2009

Doing The History Of Science And The Suspension Of Belief, Richard H. Beyler

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1817) described the "suspension of disbelief" as a sort of bargain between the author and the audience necessary to creative literature. Conversely, one might describe the "suspension of belief" as a necessary element of doing the history of science. In modern civilization, science counts as the social institution which delineates the boundaries of knowledge per se, as opposed to belief, opinion, etc. We might describe this as the cultural myth of science--not in the sense of judging its truth or falsehood, but rather in the sense of its being foundational and largely unquestioned in modern society. Yet …


“Judith” Shakespeare In Computer Programming : An Oral History Study Of American Women Programmers In The Late Twentieth Century, Laura L. Zeigen Jan 2005

“Judith” Shakespeare In Computer Programming : An Oral History Study Of American Women Programmers In The Late Twentieth Century, Laura L. Zeigen

Dissertations and Theses

The question "Why are there not more women in computer science?" is one that has been asked by both scholarly and business communities since women entered the workforce in large numbers starting in the 1970s. Although there exists a vast literature covering how to involve more girls and women in computer science today, as well as a smaller body of literature outlining the few female pioneers in the field, little has been written about the women who, despite historical exclusion, actually participated in the computing industry as programmers and software engineers beginning in the 1960s. Who were the women going …


Democratic Ideology, The Frontier Ethos, Medical Practice And Hospital Culture: Pacific Northwest Health-Seekers, Community Health And The Sisters Of Providence, Vancouver, Wa 1856 - 1879, Susan T.L. Courtney Oct 1992

Democratic Ideology, The Frontier Ethos, Medical Practice And Hospital Culture: Pacific Northwest Health-Seekers, Community Health And The Sisters Of Providence, Vancouver, Wa 1856 - 1879, Susan T.L. Courtney

Dissertations and Theses

Most historians readily acknowledge the economic incentive that prompted many pioneers to migrate westward across the overland trail. Health motivations remain generally unexplored. Many Americans had settled the interior regions most suited to farming, especially the acreage around river valleys in the Mississippi drainage system. Unfortunately, health conditions were not favorable to human existence.

The dilemma of economic well-being versus health disaster motivated a number of Americans to seek better living conditions. Some chose overland migration to the Pacific Northwest. The situation in contemporary medical practice was a kaleidoscope of competing sects and contradictory convictions. The mainline profession of medicine, …


Double Cross: Agriculture And Genetics, 1930 To 1960, Tracy Scott Lebenzon Feb 1988

Double Cross: Agriculture And Genetics, 1930 To 1960, Tracy Scott Lebenzon

Dissertations and Theses

This paper discusses the role of genetic technology and application in agriculture between 1930 and 1960. Topics covered include the role of genetics and the relationship that theory, education, administration, professionalism, economic and social considerations bore to genetics.


Dream Therapy In Counseling, Deborah Ann Karr Black May 1981

Dream Therapy In Counseling, Deborah Ann Karr Black

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to present an overview of the origins and uses of dreams and dream interpretation through the years. This is accomplished in two main sections. The first section traces the ancient history of dreams and their uses in various cultures. It begins with the first written evidence of dreams found in the Egyptian culture and is carried through the Babylonian, Greek and Roman Eras. The history also includes the use of dreams as documented in the Biblical Records, the Oriental cultures and during the era of Christianity. The superstitions about dreams during the Medieval era …


"Is Human Understanding Finite?", Peter Brian Medawar Oct 1978

"Is Human Understanding Finite?", Peter Brian Medawar

Special Collections: Oregon Public Speakers

No abstract provided.