In the world of academia nothing much has changed in the past few centuries. Even in the 18th century, students produced dissertations that would, after a degree was conferred upon them, sooner or later gather dust and lose currency in a world breeding knowledge at a speed that would make rabbits proud. Our first fellow of the academic year 2009/10, Lisa Rosner, is on a mission to make chemical dissertations from the 18th century as exciting to us as they were to their authors and admirers.

Do I hear yawning? Stay with me – in Lisa’s project the history of chemistry goes digital!

The Place Where It All Happens...

Traveling through history

To understand where Lisa is going with her project, have a look at a site on the History Browser that is truly marvelous to behold: when you click the “play” button, a little medallion of Jefferson traces a line across a map and shows not only where he traveled but also the notes he wrote each day. An animated diary! Another part of the site shows, with traveling letter symbols, the correspondence between Jefferson and his friends and colleagues. Who they are? Check it out on a map showing who Jefferson met while in England (yes, that’s right, not a list, but a map!).

The miraculous History Browser was, incidentally, also used by one of CHF’s previous fellows, Heather Ewing, for her maps relating to the life of James Smithson, the founder of the Smithsonian Museum.

Lisa Rosner is looking forward to tracing the history of chemical dissertations of the 18th century, at a time when chemistry was a new subject at universities and only slowly finding its footing across the British Isles and Europe. She is doing all the work you would not want to do: plowing through the 300 dissertations in our collections that were written between 1700 and 1815, in places as far-flung as Edinburgh, Göttingen, Uppsala, Lund, and Abo. She will be creating interactive maps so that you not only finally find out where those places are but also what happened, when, with whom, and why, at the birth of chemistry as a thing students are loath to study. So fasten your seatbelts – though I am sure it will be a smooth ride!

Lisa Rosner and a Chemical Dissertation

More about Lisa

Lisa Rosner is a professor of history at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. She will be with us for three months. When she is not teaching or creating interactive maps, Lisa does historical research on phrenology in Philadelphia and murderous aspects of the history of medicine. Find out more on her homepage.

. . . when the weather’s fine
You’ve got fellows, you’ve got fellows on your mind

(as Mungo Jerry might put it if he were at CHF)

Rather than touching the sky or speeding along the lane, we are currently preparing the arrival of the next batch of fellows (academic year 2009/10). Apart from applying for visas, allocating offices, setting up a Facebook page, and doing other things that happen in fellowship programs around the world right now, CHF’s fellowship coordinators are always trying to make the program even better.

In the interest of a short, sweet, and summery blog entry, let me give you just one quick example.

Now I lay me down to sleep . . .

Many of our fellows come from abroad, suitcase in hand, nowhere to place their weary heads at night, and no idea in aforementioned heads about how difficult it can be to rent in Philadelphia. “Difficult?” I hear you scoff. Well, if you are looking for something for the academic year only (which, like a pregnancy, lasts for 9 months), a general 12-month lease is no good. Unless, as a fellow, you strap your bed and desk to your back (and let’s face it – who would get furniture through check-in in today’s airports?), you’ll appreciate something furnished – and thus something the rental market does not usually cater to.

Kool-Aid - a summery way to stay kool. CHF collections. Photo by Gregory Tobias.

If you’d like to live somewhere clean, safe, and quiet, relying on photos on craigslist is risky (here’s much yarn for future blog posts!). If you come to Philadelphia first, stay in a hotel or hostel, and search on location, on the other hand, you will be under time pressure and at equal risk of renting something deceptively nice but really awful (ask me about my own woeful tale if you like). Dare to ask for little conveniences, like something within walking distance to CHF (note: many Europeans do not mind walking 45 minutes each way) that will not consume all of your stipend, and you are reaching for the stars. Contrary to popular belief, they cannot be reached without help!

I have been compiling a list of reliable landlords for fellow-appropriate housing for the past two years, and sometimes we can help fellows find a good home. (If you, dear reader, can add to this list, we will be able to help even more in the future.) On top of all that we are going to organize orientations and introductions, keep in touch with the incoming fellows before they arrive, connect them with contacts beyond CHF, and much more.

Why all the fuss, skeptics may still ask? There is only one answer: try out a badly organized fellowship (preferably in a country alien to you – and throw in a foreign language while you’re at it) for yourself. Then we’ll talk.

Or, to tap into the wisdom of Mungo Jerry once more:

That’s our philosophy. Dee dee dee-dee dee, dah dah dah-dah dah . . .

Do you have fellowship stories to share? Leave a comment!

A good fellowship program is one condition for a fabulous fellowship experience; a good fellow is the other part of that equation. Here’s a quick guide to foolish behavior – feel free to try this at home: do not try this at CHF . . .

From the stock of CHF's archives. Jell-O is not an accepted substitute for chocolate (see "Love").

Work

The Fellow Who Works Too Hard may be recognized by the under-eye circles, the constant muttering of technical terms, and, of course, the unbreakable chain between fellow and desk. Secondary features are an impressive c.v., minutely prepared conference talks, and a large store of academic knowledge. While not inherently bad, the Fellow Who Works Too Hard misses out on the intellectual and social exchange with other fellows.

The Flaky Fellow, on the other hand, is always tanned, often hungover, and even more often absent in mind and body. Luckily, it is unlikely that a Flaky Fellow would set foot into CHF – or even cobble together a decent proposal for an application.

Eat

The Fellow Who Eats Too Little does not partake in CHF’s monthly Staff Appreciation Lunches, come to the weekly “Tea and Biscuit” afternoon break, or partake of the free food that magically appears around the building at various times. For Fellows Who Eat Too Much, there is a serious risk of sugar rushes, unsightly bits of cookie sticking out between one’s teeth, and poor chew-speech-coordination. Nevertheless, we strongly encourage fellows to have some bun on a regular basis.

Dress

The Scruffy Fellow and the Preppy Fellow live happily side by side at CHF (we love the Fellow Who Looks and Dresses Like a Model best, of course). Yet conferences and events are potential pitfalls. Depending on the nature of the event, one might want to dust off one’s top hat, or just one’s shoes.

Love

The Fellow Who Does Not Bring Chocolate is a thing we do not speak of. But the Fellow Who Brings Chocolate is a particularly well-loved fellow. Studies have shown that early conditioning guarantees the best results in this respect.

Dream

The Passive Fellow, who does not mention strengths and weaknesses of the fellowship experience to the Fearless Fellowship Leader (FFL), will not change the world any time soon. True, the FFL is only human and often in desperate need of a cool washcloth on her brow, but her ears are always open. Thanks to the constant communication of past and present fellows, we have been able to improve some aspects of the fellowship already. The future is up to everyone. So tell us about your dreams. Who knows – they might come true.

* * *

And there you have it: Work. Eat. Dress. Love. Dream. And you shall be a happy CHF Fellow.

“What are those fellows, anyway?” is a question I read between the wrinkles on the foreheads of some nonacademic people in and around CHF every once in a while. From a corporate perspective those fellows are curious creatures indeed. They do not keep a strict lunch break from noon to 1:00 p.m. on the dot, but munch their way through the day; they often stay in their offices long beyond 5:00 p.m., then do not turn up at 8:30 the next morning; they think a lot but don’t really seem to be doing anything, do they? And they get paid for that, too!

At this point the raising of an eyebrow increases the wrinkles in the forehead in a rather unappealing manner, strange for the beholder and certainly not good for the mental welfare of the wrinkler. Therefore, let me enlighten you about fellows and their raison d’être.

The most famous history of the learned fryer Bacon (Othmer Library)

What is a fellow?

At CHF, fellows are folks of both sexes who are either close to the completion of their Ph.D.s or those fabulous creatures who can really stand up with authority when someone asks whether there is a Dr. in the house.

What does a fellow do?

CHF fellows are historians (and kinsmen from other, related disciplines) who do research in the history of chemistry in a rather broad sense of “chemistry.” They write their dissertations and some small publications if predoctoral, and mind-boggling, life-changing articles and books if postdoctoral. (The writing process involves a lot of thinking, wandering the halls, keeping odd hours, and munching, because an academic brain is a creative and hence somewhat chaotic one.)

Why do they do it?

Well, every profession has a system for training new generations. In medieval guilds a master would take on apprentices, who, after learning the tricks of the trade and passing tests, would become journeymen. In Germany they actually took their tools and skills from town to town, traveling and practicing their craft and walking off their little heels until humble or cynical enough to become a master. That usually took seven years or thereabouts.

Academics still do that, if you don’t count B.A.s, M.A.s., and all that jazz: the Ph.D. is the apprenticeship – a scholar gets all the tools and skills he needs to be a successful, oh, let’s say, historian of chemistry. Tales about people getting tenured (= becoming masters) directly after their doctoral degree are purely anecdotal. What a good scholar needs is time to stretch his intellectual legs, produce more work, see the academic world, and prove himself. And that is what we call a fellowship.

Postdoctoral fellows need recovery from teaching to remind themselves of their research skills and take their field (say, the history of chemistry, and why not?) to new heights. Also, those students really can get on one’s nerves . . .

There are only so many worthy institutions that dish out fellowships, but CHF is one of them. We take scholars under our wing so that they can flourish. And in return they let us partake in their successes. It’s a system that has been approved, tested, and proven yet again for centuries. And thus, the history of chemistry and the history of fellowships join hands right here, on 315 Chestnut St.

If that does not make you smile or at least de-wrinkle your forehead, I hear that modern chemistry has found (through whatever process, one wonders) that certain toxins can paralyze your face muscles nicely to the same effect. De-wrinkling of the brain muscle, however, is something that happens naturally – and something this blog can help fight if you let it.

*To be continued*