Betty Smocovitis and Thomas Söderqvist:

Live or dead?
Problems in writing lives of recent scientists

Tirsdag, den 25. november 2003, kl. 19.45
i auditorium 10 på H. C. Ørsted Instituttet,
Universitetsparken 5, København

Abstract

The genre of biography has made a come-back in the history of science. In the last ten years a large number of well-written and scholarly biographies of scientists have been published. A significant share of these books deal with subjects who interacted with the author in the research process. Are there any problems in this quest for writing about living scientists? How to draw the limit between historical research and investigative journalism? How to deal with the ethical problems involved? How to deal with questions of subjectivity and emotional engagement? Betty Smocovitis and Thomas Söderqvist have both been engaged in these and similar issues over the last years and will engage in a plenary discussion with the audience about the topic.

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