2009 Hixon-Riggs Forum on Science, Technology and Society

The 2009 Hixon-Riggs Forum on Science, Technology and Society will focus on science and technology in the making of modern China during two days of presentations and discussions.

Between China’s humiliating defeats at the hands of Japan and western powers at the turn of the 20th century, and the high-tech spectacle marking the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the country has undergone dramatic change.

Science and technology have played a pivotal role in the making of this change, but only recently have the contributions of science and engineering to the nation’s development begun to attract scholarly attention.

The 2009 Hixon conference at HMC draws together an international group of scholars to explore and showcase to the broader public the history of science and technology in modern China. On the agenda are the complications of transnational exchange; the interactions of scientific practices with their broader social and political context; and the policy issues that connect transnational exchange and internal developments.

Speakers include:

Grace Shen ("A host of nations: Cosmopolitanism, international
science and the Geological Society of China")

Danian Hu ("Academic heroism in wartime China: Science in the
Christian universities at Chengdu")

Li Zhang ("The social and political status of scientists under Mao:
The case of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1949-1966")

Sigrid Schmalzer ("Enemies and friends, natural and political:
Integrated pest control in Socialist China, corporate America, and beyond")

Cong Cao ("Whither China's talent pool?")

Rich Appelbaum ("China's (not so hidden) developmental state:
Becoming a leading nanotechnology innovator in the 21st century"),

Fa-ti Fan ("'The People's Science': Earthquake Prediction, Everyday
Knowledge, and Mass Politics in Communist China")

Tai Ming Cheung ("The development of modern Chinese military/dual-use
science and technology")

Ou Bao ("Soviet scientists in Chinese universities in the 1950s: The
case of Tsinghua")

Jiuchen Zhang ("Sino-Soviet cooperation in natural resources surveys:
Interactions between the two academies")

Richard P. Suttmeier ("From Cold War science diplomacy to partnering
in a networked world: 30 years of Sino-U.S. relations in science and
technology")

Zuoyue Wang ("Cultural nationalism and modernization: Chinese
American scientists in China")

with commentaries by R. Bin Wong, Kenneth Pomeranz, Rudi Volti, David
Arase, Alexei Kojevnikov, and Jessica Wang.

The conference is organized under the auspices of the Hixon Forum for Responsive Science and Engineering at Harvey Mudd College, and is co-sponsored by HMC’s Department of Humanities and Social Sciences; the Intercollegiate Program for the Study of Science, Technology, and Society at the Claremont Colleges; the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College; the Center for Chinese Studies at UCLA; the Historical Society for Twentieth Century China; and individual members of the Chinese-American community.

Click here for a schedule of the forum