History of Science

The goal of the graduate Program in History of Science at Princeton is to enhance our students' enthusiasm for the subject while also training them for the joint professional responsibilities of teaching and research. Under the aegis of the Department of History, the Program in History of Science treats science as an intellectual, cultural, and social phenomenon. Recognizing that the study of the history and social aspects of science requires special training and techniques not normally included in the education of professional historians or other scholars, the program provides qualified students with that special training while at the same time preparing them to teach and work in general history.

Our approach to graduate training is also distinctive in the extent to which it requires formal qualifications in other areas of history. Graduate students in this program are simultaneously members of the Department of History; in fact, their degrees are awarded in history. Faculty members in the program are also members of the Department of History.

The maximum period of regular enrollment in the program (as in the Department of History at large) is five years, including time spent on research in absentia. Program students can normally expect financial support throughout those five years at a level at least equal to that offered them upon admission to the Graduate School, presuming of course that they make satisfactory progress toward the Ph.D. degree.  Students have the opportunity to be enrolled for up to two additional years in Dissertation Completion Enrollment (DCE) status if additional time is necessary to complete the dissertation.

Courses:

During the first two years, students pursue a pattern of course work aimed at preparing them for the general examination and training them in the research techniques of professional scholarship. Students normally participate in two to three graduate courses per term. Students lacking prior background are encouraged to take undergraduate courses to supplement their graduate training. Although the precise pattern of courses depends on the individual, students plan their programs within the broad outlines set by the general examination.  Each course usually meets once a week for three hours. A course may be either the seminar type, centering on individual students preparing research papers, or the more general, reading type, aimed at having students gain a broad acquaintance with a subject or a mixture of both.

Language(s):

Program students should demonstrate a reading knowledge of two foreign languages as soon as possible after enrollment. French and German are normally recommended, but other languages relevant to the student’s prospective research may be substituted with the approval of the director of graduate studies. Candidates are not readmitted for a fifth term of study or permitted to complete the general examination until the language requirement has been satisfied.

The faculty of the Department of History set most of the language examinations. Examinations in some languages, however, may be administered by appropriate language departments at Princeton. Normally the examination consists of two passages to be translated, one with and one without a dictionary. Language examinations will be announced at the beginning of each semester. Other examinations should be scheduled in consultation with the director of graduate studies and (if appropriate) the department involved.

In addition to preparing for the general examination, students are advised to take seminars in the history of science that do not fall within their examination fields. Students focusing on European or American science are expected to take at least one course that deals with science, medicine, or technology in the non-Western world, and vice versa. Students are encouraged to look beyond the program as they pursue suitable coursework or language study related to their particular scholarly interests.

Pre-Generals Requirements(s):

Writing Requirement

Students are required to write two research papers based on primary sources before sitting for the general examination. Students often write one of these research papers in the context of a graduate seminar and another based on independent research.  The first must be completed and certified by June 15 of the first year of enrollment and the second by April 1 of the second year.

General Exam:

The general examination is normally taken at the end of the second year and consists of three sets of written and oral examinations in (1) a major field in the history of science, medicine, or technology; (2) a minor field in another area of history; and (3) one of the following options: (a) a second special field in the history of science, medicine, or technology, (b) a second field in another area of history, or (c) a field in some related subject, for example, philosophy of science, science and technology studies, or anthropology of science. Precise definitions of fields, and special concentrations within them, are worked out in consultation with the director of graduate studies for the Program in the History of Science and appropriate faculty members in the field before the beginning of the fourth semester of graduate study.

Qualifying for the M.A.:

The Master of Arts (M.A.) degree is normally an incidental degree on the way to full Ph.D. candidacy, but also may be awarded to students who, for various reasons, leave the Ph.D. program. Students who have satisfactorily passed all required coursework (with all incompletes resolved), fulfilled the language requirements in their field of study, and completed the two required research papers may be awarded an M.A. degree.

Teaching:

The Department of History tries to provide part-time teaching experience for most of the advanced graduate students who desire it. Teaching assistantships generally involve two to four classroom hours a week and should not interfere with progress toward completing the dissertation. Appointments are made by the department chair, according to the needs of the undergraduate teaching schedule, to third-, fourth-, and fifth-year graduate students.

Post-Generals Requirement(s):

Following the general examination, all students are expected to attend a two-day seminar on the responsible conduct of research as well as the departmental prospectus workshop.

Dissertation and FPO:

Students devote their last three years of study to the research for and writing of a dissertation. The dissertation ordinarily falls within a special field in the history of science that constitutes part of the student’s general examination. By December 1 of his or her third year of enrollment, each student is required to submit a detailed dissertation prospectus and outline for faculty approval; the deadline for students who take the general examination at a time other than May of the second year will be arranged in consultation with the director of graduate studies. Where research requires an absence abroad or elsewhere in this country, it usually takes place during the fourth year so that students may most effectively combine completion of the dissertation with the search for employment during the fifth year. Upon completion of the dissertation and its approval by at least two readers (usually, but not necessarily, members of the Department of History), the student takes a final public oral examination devoted to a defense of the dissertation and a discussion of its implications for further work.

The Ph.D. is awarded after the candidate’s doctoral dissertation has been accepted and the final public oral examination sustained.

• Application Fee: $90
• Statement of Academic Purpose
• Resume/Curriculum Vitae
• Recommendation Letters
• Transcripts
• Fall Semester Grades
• Prerequisite Tests
• English Language Tests
• GRE : General test

Additional Departmental Requirements: 

• Sample of written work.

For Ph.D. candidates, tuition and fees during a student’s regular period of enrollment are provided in full from a student’s graduate student financial support, in the form of tuition support from fellowships, assistantships, or external sources.

The annual stipend amount provided to Ph.D. candidates during their regular enrollment is intended to support a single graduate student based on estimated costs. Master’s students or students with spouses and/or dependents may require additional resources to support their living expenses