7th Laboratory History Conference

Leuven, 6-8 June 2011

First Announcement
Call for Papers

The 7th Laboratory History Conference will be organized in Leuven (Belgium) from 6 to 8 June 2011. This conference is the first Laboratory History Conference to be staged in Europe. Earlier conferences have been organized in Baltimore (2009) and Brookhaven (2010). Host of the conference is the Research Unit Cultural History after 1750 at K.U. Leuven (http://www.arts.kuleuven.be/culturalhistory/).

The aim of the conference is to investigate the history of the modern laboratory in relation to its institutional environment, ranging over national styles of research, different disciplines and both formal and informal functions. We welcome contributions that address such topics as the early modern laboratory; the laboratory in the colonial and developing world; field stations, observatories, research vessels and other non-traditional laboratories; the practice of testing, measuring and quality control; biomedical laboratories and clinics; virtual laboratories and the cultural representation of the laboratory. We are also interested in papers that discuss strategies for documenting the history of the laboratory, such as oral sources, archives, photography, and ‘born digital’ records.

Contributions should not exceed 25 minute presentations, in order to provide ample space for discussion and commentaries.

Participants wishing to present a paper should send a 200 word abstract to labhist7@arts.kuleuven.be before 15 January 2011. Acceptance of the papers will be announced in early February.

For further information please contact Prof. Geert Vanpaemel or Eline Van Assche at labhist7@arts.kuleuven.be.