ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Histories of Science and the University 20 Years after William Clark's Academic Charisma

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

English Abstract

As universities across the globe face serious threats to their autonomy, it can be easy to forget that external bureaucratic discipline gave rise to the modern research university in the first place. Perhaps no historian elucidated this development more powerfully than the late William alias Bill Clark (1953-2017), whose contributions to the history of science and related fields were numerous during his all-too-brief lifespan. On the twentieth anniversary of the publication of his magnum opus Academic Charisma and the Origins of the Research University (2006) and the fortieth anniversary of the completion of his UCLA dissertation From the Medieval Universitas Scholarium to the German Research University: A Sociogenesis of the Germanic Academic (1986), this roundtable assembles scholars from across fields (history of science, intellectual history, and legal history), nations (Austria, Switzerland, and the U.S.), and career stages (early-, mid-, and late-career) who are united by their debt to Clark to explore the influence of and potential for his work:
Jan Golinski (New Hampshire) will discuss how Clark's work drew upon his training in the history of science.
Michael Hagner (Zürich) will reflect on his & Clark's common book project on the history of mad scientists, which never progressed beyond the stage of initial drafts and sketches, but nonetheless reveals much about Clark's thinking.
Peter Becker (Vienna) will examine Clark's influence on the development of an anthropological perspective within the history of public administration.
Adam Sitze (Amherst) will explore the relations between Clark's study of charisma in the German research university and Max Weber's 1917 lecture Wissenschaft als Beruf.
Alix Cooper (Stony Brook) will comment on her conversations with Clark about early modern professors' daughters, the pursuit of natural knowledge, and the structure of the academy.
Michael Banerjee (Berkeley) will evaluate Clark’s achievements as a legal historian.

Sub Unit

• Roundtable

Chair

• Alix Cooper, SUNY-Stony Brook

Participants

• Jan Golinski, University of New Hampshire

• Michael Hagner, ETH Zurich

• Peter Becker, University of Vienna

• Adam Sitze, Amherst College

• Alix Cooper, SUNY-Stony Brook

• Michael Banerjee, UC Berkeley

Session Organizers

• Alix Cooper, SUNY-Stony Brook

• Michael Banerjee, UC Berkeley