Current Fellows

The Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry at the Science History Institute is pleased to announce our 2025–2026 class of fellows.

Our incoming fellows come from institutions around the United States and the world and use our collections to study a wide range of topics in the history and social studies of chemistry, chemical engineering, and the life sciences.

In addition to our postdoctoral, dissertation, distinguished, and short-term research fellows, the Beckman Center will once again welcome a two-year curatorial fellow who will assist with ongoing projects as staff members, expanding and exploring interpretive programs for our library and museum.

Fellows: 1987 to Present

The Beckman Center has hosted over 350 scholars from around the world. See a list of our fellows, along with their research topics and affiliation at the time of their stay.

Curatorial Fellow

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Cain Curatorial Fellow

Public History

Haas/NEH Postdoctoral Research Fellow

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Samantha Wesner

Haas Postdoctoral Fellow

Citizens Electric: Electricity and Democracy in the Revolutionary Atlantic World

Postdoctoral Research Fellows

Dissertation Fellows

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Elizabeth Bennett

Price-Cain Postdoctoral Fellow


From the Ashes, From the Acid: Histories and Geographies of Coal Refuse Management, Acid Mine Drainage Remediation, and Economic Development in Pennsylvania

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Adam Quinn

Haas Postdoctoral Fellow


The Nature of Computing: The Making of Computers and the Remaking of American Capitalism

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Csaba Olasz

Allington Dissertation Fellow
University of California, San Diego


The Humanist Impulse: A Movement Against Scientific Reductionism, 1950–1980

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Koyna Tomar

Doan Dissertation Fellow
University of Pennsylvania


Dairy Democracy: Science, Cooperatives, and Capital in the Agrarian History of Modern India, 1880–1991

Cain Conference Fellows

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Bernard Lightman

York University, Canada


The Global History of Modern Science, 1400–1914

man in yellow collared shirt

Hugh Slotten

University of Otago, New Zealand


The Global History of Modern Science, 1400–1914

Senior Fellows

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Claiton Marcio da Silva

Haas Senior Fellow
Federal University of the Southern Frontier, Brazil


From Agent Orange to Tordon: Dow Chemical Controversies in Brazil (1970–1985)

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Sarah Everts

Haas Senior Fellow
Carleton University, Canada


Our Odor Awakening

books on a shelf

Jacqueline Robinson

Ullyot Scholar
Independent Scholar


Countless Dignities: William A. Lester, Jr., Chemist and Educational Pioneer

Short-Term Fellows

Nikhil Joseph Dharan in green sweater over tan collared corduroy shirt

Nikhil Joseph Dharan

Cain Fellow
University of Pennsylvania


Colonial Alchemies: Chemical Knowledge and the Industrial Landscape in South India, 1890–1940

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Caroline Douglas

Otlet Fellow
Royal College of Art, United Kingdom


Cloths of Gold and Silver Stuff: Locating Elizabeth Fulhame in Early Photography

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Adriana Fraser

Seidel Fellow
University of Pennsylvania


Making Danger: Biological Weapons Research, Biosafety, and the Management of Microbial Life, 1940–1990

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Muskan Garg

Mistry Fellow
University of Toronto


Mapping the Global Circulation of Industrial Dyeing Knowledge

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Nayanika Ghosh

Price Fellow
Duke University


Nature and Nation: Sociobiology and the Emergence of Feminist Science Critique in the Postwar United States

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Nicole Liao

Cain Fellow
University of Toronto


“Truth to Nature”: Synthetic Color, Biology and Photo Media in the 19th Century

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David Soares Mesquita

Doan Fellow
University of Lisbon


Integrating Alchemy into Academic Medicine: The Case of Estêvão Rodrigues de Castro (1559–1637)

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Léon Pradeau

Allington Fellow
University of Chicago


Morris A. Robbins: Essaying Prosthesis

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Audrey Rankin

Herdegen Fellow
Temple University


Collecting for the Crown and Capital: Scientific Networks, Reform, and Ideas of Empire in Late 18th-Century New Granada

Research Fellows

Mary Ellen Bowden, wearing glasses, smiling, blurred background

Mary Ellen Bowden

Science History Institute Senior Research Fellow

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