
Massimo Mazzotti
Associate Professor
Director of the Office for History of Science and Technology
University of California, Berkeley
543 Stephens Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-2350
ohst@berkeley.edu
Contact
Office: 2209 Dwinelle Hall
Hours: on Leave spring 2012
Phone: (510) 642-5690
Email: mazzotti@berkeley.edu
Education
Ph.D., University of Edinburgh, 2000
Laurea, Università di Milano, 1994
Professional experience
Lecturer and Senior Lecturer of Sociology at the University of Exeter (2002, 2007)
Kenneth May Fellow in the History of Mathematics, University of Toronto (2001-2002)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, MIT (1999-2001)
Research
Cultural history of mathematics, quantification, standardization (17c-20c).
Enlightenment science and technology.
Religion, science, and popular culture.
Science and technology in southern Europe.
Theoretical and methodological issues in science studies.
Books
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"Editor (with Giuliano Pancaldi) - Impure Cultures: Interfacing Science, Technologies, and Humanities, Bologna: University of Bologna - CIS, 2010." |
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Editor - Knowledge as Social Order. Rethinking the Sociology of Barry Barnes, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008. |
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Research Articles
Pensiero conservatore a scienze moderne a Napoli (1780-1830). In R. Mazzola (ed.), Le scienza a Napoli tra Illuminismo e Restaurazione, Naples: Aracne, 185-204, 2011.
Introductory essay to Impure Cultures: Interfacing Science, Technology, and Humanities. Bologna: University of Bologna – CIS, 2010, 5-18.
The Jesuit on the roof: observatory science, metaphysics and nation-building. In D. Aubin, C. Bigg, and O. Sibum (eds.), The Heavens on Earth: Observatories and Astronomy in Nineteenth-Century Science and Culture, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010, 68-94.
Engineering the Neapolitan state. In E. Robson and J. Stedall (eds.), /The Oxford Handbook of the History of Mathematics/, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, 253-272.
Madame du Châtelet, académicienne de Bologne. In U. Kölvig and O. Courcelle (eds.), /Émilie du Châtelet: éclairages et documents nouveaux/, Fernay-Voltaire: Centre internationale d’etudes du XVIIIme siecle, 2008, 127-132.
The Two Newtons and Beyond [Essay review]. /British Journal for the History of Science/, 2007, 40: 105-111.
Scienza, fede, e carità. Il cattolicesimo illuminato di Maria Gaetana Agnesi. In R. Simili (ed), /Scienza a due voci/, Florence: Olschki, 2006, 13-37.
I significati della precisione. Per una storia socioculturale dell'astrofisica italiana. In P. Govoni (ed), /Storia, scienza e società. Ricerche sulla scienza italiana di età moderna/, Bologna: University of Bologna, 2006, 143-173.
Enlightened Mills. Mechanizing Olive Oil Manufacture in Mediterranean Europe. /Technology and Culture/, 2004, 45: 277-304.
Newton for Ladies. Gentility, gender and radical culture. /British Journal for the History of Science/, 2004, 37: 119-146.
Le savoir de l’ingénieur: mathématiques et politique a Naples sous le Bourbons. /Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales/, 2002, 141-42: 86-97.
The making of the modern engineer: analytic rationality and social change. /History of Universities/, 2002, 17: 121-161.
The Neapolitan school: studying pure geometry in the period of revolutions. In E. Knobloch and J. Mawhin (eds.), /Studies in the history of mathematics dedicated to A.P. Youschkevitch/, Turnhout: Brepols, 2002, 107-112
Maria Gaetana Agnesi: mathematics and the making of Catholic Enlightenment. /Isis/, 2001, 92: 657-683.
For science and for the Pope-king: writing the history of the exact sciences in nineteenth-century Rome. /British Journal for the History of Science/, 2000, 33: 257-282.
La professionalizzazione della matematica: dall’analisi settecentesca alla matematica pura. In M. Segala and F. Abbri (eds.), /Il ruolo sociale della scienza/, Florence: Olschki, 2000, 115-126.
L’immagine della scienza nel Bullettino di Baldassarre Boncompagni (1868-1887). /Ricerche Storiche/, 1999, 29: 495-521.
The geometers of God: mathematics and reaction in the Kingdom of Naples. /Isis/, 1998, 87: 678-701.
Courses:
History 30A: The Origins of Modern Science
History 100: History of Technology
History 103: Science, Religion, and Magic in Early Modern Europe
History 275: History of Science
History 280: Scientific Objectivity
History 290: Historical Colloquium: History of Science
History 182A/T: Technology and Society in the Modern World
History 101: History of Science and Technology
Public Engagement:
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2011. Public Conference: Making Italian Science, 20 March. Celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. Museo Italo-Americano, San Francisco. |
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2010. Radio 24 (Italy). Nove in Punto, 1 December 2010. Radio Program on the future of scientific research and research universities in Italy. |
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2010. Documentary: Hunting the Edge of Space: How Telescopes Have Expanded Our View of the Universe, for PBS (NOVA series). Produced by Oliver Twinch and David Axelrod. Scientific consultant and participant. |
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2007-present. Member of the Scientific Committee of Observa-Science in Society, a institution that monitors public attitudes to science in Europe, and promotes public debate on the interaction of science and society. |
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2006. Radio France: program on Madame du Châtelet. Broadcasted as part of the series Les chemins de la conoissance. Author and contributor. |
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2006. Exhibition: Madame du Châtelet. La femme des Lumières. March 6 - June 3. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. Scientific consultant. |
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2004. Documentary: Brunel: The Greatest Southerner, for BBC1. Produced by Grant Pollard. Scientific consultant and contributor. |
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2004. Exhibition: The Newtonian Moment: Science and the Making of Modern Culture. October 8, 2004 - February 5, 2005. New York Public Library. Scientific consultant. |
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2004. Online edition of Francesco Algarotti’s Il Newtonianesimo per le dame (1737), in the series Bologna Science Classics Online. Editor and author of the introductory essay. |





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