Pnina Abir-Am

Areas of Expertise

History of Women and Gender in Science; History & Memory; History of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

Email: pninaga@brandeis.edu

Current Project

"The Public Debate on the Under-representation of Women in Science: History, Social Dynamics and Policy Ramifications (funded as a SGER Award by NSF)." This project explores the ongoing debate on "women in science" that was triggered in January 2005 by Harvard's then President, L. Summers, continued with the National Academy of Science's Report on "Bias and Barriers" in September 2006, and the Karpova-Tonegawa scandal at MIT early in 2007. The Project uses archival research, interviews, and participant observation at a variety of academic events. The aim is to publish a book that extracts policy recommendations from historical case-studies.

Biography

Pnina G. Abir-Am has published widely in the history of science, especially on molecular biology, women and gender, and the politics of collective memory.  She received the first History of Science Award for outstanding research essay in the history of women in science; her work has been translated into French, Spanish, Chinese, and is well known in the international arena.  She taught at the University of California at Berkeley, Johns Hopkins University, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the bilingual university of Canada, the University of Ottawa, where she had also served as Joint Chair of Women's Studies (jointly with Carlweton University).  She lectured in over a dozen  countries including keynote addresses in the US, Venezuela, Holland, and Israel.

Education

Ph.D., University of Montreal

M.Sc., Hebrew University of Jerusalem

B.Sc., Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Representative Publications

Abir-Am, Pnina. “Molecular Biology and its Recent Historiography.” History of Science 44 (March 2006): 95-118.

Uneasy Careers and Intimate Lives, Women in Science, 1789-1979, Rutgers University Press, 1989.

Links

Curriculum Vitae 

Personal Web Page

Scientific Legacies

Scientific Legacies - Pnina Abir-Am