CFP Linnaean Worlds: Global Scientific Practice during the Great Divergence, 1750-1850
Call for Papers LINNAEAN WORLDS: GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC PRACTICE DURING THE GREAT DIVERGENCE, 1750-1850 First Annual Conference in the World History of Science May 4-5, 2012 Sponsored by the World History Center and the University of Pittsburgh Press, in collaboration with the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. Supported by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Proceedings Conducted at the University Of Pittsburgh * Conference Theme * The thesis that a "great divergence" abruptly separated East from West after centuries of economic parity has been extensively debated by world historians over the past decade. Whereas proto-industrial England looked surprisingly similar to southern China in 1750, the argument goes, by 1850 England's technological, economic, and military prowess had attained truly exceptional heights. Advantageous trade with the slave societies of the Americas, it turns out, was decisive in enabling Western Europe to b...