"Science and technology on the European Periphery" to be held at the National University of Ireland Galway on 17-20 June 2010 (360G-Wellcome-092788_Z_10_Z)

Science and Technology on the European Periphery (STEP) is a network (rather than a society, it has no funding) which includes representatives from a wide range of European countries. Members' work focuses on countries other than Britain, Germany and France which arc traditionally viewed as the major players in the history of science. This meeting is the first to take place in Ireland and will particularly serve to incorporate Ireland's history of science, technology and medicine community into broader European networks. The meeting particularly encourages transnational comparisons. Previous STEP meetings have tended to be dominated by the history of physical sciences. The organizers have explicitly sought to involve historians of the biomedical sciences in this conference in order to make the group more inclusive and interdisciplinary. To this end, Professor Nick Jardine of Cambridge University has been confirmed as a plenary speaker. He will speak on natural history and peripheries in the nineteenth century. Papers on the history of medicine were solicited and form a significant component of the programme. We also wish to invite a second plenary speaker, Daniela Bleichmar (University of Southern California) to speak on the subject of colonial botany and eighteenth-century medicine.