Paula Findlen (born 1964) is the Ubaldo Pierotti Professor of Italian History, the director of the Suppes Center for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, and the director of the SIMILE Program, all at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. Findlen received a bachelor's degree in Medieval/Renaissance Studies from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

in 1984, and from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

earned a master's in History in 1985 and a PhD in 1989. Her book titled ''Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy'' (1995) was given the

Pfizer Award The Pfizer Award is awarded annually by the History of Science Society "in recognition of an outstanding book dealing with the history of science" that was "published in English during a period of three calendar years immediately preceding the ...

in 1996 by the

History of Science Society The History of Science Society (HSS), founded in 1924, is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science. The society has over 3,000 members worldwide. It publishes the quarterly journal ''Isis'' and the yearly ...

. Her article "The Scientist's Body: The Nature of Woman Philosopher in Enlightenment Italy", in ''The Faces of Nature in Enlightenment Europe'', (Berlin: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2003), pp. 211–236, received the 2004 Margaret W. Rossiter History of Women in Science Prize from the

. In 2016, Findlen gave the inaugural Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Lecture on the history of collecting, at London V&A. That same year, she also received the Premio Galileo prize, an annual, international award for contributions to understanding Italian culture.

Selected publications

*''Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy'' *''Mapping the Republic of Letters'', with Caroline Winterer, Giovanna Ceserani and Dan Edelstein *''Early Modern Things: Objects and their Histories, 1500-1800'' *''Gusto for Things''
Why Go to Grad School?

References

1964 births Living people American women historians American historians of science Stanford University faculty Stanford University Department of History faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni Wellesley College alumni 21st-century American women {{US-sci-historian-stub