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Home > People : JB Shank

JB Shank

612/624-7323
Department of History 922 HellerH 271 19th Ave S
Curriculum Vitae

Department Affiliations


Specialties

  • Enlightenment science and Newtonianism
  • European intellectual history, especially 17th and 18th centuries
  • Renaissance science and culture
  • Old Regime France and the French Revolution
  • the history of Silicon Valley

Publications

  • "'There was no such thing as the 'Newtonian Revolution,' and the French initiated it:' Eighteenth-century Mechanics in France Before Maupertuis". Shank, JB, Author, 2004.
  • "Fontenelle's Calculus: The Cultural Politics of Mathematics in Louis XIV’s France". Shank, JB, in David Glimp and Michelle Warren eds, Arts of Calculation: Numerical Thought in Early Modern Europe, Palgrave/McMillan, Author, 2004.
  • "On the Alleged Cartesianism of Fontenelle". Shank, JB, Author, 2004.
  • Review: "J.A. English-Lueck, Cultures@Silicon Valley (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002).. Shank, JB, Author, November, 2003.
  • Review Essay: "Descartes in the Age of Jurassic Technology: A Review of Recent Scholarship,". Shank, JB, H-France http://www3.uakron.edu/hfrance/reviews/shank2.html, Author, May, 2003.
  • Before Voltaire: Newton, "Newtonianism," and the Beginning of the Enlightenment in France. Shank, JB, University of Chicago Press, Author, 2005.
  • Neither Natural Philosophy, Nor Science, Nor Literature: Gender and the Pursuit of Nature in Fontenelle' s Entretiens. Shank, JB, 2005.

Research Activities

  • Beyond the Two Cultures: the Arts and Sciences Before the Modern Disciplines: Book project, 2004
  • Book Manuscript: Before Voltaire: Newton, "Newtonianism," and the Beginning of the French Enlightenment, 1995 - 2005

Awards

  • Fullbright Fellow, France, 1995 - 1996
  • Fellow in the Humanities, Stanford University, 1999 - 2000
  • McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, 2004 - 2006

Courses Taught

  • Hist 5621 - Proseminar: The French Revolution
  • Hist 5649 - Ideas in Context: Making Early Modern Knowledge, 1500-1800
  • Hist 3281 - Modern European Intellectual History I, 1500-1750
  • History 5650 - The European Enlightenment
  • Humanities 1003/3003 - Thought and Culture in the West 1400-1600
  • History 3900 - The Origins of Global Revolution, 1660-1848
  • History 3842 - The History of Silicon Valley
  • History 3709 - Science and Enlightenment: European Thought and Culture 1550-1750
  • History 1032 - "Western Civilization:" 1500 to the Present
  • Hist 8960/ArtHist 8956 - Arts of Discovery: Science and Visual Culture in the Age of of Exploration, 1500-1800
  • Humanities 1004/3004 - Thought and Culture in the West 1600-1800
  • Hist 3282 - Modern European Intellectual History II, 1750-Present
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