I am a historian of science and an environmental historian. Some of my current research topics are the histories of scientific and Mā’ohi accounts of the origin of Pacific islands, the history of underwater listening, and the history of biotechnology in Britain. My first book, Darwin’s Evolving Identity, was published in 2018 by the University of Chicago Press. You can find more information about it here. My most recent publication was a chapter in the new (2023) edition of The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean.
Since June 2019, I have been Historian of the Life Sciences at the Center for Humanities & History of Modern Biology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. In addition to being a major site for biomedical research, CSHL holds extensive historical collections in its library and archives. I encourage humanities scholars at any career stage to consider applying for one of our visiting fellowships.
I am also a lecturer in history at Tufts University, where I teach courses on environmental history, the history of Oceania, and the history of science.
After completing my Ph.D. (Princeton) in History of Science in 2009, I held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, worked for the Darwin Correspondence Project, and taught as a lecturer in history of science at Harvard University. From 2012 to 2018, I was assistant professor of history at Vanderbilt University, and in 2020-2021 I was senior research fellow in the Program on Science, Technology & Society at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
My research has taken me to archives and field sites on several continents; you will find photos from my travels throughout these pages and several photo essays here.
My writing has appeared in Science and Nature, in Cabinet magazine, and in a number of other academic journals and books. Find more information on my publications here.
About the banner photo: Cocos (Keeling) Islands in 2016, a view from inside the lagoon of the south atoll eastward to the Indian Ocean.
About the inset photo: Tahiti in 2016, looking across to the neighboring island of Moorea. (I write about this view in chapter 4 of Darwin’s Evolving Identity.)