Lauren RubensteinAn essay by Associate Professor of History Jennifer Tucker is included in The Five Photographs that (You Didn’t Know) Changed Everything, a five-part BBC radio series focusing on historically important yet little-known photographs. In her segment, The Tichborne Claimant, Tucker tells the story of how an 1866 photograph of a butcher in Wagga Wagga, Australia, played a central role in a case that gripped Victorian Britain and had an enormous impact on our legal system, raising questions about what photography is for and how it should be used. Says Tucker: “Sometimes even a mundane photograph can have a powerful and…
Olivia DrakeFour faculty from the History Department participated in the American Historical Association Meeting in New York City Jan. 2-5. The topic was "History and Other Disciplines." Professor of History Ethan Kleinberg presented “Just the Facts: The Fantasy of a Historical Science." Kleinberg also is the director of the Center for the Humanities, professor of letters and executive editor of History and Theory. Assistant Professor of History Victoria Smolkin-Rothrock spoke on “From a Society Free of Religion to Freedom of Conscience: How Toleration Emerged from within Totalitarianism." She also is assistant professor of Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian studies and tutor in the College of…
Tucker, Danaparamita '13 on the British Museum's loan of the Parthenon marbles to Russia
Associate Professor Jennifer Tucker has been selected for a Fulbright-U.S. Scholar Award, through which she will spend eight months at the University of York in England. Tucker is a historian of British science, technology and medicine, specializing in the study of the connections among British science, photography and the visual arts from 1850 to 1920. At the University of York, she will complete work on her second book, tentatively titled, Facing Facts: The Tichborne Cause Célèbre and the Rise of Modern Visual Evidence. She also plans to begin preliminary research toward her next book project, which will trace the social…
Jennifer Tucker will serve as interim director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, beginning immediately through the end of the fall 2013 semester. Tucker has accepted this position in order to enable the faculty and the university to formulate a vision for the Allbritton Center that will engage the curriculum and faculty scholarship, and enhance the intellectual life of the university. Her work this year will provide a framework for strategic planning and guide the search for a new director. Tucker is chair and associate professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, associate professor of history,…
David PesciOn Sept. 18, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history, associate professor of science in society, associate professor and chair of feminist, gender and sexuality studies. In light of the current mission of the Mars Curiosity Rover, Tucker writes about the centuries-long search for extraterrestrial life. The op-ed can be read online here. On Aug. 23, The New York Times published an op-ed by Tucker. Tucker says that the science behind Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin’s comments on rape is completely sound, at least from the perspective of the 12th Century. She says that what may be…
Jennifer Tucker gave a talk on "An electric shock upon society: The British Association and electro-metallurgy," during the Scholars’ Day Workshop on Victorian Electrotypes March 26 at the at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Tucker is associate professor of history, associate professor in the Science in Society Program, and associate professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies. The workshop was held in conjunction with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's display of electrotypes, the metalwork reproductions that were among the first European decorative arts purchased by the Museum in the 1870s and 1880s. These highly sculptural and often monumental pieces were…
In this issue we ask "5 Questions" of Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history, associate professor of science in society, and associate professor feminist, gender and sexuality studies. Q: Professor Tucker, you started off with an undergrad degree in biology but you’re on the History Department's faculty here and specialize in, among other areas, Victorian London and British cultural history. How did your interest evolve in these directions? A: I entered college with a strong interest in history, but I also loved science courses. At Stanford I combined a major in the neurosciences of visual perception and memory with coursework…
Jennifer Tucker received a Huntington-British Academy Fellowship for study in Great Britain in summer 2011. Tucker is associate professor of history, associate professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, associate professor of science in society. In cooperation with the British Academy, the Huntington offers a limited number of one-month exchange fellowships in any of the fields in which the Huntington collections are strong and where the research will be carried out in the United Kingdom. These fellowships are awarded to postdoctoral scholars. The Huntington is an independent research center with holdings in British and American history, literature, art history, and…
Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history, associate professor of science in society, associate professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, is the recipient of the Curran Fellowship for 2011, according to the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP). The Curran Fellowship, made possible through the generosity of Eileen Curran, professor emerita of English at Colby College, and inspired by her pioneering research, provides research and travel grants intended to aid scholars studying 19th-century British magazines and newspapers in making use of primary print and manuscript sources. Tucker is carrying out a study of the British press's coverage of the Tichborne Claimant…
A photography book featuring contributions by Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history, associate professor of science in society, chair and associate professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, was shortlisted for the 2009 And/or Book Awards, the UK’s leading prizes for books published in the fields of photography and the moving image. The book, Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible, 1840-1900 , was written by Tucker, Corey Keller, Tom Gunning and Maren Gröning. It is published by Yale University Press. The book received the And/or Book Award during an awards ceremony April 23 in London.