I am a historian of science and medicine, specializing in early modern chemistry and the history of the early Royal Society. As a research fellow in the Modern History Faculty at the University of Oxford, I author scholarly publications and write for the popular press. I was formerly an associate professor at the University of Minnesota.
My current projects include a biography contracted by Brill Academic Publishing of the physician and naturalist Dr. Martin Lister (1638-1712). Entitled “Spider Man,” the book analyzes his contributions as England’s first arachnologist (spiders), conchologist (molluscs), as well as his service as vice-president of the Royal Society in the 1680s. This book has been funded by the British Academy, the Royal Society, and the National Science Foundation. I am also engaged upon transcribing and editing Lister’s correspondence for the Cultures of Knowledge project at the University of Oxford. Recently, I served as a consultant and was interviewed for BBC Four’s television program: Chemistry: A Volatile History.
