Patricia Fara
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Patricia Fara | |
|---|---|
 Fara in 2018 | |
| Known for | Women in science |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | History of science |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
Patricia Fara is a college lecturer in the history of science at Clare College, Cambridge. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and did her PhD at the University of London.[1] She is a former Fellow of Darwin College and is an Emerita Fellow of Clare College, where she was previously Director of Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science.[2] Fara was also a College Teaching Officer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science.[3] From 2016 to 2018, Fara was President of the British Society for the History of Science. In 2016, she became President of the Antiquarian Horological Society.[4][5] Fara is author of numerous popular books on the history of science and has been a guest on BBC Radio 4's science and history discussion series In Our Time.[6]
Fara began her career as a physics teacher but returned to graduate studies as a mature student to specialise in History and Philosophy of Science, completing her PhD thesis at Imperial College, London, in 1993.[7][8]
Research and writing
Her areas of particular academic interest include the role of portraiture and art in the history of science, science in 18th-century England during the Enlightenment, and the role of women in science. She has written about numerous women in science, mathematics, engineering and medicine, including: Hertha Ayrton, Lady Helen Gleichen, Mona Chalmers Watson, Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, Isabel Emslie Hutton, Flora Murray, Ida Maclean, Marie Stopes, and Martha Annie Whiteley.[7][9][10][11][12] Fara has argued for expanded access to childcare as a means of increasing the retention of women in science.[4] She has written and co-authored a number of books for children on science. Fara is also a reviewer of books on history of science.[13] She has written the award-winning Science: A Four Thousand Year History (2009)[14][15] and Erasmus Darwin: Sex, Science, and Serendipity (2012).[16] Her most recent book is A Lab of One's Own: Science and Suffrage in the First World War (2017).[17][18][19] In 2013, Fara published an article in the journal Nature, stressing the fact that biographies of female scientists perpetuate stereotypes.[20]
Awards
- 2011: Dingle Prize, British Society for the History of Science for Science: A Four Thousand Year History (2009)[14]
- 2022: Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics[21]
