Yvan Prkachin, PhD

CV

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Education

PhD, History of Science, 2012–2018
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachussetts

  • Dissertation:  Wired Together: The Montreal Neurological Institute and the Origins of Modern Neuroscience, 1928-1965.
  • Dissertation Committee:  Prof. Anne Harrington (Supervisor and Chair), Prof. Rebecca Lemov, Dr. David Jones.

Master of Arts, History, 2006–2008
University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario

  • Thesis:  “The Chemophilic Society”: Addiction Research After the Classic Period of Narcotic Control, 1957–1975.
  • Supervisor: Dr. Catherine Carstairs

Bachelor of Arts, Honors, History, 2001–2006
University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia

  • Thesis:  “‘Chinks Pay Heavily for Hitting Pipe’: The Perception and Enforcement of Canada’s New Drug Laws in Rural and Northern British Columbia, 1908–1930."

Publications

Articles

“A Tale of Two Neurosciences: Montreal, MIT, Memory and the Origins of Neuroscience.” (submitted to Isis).

“Two Solitudes: Wilder Penfield, Ewen Cameron and Search for a Better Lobotomy.” (in progress, to be submitted to the Bulletin of Medical History).

“The broken brain in the machine: Donald Hebb, Nathanial Rochester, and the Surgical Origins of the Neural Network.” (in progress, to be submitted to Critical Inquiry).

“‘Mother is the First Teacher’: Critical Periods, Bilingualism and Wilder Penfield’s Vision of the Canadian Family.” (in progress, to be submitted to Science in Context).

“‘Chinks Pay Heavily for Hitting Pipe’: The Perception and Enforcement of Canada’s New Drug Laws in Rural and Northern British Columbia, 1908-30.” BC Studies 153 (Spring 2007): 73–105.

Select Fellowships, Scholarships, and Awards

Fellowships

Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Completion Fellowship, 2017–18.

Mary Louise Nickerson Fellowship in Neuro History (Osler Library), 2016.

Harvard Weatherhead Center for International Relations Canada Studies Fellowship, 2015.

Mary Louise Nickerson Fellowship in Neuro History (Osler Library), 2013.

Scholarships

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship, 2012-2016.

Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2007.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Graduate Scholarship, 2006.

Awards

Harvard University Bok Center Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Spring 2019 (Lecturer), Fall 2018

Harvard University Bok Center Distinction in Teaching Award, Spring 2017, Fall 2016, & Spring 2016, Spring 2015.

Teaching Experience

Lecturer in the History of Science
Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • History of Science 152v: Technology and Modern Medicine: From the Stethoscope to Nanotechnology (2019).
  • History of Science 176v: Mind and Brain: Themes in the History of Neuroscience (2019).
  • History of Science 177v: The Sciences of Memory, Lies and Pain (2019).

Teaching Fellow in the History of Science
Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • History of Science 170: Broken Brains.
  • Culture and Belief 34: Madness and Medicine—Themes in the History of Psychiatry (2014, 2016, 2018). Head Teaching Fellow.
  • History of Science 97: Sophomore Tutorial (2017).
  • History of Science 189: The World We Made: Technology and Society (2017).
  • History of Science 176: Brainwashing and Modern Techniques of Mind Control (2016).
  • History of Science 122v: Science in the Cold War (2016).