STEP - Science and Technology in the European Periphery

Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology Resident Scholar
Program

The Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology Resident
Scholar Program, supported by The Dibner Fund, awards stipends of
$3,500.00 per month for up to six months for individuals working on a
topic relating to the history of science and technology who can make
substantial use of collections in the Dibner Library. Historians,
librarians, doctoral students, and post-doctoral scholars are welcome to apply. Scholars must be in residence at the Dibner Library during the
award period. Scholars wanting to do research in other areas of SI
Libraries' Special Collections should apply for the Baird Society Resident
Scholar Program.

The core of the holdings of the Dibner Library of the History of Science
and Technology consists of approximately 10,000 rare books and manuscripts that were generously donated to the nation by the Burndy Library (founded by Bern Dibner) on the occasion of the nation's Bicentennial (1976). The strengths of the Dibner Library collection are in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, classical natural philosophy, theoretical physics (up to the early twentieth century), experimental physics (especially electricity and magnetism), engineering technology (from the Renaissance to the late nineteenth century), and scientific apparatus and instruments.

The rare books, which date from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries, include significant holdings of works by Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Euclid, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Leonhard Euler, René Descartes, and Pierre Simon, marquis de Laplace, and Aristotle. Scientists represented by significant manuscript papers include Dominique François Arago, Humphry Davy, John William Lubbock, Isaac Newton, Henri Milne-Edwards, Hans Christian Øersted, Henry Hureau de Sénarmont, Benjamin Silliman, Jr., and Silvanus P. Thompson. The Dibner Library collections support the research interests of Smithsonian staff in the National Museum of American History,
and provide valuable resources for the other Smithsonian museums and research units.

To be competitive, the applicant should describe in detail how he/she
intends to use the collections of the Dibner Library. While the Libraries'
extensive general collections may be used to support scholars' research, the focus of their projects must center around the Dibner Library's Special Collections.

To learn more about the collection, please visit the Dibner Library's
website. Our holdings are searchable via the SI Libraries' online
catalog, SIRIS.

To have an application form mailed to you or for further information, call
202-633-3872, or email SILResidentScholars@si.edu.

The deadline is March 15, 2011 for appointments during the 2012 calendar year. Applications must be postmarked by this date to be considered.

We strongly encourage candidates to send their applications via Federal Express or comparable courier to avoid any delays.

For standard USPS deliveries and correspondence:

SIL Resident Scholar Programs
Attn: Selection Committee
P.O. Box 37012
NMAH 1041 MRC 672
Washington, DC 20013-7012

For Federal Express shipments and other carriers requiring a street address:

SIL Resident Scholar Programs
Attn: Selection Committee
12th St. & Constitution Ave., NW
NMAH 1041 MRC 672
Washington, DC 20650-0672