Robert Brain
Thematic Research Area
Regional Research Area
About
Office Hours
Tue: 11:00-12:00
Thu: 15:30-16:30
Teaching
Research
Robert Michael Brain specializes in the history of science, technology, and medicine, and European cultural history.
He is the author of The Pulse of Modernism: Physiological Aesthetics in Fin-de-Siècle Europe (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015), and over sixty articles, chapters, and reviews. He co-edited Varieties of Empathy in Science, Art, and Culture, a special edition of Science in Context 25 (2012); and Han Christian Ørsted and the Romantic Legacy in Science (2007).He was co-curator of two innovative exhibitions: Empires of Physics and 1900: The New Age, at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, University of Cambridge.
Before coming to UBC, Robert Brain taught at Harvard and Stanford universities. He has held fellowships with the University of Cambridge, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, the Free University of Berlin, the Zentrum fur Literatur und Kulturforschung Berlin, and the University of Uppsala. Brain received a Ph.D. in History from UCLA, an M.A. in History of Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley.
Robert M. Brain is co-editor of the Routledge book series Science, Technology, and Culture 1700-1950. https://www.routledge.com/series/STAC
Research Interests
- History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
- Modern European Cultural and Intellectual History
Publications
Books
R.M. Brain. The Pulse of Modernism: Physiological Aesthetics in Fin-de-Siècle Europe. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015.
R.M. Brain, R.S. Cohen, O. Knudsen eds. Hans Christian Ørsted and the romantic legacy in science: ideas, disciplines, practices. Dordrecht: Springer, 2007.
R. Brain; S. Lanzoni; A. Young. Varieties of Empathy in Science, Art, and Culture. Special issue of Science in Context , Vol. 25 (2012).
Articles/Book Chapters
R. M. Brain, “Self-Projection: Hugo Munsterberg on Empathy and Oscillation in Cinema Spectatorship”, SCIENCE IN CONTEXT, vol. 25, pp. 329-353, 2012.
C. Borck, Coen, D., Lerner, P., Nyhart, L., and Brain, R., “The ’German Question’ in the History of Science and the ’Science Question’ in German History”, German History, vol. 29, pp. 628-639, 2011.
R. M. Brain, “Genealogy Of “ZANG TUMB TUMB”: Experimental Phonetics, Vers Libre, and Modernist Sound Art”, GREY ROOM, vol. 43, pp. 88-117, 2011.
R. M. Brain, “How Edvard Munch and August Strindberg Contracted Protoplasmania: Memory, Synesthesia, and the Vibratory Organism in Fin-de-Siecle Europe”, INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE REVIEWS, vol. 35, pp. 7-38, 2010.
R. M. Brain, “Protoplasmania: Huxley, Haeckel, and the Vibratory Organism in Fin de Siècle Visual Cultures”, in The Art of Evolution: Darwin, Darwinisms, and Visual Cultures, F. Brauer and Larson, B.University Presses of New England, 2009, pp. 92-123.
R. M. Brain and Whitmer, K., “Dissecting Vision in Early Science and Medicine: Essay Review”, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, pp. 448-453, 2009.
R. M. Brain, “Protoplasmania: Vibratory Organism and ‘Man’s Glassy Essence’ in the Later Nineteenth Century”, in Zeichen der Kraft: Wissensformationen 1800-1900, T. Brandstetter and Windgätter, C.Berlin: Kadmos Verlag, 2008, pp. 198-227.
R. M. Brain, “The pulse of modernism: experimental physiology and aesthetic avant-gardes circa 1900”, STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, vol. 39, pp. 393-417, 2008.
R. M. Brain, “Representation on the Line: Grafische Aufzeichnungsinstrumente und wissenschaftlicher Modernismus”, in Bild und Gestalt: Wie formen Medienpraktiken das Wissen in Medizin und Humanwissenschaften?, F. Stahnish and Bauer, H. Muenster & London: LIT Press, 2007, pp. 125-148.
R. M. Brain, “The Romantic Experiment as Fragment”, in Hans-Christian Ørsted and the Romantic Legacy in Science: Ideas, Disciplines, Practices, R. M. Brain, Cohen, R. S., and Knudsen, O. Dordrecht: Springer, 2007, pp. 217-234.
R. M. Brain, “Introduction”, in Hans-Christian Ørsted and the Romantic Legacy in Science: Ideas, Disciplines, Practices, R. M. Brain, Cohen, R. S., and Knudsen, O. Dordrecht: Springer, 2007, p. ix-xvii.
R. M. Brain, “Standards und Semiotik”, in Electric Laokoon: Zeichen und Medien von der Lochkarte zur Grammatologie, M. Franz, Schäffner, W., Siegert, B., and Stockhammer, R. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 2007, pp. 200-223.
R. M. Brain, “Nervous Management of Modern Science: Essay Review”, Perspectives on Biology and Medicine, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 459-465, 2007.
R. M. Brain, “Representation on the Line: The Graphic Method and the Instruments of Scientific Modernism”, in From Energy to Information: Representation in Science, Art, and Literature, B. Clark and Henderson, L. D. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002, pp. 155-178.
R. M. Brain, “The ontology of the questionnaire: Max Weber on measurement and mass investigation”, STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, vol. 32A, pp. 647-684, 2001.
R. M. Brain, “Standards and Semiotics”, in Inscribing Science, T. Lenoirand Gumbrecht, H. Ulrich Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998, pp. 249-285.
R. M. Brain and M. Wise, N., “Muscles and Engines: Indicator Diagrams and Helmholtz’s Graphical Methods”, in The Science Studies Reader , M. Biagioli 1998, pp. 51-66.
R. M. Brain, “Un étalon pour la force humaine”, Cahiers des Sciences & Vie, vol. 48, pp. 72-79, 1998.
R. M. Brain, “Bürgerliche Intelligenz. Essay Review”, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 617-635, 1996.
R. M. Brain, “The Standard Man”, The Cambridge Review, vol. 116, no. May 1995, pp. 13-24, 1995.
R. M. Brain, “Going to the Exhibition”, in The Physics of Empire. Public Lectures., R. Staley Cambridge: Whipple Museum Publications, 1994, pp. 113-142.
R. M. Brain and M. Wise, N., “Muscles and Engines: Indicator Diagrams and Helmholtz’s Graphical Methods”, in Universalgenie Helmholtz. Rückblick nach 100 Jahren, L. Krüger Berlin: Academie Verlag, 1994, pp. 124-148.
R. M. Brain and al., et, “La Salle Bertillon”, in 1900: The New Age. A Guide to the Exhibition, J. A. Bennett Cambridge: Whipple Museum, 1994, pp. 63-88.
R. M. Brain and al., et, “L’Image en Mouvement”, in 1900: The New Age. A Guide to the Exhibition, J. A. Bennett Cambridge: Whipple Museum, 1994, pp. 44-52.
R. M. Brain and al., et, “L’Exposition Universelle de 1900”, in 1900: The New Age. A Guide to the Exhibition, J. A. Bennett Cambridge: Whipple Museum, 1994, pp. 17-32.
R. M. Brain, “Exhibitions”, in Empires of Physics: A Guide to the Exhibition, J. A. Bennett and al., et Cambridge: Whipple Museum, 1993, pp. 59-65.
R. M. Brain, “Gerhard Domagk”, in Nobel Prize Winners in Medicine or Physiology, D. Fox and Rezak, I. New York and London: Garland Press, 1991, pp. 133-137.
R. M. Brain, “Georg von Bekesy”, in Nobel Prize Winners in Medicine or Physiology, D. Fox and Rezak, I. New York and London: Garland Press, 1991, pp. 34-37.
R. M. Brain, “Robert Baranyi”, in Nobel Prize Winners in Medicine or Physiology, D. Fox and Rezak, I. New York and London: Garland Press, 1991, pp. 23-26.
R. M. Brain, “The Geographical Vision and the Order of Popular Disciplines”, in Worldview and Discipline Formation: Science Studies in the German Democratic Republic, R. S. Cohen and Woodward, W.Dordrecht: Kluwer/Reidel Publishers, 1990, pp. 367-376.
Edited Work
R. Brain, Lanzoni, S., and Young, A., “Varieties of Empathy in Science, Art, and Culture. Special issue of Science in Context.”, Science in Context, vol. 25. 2012.
, “Varieties of Empathy in Science, Art, and Culture. Special issue of Science in Context.”, Science in Context, vol. 25. 2012.
Reference Entries
R. M. Brain, “Exhibitions”, Oxford Companion to the History of Science. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 283-286, 2002.
R. M. Brain, “International Exhibitions”, Reader’s Guide to the History of Science. Fitzroy Dearborn, London, pp. 241-244, 1999.
R. M. Brain, “Graphical Method”, Reader’s Guide to the History of Science. Fitzroy Dearborn, London, pp. 309-311, 1999.
R. M. Brain, “Polygraph”, Instruments of Science: A Historical Encyclopedia. Garland Press, New York, pp. 479-481, 1998.
R. M. Brain, “Kymograph”, Instruments of Science: A Historical Encyclopedia. Garland Press, New York, pp. 343-344, 1998.
Reviews
R. M. Brain, “A Natural History for the 21st Century: In Honor of Hans-Joerg Rheinberger”, ISIS, vol. 102. pp. 798-799, 2011.
R. M. Brain, “The Helmholtz Curves: In Search of the lost Time”, ISIS, vol. 102. pp. 578-579, 2011.
R. M. Brain, “Review of Jimena Canales’ The History of a Tenth of a Second (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009)”, Centaurus, vol. 52, no. 4. pp. 353-355, 2010.
R. M. Brain, “Dances with Darwin, 1875-1910: Vernacular Modernity in France”, ISIS, vol. 100. pp. 924-925, 2009.
R. M. Brain, “Vienna in the Age of Uncertainty: Science, Liberalism, and Private Life”, JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY HISTORY, vol. 40. pp. 103-106, 2009.
R. M. Brain, “Review of Rae Beth Gordon, Dances with Darwin, 1875-1910: Vernacular Modernity in France (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2009)”, Isis, vol. 100, no. 4. 2009.
R. M. Brain, “Review of Deborah Coen, Vienna in the Age of Uncertainty: Science, Liberalism, and Private Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007)”, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 40, no. 1. pp. 103-106, 2009.
R. M. Brain, “Review of Matthew Biro, The Dada Cyborg: Visions of the New Human in Weimar Berlin (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009). 436-437.”, Isis, vol. 102, no. 1. pp. 436-437, 2009.
R. M. Brain, “Review of Sven Dierig, Wissenschaft in der Machinenstadt: Emil Du Bois-Reymond und seine Laboratorien in Berlin (Göttingen:Wallstein, 2007)”, Isis, vol. 99, 2 vol. pp. 420-422, 2008.
R. M. Brain, “Technology and the culture of modernity in Britain and Germany”, MINERVA, vol. 45. pp. 331-335, 2007.
R. M. Brain, “Models: The third dimension of science”, JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY HISTORY, vol. 38. pp. 101-103, 2007.
R. M. Brain, “The dark side of nature: Science, society, and the fantastic in the work of Odilon Redon”, ISIS, vol. 98. pp. 408-409, 2007.
R. M. Brain, “Review of Barbara Larson, The Dark Side of Nature: Science, Society, and the Fantastic in the Work of Odilon Redon (University Park, PN: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005)”, Isis, vol. 98, no. 2. pp. 408-409, 2007.
R. M. Brain, “Review of Barbara Herrnstein Smith, Scandalous Knowledge: Science, Truth, and the Human (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006)”, Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences, vol. 37. pp. 137-138, 2007.
R. M. Brain, “Review of Bernard Rieger, Modernity: How Germany and Great Britain Faced the Early Years of Technology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006)”, Minerva, vol. 45, no. 1. pp. 331-335, 2007.
R. M. Brain, “Review of Iwan Rhys Morus, When Physics Became King (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005)”, Physics Today, vol. 59, no. 4. p. 67, 2006.
R. M. Brain, “The mind of modernism: Medicine, psychology, and the cultural arts in Europe and America, 1880-1940”, ISIS, vol. 95. pp. 731-732, 2004.
R. M. Brain, “Review of The Mind of Modernism: Medicine, Psychology, and the Cultural Arts in Europe and America, 1880-1940 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004).”, Isis, vol. 95. pp. 731-732, 2004.
R. M. Brain, “The science of energy: A cultural history of energy physics in Victorian Britain”, ANNALS OF SCIENCE, vol. 58. pp. 100-102, 2001.
R. M. Brain, “Review of Crosbie Smith, The Science of Energy: A Cultural History of Energy Physics in Victorian Britain (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998).”, Annals of Science, vol. 58. pp. 100-102, 2001.
Additional
R. M. Brain, “The Culture of Diagram”, ISIS, vol. 102. pp. 347-348, 2011.
R. M. Brain, “Science in the city of machines: Emil Du Bois-Reymond and his laboratories in Berlin”, ISIS, vol. 99. pp. 420-422, 2008.
R. M. Brain, “Letters of Hermann von Helmholtz to his parents, 1837-1846 – Cahan,D”, STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, vol. 26. pp. 617-635, 1995.
R. M. Brain, “Letters of Hermann von Helmholtz to his wife, 1847-1859 – Kremer,RL”, STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, vol. 26. pp. 617-635, 1995.
R. M. Brain, “Art and love must be – Letters from Anna von Helmholtz to Cosima Wagner 1889-1899 – German – Werner,P”, STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, vol. 26. pp. 617-635, 1995.
R. M. Brain, “Hermann von Helmholtz and the foundations of nineteenth-century science – Cahan,D”, STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, vol. 26. pp. 617-635, 1995.
J. A. Bennett, Brain, R. M., and Science, W. Museum of, “1900, the new age: a guide to the exhibition”. Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Cambridge [England], 1994.
R. M. Brain, Bycroft, K., Sibum, H. O., Bennett, J. A., Schaffer, S., and Staley, R., “Empires of Physics. A Guide to the Exhibition”. UK: Whipple Museum Publications, Cambridge, 1992.