Stuart J. Firestein

Stuart J. Firestein, chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia, runs a laboratory researching the vertebrate olfactory receptor neuron. Beyond his scientific work, he is a noted advocate for public understanding of science, having written for outlets like Wired, Huffington Post, and Scientific American, and authored the books Ignorance: How It Drives Science and Failure: Why Science Is So Successful.

In Paris, Firestein will draw on a newly rediscovered archive of papers by historian of science Derek de la Solla Price, recently uncovered at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie and now housed at the Caphes Institute at ENS. Working with Prof. Matthias Girel at ENS, he will use these materials, including previously unpublished correspondence between Price and Robert Merton, to produce an updated edition of Price's influential 1960 book Little Science, Big Science for Columbia University Press.