Thomas Söderqvist

Short presentation

My undergraduate academic background training was in zoology, chemistry and paleontology, followed by postgraduate work in political sociology, philosophy of science and history of science.

I earned my PhD in ‘theory of science’ (Swedish ‘vetenskapsteori’) from the University of Gothenburg in 1986 with Aant Elzinga as supervisor.

After working as a senior lecturer at the University of Roskilde, where I taught history and philosophy of science and science studies, and a couple of years as research professor in science studies, I came to the University of Copenhagen in 1999 as professor in history of medicine in the Department of Public Health.

I was also asked to take the responsibility of the university’s medical history museum. I large part of my work in the last ten years has been to work out a new profile for the museum, with an emphasis on museum-relevant research and an experimental approach to exhibition making and curatorial work. In 2004 the museum’s name was changed to Medical Museion.

As director I have the overall responsibility for Medical Museion’s research and teaching, exhibitions, collections, acquisitions, web outreach, etc.

I have a long track record of academic publications in the following research fields:

• sociology of knowledge
• history of 20th century ecology
• history of 20th century immunology
• historiography of contemporary science
• biographical methodology
• research ethics (virtue ethics)
• science museology

and have also produced a fairly large number of popular writings.

(Most of my publications after 2005 are also listed in the University of Copenhagen publication database).

I have also had the pleasure to produce and curate several exhibitions and art installations, including Primary Substances, Healthy Ageing, An Ageing World, and Genomic Enlightenment.

For details about my academic career, see this short autobiography, or read this biographical interview, or check out my curriculum vitae.

My current intellectual interest is to understand how medical museums can contribute to a critical assessment of present and future medical science and technology. What is the place of medical museums on the contemporary political, cultural and social arena between global biotechnoscience and the experiences of ordinary people?