Maria Rentetzi

How do mundane objects become scientific facts?

"I experiment with the notion of the epistemology of the familiar and ask how mundane objects—transformed epistemic objects—by being familiar, become valuable sources of our knowledge about society and the world."

'Certain things, such as ships, have long been gendered but these were thought of as exceptions to the general rule of neutrality: a thing is an "it," not a "she" or a "he." This eye-opening book shows how widespread the gendering of things actually is — and not just the things of everyday life but the things of science. From the sealing wax and string of the laboratory to genealogical databases, The Gender of Things reveals the subtle and not-so-subtle ways that the things of science and technology can be made masculine or feminine.'

- Lorraine Daston, Director emerita, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Germany

Seduced by Radium is utterly original. By focusing on the development and marketing strategies employed by chemical corporations, Maria Rentetzi reveals the many products they sold to consumers and their uses for a wide range of problems. Analysis through the lens of gender shows how such strategies differed for women and men with consequences for both. This book is extremely important both for its subject matter and for its thoughtful analysis. Anyone with an interest in corporations and consumerism, as well as chemicals and consequences, will appreciate its valuable insights.

- Frederick Rowe Davis, author of Banned: A History of Pesticides and the Science of Toxicology

Trailer

This is the official book trailer of Seduced By Radium, written by professor Maria Rentetzi, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press

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"I explore international governance not only as the sum of institutions that coordinate transnational actors through traditional means such as legal tools, diplomacy, and policies but also via scientific standards, instruments, and materials."

Maria Rentetzi is professor and chair of Science, Technology and Gender Studies at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Her interests span from nuclear history to gender science studies to science and tech diplomacy.