Endowed by Dr. Morris Fishbein, long time editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, and his wife Anna Fishbein, the Fishbein Center was inaugurated in 1970 to encourage the study of the history of science and medicine at the University of Chicago. The Center serves as the home for students enrolled in history of science through the Department of History.
The Center also plays a major role in facilitating the work of students, post-doctoral scholars,and faculty from various other departments who have research interests in the history of science and medicine. It lends particular support to the graduate program in the Committee on the Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science. This Ph.D. program is directed to students who also have deep interests in the philosophy of science.
The Center sponsors an undergraduate major (History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine), as well as Workshops in the History of the Human Sciences and in the History and Philosophy of Science. In these workshops (described further on this website) interested graduate students and faculty meet fortnightly throughout the academic year.