Medicine/Behavioral Science

The United States National Library of Medicine is located in Bethesda at the headquarters of the National Institutes of Health. This site lists about 20 exhibits, past and present, that have been displayed at the library and/or have online components. Many of these exhibits are outstanding, providing both scholars in the history of medicine and the general public interested in medical history with an array of images and texts relating to topics such as the study of stress, medieval Islamic medical books, and Frankenstein. The site also has links to other sites on the history of medicine at the NIH, and a list of public (offline) seminars in the history of medicine.

This is the home page for Oxford University's Museum of the History of Science. An overview provides a sense of the museum's collection, and a paragraph describes its history (and the history of the building it is housed in) since 1683. There are seven excellent online exhibits with numerous graphics and photographs, including pieces on the history of photography, mathematics and astronomy. All are composed for a lay audience. For researchers, a remarkable searchable database of over 13,000 objects allows visitors to find and view artifacts in the museum's collection. These objects span the entire history of science and technology, and many of them are extremely rare. Another section of the site features some of the best portraits, instruments and illustrations in the archive.

The history section of this site contains: a brief illustrated history of the National Institutes of Health from 1887 to the present, as well as notes on breakthroughs made over the last century at the NIH, a bibliography of materials on the NIH, a short history of the NIH's various branches, and links to other sites on NIH history. The "exhibits" section has 10 online projects, including dozens of photographs of medical instruments and artwork, timelines of research on a variety of diseases and biological experiments, and biographies of important medical researchers and doctors. There is also extensive information about the museum itself, located in Bethesda, Maryland. Visitors can get information about rotating and permanent exhibits, and read a short prospectus of the museum's history.

The Bulletin of the History of Medicine is the official publication of the American Association of the History of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Institute of the History of Medicine. While the site allows visitors to browse the contents and cover artwork of every issue going back to 1996, only subscribers to the Bulletin's online service are allowed access to the actual articles. There are also links to the home page of the American Association of the History of Medicine, detailed information about the Bulletin, and links to other organizations and Web sites for those interested in the history of medicine.

This site from the University of Virginia Health System Historical Collection, provides documents relating to the last chapter of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, a terrible example of racism and ethical lapses by officials of the United States Public Health Service. For forty years, almost 400 African-American males were denied proper treatment for syphilis as part of a controlled study. A commission was finally put together in the 1990s to deal with the legacy of this experiment, leading to a presidential apology in 1997. The commission's report, as well as the president's apology, are reprinted on the site.

This site is essentially a set of links to materials of interest to members of the British Society for the History of Science. Approximately 20 links cover the publications of the organization, including a newsletter, monographs and the British Journal for the History of Science, three prizes given by the group, special offers for members, and notes about its membership and administration. There are also educational links, including a list of courses offered on the history of science in British universities, policy papers and methodological statements for teachers of the history of science, and lists of other sites that cover the history of science.

This site, from the biotech company National Applied Science, is merely a one page timeline of diabetes history. It starts in 1500 B.C. with the first known remedies for the then unknown disease and ends in 1921 with the discovery of insulin. The timeline is written in plain, non-technical language. There are no accompanying illustrations or photographs.

The Archives of Women in Science and Engineering is a collection in the library of Iowa State University. This site lists the contents of the collection, and includes brief biographies of the women whose papers are in the archive, however, does not present the collection online. There is an online exhibit on the impact of women nutritionists that contains longer biographies and photographs of 10 important female scientists involved in nutrition research. In addition, the site has an overview of the oral history project associated with the Archives of Women in Science and Engineering, which hopes to interview approximately 50 women to add to the collection.

This site contains an annotated and well maintained listing of web resources related to science and technology, organized by category. Links are also made to websites for a variety of related publications. Syllabi submitted by professors from different universities are collected. There is also a student division of 4S, and information regarding it is available.

Founded in 1947, the American Academy of Family Physicians is the national association of family doctors. It is one of the largest national medical organizations, with more than 89,400 members. This is the organization's main Web site, and it contains information for members, the general public and medical students. It also has a series of governmental (state and federal) policy papers. Currently (Apirl 2004) there is no history of medicine on the site.