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Keeping a House for Science: Sofia Kristensson as Matriarch and Gatekeeper at Kristineberg Zoological Station as a Scientific Household, 1877–1889

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2015

Helena Ekerholm
Helena Ekerholm*
Affiliation:
Centre for History of Science, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences E-mail: helena.ekerholm@kva.se
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Argument

Field research stations are households as a result of allegoric notions of the scientific family, and because they fulfill the purpose of a home in the field in a literal sense. They meet the practical and physical need for bed and board, as well as the emotional and intellectual need for social cohesion. I argue that this, in combination with local gender identity, opened the door for a woman of lower social strata, the daughter of a fisherman, to take upon herself the role as station household matriarch, thus gaining an integral role within an inner circle of influential scientists. Secondly, I argue that locally employed members of the research station were valued primarily for their social skills. For the sake of ensuring necessary conditions for scientific work, being abrasive was just as important as being agreeable.

Type
Research Article
Information
Science in Context , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , December 2015 , pp. 587 - 611
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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