Abha Sur

Email: asur@mit.edu
Extension: x3-8844
Office: 14N-221b
Department: Womens & Gender Studies

Abha Sur is a scientist turned historian of science. She received her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Vanderbilt University and post-graduate training in the field of mutli-photon ionization spectroscopy at SUNY, Stony Brook and at Yale University. She has published several articles in chemistry. Her more recent research focuses on the history of modern science in India from a subaltern perspective. Her book Dispersed Radiance: Caste, Gender, and Modern Science in India (New Delhi: Navayana, 2011) examines the confluence of caste, nationalism, and gender in science and unpacks the colonial context in which science was organized. Reviews and information about the book are available at navayana.org. Abha Sur was a fellow at the Bunting Institute at Harvard University and at the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology at MIT. She is presently a lecturer in the Program in Women's and Gender Studies and a research associate in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT.