Curriculum Vitae
CAROLYN MERCHANT
Biography
Name: Carolyn Merchant
Title:
Distinguished Professor of Environmental History, Philosopy, and Ethics,
Professor of the Graduate School, and Chancellor’s Professor emerita,
University of California, Berkeley
Degrees: A.B. Chemistry, Vassar College, 1958
M.A. and Ph.D. History of Science, University of
Wisconsin, Madison, 1962, 1967
Doctor Honoris Causa, Umea University,
Umea, Sweden, 1995
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters,
California Institute of Integral Studies, 2018
Addresses: Department of Environmental Science,
Policy, and Management
130 Mulford Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, Ca. 94720
Campus office: 138 Giannini
Telephone: 510-642-0326 (office); 510-643-4361 (fax)
E-mail: merchant@berkeley.edu
Websites: Carolyn Merchant (http://nature.berkeley.edu/merchant); Environmental History (http://www.ecohistory.org)
Honors:
Westinghouse Science Talent Search, among top ten in
nation, 1954.
E.B. Fred Fellow, University of Wisconsin, 1963-67.
American Council of Learned Societies Fellow,
1978. (As Carolyn Iltis).
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
Fellow, Stanford, CA, 1978 (As Carolyn Iltis). Also Fall 2017.
Sigma Xi National Lecturer (The Scientific Research
Society), 1982-4.
Fulbright Senior Scholar, University of
Umea,
Sweden, 1984.
Visiting Professor, Ecole Normale
Superieure, Paris,
France, June, 1986.
Visiting Fellow, Murdoch University, Western
Australia, 1991.
John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, 1995.
Included in Who's Who; Who's Who in America;
International Who's Who
Chancellor's Professor, U.C. Berkeley, 1998.
Educational Initiatives Award, U.C. Berkeley, 2000.
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow in the
Ecological Humanities, National Humanities Center, 2001.
President, American Society for Environmental
History, 2001-2003.
Career Achievement Award. U.C, Berkeley, College of
Natural Resources, 2008.
Townsend Center, Mellon Foundation Fellowship:
Classical Studies and Contemporary Humanities, 2009-10.
Distinguished Scholar Award, American Society for
Environmental History, 2010.
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011.
Fellow, American Council of Learned Societies, 2012.
Member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 2012.
Center for Advanced Study in the
Behavioral Sciences Fellow, Fall 2017.
Distinguished Service Award,
American Society for Environmental History, 2017.
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters,
California Institute of Integral Studies,
San Francisco, 2019.
Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award,
Marquis Who’s Who, 2019.
Who’s Who of Professional Women, 2020
Marquis Who’s Who in America, 2022
Distinguished Achievement Award, Vassar College, 2024
Named and Distinguished
Lectures:
1. Zarem Distinguished Lecture, Harvey Mudd College, November 19, 1980.
2. Kreeger-Wolf Distinguished Visiting Professor, Northwestern
University, November 20, 1985.
3. Chancellor's Lecture, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, March 7,
1987.
4. Richard Jones Memorial Lecture, University of Tasmania,
Hobart, Australia, May 13, 1991.
5. Forum Lecturer, Humanities Institute, University of Toledo, April
6-8, 1992.
6. Cecil and Ida Green Professor, University of Vancouver, Vancouver,
Canada, February 1-5, 1993.
7. Atwood Lecturer, Graduate School of Geography, Clark University,
Worcester, MA, October 10, 11, 1994.
8. Doctor Honoris Causa lecture, Umea University, September
15, 1995.
9. First John Caughey Memorial Lecture, Huntington Library, San Marino,
CA, November 3, 1996.
10. Goodspeed Lecturer, Dension College, Granville, Ohio, February 11,
1997.
11. John Brinckerhoff Jackson Memorial Lecture, Harvard University,
April 3, 1997.
12. Eugene Odum Annual Lecture, University of Georgia, Athens, November
14, 1997.
13. The 1998 Timothy Linnemann Memorial Lecture, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, April 22, 1998.
14. Second Annual Ian McHarg Lecture, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, February 7, 2000.
15. Tanner Foundation and President's Inaugural Lecturer, Salt Lake
Community College, Salt Lake City, UT, April 23, 2001.
16. Throckmorton Lecture, University of Portland, Portland, OR,
February 24, 2003.
17. Presidential Address to the American Society for
Environmental History, Providence, RI, March 27, 2003.
18. Henrietta Harvey Distinguished Lecture, Memorial University, St.
John's, Newfoundland, Canada, March 24, 2004.
19. President's Distinguished Lecture, University of Vermont,
Burlington, VT, October 1, 2004.
20. Science and Technology Studies Distinguished Lecture, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, November 5, 2004.
21. Russell Lecture, Alfred University, Alfred, New York, April
4, 2006.
22. Thomas and Albert J. Shipka Lecture, Youngstown State University,
February 12, 2008.
23. Women, Science, and Technology Distinguished Lecturer, Georgia
Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, February 24, 2009.
24. Branigin Lecturer of the Institute for Advanced Study, Indiana
University, Bloomington, IN, March 30, 2009.
25. Bernard Moses Memorial Lecture, U.C. Berkeley, May 4, 2010.
26. The 2011 Phebe Estelle Spalding Lecture, Pomona College Women's Commission, Feb. 3, 2011.
27. Keynote address to the 12th Biennial Meeting of the International Margaret Cavendish Society, June 23, 2017.
28. Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters Lecture, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA, May 18, 2018.
Employment
University of California, Berkeley.
2019-present. Professor of the Graduate School,
Department of Environmental Science,
Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley.
1986-2018. Professor of Environmental History, Philosophy, and
Ethics, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
(ESPM) (formerly Conservation and Resource Studies; and Natural
Resource Historian, Agricultural Experiment Station
2005-07. Chair, ESPM Division of Society and Environment.
1984-89. Chair, Department of Conservation and Resource Studies
1980-86. Associate Professor
1979-80. Assistant Professor
University of San Francisco.
1976-78. Associate Professor of History of Science, Department of
Physics and Natural Sciences Interdisciplinary
Program
1975-76. Assistant Professor
University of California, Berkeley.
1974-75. Visiting Lecturer in the Collegiate Seminar Program,
Strawberry Creek College
University of San Francisco.
1969-74. Lecturer in History of Science, Department of
Physics and Natural Sciences Interdisciplinary
Program
Oregon State University.
1969. Visiting Lecturer in History of Science, General Science
Department
Scholarship
Doctoral Disseration, Carolyn Merchant Iltis. "The Controversy over Living Force: Leibniz to D'Alembert." University of Wisconsin, Madison. Major Professor: Erwin N. Hiebert.
Publications:
I. Books. (View recent editions for online ordering).
15 books (11 single-authored books, 3 edited books, 1 co-edited book).
Books translated into German, Italian, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese,
Korean, French, Spanish.
(E) 1980. The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,
and the Scientific Revolution (San Francisco: Harper and Row), 348
pp. + xx. London: Wildwood House, 1983. Second
edition, San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1990.
(E) 1985. Japanese translation of The Death of
Nature, Tokyo: Kousakusha.
(E) 1987. Der Tod der Natur: Okologie,
Frauen und neuzeitliche Naturwissenschaft. German translation of The
Death of Nature (abridged edition) Munich: C. H. Beck.
(E) 1988. La Morte Della Natura: Donne,
ecologia e Rivoluzione scientifica. Italian translation of The
Death of Nature, Milan: Garzanti Editorial.
(E) 1989. Ecological Revolutions: Nature,
Gender, and Science in New England, Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 379 pp. + xv. Nominated for
Pulitzer Prize.
(E) 1990. The Death of Nature. San
Francisco: Harper and Row, second edition.
(E) 1992. Radical Ecology: The Search for
a Livable World. New York and London: Routledge.
(E) 1993. Major Problems in American
Environmental History: Documents and Essays. Edited by
Carolyn Merchant. Lexington, Ma: D. C. Heath, 568 pp. +
xxii.
(E) 1994. Key Concepts in Critical
Theory: Ecology. Edited with an introduction by Carolyn
Merchant. Atlantic Highlands, N. J.: Humanities Press, 383
pp.
(E) 1994. Der Tod Der Natur,
Munich: C.H. Beck. Reissued in mass market paperback.
(E) 1994. Radical Ecology: The Search for
a Livable World. Translated by Jiyuji Sudo. Tokyo: Sangyo.
Japanese translation.
(E) 1994. Naturens Dod: Kvinnan, Ekologin
och den Vetenskapliga Revolutionen. Stockholm (Stegag):
Symposion. (Swedish Translation of The Death of Nature).
(E) 1996. Earthcare: Women and the
Environment. New York: Routledge, 280 pp. + xii.
(E) 1998. Green Versus Gold: Sources in
California's Environmental History. (Washington, D.C.: Island
Press), edited with an introduction, conclusion, and bibliographies,
478 pp. + xxiv.
(E) 1999. The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and
the Scientific Revolution. Trans. Wu Guosheng et al., in Green Classics
Library. Beijing: Jilin Peoples's Publishing House. (Chinese
translation).
(E) 2002. Columbia Guide to American Environmental
History. New York: Columbia University Press, 448 pp. + xviii.
(E) 2003. Reinventing Eden: The Fate of
Nature in Western Culture. New York: Routledge, 304 pp. + 30
illustrations.
(E) 2003. Encyclopedia of World Environmental
History. Co-edited with John McNeill and Shepard Krech, III. New York:
Routledge, 3 vols, illustrated, with an introduction and entries.
(E) 2004. Major Problems in American Environmental
History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Second edition. Edited with
introductions, articles, bibliographies, and appendices, 576 pp.
(E) 2004. Reinventing Eden: The Fate of
Nature in Western Culture. New York: Routledge, 304 pp. + 30
illustrations, paperback edition, also available in a Kindle (digital) edition.
(E) 2005. Radical Ecology: The Search for a
Livable World. New York: Routledge. Second edition, 278 pp.
(E) 2005. Columbia Guide to American Environmental
History. New York: Columbia University Press, 448 pp. + xviii.
Paperback edition.
(E) 2005. The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,
and the Scientific Revolution. Trans. Kyu-Chan Jeon. Seoul: Meeto.
(Korean translation).
(E) 2007. Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World, 2nd ed. Trans. Nam-hyeok Heo. Seoul: Ewho. (Korean Translation).
(E) 2007. American Environmental History: An
Introduction. New York: Columbia University Press, 480 pp. + xxii+ 44
illustrations.
(E) 2008. Key Concepts in Critical
Theory: Ecology. Edited with an introduction and a chapter
by Carolyn Merchant. 2nd edition. Amherst, NY.: Prometheus
Press/Humanity Books, 436 pp.
(E) 2010. Ecological Revolutions: Nature, Gender,
and Science in New England, Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 2nd ed., with a new preface and revised epilogue, 394 pp. + xxi.
(E) 2011. Major Problems in American Environmental
History. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage, 3rd edition. Edited with
introductions, articles, bibliographies, and appendices, 573 pp. + xvii.
(E) 2013. Reinventing Eden: The Fate of Nature in Western Culture. New York: Routledge. 2nd edition, with a new Foreword and Afterword.
(E) 2016. Autonomous Nature: Problems of Prediction and Control from Ancient Times to the Scientific Revolution. New York: Routledge, 196 pp. + xiii.
(E) 2016. Spare the Birds! George Bird Grinnell and the First Audubon Society. New Haven: Yale University Press, 314 pp. + xiii.
(E) 2018. Science and Nature: Past, Present, and Future. New York: Routledge, 322 pp. +xviii.
(E) 2020. The Anthropocene and the Humanities: From Climate Change to a New Age of Sustainability. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2020.
(E) 2020. La Muete de la Naturaleza: Mujeres, Ecología y Revolución Científica. Spanish translation of The Death of Nature. Trans. by Maria Antònia Martí Escayol. Granada, Spain: Editorial Comares.
(E) 2020. La Mort de la Nature. French translation of The Death of Nature. Trans. by Margot Lauwers. Marseilles, France: Editions Wildproject (Baptiste Lanaspeze).
(E) 2020. Der Tod der Natur: Ökologie, Frauen und neuzeitliche Naturwissenschaft. Munich, Germany: Oekam Verlag. New German translation of The Death of Nature, with a new preface.
(E) 2020. The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution. San Francisco: HarperOne. Third edition, Fortieth Anniversary. With a new preface.
(E) 2023. La muerte de la naturaleza: Mujeres, ecologia y Revolucion Cientifica. Traduccion de Maria Antonia Marti Escayol y Raul Ciannella, 1 ed., Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores Argentina.
(E) 2023. The Anthropocene and the Humanities. Russian translation. New Haven and London: Yale University Press/Academic Studies Press, 212 pp.
(E) 2024. A morta de natureza. Portuguese translation. In press.
(E) 2024. The Anthropocene and the Humanities. Turkish translation, in press.
II. Articles
View list of articles with downloadable PDFs.
View list of articles by category with downloadable PDFs.
Major Grants
National Science Foundation Grants
National Endowment for the Humanities Grants
California Council for the Humanities Grant
Nathan Cummings Foundation Grant
University of California Berkeley, Research; Teaching; Technology;
Humanities GSR; Futures
University of California Berkeley, Agricultural Experiment Station
Separate list Available.
Professional Service and
Memberships
History of Science Society,
Member, 1962-present.
Council, 1973-5.
Committee on Women in History of Science, chair, 1973-4; member,
1975-present.
Nominating Committee, 1978.
Committee on Women in the History of Science, Co-chair, 1992-4.
West Coast History of Science Society,
Co-president, 1971-3.
American Society for Environmental History,
Member, 1980-present.
Executive Committee, 1981-1993; 1999-2009.
Associate Editor, Environmental Review, 1984-1989.
Editorial Advisory Board, Environmental History, 1990-2010.
Program Committee, Biennial Meeting, Houston, Texas, 1990-1991.
Rachel Carson Prize Committee for best dissertation, 1992-1993.
Consulting Editor, Environmental History Series, Cambridge University
Press, 1984-1996.
Search Committee, Editor of Environmental History, 2000.
Development Committee, 1999-2001.
Vice-President, 1999-2001.
President, 2001-2003.
Advisory Board, Environmental Ethics, 1990-2000.
Advisory Board, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment
(ISLE), 1993-present.
Advisory Board, International Journal of Ecoforestry, 1995-6.
Advisory Board, Ethics and the Environment, 1997-present.
Advisory Board, Organization and Environment, 1997-present.
Editorial Board, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences,
2009-present.
Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society, member, 1982-present.
Society of Woman Geographers, 1985-present.
Public Service
Mayor's Community Energy Commission, 1981-3; Steering Committee, 1981-3.
Berkeley Bayfront Conservancy Fund, Board of Directors, 1985-6.
Westinghouse Science Talent Search Advisor, 1984-present.
Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve Science Council, 1997-present.
Rachel's Network, Advisory Board, 2002-present.
Sierra Nevada Deep Ecology Institute, Advisory Board, 2002-present.
Teaching
Oregon State University, 1969
History of Science: Survey
History of Science: Graduate Seminar
University of San Francisco, 1969-77
History of Science: Ancient to Modern Survey
Science, Technology, and Society
Humanities Honors Seminar on the Scientific
Revolution
Physical Science
University of California, Berkeley, Collegiate Seminar Program, 1974
The Technological Culture
University of California, Berkeley, Department of Conservation and
Resource Studies (now Environmental Science, Policy and Management)
1979-present
American Environmental and Cultural History
(*Winner, Educational Initiatives Award, UCB, 2000)
Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
Environmental Problems: Principles and Methods of
Analysis
Environmental History, Philosophy, and Ethics
(Graduate Course)
Ecology, Religion, Gender, and Ethics:
Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Graduate Course), 2003
Senior Seminar
Internship
Field Study
Directed Group Studies: Women and Nature; Solar
Greenhouse; Joy of Garbage; Nature Writers; Native
Americans and Environmental Values; Green Politics; Deep Ecology and
the Perennial Philosophy; Toward a Sustainable World; Native Americans
and the Columbian Legacy
Supervised Independent Study and Research
Umea University, Umea, Sweden, Department of
History of Ideas; Women's
Studies Program, 1984
Nature and Culture
Women and Science
Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, 1991
Ecofeminism
University of California, Santa Cruz, 1994
Ecology and Critical Theory, graduate course, 2
quarters.
National Humanities Center, Research Triangle Park, NC, June 24-July
12, 1996; June 22-July 10, 1998; June 25-July 14, 2000: "Nature
Transformed: Environment and Imagination in North America,"
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for High School
Teachers.
Keynote Addresses at
Professional Meetings:
1. "Women and the Environmental Movement." Keynote address to
conference on "The Environment in the '80s: Questions of Science and
Policy," Williams College, February 28, 1981.
2. "Can Science and Nature Be Partners? Meeting the Environmental
Challenges of the '90s," Invited Keynote Address to the Class of
1993, Vassar College, August 25, 1989.
3. "Women and the Global Ecological Revolution," Keynote Address given
to the 27th Annual Public Affairs Symposium entitled "The
Environment: Putting the Pieces Together," Dickinson College,
February 19, 1990.
4. "The Global Ecological Revolution," Keynote Address given to the
conference "In the Pacific Interest: Women, Democracy, and the
Environment, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon, February 22, 1990.
5. "The Global Ecological Revolution: An Ecofeminist
Perspective," Keynote Address presented to the Ecopolitics V
Conference, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, April 4,
1991.
6. "The Global Ecological Revolution," Keynote lecture presented to the
conference, Shifting Paradigms in Science and the Environment, College
of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New
York, Syracuse, New York, April 10-11, 1992.
7. "Nature and Environmental Values: An Historical Perspective,"
Keynote address in the series Nature as Resource, Nature as Home,
Mansfield Center, University of Montana, May 17, 1992.
8. "Whither Environmental History?" Keynote address, opening plenary
session of the Biennial Meeting of the American Society of
Environmental History, on "City and Country: Contrasting and
Interacting Environments," University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa,
1993, March 4, 1993.
9. "Ecofeminism and Partnership Ethics," invited Keynote Address to
Public Environmental Interest Law Conference, University of Oregon Law
School, Eugene Oregon, March 4, 1995.
10. "Ecofeminism and Partnership Ethics," invited Keynote address
presented to the conference on Ecofeminist Perspectives, The
Twenty-Second Annual Richard R. Baker Philosophy Colloquium, University
of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio, March 31, 1995.
11. "Reinventing Eden: Western Culture as a Recovery Narrative,"
Invited Keynote Address presented to the conference, "Crossing
Borders: The Challenge of Ecological Thinking," Oregon Humanities
Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, April 27, 1995.
12. "Women, Nature, and Narrative: Making a Difference through
Communicating Cultural Stories," Keynote address presented to the
Western States Communication Association, annual convention, Pasadena,
Ca, February 18, 1996.
13. "Partnership Ethics: Business and the Environment," invited
Keynote lecture presented to the Symposium on Business and the
Environment, Olsson Center for Applied Ethics, Darden School of
Business Administration," University of Virginia, April 5, 1997.
14. "Reinventing Eden: Women, Nature, and Narrative," Keynote
address presented to the conference on Women and the Environment,
University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, October 24, 1997.
15. "Earthcare: Women and the Environment," Keynote address presented
to the Soroptimist Society, Fourteenth Annual Legislative Workshop,
Sacramento, Ca, March 23, 1998.
16. "Green Versus Gold: The Environment and the Sesquicentennial of the
California Gold Rush," Keynote address presented to the West Coast
Society for History of Science, Morro Bay, Ca., May 2, 1998.
17. "Partnership Ethics," Keynote address presented to the conference
on "Gaia and the Sacred: Religion, Science, and Ethics," Graduate
Theological Union, June 14, 2003.
18. "Reinventing Eden: The Role of Nature in Western Culture," Keynote
Address to Society for Human Ecology, 20th anniversary conference, Salt
Lake City, UT, October 15, 2005.
19. "Reinventing Eden: The Role of Nature in Western Culture," Keynote
address to the inaugural meeting of the Society for the Study of
Religion, Nature, and Culture," University of Florida, Gainesville, FL,
April 7, 2006.
20. "Partnership with Nature," invited Keynote address presented to
the
Conference on "Nature and Human Nature: Changing
Perspectives,"and
panel on "Women and Nature,"Foundation for
Mythological Studies, Santa
Barbara, CA, March 15, 2007.
21. "Partnership with Nature."Invited Keynote Address presented to
the
annual conference of the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies
Programs, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada, October 18, 2008.
22. "Controlling Nature: Francis Bacon and the Origins of
Experimentation," Invited Keynote address given to the conference on
Before Environmentalism, Early Modern Center, University of California,
Santa Barbara, March 6, 2009.
23. "Climate Change and the Humanities," Invited Keynote address
presented to the Inaugural National Conference on Sustainability and
the Humanities, Portland State University, May 14, 2009.
24. "Margaret Cavendish: Natural Philosopher and Feminist," Invited Keynote address
presented to the 12th Biennial International Margaret Cavendish Society Conference, Bates College, June 23, 2017.
Papers at Professional
Meetings and Invited Lectures. View list.
Over 360 lectures, papers, and keynotes at
professional conferences and at colleges and universities throughout
North America, Europe, Australia, and Brazil.
Reviews of Books written by
Carolyn Merchant. View list
Over 230 reviews and discussions of books written by
Carolyn Merchant.