Papier-mache, plastics, wood, glass, and wax: these are just some of the materials that artists and scientists have employed in sculpting scientific models. Philadelphia, the site of 2012's Three Societies Meeting, is also home to many famous models, including the Franklin Institute's beloved Giant Heart and William Rush's strangely surreal anatomical models now in the collection of the Wistar Institute. This panel will explore the complex issues and mediations posed by scientific models and modeling. We invite papers that address questions of scale, abstraction, detail, indexicality and the role of the copy, the relationship between the model and the specimen, medium and materiality, pedagogy and expertise in respect to scientific models, be they anatomical, botanical, or molecular. Economic relationships and market pressures in the relationships between model-makers (e.g. Auzoux, Blaschka, Brendel, SOMSO, Ziegler, or museum staff), distribution companies (e.g. Ward's, Clay-Adams), museum or university professionals, and other players are also welcome.

Please e-mail proposals of no more than 250 words and CV to Ellery Foutch (foutch at wisc dot edu) by Friday, December 16.