Marlis Hinckley

Assistant Professor

Education

The Johns Hopkins University 
PhD in History of Science and Technology

University of Cambridge 
M.Phil in Medieval History, King’s College

Princeton University
A.B. in History

Research and Teaching Interests

History of science, colonial Latin American history, garden history, history of biology, history of chemistry

Bio

Marlis Hinckley is a historian of science focused on the early modern period. Her research deals with knowledge about the natural world in Spain and what would become Latin America in the early age of colonial expansion (c. 1500-1650), examining how people from across the world developed new ideas about plants, animals, and their surroundings during this time of rapid social, political, and religious change. Her research interests include the interface between science and religion (broadly construed to include many kinds of belief about the natural and supernatural), the role of craft knowledge in the development of scientific practice, and the relevance of gardens as a place where natural knowledge was generated.
Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, a Fulbright García-Robles Grant, Dumbarton Oaks, and the Casa de Velázquez, among others. Her publications include work in Annals of Science on early modern beekeeping and the Colonial Latin American Review on dietary asceticism in early colonial New Spain.