Samira Daneshvar

Research Interests: Philosophy of science; history of technology; history of environmental thought; history of the body; media studies; material culture; visual representation in science.

Samira Daneshvar is a PhD Candidate in History and Theory of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and completed an A.M. in History of Science at Harvard University. She explores key episodes in environmental thought across histories of science, media, and technology. Samira’s dissertation focuses on the history of radiation at the turn of the twentieth century, investigating conceptual leaps in understanding space and materiality that arose alongside innovative techniques of visualization for tracing radiation. Samira’s research is supported by the Deutsches Museum, the Historical Epistemology of the Final Theory Program at Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, the Chateaubriand Research Fellowship by the Embassy of France in the United States, the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, and Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Merit Award. Her recent PhD-independent work is supported by the Graham Foundation’s grants for Film & New Media and Harvard Film Archives.

Samira holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Toronto and a Master of Science from the University of Michigan. She undertook historical studies in arts and humanities after five years of medical studies in Iran. Samira's writings have appeared in Winterthur Portfolio, Thresholds Journal, Informa, Inflection Journal, and Centre. She has exhibited her work at MIT Keller Gallery, Fashion Art Toronto, University of Texas at Austin, and Azrieli School of Architecture at Carleton University, and recently curated an exhibition with Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments.

Previous Degrees:

A.M., Harvard University, USA

M.Sc. University of Michigan, USA

M.Arch. University of Toronto, Canada

Incomplete M.D. Azad University, Iran