Sally Gregory Kohlstedt

Sally Gregory Kohlstedt (born January 30, 1943) is an American historian of science and higher education administrator. She is Professor Emerita in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and in the Program in History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (HSTM) at the University of Minnesota. Kohlstedt served as the president of the History of Science Society from 1992 to 1993 and won the society's Sarton Medal in 2018. Her research interests focus on the history of science in American culture and the demographics of scientific practice in institutions such as museums and educational institutions, including gender participation.

Early life and education Kohlstedt was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan. She received her B.A. in History from Valparaiso University (1965), her M.A. from Michigan State University (1966) and her Ph.D. in American social and intellectual history from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (1972), under the supervision of Winton U. Solberg. During her time at Syracuse, she continued research on the history of natural history and collaborated with Margaret Rossiter within the History of Science Society, co-editing Historical Writing on American Science, a volume that contributed to the development of the history of American science as a subfield.

Since 1989, she has been a professor at the University of Minnesota (UMN). From 1989 to 1995, she was the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the College of Science and Engineering at UMN, where she worked to increase the number of women on the faculty and developed programs to support women graduate students; from 1997 to 1999, she served as the director of the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies at UMN; from 2004 to 2006, Interim Chair of the Department of Anthropology at UMN; and from 2008 to 2013, the director of the Program in History of Science and Technology. She retired emeritus in May 2022.

Kohlstedt held Fulbright fellowships supporting visiting professorships at the University of Melbourne in 1983 and at the University of Auckland in 2008. She also held research appointments at the Smithsonian Institution (1970–71, 1987, 2014) and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin (2015).

Kohlstedt studies relationships between science and culture. She is particularly interested in the history of women in science, including both obstacles to and successes in the pursuit of equity, and examines the impact of women's participation on scientific practice. She is particularly interested in women's involvement in areas such as museums and educational practice. Kohlstedt received the 2013 History of Science Society's Margaret W. Rossiter History of Women in Science Prize for her book Teaching Children Science: Hands-On Nature Study in North America, 1890–1930 (University of Chicago Press, 2010). The book examines the work of women in bringing natural science education into the American classroom and demonstrates that it was innovative women teachers who introduced science into the public schools in the early twentieth century. She also chaired Section L of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and subsequently served a five-year term on its Board of Directors. 2018, Sarton Medal for lifetime scholarly achievement from the History of Science Society 2015, Joseph H. Hazen Education Prize for excellence in education from the History of Science Society 2013, Margaret W. Rossiter History of Women in Science Prize from the History of Science Society for her book Teaching Children Science: Hands-On Nature Study in North America, 1890-1930 (University of Chicago Press, 2010) 2002, Mullen/Spector/Truax Women's Leadership Award, University of Minnesota 2000, George Taylor Distinguished Service Award, Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota 1988, Distinguished Lecturer, History of Science Society 1983, Senior Fulbright Fellow at the South Australian Museum, The Queensland Museum, and the National Museum of Victoria