Donald L. Opitz, PhD

Don Opitz (he/him) is an historian of science. Associate Professor in DePaul University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, he is also affiliated with Cannabis Studies (as director), American Studies, History, and LGBTQ Studies. Prior to receiving his MA and PhD in history of science and technology from the University of Minnesota, he earned his BS in physics and mathematics from DePaul. His research interrogates the interactions of science, gender, sexuality, and society, especially in imperial and postcolonial contexts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He is an editor of For Better or for Worse? Collaborative Couples in the Sciences (Springer, 2012), Domesticity in the Making of Modern Science (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), and volume 16 of The Correspondence of John Tyndall (University of Pittsburgh, forthcoming). He is editor-in-chief of the journal Endeavour, editor of the topical collection “Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Biology” of the Journal of the History of Biology, and a general editor of the series, Gender, Colonialism, and Science: A Cross-Culture Compendium of Primary Sources (Routledge). He has books in progress on the scientific advancement of women in horticulture internationally during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and, with Joseph Mello, an introduction to cannabis studies. He actively serves on councils and committees of several professional societies including the History of Science Society, Division of History of Science and Technology of the International Union for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, and the International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology.

See Opitz's Faculty Page at DePaul University