Dr. Victoria Lee
Dr. Victoria Lee, Assistant Professor of History at Ohio University, was recently announced as a 2019 recipient of the Zhu Kezhen Junior Award for her published article, “Microbial Transformations: The Japanese Domestication of Penicillin Production, 1946-1951,” in Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 48 (2018): 441-474.
The International Society for the History of East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (ISHEASTM) bestows the Zhu Khezan Junior Award on two scholars every four years. The Zhu Kezhen Award Committee, appointed by the Board of the ISHEASTM, determines the articles to be considered for the award by reviewing lists of recently published essays and soliciting nominations from members of the ISHEASTM. Articles in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese published less than four years prior to the deadline for nomination were considered.
Lee’s research focuses on the role of Japan in 20th- and 21st-century science and technology. Her current book project, “The Arts of the Microbial World: A History of Japanese Fermentation Science,” looks at Japanese society’s engagement with microbes in science, industry and environmental management. It explores why fermentation expanded beyond small-scale traditional manufactures to take special prominence in food, resources, and medicine in Japan, addressing scientists’ and technicians’ role in defining the texture of everyday life and material culture as an aspect of political economy.
To learn more about Lee’s research and teaching interests, visit her History Department profile.
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