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L’informe analitza de forma qualitativa els reptes i factors que afecten les carreres de les dones en l’àmbit de la història de la ciència en els territoris de parla catalana. Basat en la metodologia del grup de discussió, es va comptar amb la participació d’un grup representatiu d’historiadores en diferents etapes de la carrera, que treballen dins i fora de l’acadèmia, tenen diferents situacions familiars i representen la història de la salut, la ciència i la tècnica en la seva diversitat. A la introducció discutim el desenvolupament actual de la carrera científica de les dones a Espanya, marcada pels efectes tisores i pinça i pel sostre de vidre, i apuntem les polítiques públiques instaurades per redreçar la situació. Seguidament exposem la metodologia i els resultats del grup de discussió en quatre dominis: 1. Producció acadèmica: investigació, docència, administració; 2. Referents, xarxes de recolzament i formes de lideratge; 3. Conciliació de la vida personal i laboral; 4. Condicions laborals i alternatives fora de l’acadèmia. Concloem l’informe amb algunes recomanacions i accions que podem dur a terme des de la comunitat de la història de la ciència per evitar qüestions com el biaix de gènere i afavorir un desenvolupament igualitari de les carreres de les dones en el món universitari i de recerca., This report qualitatively analyzes the challenges and factors that affect women’s careers in the history of science in Catalan-speaking territories. Based on the method of the focus group, the participants were a representative group of female historians at different career stages, who work inside and outside academia, have different family situations and represent the history of medicine, science and technology in its diversity. In the introduction we discuss the current development of women’s scientific careers in Spain, marked by the scissors effect and the glass ceiling, and point out the public policies instituted to rectify the situation. We then present the methodology and results of the focus group in four domains: 1. Academic production: research, teaching, administration; 2. Role models, support networks and forms of leadership; 3. Work-life balance; 4. Working conditions and alternatives outside academia. We conclude the report with some recommendations and actions that the history of science  community can implement to avoid issues such as gender bias and to promote an equal development of women’s careers in the university and research system.

[EN] The figure and work of the painter from Terrassa Teresa Romero Domingo (1883-1974) are practically unknown. This article recovers part of her history through the relationship that the artist and her family maintained with the spiritist movement in the early twentieth century. The unexpected awakening of Romero’s passion for painting, her lack of artistic education and the quality of her work gave rise to multiple interpretations, both by art critics and within spiritism. Her case allows to explore the relationship between mediumship and art, and to analyze the context in which visionary women artists developed., [ES] La figura y la obra de la pintora tarrasense Teresa Romero Domingo (1883-1974) son prácticamente desconocidas. Aquí recuperamos parte de su historia a través de la relación que la artista y su familia mantuvieron con el movimiento espiritista a principios del siglo XX. El inesperado despertar de la pasión de Romero por la pintura, su falta de estudios artísticos y la calidad de su obra dieron lugar a múltiples interpretaciones, tanto por parte de la crítica como dentro del espiritismo. Su caso nos acerca a las relaciones entre mediumnidad y arte, y al rol ejercido por el contexto en el cual las artistas visionarias se desarrollaron.

To have a child lead an orchestra is an anomaly, yet this situation was encouraged, celebrated, or simply tolerated hundreds of times throughout the twentieth century. This article reconstructs the Western cultural phenomenon of the child conductor from its emergence in music halls in the 1910s to the consolidation of this figure within classical music and beyond in the late 1940s. Issues such as the professionalization of child maestros and their rise to international stardom are addressed. Profiles of child conductors are presented from the earliest child conductors, such as Willy Ferrero and Rio Gebhardt, to celebrity child maestros such as Pierino Gamba, Roberto Benzi and Giannella de Marco. While child virtuosos have been subject to scholarly study, child conductors have been largely overlooked. This article addresses this lacuna by surveying the general phenomenon.

[EN] This report qualitatively analyzes the challenges and factors that affect women’s careers in the history of science in Catalan-speaking territories. Based on the method of the focus group, the participants were a representative group of female historians at different career stages, who work inside and outside academia, have different family situations and represent the history of medicine, science and technology in its diversity. In the introduction we discuss the current development of women’s scientific careers in Spain, marked by the scissors effect and the glass ceiling, and point out the public policies instituted to rectify the situation. We then present the methodology and results of the focus group in four domains: 1. Academic production: research, teaching, administration; 2. Role models, support networks and forms of leadership; 3. Work-life balance; 4. Working conditions and alternatives outside academia. We conclude the report with some recommendations and actions that the history of science community can implement to avoid issues such as gender bias and to promote an equal development of women’s careers in the university and research system., [CAT] L'informe analitza de forma qualitativa els reptes i factors que afecten les carreres de les dones en l'àmbit de la història de la ciència en els territoris de parla catalana. Basat en la metodologia del grup de discussió, es va comptar amb la parti- cipació d¿un grup representatiu d¿historiadores en diferents etapes de la carrera, que treballen dins i fora de l'acadèmia, tenen diferents situacions familiars i representen la història de la salut, la ciència i la tècnica en la seva diversitat. A la introducció discutim el desenvolupament actual de la carrera científica de les dones a Espanya, marcada pels efectes tisores i pinça i pel sostre de vidre, i apuntem les polítiques públiques instaurades per redreçar la situació. Seguidament exposem la metodologia i els resultats del grup de discussió en quatre dominis: 1. Producció acadèmica: investigació, docència, administració; 2. Referents, xarxes de recolzament i formes de lideratge; 3. Conciliació de la vida personal i laboral; 4. Condicions laborals i alternatives fora de l'acadèmia. Concloem l'informe amb algunes recomanacions i accions que podem dur a terme des de la comunitat de la història de la ciència per evitar qüestions com el biaix de gènere i afavorir un desenvolupament igualitari de les carreres de les dones en el món universitari i de recerca.

Focusing on the chess prodigy Samuel Reshevsky (1911–1992), this paper examines the international commercial exploitation of child prodigies and their rise to celebrity. In the early 1920s, this boy wonder toured Europe and the United States, where he defeated some of the best players in simultaneous chess exhibitions, met important personalities and became a subject of global fascination. His ascent into stardom just before Hollywood’s child star era reveals the public’s eagerness to capitalise on gifted children as yet another commodity of the entertainment industry. Parents played a key role in exploiting child prodigies, despite the success of recent campaigns to secure children’s rights such as compulsory education and the regulation of child labour. Meanwhile, philanthropists attempted to aid children like Reshevsky and stop their public exhibition. Moreover, psychologists examined their talent and worried about their futures. Overall, Reshevsky’s case reconstructs the network of interests (commercial, humanitarian, scientific) surrounding child prodigies and historicises the child star phenomenon beyond the mainstream child performer.

La frenología, en boga en Europa y Estados Unidos hasta mediados del siglo XIX, intentó ganar credibilidad a través de sujetos anormales o extremos como los calculistas mentales, quienes fueron considerados pruebas vivientes de sus teorías. Metodológicamente, los frenólogos procedieron mediante la lógica del «pensar por casos»; es decir, infirieron conocimientos generales a partir de sujetos singulares como los calculistas. Los moldes al natural que se obtuvieron de sus cráneos fueron presentados como evidencias científicas, su carácter material estaba pensado para dotar la nueva ciencia de pruebas «objetivas» y contrastables de su disciplina. En este trabajo, el fenómeno de los calculistas mentales, y en particular el caso de Vito Mangiamele (1827-1897), nos transportará desde las academias de ciencias en Francia y España, a las sociedades y los museos frenológicos donde se debatió sobre el origen y la naturaleza de la habilidad matemática de estos sujetos.

The child prodigy phenomenon expanded during and after the mid-19th century, nurtured by a growing entertainment industry in Europe. Prodigies were particularly popular in two domains —classical music and mental calculation. Many spent their early childhoods on tour and living abroad. This paper analyzes the problem of the general education of the child prodigy, and the parents’ and impresarios’ role in financially exploiting the child’s talent. I focus on virtuosos and arithmetic wonders who performed in France in the 19th century. These children rarely received regular schooling and many only learned to read and write once their years of glory as a prodigy passed, or when their lack of education became problematic. The consequences of neglecting the prodigy’s elementary studies were greater than parents and impresarios had anticipated. Illiteracy and a meager knowledge of the wider culture affected talent development. In the end, a lack of general education contributed to the deterioration of the child’s giftedness, accelerating the transition from prodigy to ordinary.

This special issue entitled «Managing giftedness in contemporary society» analyzes how the category of giftedness has been mobilized in different areas -education, mental testing, and childrearing- to manage, classify, nurture, and even exploit commercially children in Europe and America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the first decades of the twentieth century, educators, pedagogical experts, pedologists, and psychologists, together with some physicians, drew attention to the existence of children whose intelligence and talents exceeded the average. The agendas that motivated their studies varied, including eugenics, mental hygiene, professional guidance, and an attempt to improve schooling while increasing educational efficiency. Intelligence tests became a widespread tool, but as several articles have demonstrated, they were not the only method to explore children’s minds and capacities. In the particular case of child prodigies, psychological examinations were expected to contribute knowledge about mental traits, such as memory, because in these cases such traits appeared magnified. The present volume aims to shed light on the social and scientific agendas supporting the use of categories like «child prodigy» and «gifted child», and to explore the impact they achieved beyond the limits of psychological science.

This article considers the double role of child prodigies as child stars and psychological subjects in Paris in the Belle Époque. I argue that the celebrity status of child prodigies during this time contributed to their transformation into objects of scientific curiosity. The notions of innate talent and natural-born genius contributed heavily to stories of child prodigies within the public sphere; these stories also circulated in psychological accounts of such children. To illustrate this, I examine the case of Pepito Arriola, the so-called Spanish Mozart, in more detail. This musical prodigy toured Europe and America during the early 20th century, and when he was 3- and one-half years old, Charles Richet presented him at the Fourth International Psychology Congress (1900) in Paris. Arriola became the first virtuoso to be submitted to psychological examination, and he was subsequently examined in Berlin by the psychologist Carl Stumpf. This closer look at Pepito Arriola's case clarifies how popular culture and scientific research interacted in the making of a prodigy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).