In the late 1970s, scientists and scholars concerned about the character of science and technology joined to address fundamental questions of how to develop a new, value-conscious mode of scientific inquiry.

Their inquiries were informed by the revolutionary changes in thought and practice introduced by the environmental, feminist, and civil rights movements, by new academic work exploring the social, philosophical, and historical foundations of science, and by the analysis of comparative scientific traditions across different cultures.

Among them was Interdisciplinary Institute for Science president, Dr. Herbert Bernstein, a theoretical physicist teaching at innovative, interdisciplinary Hampshire College (with a research position at MIT), Marcus Raskin of the Institute for Policy Studies, and other scholars from a variety of disciplines.

In June 2023 the Institute hosted a Retro- and Pro-spective event at Hampshire College celebrating over thirty years of Institute projects and service and commemorated our founder’s, Herb Bernstein’s, 80th birthday.

“When we only choose to study numbers and figures and leave out the lived realities of the people our science will affect, our knowledge is incomplete. So there were three types of individuals we knew we wanted in every project: scientists, social studiers of Sciences, and activist/citizen-scientists

— Herb Bernstein