Cecelia Watson
Cecelia Watson is an American author, and a historian and philosopher of science.[1]
Cecelia Watson | |
---|---|
![]() Cecelia Watson (2019) | |
Born | United States |
Title | Scholar in Residence at Bard College |
Awards | American Council of Learned Societies New Faculty Fellow |
Academic background | |
Education | University of Chicago (Ph.D., M.A.); St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe) (B.A.) |
Doctoral advisor | Robert J. Richards |
Other advisors | Lorraine Daston |
Academic work | |
Discipline | History and philosophy of science |
Writing career | |
Language | English |
Genre | Nonfiction |
Notable works | Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark |
Website | ceceliawatson |
Career
Watson attended St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe), earning a B.A. in Liberal Arts.[2] She then did graduate work at the University of Chicago under the supervision of Robert J. Richards and Lorraine Daston.[3] She earned an M.A. in Philosophy and a Ph.D. in Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science.[4]
From 2011 to 2013, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and a scientific advisor to Haus der Kulturen der Welt, working on a joint project on the Anthropocene hypothesis.[5][4] She then was awarded an American Council of Learned Societies New Faculty Fellowship, which she undertook at Yale University from 2013 to 2015 with a joint appointment in the Department of Philosophy and the Program in the Humanities.[6]
She is currently Scholar in Residence at Bard College, with no departmental affiliation listed.[7] She has stated that she considers her academic work equally informed by the disciplines of history and of philosophy and that she rejects traditional disciplinary boundaries and specializations.[8]
Writing
Watson has written for The New York Times,[9] NBC,[10] The Paris Review,[11] LitHub,[12] and The Millions.[13] Her first book, Semicolon: The Past, Present and Future of a Misunderstood Mark was published in July 2019 by HarperCollins in the United States.[14] The book argued in favor of the use of semicolons, and against traditional grammar rules.[15][14]
A version of the book for British readers was published in the United Kingdom by 4th Estate with the title Semicolon: How a Misunderstood Punctuation Mark Can Improve Your Writing, Enrich Your Reading and Even Change Your Life.[16]
In February 2022, Publishers Weekly announced that Watson's second book, covering the world of watch collecting and the watch industry, had been acquired by Riverhead Books.[17]
References
- Norris, Mary (2019-07-15). "Sympathy for the Semicolon". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 2019-07-15. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- "St. John's College | Annapolis Alum Pens Acclaimed Book on the Semicolon". www.sjc.edu. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- "Alumni | Committee on Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science | The University of Chicago". chss.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- "Curriculum Vitae". Cecelia Watson. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- "The Anthropocene Project | MPIWG". www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- "ACLS American Council of Learned Societies | www.acls.org - Results". www.acls.org. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- College, Bard. "Cecelia Watson". www.bard.edu. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- "on william james and john la farge". 3:16. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- Watson, Cecelia (2021-05-04). "John McWhorter Takes a Serious Look at Profanity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- "Opinion | Is there a right way to send text messages? A language expert explains". NBC News. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- Watson, Cecelia (2019-08-01). "The Birth of the Semicolon". The Paris Review. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- "The Virtues of the Semicolon; or, Rebellious Punctuation". Literary Hub. 2019-08-29. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- Watson, Cecelia (2019-07-29). "Nine Things You Didn't Know About the Semicolon". The Millions. Archived from the original on 2019-10-30. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- Sehgal, Parul (2019-07-30). "'Semicolon' Is the Story of a Small Mark That Can Carry Big Ideas". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- "Are you afraid of the semicolon?". The University of Chicago Magazine. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- "Semicolon by Cecelia Watson — a mark of distinction". www.ft.com. Archived from the original on 2019-08-27. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- "Publishers Marketplace: Log In". www.publishersmarketplace.com. Retrieved 2022-03-03.