Prof. Myrna Sheldon

Myrna Perez Sheldon is an expert on the history and science of sexuality and gender. The 2020 recipient of the History of Science Society’s Margaret W. Rossiter History of Women in Science Award, she holds a doctorate in the history of science from Harvard University. Prof. Sheldon was a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Rice University, and has also held fellowships at Harvard Divinity School and in the Darwin Correspondence Project at Cambridge University. Her writing explores how both evolutionary science and Christianity influence racial and sexual identities in the United States.

Praise for Prof. Myrna Sheldon

“Myrna Perez Sheldon is a leading voice in American history. Her insightful analysis reveals the public voice of scientists in American society, the role of religious thought in lives of evolutionists and their critics, and the venues through which gender and race have served as important subjects of inquiry for scientists from a wide array of disciplines. Most importantly, Sheldon has shown how the choices made by scholars in both the sciences and the humanities are inevitably tied to our perspectives as real people living in the world.”
–Erika Lorraine Milam, Professor of History, Princeton University

“Dr. Myrna Sheldon is a masterful teacher covering some of the most pressing issues within contemporary science.”
–Terence Keel, Associate Professor, Institute for Society and Genetics, UCLA