Nicholas Dew

Nicholas Dew is an Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Department of History at McGill University. He holds a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford, awarded in 2000. His research specializes in early modern European and Atlantic history, particularly the cultural, scientific, and colonial developments of France during the 17th and 18th centuries. Dew’s work examines the intersections of colonialism, science, and medicine, as well as the trans-Atlantic dimensions of French scientific endeavors.

Education:

• D.Phil. (Oxford), 2000

Research Interests: His scholarship focuses on France’s cultural history, including the role of knowledge production under Louis XIV, global scientific networks, and the socio-political contexts of exploration and empire. He explores themes such as Colbert’s influence on scientific policy, the history of measurement, and the symbolic representation of science in art and iconography.

Publications & Awards: Dew’s book Orientalism in Louis XIV’s France won the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize (2011). His work has been supported by prestigious fellowships, including the Dibner Fellowship (Huntington Library) and the Inter-Americas Fellowship (John Carter Brown Library). His recent articles analyze geodesy, scientific expeditions, and the intellectual foundations of early modern empires.

Professional Contributions: He co-founded the French Atlantic History Group and contributed to edited volumes like Science and Empire in the Atlantic World. Dew has led SSHRC-funded initiatives, including the “Situating Science” and “Making Publics” collaborative projects, and teaches courses on the Scientific Revolution, Atlantic Worlds, and historiography.

Labs & Teams: Active in interdisciplinary research, Dew collaborates with scholars across history, philosophy of science, and global studies. His current project traces French science’s trans-Atlantic networks between 1670–1740.