Libby O’Neil

Libby O’Neil is a PhD candidate in the History of Science and Medicine at Yale University. Her dissertation, “The Sciences of Unity: Organicist Systems Thinking between Vienna and the United States, 1900-1980,” traces the emergence of systems theory in the 20th century, focusing on scientists who emigrated from Central Europe to the United States. By offering alternative genealogies of systems theory, her work moves away from narratives that focus on the rise of the computer and toward a longer story about competing views of complexity and wholeness in the history of science. She is especially interested in holistic approaches to the human and behavioral sciences. 

Libby is a McDougal Teaching Fellow at the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, where she leads workshops on pedagogy for Yale graduates students and postdocs. Before coming to Yale, she received a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas in 2014, and an MA in Liberal Studies from Reed College in 2019. In addition to her previous academic experience, Libby has worked in avionics engineering and patent law.