Interdisciplinary Research and the American University

Abstract

The rise and fall of physical theories may have common features with the appearances and the disappearances of fashion, their political and economic roots. The history and philosophy of scientific methodology form the background to the consideration of big physics, accelerator research, and of small physics carried out with electronic equipment. The first is fashionable, the second not yet. It is concluded that science is a perpetual race, enjoyable for scientists to run.     

Science and Politics: The Blackett Memorial Lecture

Abstract

Tribute is paid to Lord Blackett - who, like the Author, was President of the Royal Society - as a scientist, as a research leader during World War II and in his capacity as an adviser on science in India. Next, the distinctions amI analogies between science and politics are discussed; pure, applied and strategic research are defined; and the ambivalence between scientists and politicians is pointed out. Science for the Third World is touched on, and the difficulty of offering scientific advice to government is illustrated with the examples of nuclear war and acid rain; to render such advice valuable and relevant, financial independence is essential.     

Transatlantic Correspondence and ‘Mobile Knowledge’ in Alexander von Humboldt's Exploratory Travels to Hispanic America

Summary

This article focuses on the relevance of Alexander von Humboldt's correspondence in the formation of transatlantic scientific networks at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Apart from connecting Humboldt with scientists and scholars worldwide, his correspondence turned out to be a fundamental tool for assuring the material conditions and the social and scientific connections he needed to carry out his research on the Spanish colonies and to simultaneously diffuse his achievements on the European side of the Atlantic. His contact with Hispanic American scientists and with the local elites enabled him to build a broad social network, gaining access to key material, human and intellectual resources. The letters sent to scientists, scientific institutions and noblemen in Europe, for their part, kept Humboldt's European correspondents informed about his activities in Hispanic America, contributing to the validation of his work before the scientific community and the fulfilment of the duties resulting from the political and institutional support he received both before and during his travels. This stresses the importance of strategic social groups and their cooperation in the framework of exploratory travels as a means to gaining access to resources in the peripheries. It also reveals the scientist's dependence on all those who supported his research: kings, barons, botanical gardens, universities, and academies.     

The Responsibility of Science for the Future of Mankind

Abstract

Science and technology have brought immense benefits to man, yet through them he has become divorced from nature and he has failed to understand them. Adverse effects have been deliberately hidden, and when they became obvious, have turned science into a scapegoat. Scientists are here presented as unconcerned with the social consequences of their work, whether it affects industry or politics. The endless scientific future is now seen to have strict limits, and, the author proposes, scientists must devote themselves to the problems of mankind's future. Above all, scientists must explain their work in a language which all can understand, so that man can feel again at ease in his scientific civilization.     

Inter- and Transdisciplinarity in Urban-Environmental Research: A Subjective Inventory over Twenty Years

Abstract

The growing call for problem-oriented and practice-relevant research in the public and political debate has its origins in complex problems, for which society expects solutions. This call is echoed in parts of the science community and uses the key argument that complex real-world problems demand cooperation between science and society in terms of inter- and transdisciplinary research. Using the example of urban research at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, I sketch my experiences in developing scientific cooperation between researchers coming from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and by stakeholder involvement. The target is to deepen mutual understanding of the scientific challenges and to provide system solutions adequate to the societal context. After over twenty years of facing the need for collaboration among a variety of social and natural scientists as well as with relevant stakeholders, and recognizing its advantages and limits, the topic of inter- and transdisciplinarity has, finally, become mainstream in environmental research.     

Transdisciplinarity in Practice: The Emergence and Resolution of Dissonances in Collaborative Research on Brownfield Regeneration

Abstract

The restoration of areas contaminated by industrial or mining activities has been a major issue in environmental research in many European countries since the 1980s, and it also constitutes a major area of research at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research — UFZ. Within this research environment, a consortium consisting of natural and social scientists has developed an EU-funded research project aimed at providing problem- oriented, tailored approaches and technologies for the revitalization of contaminated areas. The approach taken by the project is one that seeks to integrate scientific and non-scientific knowledge. In this paper we show how the idea of joint knowledge production between scientists and non-scientists is pursued in the context of the project. We explore how the rather fuzzy presentation of the transdisciplinary approach in the project proposal opens the door to interpretation and appropriation by scientists and practitioners alike. We describe a number of ad hoc solutions that were deployed to overcome specific dissonances during the collaborative production of knowledge (e.g. substituting common group learning for the single-handed elaboration of concepts by one project partner, or substituting the consultation of external experts for the mere gathering of information). Finally, we show how the interdisciplinary research environment at UFZ enhances the ability of the project team to resolve dissonances, improves collaboration between partners, and increases the innovative potential of project outputs.     

Auroral Research and the Character of Astronomy in Enlightenment Sweden

Abstract

The observation of the magnetic effects of the aurora borealis by Olof Hiorter in the 1740s was hailed by Swedish scientists as one of the major discoveries in contemporary research. This article investigates the political and academic context of the discovery, focusing on the astronomical ideals promoted by Hiorter. He used the discovery in order to buttress the importance of his own scientific character – technically competent, hard-working and research-oriented. He contrasted this ideal with the character of an ordinary university professor who was described as more of a bureaucrat, interested in science only as long as it could boost his reputation, and not averse from stealing results of technically more competent underlings. Hiorter's opponents at the university decried his lack of theory and devalued the importance of technical skill. This conflict is discussed in the context of ideals concerning cultural, political and economic values of science and scientists.     

Industry,Science and Politics

Abstract

Today industry is much criticized for its lack of responsibility – for fast cars, for side-effects of drugs and for the dangers of nuclear power. However, industry means mass production and mass consumption, essential for the high standard of living enjoyed in Europe. To achieve progress in society, industry must show enlightenment in addition to using the results of scientific research. In this the media have an essential role to fulfil. At present the societal system is too specialised and interdisciplinary scientists must take the lead in bridge-building between industry, science and politics, as interdisciplinary engineers have done within BMW.     

Dancers in the Dark: Scientific Careers According to a Gender-Blind Model of Promotion

Abstract

The disparity between men and women in science is a hot topic in gender studies and a relevant target of scientific policies. The leaky pipeline metaphor illustrates the decreasing number of women along senior positions in academia; however many questions remain unanswered. What factors progressively diminish the number of women in scientific careers and why do they appear to be less successful than their male colleagues? In order to discover new insight, this work compares men’s and women’s career paths by taking into account academic and family milestones achieved throughout the life course. An innovative and interdisciplinary methodology (from bibliometrics, statistics, and sociology) has been constructed to examine men’s and women’s trajectories. Findings display gender differences in scientists’ trajectories. The evolution of scientists’ careers reveals linear careers for males, whilst women develop non-linear careers. Motherhood emerges as a problem for developing linear careers. And collegiate decisions of gatekeepers seem to systematically disfavour women scientists’ careers.     

When Natural met Social: A Review of Collaboration between the Natural and Social Sciences

Abstract

This paper investigates the opportunities for further collaboration between the natural and social sciences. From 81 systematically identified and reviewed papers published in scientific journals, it became clear that complex situations that depend on human behaviour as well as natural processes require natural–social science collaboration. The creation of a community of collaborative natural–social science research, that learns from and can contribute to best practice across the sciences, is advocated to support natural– social science collaboration. Across disciplines, it became clear that such a community should deal with (1) difference between paradigms in the current sciences; (2) creation of skills and competences of the involved scientists; (3) scarcity of institutions sympathetic to collaborative research; and (4) the internal organization of collaborative projects.     

A Philosopher looks at Astrology

Abstract

Professional astronomers and other scientists have often criticised astrology, although it is not their primary responsibility to tackle borderline subjects. It is rather the task of a philosopher of science to delve into the problems of the demarcation of science, metaphysics and superstition. The aim of this review is to give an undogmatic analysis of the epistemological status of astrology within the general rules of rationality, the basis of the scientific and common sense approaches to reality. Historical and astronomical details are fully discussed in this context.     

Seeds: Contracting the Audience in a Play about Science

Abstract

In pursuing the question ‘what can scientists learn from theatre?’ Particularly, ‘what can scientists, as scientists, learn from theatre?’ this paper argues that science lacks a normative framework that theatre is capable of providing. Despite science’s well-earned epistemic reputation, there is adequate reason to question its ethical reputation, particularly at the point where cutting edge scientific technology impacts society. I consider science as operating in four categories: the scientific method; the scientific hypothesis; the scientific experiment; and the scientist’s personal character. The realms of the scientist’s hypothesis and personal character are those where social pressures are reciprocally exerted, where imaginative play mentality and epistemic values are most in evidence. Theatre can examine these realms effectively because it is able to use narratives that appeal not only to logical and social moral judgements but to emotional and visceral responses, so as to situate science in the social context in which the pressures of law, funding, experimentation, society, and personal ambition converge in ‘the game of life’.

This can be seen in the theatrical process known as ‘contracting with the audience’. I point out a spectrum of traditional narrative tropes by which science makes “contracts with” audiences. The paper draws on theories of entrainment and theatrical game-play from Peter Stromberg and Philippe Gaulier, as well as my own practice and research into the process of contracting with the audience, to propose how to reach beyond tradition and to shift normalising contracts “outside the box”. To illustrate my proposition, I examine the play Seeds by Annabel Soutar as directed by Chris Abraham for Crow’s Theatre and Theatre Porte Parole. Seeds follows the controversial court battles of Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser against agricultural-biotech corporation Monsanto, which sued him for patent infringement of its Genetically Modified Organism Roundup Ready Canola. Seeds helps its audience define a public arena for discourse even as it brings to our attention the factors that make this difficult to do, while making an excellent contribution to the genre of ‘Documentary Theatre’. It is a successful contract with the audience that creates a public forum for discussion about contemporary ethical debates in science, thereby merging artistic ambiguity and scientific theory.     

Cancer Information A Task of a Cancer Research Centre

Abstract

For many years, the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum has been endeavouring to improve communication between the scientists of the Centre and the citizen, who rightly wants to know which results of cancer research are of importance or will become important for him, his family and friends, his children and grandchildren. In view of the 160 000 cancer deaths per year in the Federal Republic of Germany, the pressure felt by scientists engaged in cancer research is great. It is thus all the more important to provide the public with continuous insight into current research programmes, their results and difficulties, and to inform the public of the conditions of research, of the possibilities resulting from the development of new methods, and of the ever more rapid progress in basic research, which, however, is only reflected after years or decades in an improvement of therapy and of diagnostics. To achieve these goals, a telephone 'cancer information service' was installed.     

Commercializing academic knowledge and reputation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: photography and beyond

Abstract

This article argues that Hermann Vogel (1834–1898), the head of the photochemical laboratory of the Technische Hochschule Berlin-Charlottenburg, was not exceptional in pursuing business undertakings throughout his academic career. After highlighting the involvement of higher education employees of various disciplines and institutions in the photographic industry as consultants, patentees, and entrepreneurs, I more closely examine the commercial activities of Vogel and those of Adolf Miethe (1862–1927), Vogel’s successor in Berlin. This analysis points to a notable continuity through time. It shows that these scientists’ decades-long engagement in commercial work was not materially affected by (1) their salary levels, (2) the emergence of industrial research in the photographic and optical industries, and (3) changes in the amount of government funding for scientific research. In addition, it reveals that the Prussian education ministry maintained a strong focus on reputational risks in handling complaints concerning commercial activities of these academics.     

The Exact Men of the North from Tool Makers to Historians

Abstract

This account of northern social scientists, historians, and machine-tool and astronomical instrument makers carries forward the author's construction of an intellectual profile of the North of England in previous articles. Principally by analysing entries in relevant biographical dictionaries, the author has demonstrated that northerners of distinction have been disproportionately numerous among 'men of science' in general and machine-tool engineers and astronomical instrument makers in particular, and — at least since the eighteenth century — among musicians and historians. Astronomical instrument makers and machine-tool engineers were above all exact men; so were the 'new' (scientific) historians like Stubbs and Mandell Creighton who followed the research methods of Leopold von Ranke; while the musicians produced in symphonies and oratorios exactly dovetailed, multi-layered structures of sound. A distinction is drawn between two forms of exactness: one of 'correspondence', the other of 'coherence'. The contrasted social contexts in which they are likely to arise are discussed. Musicians and historians (whose exactness lay in 'coherence') were big-city men; astronomical and mathematical instrument makers were more likely to have come down from the hills. The final result: the North was strongly represented in the front ranks of the nation's historians, mechanical engineers, and musicians; with only weak representation in the foremost ranks of social scientists and imaginative writers.     

Governing science before it governs us

Abstract

In this article I reflect on the motivation behind my latest book, ‘The governance of science: ideology and the future of the open society’, which is traceable to Karl Popper's dictum that scientists let their ideas die in their stead. I take this insight as the mark of our humanity more generally, even though we are on the verge of losing it. I argue that this is because, over the past century, the material and psychic investments in particular research trajectories have made it increasingly difficult to envisage what it would be like to pursue scientific inquiry in a substantially different way. I begin by discussing the historical significance of rhetoric in distinguishing between our privately held beliefs and publicly expressed theories, and then showing how this necessary – albeit morally ambivalent – distinction has been compromised with the onset of ‘big science’, first in physics and now in biology. We are thus saddled with a conception of scientific progress that threatens to render us, in evolutionary terms, overadapted to our environments. At the end of the article, I suggest some ways in which we may overcome the problem, at least in terms of the emerging ‘bioliberal’ regime.