Der medizinische Wissensaustausch zwischen Siebenbürgen und anderen europäischen Ländern im Spiegel des Auslandsstudiums und der ärztlichen Ausbildung der Siebenbürger vor der Gründung der Klausenburger Universität (1872)

The first perpetual university in Transylvania was founded rather late compared to European standards, namely only in 1872 in Klausenburg (Cluj, Kolozsvár). Through the centuries, the social request for physicians was satisfied by the education of Transylvanian students at foreign universities and by the immigration of physicians from abroad. Concerning the period from 1180 to 1849, we know about 7145 Transylvanian students at more than 80 different universities of the Occident. Thereof, 412 physicians and 219 surgeons can be documented by their names. The ranking list of the most frequented medical faculties (Vienna, Padova, Leyden, Utrecht, Jena, Lipsia, Erlangen, Frankfort‐on‐Oder, Goettingen, Basel etc.) proves that all of these medical men received their professional education (being sponsored socially) from the then most excellent foreign universities. Thus, studies abroad guaranteed continual transfer of knowledge from Western to Eastern Europe. This situation seems to partially have compensated the disadvantages of lacking own Transylvanian universities ‐ at least from the quality point of view, so that the professional standard of the education of doctors working in Transylvania used to correspond to the highest level of European medicine.     

Wissenschaft im Gehäuse: Vom Nutzen und Nachteil institutionengeschichtlicher Perspektiven

Research is realized in social and cultural context, it is established in institutions, as far as different forms and conditions of practice are concerned. In this article some German examples demonstrate how flexible and varied the institutions of research can be during the course of history of science. The first part deals with historically grown, yet chronologically overlapping institutions of research: beginning with the lonely scholar, going on to hierarchally organized big science and ending up with virtual institutions. In the second part, at the intersection of political‐social administration and styles of scientific thought terms like German Realpolitik, science in context, and science policy are discussed within the modernization process.     

„Und setzet eure Worte nicht auf Schrauben”︁ Medizinische Semiotik vom Ende des 18. bis zum Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts - Gegenstand und Forschung

There is no doubt that medical semiotics are having a revival at the moment. Different aspects of yesterday's and today's interest in semiotics and in the historical interpretation of signs of disease in the context of theory and history of medicine can be illuminated: their deciphering as the history of the sign in medicine by historic science, their overestimation by philosophy during the Age of Enlightenment, their reduction to a phenomenology of medicine and natural science during the first half of the 19th century and their transformation to medical diagnostics since the middle of the 19th century and recently even their functionalization as methodical instrument within the history of science. The following will show the change in meaning of medical semiotics. Modern development and especially the transition to medicine, based on natural science, will be emphasized.     

Der Kampf gegen den „Schwarzen Tod”︁. Quarantäne und Epidemiebekämpfung der frühen Neuzeit im Mittelmeer aufgezeigt am Beispiel Maltas

During early modern period Mediterranean people feared epidemics far more than war and other destructive activities. Where epidemics, especially the plague, struck, all communications broke down and trade just withered away. With the coming of the Knights of St. John in 1530 the Maltese Islands became increasingly important as an international boarding place in the very center of the Mediterranean. Soon the maritime development of the Order's State was enhanced by the high regard in which the Maltese Quarantine System was held by European countries in the 17th and 18th century. The aetiology of plague was then unknown and the restrictive measures adopted by the Maltese Quarantine System too were in accordance with the approved epidemiological practices and theories of the time. This article tries to single out the importance of the Maltese Quarantine as a kind of medical “shield” for the southern European countries.     

Wachstum der Wissenschaftsressourcen in Deutschland 1650‐2000: Eine empirische Studie zur Anzahl der Hochschulen und Professoren sowie der Forschungsausgaben

When Derek J. de Solla Price studied the growth of science in the 1960s he found a very rapid exponential growth doubling every 15 years. He predicted a logistic slowing down of the growth rate until finally saturation is reached. This study examines three ressource indicators ‐ R&D expenditures, number of professors and of universities ‐ for Germany between 1650 and 2000. They show rather hyperbolic than exponential growth until 1980 when saturation is suddenly reached.     

Idealistisch geprägte Axiomatik des Selbstorganisationsparadigmas

The essay shows that the axiomatics of the systemic‐cybernetic‐biological theory of self‐organization by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela have their roots in the philosophy of German Idealism. Especially the completely subject‐centered philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Fichte already contains the central axiomatics of Maturana and Varela.     

Arbeit und Zeit,Körper und Uhr: Die Konstruktion von ‚effektiver’︁ Arbeit im ‚Scientific Management’︁ des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts

The concept ‚Scientific Management’︁ was invented in 1910 for what was then called the ‚Taylor‐system’︁ of shop management. Frederick W. Taylor had developed his system to eliminate the “waste of human effort” mainly by “time study”, the analysis of the work of “first‐class workman” with a stop‐watch and the synthesis of standard times for given tasks which make the “waste” of effort visible and measurable. A reading of Karl Marx's work shows the “paradigm of productivity” governing mid‐century discussion of the value of labor. Time is a central element in the valuation of industrial labour, but only with Taylor the precision of the stop‐watch is introduced to observe and control the productivity of the body of the worker. As disciples of Taylor Frank and Lillian Gilbreth introduced motion studies and micromotion studies into Scientific Management. Their analysis of the motion of workers, technically assisted by high‐speed watches and cameras, goes beyond the surface‐observation of the first‐class workman to enable the design of efficient motion. The body of the worker is represented in lines of light and tables of data. The objects of desire are the time‐lines of efficiency and productivity. In both cases, Taylor and the Gilbreths, various observations further lead to the conclusion that science and schooling are an important historical background to the rise of Scientific Management that deserves closer inspection.     

Kleinstadt und Bibliothek in der Frühmoderne. Zu Genese und Struktur der Ratsbibliothek der fränkischen Reichsstadt Weißenburg

Small town and library in early modern times: Even small German imperial towns in particular were unable to conduct their daily business without maintaining a library with a wide range of excellent and usefull books suitable for employment by the judiciary, the administration, the health-care services, the church and school system as well as for supporting the interests of the town effectively. It is clear that the municipial council placed high value on the acquisition of the most important works in the field of law, theology and literature treated in school considering the relatively rational manner in which the “Ratsbibliothek” (library of the council) of the imperial town of Weißenburg (Bavaria) took stock of its books in the early modern times (16th to 18th century): this can be seen in the contemporary cataloguing (1600/1745/1829) of the library. Since the library orientated itself pragmatically towards the administrative interests of the town, there was hardly any inclination towards the acquisition of works in the fields of philosophy or poetry. — This study is based on the first edition of the “Beringer-catalogue” included (1600).     

Das Problem der “entscheidenden Experimente”

In this historical essay an attempt is made to discuss the problem of decisive experiments both from the point of view of History of Science and of Philosophy of Science. The first part deals with Francis Bacon's idea of instantiae crucis and with the use of the term experimentum crucis mainly in optics. With respect to the experimental confirmation of Maxwell's electrodynamics the Duhem-Quine Thesis is discussed. Duhem had argued that not a single hypothesis but only a complete theory is examined by experiment. So a single experiment neither can prove nor can disprove a single hypothesis. With regard to Bucherer's and Neumann's data concerning the velocity-dependence of the electron's mass the question of the certainty of conclusions arising from experimental tests is treated. In the last parts the really historical problem of the decisive experiments is considered, namely the gap between the context of design of an experiment and the context of evaluation of an experiment in retrospect. The examples here are the Michelson-Morley experiment, the Franck-Hertz experiment, and the Compton-Effect. In the conclusion parity violation is discussed. Perhaps due to the possibility of a single alternative in theory and an unambiguous result of the experiment this test really was crucial. In general, however, the experimentum crucis will prove to be a very seldom event.     

Romantischer Dilettantismus — Johann Wilhelm Ritter und die Begründung der Elektrochemie

In this paper the psychological and historical problems of the german philosophy of nature at the time about 1800 are described. During this time the romantic philosopher and scientist of nature Ritter developed a new scientific branch of knowledge: the electrochemistry. Ritter represents exemplarily the type of a romantic dilettante. In this period, the problem of dilettantism got a new validity, especially by Goethe and Schiller: it was recognized as a positive power of human. In the romantic dilettantism of Ritter three aspects are shown: 1st, romantic dilettantes are intellectual flaneurs; 2nd, romantic dilettantes confront facts and general provisions, which up to this moment are supposed to be paradox, and obtain by this method a synthesis; 3rd, romantic dilettantes favour the intuitive power.     

“… daß der Liebhaber etwas Erfreuliches und Nützliches zu leisten im Stande ist.” Goethe,Soemmerring und das Os intermaxillare beim Menschen

Goethe's theoretical comments on the acknowledgement of the natural sciences dilettante differ considerably from his own experiences in this role (Farbenlehre, Zwischenkieferknochen) of dilettante. Therefore, it seems necessary to raise general questions on the concept: dilettante of natural sciences during Goethe's time, furthermore, on the characterization and labeling of such a dilettante in an historical-scientific context. This is especially important since up to the present time this particular problem has hardly ever been examined. In addition, there is a summary of an historical case study, the discovery of the human intermaxillary bone by Goethe and of the specialists' reactions on this discovery, especially that of Soemmerring.     

Die Fotografie – ein neues Bildmedium im Wissenschaftspanorama des 19. Jahrhunderts. Einführung in das Symposium

Photography – a novel medium of scientific representation in the XIXth century array of arts and sciences. To delve into various nineteenth century academic disciplines under the heading ‘photography in the arts and sciences’ as did last year's annual conference of the History of Science Society – the interest in such a topic only partly stems from the ‘iconic turn’ that has generally enlarged the scope of the social sciences in recent years. A more poignant feature in any such present day study will probably be a basic scepticism facing the fact that in public use photographs have been manipulated in many respects. Yet, while shying away from any simple success story, a historically minded approach to changing ‘visual paradigms’ (Historische Bildwissenschaft) has begun to emerge. In this context, it has proved of considerable heuristic value to reconsider the role of early photography in an array of science, arts and technology: Since the reliance on the traditional ways of sketching reality persisted, in many an instance where photography was introduced, the thoughts the pioneer photographers had about their new, seemingly automated business, call for close attention. Thus scholarship sets up a parallel ‘discussion room’; the lively debate on the benefit of academic drawings as opposed to photographic portraits is a case in point. Some fairly specialised reports on photographically based analyses, such as electron microscopy, point to a borderline where the very idea of representation as a correspondence of reality and imagination gets blurred. Even though any ‘visual culture’ will have to shoulder the ‘burden of representation’, it is equally likely that it will offer a deeper sensibility for the intricacies entailed in the variegated ways of illustrating or mapping chosen subjects of scientific interest. Scholarship may thus somewhat control the disillusionment that by now has become the epitome of writing on photographic history. Provided with a renewed methodological awareness for the perception process and its photographic transition, historians may strike a better balance between the ever present tendencies of a realistic and an aesthetic way of picturing the world we live in.     

Das erste Jahrhundert deutschsprachiger meteorologischer Lehrbücher

Sequences of text books published during a longer time span offer the opportunity to describe the development and forming of scientific disciplines. Here, the forming of meteorology as a separate discipline is analysed from German textbooks published between 1803 and 1901. This first century of meteorological textbooks can be divided into three phases: (1) a phase of the final definition of meteorology as a discipline within physics (1800–1840), (2) a phase which sees meteorology as an established part of physics (1839–1870), and (3) a phase of further developments within meteorology on the basis of the theoretical equations of hydrodynamics (1875–1901) during which meteorology finally forms as a separate discipline. In phase 1, meteorological textbooks were written by physicists, mathematicians, and other natural scientists. In phase 2, the textbooks were based nearly completely on Pouillet's textbook on physics and meteorology, and finally in phase 3, meteorologoical textbooks were written by meteorologists. The Germanlanguage meteorological textbooks from 1803 to 1901 are listed in Table 1. These books document the shaking off of old views in the beginning of the 19^th century, the establishment of meteorology as a separate discipline in natural sciences in the middle of that century, and the beginning of a specialisation within meteorology at the end of that century.