Shifts in the world science centre:space–time characteristics and disciplinary analysis

Abstract

Based on 4087 data records derived from two chronological tables relating to the history of science and technology, this paper explores geographical and chronological characteristics of shifts in the centre of world scientific activity (‘world science centre’). We then go on to compare the timing of shifts in world discipline centres with shifts in the world science centre, analyse the relationship through time between dominant disciplines in Italy, Britain, France, Germany, and the USA on the one hand and ‘excavation worthy’ disciplines on the other, and attempt to discover an internal mechanism governing shifts in the world science centre related to states of development of individual scientific disciplines.     

A Realist Response to the Appeal for Pacifism

Abstract

Political philosophy is a discipline related to all other disciplines in a manner that prevents it from becoming autonomous but at the same time not absorbed into other disciplines. When political philosophy ceases to be itself, other disciplines rush in to take its place and thereby themselves undermine their own being.     

Science and Theology Diverse Resolutions of an Interdisciplinary Gap by the New Priesthood of Science

Abstract

In an age where the trend towards secularization has been slowed down, new religions and ideological movements are competing with the more traditional positions to be found in society. Those who are anxious to justify their own particular position share only one criterion for comparison with those holding other positions: a belief in the epistemological efficacy of science. A new priesthood of scientist has emerged to offer justification in the name of science for a variety of ideological positions and to explain to a bewildered public what the real relationship is between the various disciplines of science and those of theology or moral and political philosophy. This paper describes the variety of positions taken up by the new priesthood, typifying these as Fundamentalism, Orthodoxy; Liberalism, Modernism, Agnosticism and Atheism.     

Environmental Geochemistry and Health

Abstract

During the first half-century of political independence, Americans were on the periphery of international science, little more than a minor appendage of European science. However, beginning about 1830, Americans began making great intellectual and institutional strides in science. Although progress varied from discipline to discipline, the end result was the establishment of an autonomous community, conducting research comparable to and in some case superior to, that of their European counterparts. This review records this evolution, utilizing three disciplines as case studies – astronomy, botany, and experimental physics.     

Erasmus Darwin: Master of Interdisciplinary Science

Abstract

Dr Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802) was by profession a physician, at Lichfield and later Derby, and was widely regarded as the leading doctor in Britain, author of the massive treatise Zoonomia (1794–6). His many original contributions to science cover a wide range of disciplines, including physics, chemistry, geology, meteorology, plant growth and nutrition and evolutionary biology. He was a prolific inventor, a close friend of Boulton and Watt, and a leading spirit in the ‘Lunar Society’ of Birmingham. In the 1790s he became the most famous poet of the day with his Botanic Garden, which greatly influenced Coleridge, Wordsworth and others.     

Mushrooms Their Consumption,Production and Culture Development

Abstract

In the last 20 years, mushroom consumption and production have increased at a faster rate than almost any other agricultural food product. The consumption and production of Agaricus (A. bisporus and A. bitorquis) and the Shiitake (Lentinus edodes) mushrooms account for 74% and 14%, respectively, of the total world production and demand for cultivated mushrooms. Since the origin of Agaricus cultivation in France, much progress has been made and the bulk of the scientific and engineering progress has been achieved since the beginning of this century. Mushroom science, a composite science of many disciplines including plant pathology, entomology, horticulture, food science, agricultural engineering, agricultural economics and rural sociology has contributed a great deal to the worldwide growth of the industry. Future improvements in mushroom culture will come not only from a more thorough understanding of single facets within the overall process, but from a more complete understanding of the interrelationship of these facets with each other.     

Historiographical layers in the relationship between science and technology

Abstract

This paper aims to examine historiographical layers in the historical narrative on the relationship between science and technology, a topic which has been exhaustively discussed without consensus by both historians of science and technology. I will first examine two extreme positions concerning this issue, and analyze the underlying historiographical standpoints behind them. I will then show that drawing implications for the relationship between science and technology from a few case studies is frequently misleading. After showing this, I .will move to the “macrohistory” of the relationship between science and technology, which reveals a long process in which the barriers between them gradually became porous. Here, I will examine the historical formation of three different kinds of “boundary objects” between science and technology, which facilitated their interactions by making their borders more permeable: instruments as a material boundary object; new institutions, laboratories, and departments as a spatial boundary or boundary space; and new mediators as a human hybrid.     

Diffusion of Information Across the Sciences

Abstract

The flow of information is an essential tool for all scientific research and is here examined within and between sciences. Examples are quoted of diffusion across scientific disciplines and technologies, and how science in new papers and in general scientific journals help scientists. Informal channel of communication are discussed and interdisciplinary contacts during conferences are considered. The change of research field by individual scientists is thought to have inherent limitations.     

Modelling Folksong Melodies

Abstract

In the second half of the twentieth century, ethnomusicologists assembled a collection of more than 7000 field recordings of Dutch ballads. Collectively known as Onder de groene linde, these recordings are preserved at the Meertens Institute in Amsterdam. Because of its size, composition and quality of metadata, Onder de groene linde is a unique resource for studying the musical properties of folksongs. For such study, it would be essential to search and order the songs automatically, not just using the metadata, but especially their musical content. It is the aim of the WITCHCRAFT project to design and implement methods for processing the musical content of the songs. Such a project involves two disciplines, musicology and computer science, that have different goals and methodologies. Such differences can lead to unproductive tensions, but can also be exploited in order to attain new insights that could not have been attained by the separate disciplines.     

Chemistry: Facts not Fiction

Abstract

Brecht has said that ‘the task of science is to lighten the laboriousness of human existence’ and some examples are given of the way chemistry has contributed to this task. Yet great challenges remain – atomic war and the population explosion – and it is essential to achieve a just and informed balance between benefits and risks. Uninformed criticism of chemistry in the media is roundly condemned, and tribute is paid to antipollution measures taken by the chemical industry. The common language which unites scientists from all nations must be used to further peace and understanding in the world.     

Science in Antarctica Intellectual and Physical Adventure

Abstract

Antarctica is a geographical region and Antarctic science is therefore multidisciplinary, the main areas of research being concerned with the continent's geological base, the superimposed ice-cap, the atmosphere above it and their external relationship. Each of these research areas is interdisciplinary: the study of its outstanding problem – the history of the Antarctic ice sheet – requires contributions from meteorology, oceanography, glaciology, geology, chemistry and physics; and its future behaviour will he determined by external events, including the consumption of fossil fuels on other continents. Research in Antarctica is given added piquancy by the continent's unique environment and rigorous climate which retain their attractive character even though modern technological developments have removed many elements of discomfort and danger. The region is also singular in its political nature and scientist have a particularly close relationship with their governments through the Antarctic Treaty.     

Order and organisation

Abstract

In this paper we re-examine the relationship and possibilities for discourse between the academic disciplines called ‘sciences’ and those known as ‘arts’. Do they represent one culture or two? An apparent diversity of views emerges in two contemporary writers, George Steiner and Nicholas Lash, the former differentiating the two, the latter insisting that the ‘two cultures’ debate itself is misconstrued. We follow the principal threads of both arguments in the light of an intimate involvement with the practice of science and its communication in public and academic contexts. Visiting aspects of both arts and sciences that distinguish them from other disciplines, the role of theory, and the twin purposes of function and contemplation, we find that much of the pain of discourse between them arises from a failure to recognise common structures and functions. As a result, either function or contemplation may be overemphasised at the expense of the other. We suggest directions in which the tensions might be resolved in both public and academic arenas.     

Science and society The natural–unnatural dualism

Abstract

Science provides knowledge that technology transforms into means of action. Their impact on society will depend on effective use being made of these means. The chemical and physical sciences have profoundly modified mankind's living conditions, chemistry in particular playing a central role. Its creative power has made available new materials and a range of new processes for transforming matter. As a result, the question of control of science by society has become more and more relevant. Effective control requires that the public and decision makers be provided with information for evaluating the potential impact of technology on society as well as for preserving the necessary freedom of scientific research and safeguarding the quest for knowledge.     

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.     

Extraterrestrial biophysics

Abstract

Modern concert hall design uses science and engineering to make an acoustic which embellishes and enhances the artistry of the musicians. The modern discipline of concert hall acoustics is a little over a hundred years old, and over the last century much has been learnt about how to ensure the audience receives high quality sound. During this period, knowledge from a large number of disciplines has been exploited. It is the intention of this paper to illustrate how disciplines as diverse as X-ray crystallography, psychology, and mobile telephony have influenced acoustic design. The paper will concentrate on the design of acoustic diffusers for concert halls, as this is a topic currently attracting considerable interest within the acoustics industry and academia.     

Information Retrieval in Cultural Heritage

Abstract

This article discusses the opportunities and challenges of applying modern information retrieval techniques to the cultural heritage domain. Although the field of information retrieval is closely associated with computer science, it originally emerged from library science — also one of the main disciplines concerned with access to cultural heritage material. Hence we are, in a sense, exploring what happens if we bring these strands of research back together again. The article consists of three parts. In the first part, we explain the field of information retrieval and its multidisciplinary nature. In the second part, we discuss how and why the problem of providing access to cultural heritage can be cast naturally as an information retrieval problem. In the third and main part, we present a detailed case study of applying the modern information retrieval approach in practice within a museum.     

The disciplining of scientific communities

Abstract

Amidst ongoing concern with training students in the skills and knowledge necessary to contribute towards a knowledge-intensive economy, we explore how particular ‘epistemic subjects’ are produced within specific epistemic communities. We examine how social studies of science have probed the ‘disciplining’ practices that constitute scientific knowledge production, but have tended to overlook how students participate in, and become members of, epistemic communities. We propose that training contexts provide a window onto the disciplining processes through which scientific fields and their practitioners are co-produced. We offer an empirical example of an emerging scientific field that is working to establish community boundaries through the recruitment and training of university students. We explore how newcomers’ practices, values and identities are disciplined through participation in this nascent community whilst remaining open to negotiation and resistance. The conclusion calls for more scholarly attention to educational trajectories as processes through which disciplines and their disciples are produced.     

The Study of Time: Proceedings of the First and Second Conferences of the International Society for the Study of Time

Abstract

In the past, the nobility of science was taken for granted, and it was universally venerated. Today many scienti!, ts are depressed by the morally doubtful applications of science: the high ideals of science should prevent the application of science to weapons research. In comparing science and religion, the moral dimensions of science are stress, ed and their extension is urged. In this way the world can be saved from war and the dignity and nobility of science can be restored.     

Desertification Processes and the Search for Solutions

Abstract

This paper reviews the evidence of desertification as reported in the scientific literature by ecologists, meteorologists, hydrologists, archeologists and various other disciplines. There is not as yet full agreement as to the extent and causes of this phenomenon. World wide climatic changes have been cited as causative factors, but the influence of man is still considered by most investigators as the dominant cause, possibly exacerbating cyclic climatic changes. Deserts, semi-arid and marginally productive areas vary greatly in extent and for different reasons.

Results of research and development have indicated that the enlightened intercession of man can contain and reverse this process. Sound management and conservation of existing land and water resources seem to be the basic needs and are perhaps the easiest technology to transfer to the desert farmer and nomad. The introduction of drought-hardy tree and bushes of economic value to bind drifting sand dunes and to regenerate overgrazed pastures have also proven their value. Recent research has shown the possibility for better utilization of water resources including brackish water for irrigation of agricultural crops.

Many other fields of technology are being applied to this problem, but the major focus will undoubtedly have to be on man himself and there has been some research on social organization, nomadism and sedentarization, technology transfer, population control, directions of education and a host of similar problems. Much more work will have to be channelled into this direction, however, if real progress is to be attained.     

Electrical instruments in 19th century France,between makers and users

Abstract

Having quickly described new historiographical approaches to scientific instruments, this paper explores some characteristics of the evolution of the relationship between scientific instrument makers and French physicists in the 19th century. Artisans without a scientific culture at the dawn of the century, a certain number of instrument makers were integrated into the scientific community by its end, sharing their practices and their values. These builders served as mediators between different physicists, between physicists and members of other disciplines like physiology and, finally, between savants and the world of technology (telegraphy and then industrial electricity). Symmetrically, a significant number of French physicists left mathematical physics for a physics based on instruments and their development. The emergence, extension, and eventual disappearance of the different contexts of use of an instrument (amateurs, public performances, teaching, research, medicine, telegraphy, industry, etc) illustrate both the boundary crossings between these different domains and the major role that use played in successive reconfigurations of instruments.