Britische Politiker als Liebhaber der Wissenschaft (ca. 1850–1914) — Zur Ideologie des Amateurismus

The various scholarly and scientific endeavours — comprising both arts and sciences —, which British statesmen persued in their leisure time, transcend the mere biographical aspect. In the light of the slow, yet steady professionalisation of educational and political institutions, many of them modernised or newly created in order to achieve what came to be called “National Efficiency”, the literary and scientific pastimes of men, like Gladstone, Morley, Salisbury, Balfour or Haldane, seemed soon to become somewhat obsolete. Yet, it is argued, that the often professedly amateurish activities did not merely display the traditional hobby attitude to the sciences, so characteristic of the wealthy aristocrat, but in some cases revealed a good understanding of the scientific and educational needs of society, leading up to their active advancement. The British amateurs, it would seem, were pleading for providing a balanced higher education and training, rather than going for the technical excellence of the political rival Imperial Germany, which dazzled and, at the same time, intimidated some of them.     

PROVENIENCE STUDY OF MEDIEVAL BULGARIAN GLASSES BY NAA AND CLUSTER ANALYSIS

The neutron activation analysis results from 30 glass samples were subjected to cluster analysis. The reliable localization of part of the medieval glass finds from Preslav enabled the evaluation of the variety of the production of a medieval glass workshop (ninth-tenth century), allowing conclusions to be made about the technological level of glass-making in Bulgaria during the Middle Ages. The work proved that NAA followed by cluster analysis is a successful approach to finding the local and chronological features of the investigated glasses.     

SPECTROCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SOME MEDIAEV AL GLASS FRAGMENTS FROM CATALAN GOTHIC CHURCHES

AAS, FE and OES are each used in the analysis of thirteen samples of fragments of window glasses from three Catalan Gothic churches: Sta. Maria del Mar (Barcelona, Spain), Pedralbes Monastery (Barcelona, Spain) and Girona Cathedral (Spain). Two kinds of stained window glass are found. Special attention is paid to Co/Cu, Co/Ni and Cu/Ni ratios for blue glasses and Mn/Cu and Fe/Cu ratios for red glasses.