Just before Nature: The purposes of science and the purposes of popularization in some english popular science journals of the 1860s

Popular science journalism flourished in the 1860s in England, with many new journals being projected. The time was ripe, Victorian men of science believed, for an 'organ of science' to provide a means of communication between specialties, and between men of science and the public. New formats were tried as new purposes emerged. Popular science journalism became less recreational and educational. Editorial commentary and reviewing the progress of science became more important. The analysis here emphasizes those aspects of popular science which have been identified by Frank Turner as 'public science' and by Thomas Gieryn as 'boundary-work'. the religious, intellectual, and utilitarian values claimed for science by editors and contributors in their tasks of persuading the public to support science and of distinguishing science from what they often called 'applied science' are discussed. These values are shown to vary among editors and, for the editors examined here, Shirley Hibberd, Henry Slack, James Samuelson, William Crookes, and Henry Lawson, to differ significantly from those of T. H. Huxley, John Tyndall, and Norman Lockyer, on whom much study of the popularization of science in the 1860s has focused.     

Solving the Giant Stars Problem: Theories of Stellar Evolution from The 1930s to The 1950s

Historiography has pointed out that the time between the mid 1910s and the early 1930s can be considered a pivotal period in the history of stellar astrophysics. In those years, scholars like Saha and Eddington first applied atomic physics to astrophysics. Theoretical astrophysics was born. This led to the development of the first physically sound models for stellar interiors and atmospheres. These landmark achievements spurred scholars to elaborate theories for stellar evolutions, and in the following decades several astrophysicists focused on this problem. The evolutionary role of red giants turned out to be the main issue. Those stars were initially assumed to be young ones going through the formation stage, but astrophysicists gradually realized that they were rather to be considered old, evolved stars. The solution of the giant stars issue required a couple of decades: it was not until the mid 1950s that a satisfactory explanation was obtained. This provides a detailed picture of the theories of stellar evolution from the 1930s to the 1950s and of the solution to the red giants problem, with special emphasis on how such a solution was made possible by a series of subsequent steps: the identification of changing chemical composition as a main evolutionary feature of a star, the inclusion of nuclear physics within the theoretical framework of stellar astrophysics, the recognition of the importance of inhomogeneities that settle within stars as nuclear processes go on.     

Analysis and prediction of the population in Spain: 1910-2000

"The starting hypothesis of this paper was the actual occurrence of important interactions between demographic and socio-economic factors when trying to reach population forecasts that may be more efficient than those obtained by mere extrapolative methods. In order to be able to implement this approach to the Spanish case it has been necessary to reconstruct first the Spanish population series by age and sex groups from 1910 to 1980. Later, we proceed to obtain population forecasts using alternative modeling strategies and comment on the potential problems that the new demographic situation may have for future public policy."     

John Dalton’s puzzles: from meteorology to chemistry

Historical research on John Dalton has been dominated by an attempt to reconstruct the origins of his so-called “chemical atomic theory”. I show that Dalton’s theory is difficult to define in any concise manner, and that there has been no consensus as to its unique content among his contemporaries, later chemists, and modern historians. I propose an approach which, instead of attempting to work backward from Dalton’s theory, works forward, by identifying the research questions that Dalton posed to himself and attempting to understand how his hypotheses served as answers to these questions. I describe Dalton’s scientific work as an evolving set of puzzles about natural phenomena. I show how an early interest in meteorology led Dalton to see the constitution of the atmosphere as a puzzle. In working on this great puzzle, he gradually turned his interest to specifically chemical questions. In the end, the web of puzzles that he worked on required him to create his own novel philosophy of chemistry for which he is known today.     

Education and Training in the Mining Industry, 1750-1860: European Models and the Italian Case

Mining education was one of the areas of technical savoir transformed during the eighteenth century. Mining academies arose and spread through Europe in the second half of that century. This happened first in the German states and the Austrian dominions, due to the cameralistic system, and soon developed elsewhere through a transfer of the German model to France (Ecole des mines) as well as to other francophone and Spanish-speaking areas (Belgium and Piedmont-Savoy, Spain and America). The mining academies may rightly be considered among the prototypes of technical high schools (Polytechniques and Technische Hochschulen) established during the nineteenth century. In the course of exploring some of the details of this development, the present paper aims at suggesting outlines to be followed in pursuing a comparative analysis of special schools for the training of technicians and mining officers (Bergschulen and Bergakademien). A second aim is to examine more closely the Italian case as a typical example of adaptation, although on a smaller scale, of French and German experiences. This can provide a framework within which to place further microanalyses and case-studies.     

Kant’s dynamical theory of matter in 1755, and its debt to speculative Newtonian experimentalism

This paper explores the scientific sources behind Kant’s early dynamical theory of matter in 1755, with a focus on two main Kant’s writings: Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens and On Fire. The year 1755 has often been portrayed by Kantian scholars as a turning point in the intellectual career of the young Kant, with his much debated conversion to Newton. Via a careful analysis of some salient themes in the two aforementioned works, and a reconstruction of the scientific sources behind them, this paper shows Kant’s debt to an often overlooked scientific tradition, i.e. speculative Newtonian experimentalism. The paper argues that more than the Principia, it was the speculative experimentalism that goes from Newton’s Opticks to Herman Boerhaave’s Elementa chemiae via Stephen Hales’ Vegetable Staticks that played a central role in the elaboration of Kant’s early dynamical theory of matter in 1755.     

The quantification and differentiation of the drug receptor theory, c. 1910-1960

While historians have dealt with the origins of the concept of drug receptors in the work of Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) and John N. Langley (1852-1925) as well as with some of its applications in modern pharmaceutical research, the history of the receptor theory as such has been neglected. Discussing major developments and conceptual changes in receptor theory between about 1910 and 1960 (including relevant contributions by A. V. Hill, A. J. Clark, J. H. Gaddum, E. J. Ari?ns and others), this paper attempts to fill this gap in historiography. It provides a case study of the unfolding of research under a new paradigm, but it considers also contemporary criticism and scepticism. By the early 1960s, quantitative investigations of drug action and interpretations of the experimental findings in terms of the receptor concept had become constitutive of the emerging field of 'molecular pharmacology'. Even then, however, receptors were still hypothetical entities.     

Euclid’s book on divisions of figures: a conjecture as to its origin

It is shown how a diagram on the reverse of a Greek coin of Aegina of the fifth century b.c.e., is simply constructed with the help of Proposition 36 of Euclid’s Book on Divisions [of Figures], and it is conjectured in the absence of contemporary evidence that, since Euclid expressly designated this proposition to be the last in the book, he may have had in mind the diagram, which, some 200 years after its appearance on the coinage, may still have played a significant role in geometry. To the doctors and nurses of Harefield and Watford General Hospitals, the Author gratefully dedicates this article.     

The concept of transition and its role in Leibniz’s and Whitehead’s metaphysics of motion

Leibniz’s and Whitehead’s analyses of motion are at the heart of their metaphysical schemes. These schemes are to be considered as two blueprints of a similar metaphysical intuition that emerged during two breakthrough eras, that is, the 17th century and the beginning of the 20th century, and retained the Aristotelian idea that existence requires an active principle. The two philosophers’ attempts to elucidate this idea in the context of their analyses of motion still interact with central, longstanding questions in philosophy, in particular that concerning the ontological status of change. For both thinkers, the phenomenon of motion is an example par excellence, of the metaphysically fundamental principle of action that is required for change in the world. I focus on Leibniz’s and Whitehead’s similar understanding of the concept of transition that is inserted as an essential constitutive component of motion and ensures its status as something real.     

Genesis of Karl Popper's EPR-like experiment and its resonance amongst the physics community in the 1980s

I present the reconstruction of the involvement of Karl Popper in the community of physicists concerned with foundations of quantum mechanics, in the 1980s. At that time Popper gave active contribution to the research in physics, of which the most significant is a new version of the EPR thought experiment, alleged to test different interpretations of quantum mechanics. The genesis of such an experiment is reconstructed in detail, and an unpublished letter by Popper is reproduced in the present paper to show that he formulated his thought experiment already two years before its first publication in 1982. The debate stimulated by the proposed experiment as well as Popper's role in the physics community throughout 1980s is here analysed in detail by means of personal correspondence and publications.     

How to tell causes from effects: Kant’s causal theory of time and modern approaches

I attempt a reconstruction of Kant’s version of the causal theory of time that makes it appear coherent. Two problems are at issue. The first concerns Kant’s reference to reciprocal causal influence for characterizing simultaneity. This approach is criticized by pointing out that Kant’s procedure involves simultaneous counterdirected processes—which seems to run into circularity. The problem can be defused by drawing on instantaneous processes such as the propagation of gravitation in Newtonian mechanics. Another charge of circularity against Kant’s causal theory was leveled by Schopenhauer. His objection was that Kant’s approach is invalidated by the failure to deliver non-temporal criteria for distinguishing between causes and effects. I try to show that the modern causal account has made important progress toward a successful resolution of this difficulty. The fork asymmetry, as based on Reichenbach’s principle of the common cause, provides a means for the distinction between cause and effect that is not based on temporal order (if some preconditions are realized).     

Trust in expert testimony: Eddington's 1919 eclipse expedition and the British response to general relativity

The 1919 British astronomical expedition led by Arthur Stanley Eddington to observe the deflection of starlight by the sun, as predicted by Einstein's relativistic theory of gravitation, is a fascinating example of the importance of expert testimony in the social transmission of scientific knowledge. While Popper lauded the expedition as science at its best, accounts by Earman and Glymour, Collins and Pinch, and Waller are more critical of Eddington's work. Here I revisit the eclipse expedition to dispute the characterization of the British response to general relativity as the blind acceptance of a partisan's pro-relativity claims by colleagues incapable of criticism. Many factors served to make Eddington the trusted British expert on relativity in 1919, and his experimental results rested on debatable choices of data analysis, choices criticized widely since but apparently not widely by his British contemporaries. By attending to how and to whom Eddington presented his testimony and how and by whom this testimony was received, I suggest, we may recognize as evidentially significant corroborating testimony from those who were expert not in relativity but in observational astronomy. We are reminded that even extraordinary expert testimony is neither offered nor accepted entirely in an epistemic vacuum.     

Discovering Science from an Armchair: Popular Science in British Magazines of the Interwar Years

Analysing the contents of magazines published with the stated intention of conveying information about science and technology to the public provides a mechanism for evaluation what counted as ‘popular science’. This article presents numerical surveys of the contents of three magazines published in inter-war Britain (Discovery, Conquest and Armchair Science) and offers an evaluation of the results. The problem of defining relevant topic-categories is addressed, both direct and indirect strategies being employed to ensure that the topics correspond to what the editors and publishers took to be the principal areas of science and technology of interest to their readers. Analysis of the results of the surveys reveals different editorial policies depending on the backgrounds of the publishers and their anticipated readerships. The strong focus of the two most populist magazines on applied science and ‘hobbyist’ topics such as natural history, radio and motoring is noted and contrasted with the very limited coverage of theoretical science. In conclusion, a survey of changes in the contents over the periods of publication is used to identify trends in the coverage of science during this period.