Scientists and their cultural heritage: Knowledge,politics and ambivalent relationships

For many years, scientific heritage has received attention from multiple actors from different spheres of activity—archives, museums, scientific institutions. Beyond the heterogeneity revealed when examining the place of scientific heritage in different places, an authentic patrimonial configuration emerges and takes the form of a nebula of claims and of accomplishments that result, in some cases, in institutional and political recognition at the national level, in various country all around the world. At the international level, the creation of the international committee dedicated to University Museums and Collections (UMAC) within the International Council of Museums (ICOM) certainly testified from this raising interest in academic heritage and the existence of a specific community concern with it.This article presents numerous initiatives for the preservation of scientific heritage in France, with the goal of analysing the relationship scientists have with their heritage. We argue that scientific communities have a special relationship with heritage, which is characterized by a number of ambiguities. We show that such ambivalences allow analysis of identity, discipline, professional, and social issues operative in defining heritage and being redefined by heritage. To explore these dimensions, we have chosen to present three different case studies. The first traces the institutional uses of heritage by a scientific institution, the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique (CEA), through the transformation of the first French atomic reactor (ZOE) into a museum. The second example describes the initiatives of French astronomers from the mid-1990s to construct a national programme for the protection of astronomy heritage. Lastly, we recount the case of universities, with the example of the Université de Strasbourg.     

Achieving continuity: a story of stellar magnitude

Scientists tell a story of 2,000 years of stellar magnitude research that traces back to Hipparchus. This story of continuity in practices serves an important role in scientific education and outreach. STS scholars point out many ways that stories of continuity, like many narratives about science, are disconnected from practices. Yet the story of continuity in stellar magnitude is a powerful scientific achievement precisely because of its connection to practice. The historical development of star catalogues shows how specific recording practices connected past and present in a useful way. The narrative of continuity in stellar magnitude, however else it might be subject to STS critique of narrative, maintains its power because of its connection to practice. I suggest that more attention be paid to connections between practice and narrative in STS, and in particular to the ways that historical practices sustain narratives by connecting past and present.     

国内外现代项目管理学科体系的发展

现代项目管理学科体系的发展给管理组织带来了变革的活力,从而在各种组织中得到了广泛应用。本文对国内外现代项目管理学科体系的发展进行了综述,介绍了几种国际上具有代表性的、典型的项目管理学科体系及其发展,包括PMI的PMBOK和OPM3、英国CCTA的PRINCE2、IPMA的ICB、PMRC的C-PMBOK以及国际标准化组织的ISO10006。     

Repertoires: A post-Kuhnian perspective on scientific change and collaborative research

We propose a framework to describe, analyze, and explain the conditions under which scientific communities organize themselves to do research, particularly within large-scale, multidisciplinary projects. The framework centers on the notion of a research repertoire, which encompasses well-aligned assemblages of the skills, behaviors, and material, social, and epistemic components that a group may use to practice certain kinds of science, and whose enactment affects the methods and results of research. This account provides an alternative to the idea of Kuhnian paradigms for understanding scientific change in the following ways: (1) it does not frame change as primarily generated and shaped by theoretical developments, but rather takes account of administrative, material, technological, and institutional innovations that contribute to change and explicitly questions whether and how such innovations accompany, underpin, and/or undercut theoretical shifts; (2) it thus allows for tracking of the organization, continuity, and coherence in research practices which Kuhn characterized as ‘normal science’ without relying on the occurrence of paradigmatic shifts and revolutions to be able to identify relevant components; and (3) it requires particular attention be paid to the performative aspects of science, whose study Kuhn pioneered but which he did not extensively conceptualize. We provide a detailed characterization of repertoires and discuss their relationship with communities, disciplines, and other forms of collaborative activities within science, building on an analysis of historical episodes and contemporary developments in the life sciences, as well as cases drawn from social and historical studies of physics, psychology, and medicine.     

Reflections on the preservation of recent scientific heritage in dispersed university collections

The bulk of the significant recent scientific heritage of universities is not to be found in accredited science museums or collections employed in research. Rather it is located in a wide variety of more informal collections, assemblages and accumulations. The selection and documentation of such materials is very often unsystematic and many of them are vulnerable to changes of staff, relocation and, above all, shortage of space. Following a survey of views on the values of the recent material heritage of the sciences, I consider the many advantages—for teaching, engagement with wider communities, enhancement of institutional identity and work experience, celebration of scientific achievements, study of the recent history of the practices and fruits of the sciences, etc.—of “multi-site museums” formed through the coordination of such varied and scattered collections. I go on to reflect on ways in which the preservation and display of scientific heritage in dispersed collections may be enhanced and protected through institutional recognition and through provision of guidance and assistance in selection, documentation and digitisation, preservation and conservation, and display. The importance of adequate documentation of the contexts of production and use of objects is stressed, as are the benefits that can result from involvement of student “taskforces” and heritage-concerned scientists.     

Disciplining cattle reproduction: Veterinary reproductive science,bull infertility,and the mid-twentieth century transformation of Swedish dairy cattle breeding

From the 1940s, reproductive physiology and livestock genetics transformed dairy cattle breeding and became, in conjunction with the new reproductive technology of artificial insemination, important drivers of agricultural modernization in most countries with significant dairying. While this is well known, we know less about the longer-term interplay between specifically veterinary interests in reproduction and the institutional development of cattle breeding. In the present paper, I therefore examine the veterinary disciplining of cattle reproduction—its constitution as a veterinary scientific discipline and the extension of veterinary control over it—in mid-twentieth century Sweden. I show how veterinary scientists derived legitimacy for their fledgling discipline by engaging with the problems of practical breeding, and that in doing so they also exercised influence over breeding’s development. By making bulls’ reproductive disturbances visible and framing them as hereditary, they undermined the conservative interests of commercial breeders. The development of veterinary reproductive science thereby played an important role in reshaping the culture, economy, and regulations of cattle breeding in Sweden as it shifted from a prewar regime dominated by elite breeders to a postwar regime that, ostensibly, served all dairy farmers in the country.     

Scientific inertia in animal-based research in biomedicine

Despite aspirations to substitute animal experimentation with alternative methods and recent progress in the area of non-animal approaches, such as organoïds and organ(s)-on-a-chip technologies, there is no extensive replacement of animal-based research in biomedicine. In this paper, I will analyse this state of affairs with reference to key institutional and socio-epistemic barriers for the development and use of non-animal approaches in the context of biomedical research in Europe. I will argue that there exist several factors that inhibit change in this context. In particular, there is what I call “scientific inertia”, i.e. a certain degree of conservatism in scientific practice regarding the development and use of non-animal approaches to replace animal experimentation. This type of inertia is facilitated by socio-epistemic characteristics of animal-based research in the life sciences and is a key factor in understanding the status quo in biomedical research. The underlying reasons for scientific inertia have not received sufficient attention in the literature to date because the phenomenon transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries in the study of animal experimentation. This paper addresses this issue and seeks to contribute to a better understanding of scientific inertia by using a methodology that looks at the interplay of institutional, epistemic, and regulatory aspects of animal-based research.     

What is a text?

This paper argues that textuality—the property of being a text—is assigned by the reader, rather than constituting an inherent property, and that the being of texts was both captured and mystified by the figure of ‘the text’ as this developed from the 1970s onwards. Textuality consists in the abstraction of verbal content from its origins, entailing the apprehension of that content as copresent with the reader; and it is given a material embodiment in the process of publication, especially in the production of canonical works, which together comprise the locus classicus of the textual apprehension. Whole disciplines—here termed the hermeneutico-canonical disciplines—are based upon that apprehension, and the discipline or approach known as hermeneutics consists of its theoretical elaboration. In contrast, the discipline of history rests upon the apprehension of the verbal under the sign of the document or its cognates, and this difference renders intelligible the longstanding relationship of mutual suspicion between hermeneutics and history. The historiography of science, remarkably enough, manages to combine these approaches; the paper concludes by suggesting that these can be brought into a more fruitful synthesis by investigating historically the construction of scientific canons.     

Walls of resonance: Institutional history and the buildings of the University of Manchester

The built environments of universities are useful for telling stories about their development. Exteriors – walls, windows, doorways, the relative positioning of different facilities – are particularly suited to broad institutional narratives: the rise and decline of scientific disciplines, for instance, or the institution’s changing relationship with benefactors and the wider public. Exteriors are also conveniently accessible to public audiences.This paper explores the possibilities through the case of the University of Manchester. The approach is in a sense the converse of industrial archaeology, which seeks to understand the functioning of a site from what survives of its material form: here, we have begun with knowledge gained largely from document sources, and aim to bring it to life for visitors by pointing to the material consequences. Connecting doors and architectural symmetries illustrate founding unifications and alliances; infilling and glassing-over, constrained expansion; grand but obscured frontages, displaced priorities.Populating the site with accounts of its lived existence is a powerful tool to communicate history, but it is important not to create an ‘official’ memorialisation: audiences often know the site at first hand, and may question any received version. I conclude by calling for a reflexive treatment, mapping the histories of the stories themselves.     

The ‘Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani’: birth and evolution

The anniversary of the death of Pietro Tacchini (1838–1905), one of the pioneers of solar physics in Italy, is commemorared by this account of his major creation, the Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani (1871). Established to promote cooperation among solar spectroscopists engaged in the study of the solar chromosphere, it was the first scientific Society devoted to spectroscopy and its astronomical applications. Its journal, the Memorie, collected most of the important works on solar physics by Angelo Secchi SJ (1818–1878), Tacchini himself, and many other protagonists of the newly born astrophysics. A brief history of the Society and its development draws on many previously unexploited archival sources, in order to show its role in raising astrophysics to the status of a scientific discipline, in the context of the astronomical research of that time in Italy and abroad, especially in the USA.     

Remote viewing

Summary Remote viewing is the supposed faculty which enables a percipient, sited in a closed room, to describe the perceptions of a remote agent visiting an unknown target site. To provide convincing demonstration of such a faculty poses a range of experimental and practical problems, especially if feedback to the percipient is allowed after each trial. The precautions needed are elaborate and troublesome; many potential loopholes have to be plugged and there will be strong temptations to relax standards, requiring exceptional discipline and dedication by the experimenters. Most reports of remote viewing experiments are rather superficial and do not permit assessment of the experimental procedures with confidence; in many cases there is clear evidence of particular loopholes left unclosed. Any serious appraisal of the evidence would have to go beyond the reports. Meanwhile the published evidence is far from compelling, and certainly insufficient to justify overthrow of well-established scientific principles.     

Remote viewing

Remote viewing is the supposed faculty which enables a percipient, sited in a closed room, to describe the perceptions of a remote agent visiting an unknown target site. To provide convincing demonstration of such a faculty poses a range of experimental and practical problems, especially if feedback to the percipient is allowed after each trial. The precautions needed are elaborate and troublesome; many potential loopholes have to be plugged and there will be strong temptations to relax standards, requiring exceptional discipline and dedication by the experimenters. Most reports of remote viewing experiments are rather superficial and do not permit assessment of the experimental procedures with confidence; in many cases there is clear evidence of particular loopholes left unclosed. Any serious appraisal of the evidence would have to go beyond the reports. Meanwhile the published evidence is far from compelling, and certainly insufficient to justify overthrow of well-established scientific principles.     

The Predictive Power of Survey‐Based Exchange Rate Forecasts: Is there a Role for Dispersion?

Previous research has shown that the consensus of individual exchange rate forecasts performs no better than many commonly used forecasting models in predicting future exchange rates. Studies on equity and bond markets have explored the effects of dispersion in forecasts on the predictive power of forecasts; however, no earlier paper has investigated such effects in the context of the foreign exchange market. This study explores the role of consensus forecast dispersion as a factor leading to bias and anchoring in exchange rate forecasts. Our analysis of five currency pairs reveals that consensus forecasts mostly appear to be unbiased predictors of exchange rates in the long run, but most are unable to pass tests for short‐run unbiasedness. In three of the five currencies examined it appears that forecasters should take greater account of reported forecast dispersion. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

日本学术振兴会(JSPS)人才培养机制及其学科发展的平衡性

简要介绍了日本学术振兴会（JSPS）在国家科技政策中的重要作用.介绍了JSPS特别研究人员、海外研究人员和JSPS奖三种人才培养机制的人才的选拔方法及其学科分布特点.并基于经费投入比与论文产出比分析了基础研究中的学科发展平衡问题.日本已经认识到了学科发展的不平衡性,并采取措施促进学科的平衡发展.     

The benefits of acquiring interactional expertise: Why (some) philosophers of science should engage scientific communities

Philosophers of science are increasingly arguing for and addressing the need to do work that is socially and scientifically engaged. However, we currently lack well-developed frameworks for thinking about how we should engage other expert communities and what the epistemic benefits are of doing so. In this paper, I draw on Collins and Evans' concept of ‘interactional expertise’ – the ability to speak the language of a discipline in the absence of an ability to practice – to consider the epistemic benefits that can arise when philosophers engage scientific communities. As Collins and Evans argue, becoming an interactional expert requires that one ‘hang out’ with members of the relevant expert community in order to learn crucial tacit knowledge needed to speak the language. Building on this work, I argue that acquiring interactional expertise not only leads to linguistic fluency, but it also confers several ‘socio-epistemic’ benefits such as the opportunity to cultivate trust with scientific communities. These benefits can improve philosophical work and facilitate the broader uptake of philosophers' ideas, enabling philosophers to meet a variety of epistemic goals. As a result, having at least some philosophers of science acquire interactional expertise via engagement will likely enhance the diversity of epistemic capacities for philosophy of science as a whole. For some philosophers of science, moreover, the socio-epistemic benefits identified here may be more important than the ability to speak the language of a discipline, suggesting the need for a broader analysis of interactional expertise, which this paper also advances.     

从文献计量分析看世界合成生物学研究现状

合成生物学是生物学的一个新兴分支学科.以美国科学引文索引数据库扩展版数据库(SCI-EXPANDED)收录入库,发表于1990～2010年的3 949篇与合成生物学相关的论文为研究对象,通过对论文的产出规模、地域分布、机构分布、研究热点、学科关联性、知识基础等方面的计量分析,在一定程度上揭示出近年来世界合成生物学的发展是一种成果产出不断丰富,理论研究与应用研究均得到积极推进,与众多学科发展联系紧密,各国科研投入力量在显著加强以及美国在全球一枝独秀的局面.     

Between chemistry,medicine and leisure: Antonio Casares and the study of mineral waters and Spanish spas in the nineteenth century

This article considers how chemical analyses were employed not only to study and describe mineral waters, but also to promote new spas, and to reinforce the scientific authority of experts. Scientists, jointly with bath owners, visitors and local authorities, created a significant spa market by transforming rural spaces into social and economic sites. The paper analyses the role developed by the chemist Antonio Casares in the commodification of mineral water in mid-19^th century Spain. His scientific publications and water analyses put a new economic value on some Spanish mineral waters and rural springs. First the paper explores the relationship between geographic factors, regulation, and spa development in 19^th century Spain, and considers how scientific work improved the economy of some rural areas. Then the transformation of numerous country springs into spas, and the commodification of baths as places between science and leisure is examined. Finally the location of spas across the borders of medicine and chemistry is shown, together with the complex field operations required to study mineral waters. This paper reveals an intense circulation of knowledge between the field, laboratories and scientific publications, as well as the essential role developed by experts like Casares, who not only contributed to the study of rural springs but also to their economic transformation.     

The rise of alternative bread leavening technologies in the nineteenth century

This article reveals how nineteenth-century chemists and health reformers tried to eradicate the use of yeast in bread, claiming they had devised healthier and more sanitary ways to raise bread. It describes the alternative technological solutions to baking bread, investigating factors that influenced their development and adaptation in the marketplace. A lack of scientific and cultural consensus surrounding yeast, what it was and what it did, fermented during this period. The conflict over yeast helped create a heterogeneous industrialization of the baking industry, changing processes and ingredients and creating new forms of bakery products. By examining the claims of promoters of rival scientific beliefs and technologies, as well as those of users and social commentators, we can see that technology’s eventual adaptation and impact on society is not predictable at its outset. Exploring the relationship between differing scientific beliefs, cultural understandings and alternative technologies also shows how science and industry cannot be isolated from their social and cultural context. The examination of the nineteenth-century technological development of commonplace commodities such as bread, baking powder and yeast, also reveals and explores a story that has not been told before in the history of science and technology. Why it has not been told is as enlightening as the story itself, revealing as it does our own privileging of what is important in science and history.     

The birth of classical genetics as the junction of two disciplines: Conceptual change as representational change

The birth of classical genetics in the 1910's was the result of the junction of two modes of analysis, corresponding to two disciplines: Mendelism and cytology. The goal of this paper is to shed some light on the change undergone by the science of heredity at the time, and to emphasize the subtlety of the conceptual articulation of Mendelian and cytological hypotheses within classical genetics. As a way to contribute to understanding how the junction of the two disciplines at play gave birth to a new way of studying heredity, my focus will be on the forms of representation used in genetics research at the time. More particularly, I will study the design and development, by Thomas H. Morgan's group, of the technique of linkage mapping, which embodies the integration of the Mendelian and cytological forms of representation. I will show that the design of this technique resulted in a genuine conceptual change, which should be described as a representational change, rather than merely as the introduction of new hypotheses into genetics.     

The imperative for inclusion: A gender analysis of genetics

It has now been more than thirty years since Joan Wallach Scott (1986) argued that gender is a legitimate and necessary category of historical analysis that applies to all fields, including genetics. In the intervening years, a substantial body of work has appeared that adds women to the historiography of genetics. While this is a necessary component for including gender as a category of analysis in genetics, it is not sufficient. Gender analysis involves the broader goal of integrating gender into the interrogation of how social factors within research practices and institutional organization influence scientific work and knowledge production in genetics. This article argues for the imperative for inclusion—including both women and gender analysis—which, taken together, not only provide a more equitable and informative picture of the discipline's development, but also yield a historiography that more faithfully reflects the activity of doing science.