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Ninety Years of X-Ray Spectroscopy in Italy 1896-1986
Ninety years of X-ray spectroscopy in Italy 1896-1986 Vanda Bouché1,2, Antonio Bianconi1,3,4 1 Rome Int. Centre Materials Science Superstripes (RICMASS), Via dei Sabelli 119A, 00185Rome, Italy 2 Physics Dept., Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 2, 00185 Rome, Italy 3 Institute of Crystallography of Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, IC-CNR, Montero- tondo, Rome, Italy 4 National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), Kashirskoeshosse 31, 115409 Moscow, Russia Ninety years of X-ray spectroscopy research in Italy, from the X-rays dis- covery (1896), and the Fermi group theoretical research (1922-1938) to the Synchrotron Radiation research in Frascati from 1963 to 1986 are here summarized showing a coherent scientific evolution which has evolved into the actual multidisciplinary research on complex phases of condensed mat- ter with synchrotron radiation 1. The early years of X-ray research The physics community was very quick to develop an intense research in Italy on X rays, after the discovery on 5th January, 1896 by Röngten in Munich. Antonio Garbasso in Pisa [1], and then in Rome Alfonso Sella, with Quirino Majorana, Pietro Blaserna and Garbasso, published several papers on Nuovo Cimento [2], starting the Italian experimental school on X-rays research in XIX century [3]. The focus was on the mechanism of the emission by the X-ray tubes, the nature of X-rays (wave or particles), the propagation characteristics in the matter, the absorption and diffusion. Cambridge and Edinburgh at the beginning of the XX century became the world hot spots of X-ray spectroscopy with Charles Barkla who demonstrated the electromagnetic wave nature of X-ray propagation in the vacuum, similar with light and Henry Moseley, who studied the X-ray emission spectra, recorded the X-ray emission lines of most of the elements of the Mendeleev atomic table. -
Uniting Micro- with Macroevolution Into an Extended Synthesis: Reintegrating Life’S Natural History Into Evolution Studies
Uniting Micro- with Macroevolution into an Extended Synthesis: Reintegrating Life’s Natural History into Evolution Studies Nathalie Gontier Abstract The Modern Synthesis explains the evolution of life at a mesolevel by identifying phenotype–environmental interactions as the locus of evolution and by identifying natural selection as the means by which evolution occurs. Both micro- and macroevolutionary schools of thought are post-synthetic attempts to evolution- ize phenomena above and below organisms that have traditionally been conceived as non-living. Microevolutionary thought associates with the study of how genetic selection explains higher-order phenomena such as speciation and extinction, while macroevolutionary research fields understand species and higher taxa as biological individuals and they attribute evolutionary causation to biotic and abiotic factors that transcend genetic selection. The microreductionist and macroholistic research schools are characterized as two distinct epistemic cultures where the former favor mechanical explanations, while the latter favor historical explanations of the evolu- tionary process by identifying recurring patterns and trends in the evolution of life. I demonstrate that both cultures endorse radically different notions on time and explain how both perspectives can be unified by endorsing epistemic pluralism. Keywords Microevolution · Macroevolution · Origin of life · Evolutionary biology · Sociocultural evolution · Natural history · Organicism · Biorealities · Units, levels and mechanisms of evolution · Major transitions · Hierarchy theory But how … shall we describe a process which nobody has seen performed, and of which no written history gives any account? This is only to be investigated, first, in examining the nature of those solid bodies, the history of which we want to know; and 2dly, in exam- ining the natural operations of the globe, in order to see if there now actually exist such operations, as, from the nature of the solid bodies, appear to have been necessary to their formation. -
Hermann J. Muller's 1936 Letter to Stalin
The Mankind Quarterly 43 (3), Spring 2003, pp. 305-319 Hermann J. Muller’s 1936 Letter to Stalin John Glad1 University of Maryland This is the full text of a 1936 letter sent by the American geneticist H.J. Muller to Joseph Stalin advocating the creation of a eugenic program in the USSR. It was rejected by Stalin in favor of Lysenkoism. Key words: eugenics, communism, Lysenkoist theory, liberal roots of eugenics movement, Jewish scholars, Hermann J. Muller, Joseph Stalin, Stalinist, purges. Hermann Joseph Muller (1890-1967) received the Nobel Prize in 1946 for his work on the genetics of drosophila, whose brief generational life made it an ideal laboratory in miniature. Within a decade, however, following the discovery in 1953 of the double helical structure of DNA, drosophila studies began to be regarded as classical genetics and gave way to microbial and molecular genetics devoted to gene structure and function. Muller looked upon his drosophila research as science to be applied to the genetic betterment of the human species. A popular misconception with regard to eugenics is that it was exclusively a product of political conservatism. In point of fact the movement had its roots in the left as much as in the right. Muller himself was a devoted communist and an idealistic believer in human rights. Bearing in mind that Jewish scholars played a significant role in the eugenics movement, it should not come as a surprise to find that Muller was Jewish on his mother’s side. Indeed, he wrote a letter to Stalin on the subject of eugenics at the suggestion of the Russian-Jewish physician Solomon Levit, whose main interests lay in the field of genetics, especially in twin studies. -
Toward a Scientific and Personal Biography of Tullio Levi-Civita (1873-1941) Pietro Nastasi, Rossana Tazzioli
Toward a scientific and personal biography of Tullio Levi-Civita (1873-1941) Pietro Nastasi, Rossana Tazzioli To cite this version: Pietro Nastasi, Rossana Tazzioli. Toward a scientific and personal biography of Tullio Levi-Civita (1873-1941). Historia Mathematica, Elsevier, 2005, 32 (2), pp.203-236. 10.1016/j.hm.2004.03.003. hal-01459031 HAL Id: hal-01459031 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01459031 Submitted on 7 Feb 2017 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Towards a Scientific and Personal Biography of Tullio Levi-Civita (1873-1941) Pietro Nastasi, Dipartimento di Matematica e Applicazioni, Università di Palermo Rossana Tazzioli, Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica, Università di Catania Abstract Tullio Levi-Civita was one of the most important Italian mathematicians in the early part of the 20th century, contributing significantly to a number of research fields in mathematics and physics. In addition, he was involved in the social and political life of his time and suffered severe political and racial persecution during the period of Fascism. He tried repeatedly and in several cases successfully to help colleagues and students who were victims of anti-Semitism in Italy and Germany. -
Science and Fascism
Science and Fascism Scientific Research Under a Totalitarian Regime Michele Benzi Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Emory University Outline 1. Timeline 2. The ascent of Italian mathematics (1860-1920) 3. The Italian Jewish community 4. The other sciences (mostly Physics) 5. Enter Mussolini 6. The Oath 7. The Godfathers of Italian science in the Thirties 8. Day of infamy 9. Fascist rethoric in science: some samples 10. The effect of Nazism on German science 11. The aftermath: amnesty or amnesia? 12. Concluding remarks Timeline • 1861 Italy achieves independence and is unified under the Savoy monarchy. Venice joins the new Kingdom in 1866, Rome in 1870. • 1863 The Politecnico di Milano is founded by a mathe- matician, Francesco Brioschi. • 1871 The capital is moved from Florence to Rome. • 1880s Colonial period begins (Somalia, Eritrea, Lybia and Dodecanese). • 1908 IV International Congress of Mathematicians held in Rome, presided by Vito Volterra. Timeline (cont.) • 1913 Emigration reaches highest point (more than 872,000 leave Italy). About 75% of the Italian popu- lation is illiterate and employed in agriculture. • 1914 Benito Mussolini is expelled from Socialist Party. • 1915 May: Italy enters WWI on the side of the Entente against the Central Powers. More than 650,000 Italian soldiers are killed (1915-1918). Economy is devastated, peace treaty disappointing. • 1921 January: Italian Communist Party founded in Livorno by Antonio Gramsci and other former Socialists. November: National Fascist Party founded in Rome by Mussolini. Strikes and social unrest lead to political in- stability. Timeline (cont.) • 1922 October: March on Rome. Mussolini named Prime Minister by the King. -
September: Forskarnas Älsklingsdjur
Forskarnas älsklingsdjur Slå inte ihjäl den irriterande bananflugan nästa gång den lilla, 2-3 mm långa bumlingen surrar runt i köket. Den är ett under- verk när det gäller iakttagelseförmåga och flygprecision. Förundras i Karl von Frisch Konrad Lorenz Nikolaas Tinbergen stället över denna lilla fluga som lärt forskarna så mycket! Nobelpriset i fysiologi eller medicin 1973 tilldelades gemensamt Bananflugan Drosophila( melanogaster) är en favorit för forskare. Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz och Nikolaas Tinbergen ”för deras Redan i början av 1900-talet började man studera bananflugor upptäckter rörande organisation och utlösning av individuella eftersom de är lätta att odla och förökar sig snabbt med en ge- och sociala beteendemönster”. Frisch och Tinbergen studerade insekter, dock inte bananflugor. Läs mer på www.nobelprize.org nerationstid på endast cirka två veckor. Många genetiska varian- Bananfluga (Wikimedia Commons) ter med exempelvis olika ögon- och kroppsfärg har bildats på na- turlig väg eller framkallats med röntgenstålning eller kemikalier. Nobelpristagare som arbetat med bananflugor (se www.nobel- prize.org, Education): Beteendestudier med bananflugor • Thomas Hunt Morgan (1933) beskrev kromosomernas be- Vilda bananflugor massförökas ofta inomhus tydelse för hur egenskaper ärvs. på sensommaren om övermogen frukt får ligga • Hermann Joseph Muller (1946) upptäckte att röntgenstrål- framme. Fånga in dem i en burk med en tuss ning ger mutationer. bomull indränkt med vinäger. Se även www. • Edward B. Lewis, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard och Eric F. bioresurs.uu.se (Inköp/Levande organismer) för Wieschaus (1995) studerade embryonalutveckling. adresser till företag som säljer bananflugor. Odlingsrör med bananflugor och parande bananflugor Klassiska skollaborationer är korsningsförsök med bananflugor Bygg en testkammare av två stora petflaskor. -
Timeline of Genomics (1901–1950)*
Research Resource Timeline of Genomics (1901{1950)* Year Event and Theoretical Implication/Extension Reference 1901 Hugo de Vries adopts the term MUTATION to de Vries, H. 1901. Die Mutationstheorie. describe sudden, spontaneous, drastic alterations in Veit, Leipzig, Germany. the hereditary material of Oenothera. Thomas Harrison Montgomery studies sper- 1. Montgomery, T.H. 1898. The spermato- matogenesis in various species of Hemiptera and ¯nds genesis in Pentatoma up to the formation that maternal chromosomes only pair with paternal of the spermatid. Zool. Jahrb. 12: 1-88. chromosomes during meiosis. 2. Montgomery, T.H. 1901. A study of the chromosomes of the germ cells of the Metazoa. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 20: 154-236. Clarence Ervin McClung postulates that the so- McClung, C.E. 1901. Notes on the acces- called accessory chromosome (now known as the \X" sory chromosome. Anat. Anz. 20: 220- chromosome) is male determining. 226. Hermann Emil Fischer(1902 Nobel Prize Laure- 1. Fischer, E. and Fourneau, E. 1901. UberÄ ate for Chemistry) and Ernest Fourneau report einige Derivate des Glykocolls. Ber. the synthesis of the ¯rst dipeptide, glycylglycine. In Dtsch. Chem. Ges. 34: 2868-2877. 1902 Fischer introduces the term PEPTIDES. 2. Fischer, E. 1907. Syntheses of polypep- tides. XVII. Ber. Dtsch. Chem. Ges. 40: 1754-1767. 1902 Theodor Boveri and Walter Stanborough Sut- 1. Boveri, T. 1902. UberÄ mehrpolige Mi- ton found the chromosome theory of heredity inde- tosen als Mittel zur Analyse des Zellkerns. pendently. Verh. Phys -med. Ges. WÄurzberg NF 35: 67-90. 2. Boveri, T. 1903. UberÄ die Konstitution der chromatischen Kernsubstanz. Verh. Zool. -
IRPS Home Page
IRPS Home Page ARCHIVE EDITION OF IRPS BULLETIN Volume 15 No 1 April, 2001 Office Bearers : 2000 - 2003 From the Editor President's Column Obituary Reports from Members Papers New Members and Address Changes Return to Archive Home Page file:////warsaw/www/irps/archives/vol15no1/welcome.html [19/09/2013 12:21:48 PM] Untitled OFFICE BEARERS : 2000 - 2003 President: Regional Vice Executive Presidents: Councillors: M.J. Cooper Department of Physics North America: D.A. University of Warwick J.H. Hubbell (USA) Bradley (Malaysia) Coventry CV4 7AL U.K. South and Central L. America: Gerward (Denmark) Secretariat: A. Paschoa (Brazil) A.M. Ghose (India) R.H. Pratt Dept. of Physics W. Gilboy (UK) Univ Pittsburgh, PA Africa and Middle East: 15260 USA M. D.T.L. Jones (South J. Farquharson (UK) Africa) Treasurer: R.T. Mainardi (Argentina) A. Ljubicic East Europe L. Musilek (Czech Rudjer Boskovic Institute D. Republic) Bijenicka 54 McLean (Australia) Zagreb 41000 Croatia F.S.U T. A.E. Shikanov Nakamura (Japan) (Russia) Western Europe: F. Rustichelli (Italy) S.E. Asia : S.C. Roy (India) Australasia : D.C. Creagh (Australia) North East Asia: Luo Zhengming (PR China) EDITORIAL BOARD Editor : P.M. Bergstrom (U.S.A.) Editorial Committee : D.C. Creagh (Australia) S.A. McKeown (Australia) Main file:////warsaw/www/irps/archives/vol15no1/officers.html [19/09/2013 12:21:49 PM] Untitled FROM THE EDITOR Paul I wish to thank the International Bergstrom Radiation Physics Society for the opportunity to edit the Bulletin. It is quite clear that I will need the help of the members of the Society in order to be successful in this role. -
Guide to the James Franck Papers 1882-1966
University of Chicago Library Guide to the James Franck Papers 1882-1966 © 2006 University of Chicago Library Table of Contents Acknowledgments 3 Descriptive Summary 3 Information on Use 3 Access 3 Citation 3 Biographical Note 4 Scope Note 15 Related Resources 21 Subject Headings 21 INVENTORY 22 Series I: Correspondence 22 Series II: Manuscripts 51 Subseries 1: Physics - work in Germany and Denmark, 1905-1934 51 Subseries 2: Physics - work in United States, 1935-1958 53 Subseries 3: Biophysics - work on Photosynthesis at Johns Hopkins, 1935-193855 Subseries 4: Biophysics - work on Photosynthesis at the University of Chicago,55 1938-48 Subseries 5: Biophysics - work on Photosynthesis after 1948 55 Subseries 6: General Articles and Talks on Science 71 Subseries 7: Papers by other scientists 72 Subseries 8: Notes, memoranda and fragments 76 Subseries 9: Atomic Scientists' Movement, 1944-1953 76 Subseries 10: Franck Memorial Symposium, May 12-13, 1966 79 Series III: Tape Recordings and Photographs 80 Subseries 1: Tape recordings 80 Subseries 2: Hertha Sponer's photograph album, Göttingen, 1920-1933 80 Series IV: Personal Documents and Memorabilia 90 Subseries 1: Documents 90 Subseries 2: Clippings 93 Subseries 3: Biographies and Obituaries 94 Subseries 4: Memorabilia; Scrolls, Certificates, Medals, Mementos 96 Series V: Robert Platzman's Editorial Papers for the "Selected Works of James98 Franck" Series VI: Addenda 103 Subseries 1: Correspondence between James Franck and his nephew and Dr. Heinz104 Kallman Subseries 2: Oversize 105 Descriptive Summary Identifier ICU.SPCL.FRANCK Title Franck, James. Papers Date 1882-1966 Size 20.5 linear feet (29 boxes) Repository Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A. -
Emigration of Mathematicians from Outside German-Speaking Academia 1933–1963, Supported by the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector Historia Mathematica 39 (2012) 84–104 www.elsevier.com/locate/yhmat Emigration of mathematicians from outside German-speaking academia 1933–1963, supported by the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning Rolf Nossum * Department of Mathematics, University of Agder, P.O. Box 422, N-4604 Kristiansand, Norway Available online 14 September 2011 Abstract Racial and political persecution of German-speaking scholars from 1933 onward has already been exten- sively studied. The archives of the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL), which are depos- ited in the Western Manuscripts Collection at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, is a rich source of information about the emigration of European scientists, also those who did not come from German-speaking institutions. This is an account of the support given by the SPSL to the persecuted mathematicians among them. The chal- lenges faced by these emigrants included, in addition to anti-Semitism and xenophobia in their countries both of origin and of destination, the restricted financial means of the SPSL, and the sometimes arbitrary assessment of academic merits. Ó 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Zusammenfassung Der rassistischen und politischen Verfolgung deutschsprachiger Wissenschaftler nach 1933 wurden bereits umfassende Studien gewidmet. Die Akten der Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL), die bei der Western Manuscripts Collection der Bodleian Library in Oxford deponiert sind, bieten umfangreiche Informationen zur Emigration auch derjenigen europäischen Wissenschaftler, die nicht deutschsprachig sozial- isiert waren. Hier soll die Unterstützung der SPSL für verfolgte nicht-deutschsprachige Mathematiker beschrie- ben werden. -
Perspectives
Copyright 2000 by the Genetics Society of America Perspectives Anecdotal, Historical and Critical Commentaries on Genetics Edited by James F. Crow and William F. Dove Guido Pontecorvo (ªPonteº), 1907±1999 Bernard L. Cohen IBLS Division of Molecular Genetics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G11 6NU, Scotland UIDO Pontecorvo died on September 25, 1999, and enjoy Aristophanes in Greek. During studies in the G age 91, of complications following a fall while col- Faculty of Agriculture in the University of Pisa, his inter- lecting mushrooms in his beloved Swiss mountains; he est in genetics was aroused by E. Avanzi, a plant geneti- was a signi®cant contributor to modern genetics. He cist. And in my recollection of a distant conversation, his was also an irascible yet genial friend and advisor who orientation toward agriculture resulted from working a attracted the great affection and admiration of col- relative's chicken farm when he was a teenager. Under- leagues and students worldwide and who, as head of graduate friends, among them Enrico Fermi (known department and Professor of Genetics, served the Uni- even then as ªthe Popeº because of his infallibility), were versity of Glasgow with distinction from 1945 until 1968. also in¯uential mountaineering and skiing companions. It was characteristic that in 1955, when promoted to the After two years' compulsory military service in the light newly created Chair of Genetics and also elected Fellow horse artilleryÐand somehow the image of Lieutenant of the Royal Society, he circulated a note saying that Pontecorvo exercising the commanding of®cer's horse henceforth the head of department should be known seems not at all incongruous!ÐPonte became assistant as ªPonteºÐmeaning of course no change; he was any- to Avanzi, now director of an experimental agricultural thing but pompous. -
The National Bureau of Standards Becomes the National
APPENDIX A LEGISLATION RELATING TO THE ORGANIZATION, FUNCTIONS, AND ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS/ NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY For most of the legislative acts, only those portions are reproduced that mandated action by NBS/NIST. July 12, 1894, 28 Stat. 101 (Public Law 105—53d Congress, 2d session) CHAP. 131.—An Act To define and establish the units of electrical measure. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this Act the legal units of electrical measure in the united States shall be as follows: First. The unit of resistance shall be what is known as the international ohm, which is substantially equal to one thousand million units of resistance of the centimeter-gram-second system of electro-magnetic units, and is represented by the resistance offered to an unvarying electric current by a column of mercury at the temperature of melting ice fourteen and four thousand five hundred and twenty-one ten-thousandths grams in mass, of a constant cross-sectional area, and of the length of one hundred and six and three-tenths centimeters. Second. The unit of current shall be what is known as the international ampere, which is one-tenth of the unit of current of the centimeter-gram-second system of electro-magnetic units, and is the practical equiva- lent of the unvarying current, which, when passed through a solution of nitrate of silver in water in accor- dance with standard specifications, deposits silver at the rate of one thousand one hundred and eighteen millionths of a gram per second.