DOCSLIB.ORG

Session Abstracts for 2013 HSS Meeting

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Session Abstracts for 2013 HSS Meeting Session Abstracts for 2013 HSS Meeting Sessions are sorted alphabetically by session title. Only organized sessions have a session abstract. Title: 100 Years of ISIS - 100 Years of History of Greek Science Abstract: However symbolic they may be, the years 1913-2013 correspond to a dramatic transformation in the approach to the history of ancient science, particularly Greek science. Whereas in the early 20th century, the Danish historian of sciences Johan Ludvig Heiberg (1854-1928) was publishing the second edition of Archimedes’ works, in the early 21st century the study of Archimedes' contribution has been dramatically transformed thanks to the technological analysis of the famous palimpsest. This session will explore the historiography of Greek science broadly understood during the 20th century, including the impact of science and technology applied to ancient documents and texts. This session will be in the form of an open workshop starting with three short papers (each focusing on a segment of the period of time under consideration, Antiquity, Byzantium, Post-Byzantine period) aiming at generating a discussion. It is expected that the report of the discussion will lead to the publication of a paper surveying the historiography of Greek science during the 20th century. Title: Acid Rain Acid Science Acid Debates Abstract: The debate about the nature and effect of airborne acid rain became a formative environmental debate in the 1970s, particularly in North America and northern Europe. Based on the scientific, political, and social views of the observers, which rationality and whose knowledge one should trust in determining facts became an issue. The papers in this session discuss why scientists from different countries and socio-political backgrounds came to different conclusions about the extent of acidification. How did civil servants and politicians handle scientific controversy? Who benefited from scientific uncertainty? In discussing such questions, the panel seeks to illuminate the complexity of acid rain debates, showing that the issues at stake went far beyond saving the environment from pollution. Title: Agricultural History of American Science Abstract: Does science have an agricultural history? What would the history of science look like if it were told from the perspective of agriculture? This session explores the intersection between two distinct historical subfields-- agricultural history and the history of science--by focusing on U.S. agriculture from the early nineteenth century to the late twentieth century. The production of food and fiber through agriculture has been extraordinarily significant as a shaping context for the production and circulation of knowledge, the development of scientific institutions and funding, and the construction of key ideas and concepts in the natural sciences. The session will emphasize larger historiographical arguments, using specific case studies from U.S. history as starting points for reflecting more broadly on the potential for reframing the history of American science from an agricultural perspective. We thus explore the possibility not only for an enhanced focus on the history of the agricultural sciences--themselves arguably understudied given their enormous importance and widespread pursuit--but also more provocatively how the history of science might be re-envisioned as agricultural history. The related subfield of environmental history is a significant mediating influence for many of us, but while there has already been considerable discussion of the intersection of the history of science with environmental history, there has been less attention to agricultural history as a field, even though it, too, has its own organizations (e.g., Agricultural History Society) and offers promising opportunities for integrative scholarship between subfields. Presenters include both agricultural/environmental historians and historians of science. HSS 2013 Session Abstracts Title: Applying Science in America during the Cold War: Regulation, Industrial Management, and Leisure Abstract: The Cold War era was marked by an increased profile for science in American industry and public policy. But in many cases, the role of science in planning and development was complicated by the particular context in which it was deployed. The papers in this panel offer four instances where using applied science in the United States during the Cold War was complicated by regulatory concerns, changes in industrial management, and new uses of leisure time. James Bergman discusses the development of industrial agriculture and frozen foods had to be integrated with the perceived realities of annual climatic change and regional differentiation. Renée Blackburn considers how the development of new safety technologies by auto manufacturers in the 1960s had to negotiate the changing regulatory environment informed by regulatory science in that period. Peter Neushul’s paper discusses World War II-era science, wave pools, and surfing. And James D. Skee looks at the case of the Disney organization, to show how operations research and other consultants at times molded their work to support the needs of executive decision makers. In each of these cases, scientists sought to prove the worth of their discipline; but disciplines had to change in order to accommodate the shifting contexts in which they were deployed. Title: Behavioral Sciences in the Postwar Era: Community of Discourse or Community of Practice? Abstract: With roots in the massive World War II mobilization of social scientists, a distinctive, cross-disciplinary “behavioral sciences” community emerged in early Cold War America. Self-labeled “behavioral scientists” of the postwar years shared some traits with earlier periods of avowed scientism in U.S. social science—notably the 1920s. But the postwar “behavioral sciences” community was distinct from earlier efforts to promote a nomothetic science of man. Shared wartime service yielded landmark studies, methodological innovations, and enduring networks that, together, suggested that Minerva’s owl was set to take flight. Postwar behavioral scientists were distinguished, too, by their ambitious theorizing and formal modeling, often in a mathematical key. The embrace of mathematics extended to empirical research design and rigorous graduate training. The elite and well-connected social scientists promoting the behavioral sciences argued for—and often carried out—team-based interdisciplinary projects organized around real-world problems. Some of these same figures acted as brokers in an unprecedented patronage system centered on foundations and military sources. By the early 1950s the behavioral sciences movement was in full swing—a peculiar mixture of cocksure scientism, methodological rigor, and Cold War government service. Though its institutional and patronage profile began to shift by the early 1960s, the behavioral sciences’ intellectual agenda—notably the focus on formal modeling and systematic theory—remained broadly influential within American social science for decades. Title: Beyond Blood and Guts: Probing the Body for Knowledge in the History of Medicine Abstract: How have medical experts positioned themselves as arbiters of truth by examining structures of the body for hidden meaning? This panel explores historical cases in which the medicalized body was configured as an esoteric text, the specialized knowledge contained therein legible only to the the discerning physician or scientist. The body’s structures, qualities, morphological configuration, and physiology could all be mined for useful information about the health, temperament, criminal tendencies, racial identity, and other intimate characteristics of the individual. The proficiency of physicians and scientists in reading the body thus allowed them to assert and negotiate the role of the expert. Miriam Rich analyzes how an early nineteenth-century obstetrician claimed a therapeutic mandate through his reading of the uterus as a locus of racial difference; Courtney Thompson examines the development of phrenological theories and claims to expertise around the body of the criminal in prisons and court rooms in the early nineteenth century; Lisa Haushofer explores how the bodies of patients and animals were understood to articulate the anatomical, physiological and surgical “removability” of the spleen in the 19th century German states; Eli Anders considers how notions of bodily individuality inflected late-nineteenth century debates about the efficacy of bloodletting; and David Jones looks at surgeons’ debates about the nature of coronary artery HSS 2013 Session Abstracts disease in the mid-twentieth century. Together, these case studies illustrate how knowledge read from the body was broadly deployed in therapeutic, legal, and medical settings. Title: Biology on Land, at Sea, and in the Air: Research Methods, Transportation Technology, and the Biological Sciences in the United States, 1930-1975 Abstract: The increasing sophistication and changing nature of biological research in the United States during the period between 1930 and 1975 was impacted by many factors, not the least being the increasing growth of government agencies such as the USDA, NRC-NAS, CAA, and the various arms of the Smithsonian Institution, that facilitated various research projects in the biological and environmental sciences. In addition to institutional support and monies, the availability of new transportation systems such as aircraft, and seemingly less glamorous
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Many Faces of Knowledge Production in Art Museums: an Exploration of Exhibition Strategies Emilie Sitzia
    Document généré le 29 sept. 2021 18:10 Muséologies Les cahiers d'études supérieures The Many Faces of Knowledge Production in Art Museums: An Exploration of Exhibition Strategies Emilie Sitzia Les nouveaux paradigmes Volume 8, numéro 2, 2016 URI : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1050765ar DOI : https://doi.org/10.7202/1050765ar Aller au sommaire du numéro Éditeur(s) Association Québécoise de Promotion des Recherches Étudiantes en Muséologie (AQPREM) ISSN 1718-5181 (imprimé) 1929-7815 (numérique) Découvrir la revue Citer cet article Sitzia, E. (2016). The Many Faces of Knowledge Production in Art Museums: An Exploration of Exhibition Strategies. Muséologies, 8(2), 141–156. https://doi.org/10.7202/1050765ar Tous droits réservés © Association Québécoise de Promotion des Recherches Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d’auteur. L’utilisation des Étudiantes en Muséologie (AQPREM), 2018 services d’Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d’utilisation que vous pouvez consulter en ligne. https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/ Cet article est diffusé et préservé par Érudit. Érudit est un consortium interuniversitaire sans but lucratif composé de l’Université de Montréal, l’Université Laval et l’Université du Québec à Montréal. Il a pour mission la promotion et la valorisation de la recherche. https://www.erudit.org/fr/ Article cinq The Many Faces of Knowledge Production in Art Museums: An Exploration of Exhibition Strategies Emilie Sitzia 141 Muséologies vol. 8 | no 2 Article cinq (141 – 157) Dr. Emilie Sitzia is an associate professor in the depart- ment of literature and art at Maastricht University and the director of the Master Arts and Heritage programme.
    [Show full text]
  • Internationalizing the University Curricula Through Communication
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 428 409 CS 510 027 AUTHOR Oseguera, A. Anthony Lopez TITLE Internationalizing the University Curricula through Communication: A Comparative Analysis among Nation States as Matrix for the Promulgation of Internationalism, through the Theoretical Influence of Communication Rhetors and International Educators, Viewed within the Arena of Political-Economy. PUB DATE 1998-12-00 NOTE 55p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Speech Communication Association of Puerto Rico (18th, San Juan, Puerto Rico, December 4-5, 1998). PUB TYPE Reports Research (143) Speeches/Meeting Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *College Curriculum; *Communication (Thought Transfer); Comparative Analysis; *Educational Change; Educational Research; Foreign Countries; Global Approach; Higher Education; *International Education IDENTIFIERS *Internationalism ABSTRACT This paper surveys the current situation of internationalism among the various nation states by a comparative analysis, as matrix, to promulgate the internationalizing process, as a worthwhile goal, within and without the college and university curricula; the theoretical influence and contributions of scholars in communication, international education, and political-economy, moreover, become allies toward this endeavor. The paper calls for the promulgation of a new and more effective educational paradigm; in this respect, helping the movement toward the creation of new and better schools for the next millennium. The paper profiles "poorer nations" and "richer nations" and then views the United States, with its enormous wealth, leading technology, vast educational infrastructure, and its respect for democratic principles, as an agent with agencies that can effect positive consequences to ameliorating the status quo. The paper presents two hypotheses: the malaise of the current educational paradigm is real, and the "abertura" (opening) toward a better paradigmatic, educational pathway is advisable and feasible.
    [Show full text]
  • Sacred Rhetorical Invention in the String Theory Movement
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Communication Studies Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research Communication Studies, Department of Spring 4-12-2011 Secular Salvation: Sacred Rhetorical Invention in the String Theory Movement Brent Yergensen University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/commstuddiss Part of the Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons Yergensen, Brent, "Secular Salvation: Sacred Rhetorical Invention in the String Theory Movement" (2011). Communication Studies Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research. 6. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/commstuddiss/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Communication Studies, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication Studies Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. SECULAR SALVATION: SACRED RHETORICAL INVENTION IN THE STRING THEORY MOVEMENT by Brent Yergensen A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major: Communication Studies Under the Supervision of Dr. Ronald Lee Lincoln, Nebraska April, 2011 ii SECULAR SALVATION: SACRED RHETORICAL INVENTION IN THE STRING THEORY MOVEMENT Brent Yergensen, Ph.D. University of Nebraska, 2011 Advisor: Ronald Lee String theory is argued by its proponents to be the Theory of Everything. It achieves this status in physics because it provides unification for contradictory laws of physics, namely quantum mechanics and general relativity. While based on advanced theoretical mathematics, its public discourse is growing in prevalence and its rhetorical power is leading to a scientific revolution, even among the public.
    [Show full text]
  • Galileo in Early Modern Denmark, 1600-1650
    1 Galileo in early modern Denmark, 1600-1650 Helge Kragh Abstract: The scientific revolution in the first half of the seventeenth century, pioneered by figures such as Harvey, Galileo, Gassendi, Kepler and Descartes, was disseminated to the northernmost countries in Europe with considerable delay. In this essay I examine how and when Galileo’s new ideas in physics and astronomy became known in Denmark, and I compare the reception with the one in Sweden. It turns out that Galileo was almost exclusively known for his sensational use of the telescope to unravel the secrets of the heavens, meaning that he was predominantly seen as an astronomical innovator and advocate of the Copernican world system. Danish astronomy at the time was however based on Tycho Brahe’s view of the universe and therefore hostile to Copernican and, by implication, Galilean cosmology. Although Galileo’s telescope attracted much attention, it took about thirty years until a Danish astronomer actually used the instrument for observations. By the 1640s Galileo was generally admired for his astronomical discoveries, but no one in Denmark drew the consequence that the dogma of the central Earth, a fundamental feature of the Tychonian world picture, was therefore incorrect. 1. Introduction In the early 1940s the Swedish scholar Henrik Sandblad (1912-1992), later a professor of history of science and ideas at the University of Gothenburg, published a series of works in which he examined in detail the reception of Copernicanism in Sweden [Sandblad 1943; Sandblad 1944-1945]. Apart from a later summary account [Sandblad 1972], this investigation was published in Swedish and hence not accessible to most readers outside Scandinavia.
    [Show full text]
  • UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The new prophet : Harold C. Urey, scientist, atheist, and defender of religion Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3j80v92j Author Shindell, Matthew Benjamin Publication Date 2011 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO The New Prophet: Harold C. Urey, Scientist, Atheist, and Defender of Religion A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History (Science Studies) by Matthew Benjamin Shindell Committee in charge: Professor Naomi Oreskes, Chair Professor Robert Edelman Professor Martha Lampland Professor Charles Thorpe Professor Robert Westman 2011 Copyright Matthew Benjamin Shindell, 2011 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Matthew Benjamin Shindell is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2011 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page……………………………………………………………………...... iii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………. iv Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………….
    [Show full text]
  • Hypotheses, Facts, and the Nature of Science by Douglas Futuyma How
    http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/futuyma_theory.html Hypotheses, Facts, and the Nature of Science by Douglas Futuyma How, for example, can you be sure that DNA is the genetic material? What if the scientists who "proved" it made a mistake? Has anything really been proved absolutely true? Is science merely one way—the dominant Western way—of perceiving the world, no more or less valid than other perceptions of reality? Is evolution a fact or a theory? Or is it just an opinion I'm entitled to hold, just as creationists are entitled to their opposite opinion? Consider a hypothetical example. You are assigned to determine why sheep are dying of an unknown disease. You take tissue samples from 50 healthy and 50 sick sheep, and discover a certain protozoan in the liver of 20 of the sick animals, but only 10 of the healthy ones. Is this difference enough to reject the NULL HYPOTHESIS: that the two groups of sheep do not really differ in the incidence of protozoans? To answer this question, you do a statistical test to see whether the difference between these numbers is too great to have arisen merely by chance. You calculate the chi-square (χ2) statistic (it is 4.76), look it up in a statistical table of chi-square values, and find that "0.025 < p < 0.05." What does this expression, which you will find the like of in almost all analyses of scientific data, mean? It means that (assuming you had a random sample of sick sheep and healthy sheep) the probability is less than 0.05, but more than 0.025, that the difference you found could have been due to chance alone and that there is no real difference in protozoan infection rates of sick and healthy sheep, at large.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecology, a Romantic Science?
    CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 11 ARTICLES ECOLOGY, A ROMANTIC SCIENCE? Josep M. Camarasa* Ecology is an unusual scientific discipline with characteristics which it shares with very few others (it is, for ex- ample, a science of synthesis, its multiple roots, holistic focus, etc.). These characteristics and the history of the discipline show ecology to be a science which is deeply marked by the Romantic thought of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and which has reached its high points in periods which coincided with a flourishing of Romantic thought –understood as a critique of contemporary civilisation from within, or a critique of modernity. Contents 1. Justification 2. ‘Normal’ science and scientific revolutions 3. Ecology, a Romantic science? A science that differs from others Romanticism and modernity: an ongoing dialectic Science and Romanticism: the emergence of ecology 4. Holism and reductionism in the history of ecology The protohistory of ecology: from Humboldt to Haeckel Ecology’s view of itself: from the name to the thing The ecology of the inter-war period: the emergence of key concepts The ecological revolution of the 1950s and 1960s: matter, energy and information Not yet a fully? ‘normal’ science: recent developments 5. What now? When is the next revival due? * Josep M. Camarasa is an advisor to the Scientific Secretariat of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans. 6 ECOLOGY, A ROMANTIC SCIENCE? 1. Justification ceda with Romanticism, not to mention Schubert, Schumann, Gericault and C. D. Friedrich. Howev- Ecology as a Romantic science? This affirmation er, few would manage to name even one Romantic will, no doubt, be greeted by many with a smile of scientist, despite the fact that the period generally condescension, confirming them in their view that associated with the Romantic movement (late 18th ecology is not a ‘serious’ science.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Distribution of Species from Humboldt and Darwin to DNA
    On the Distribution of Species From Humboldt and Darwin to DNA Sequencing and ‘Spatial Turns’ (Version: 12 – Feb – 2018) Dr. Nils Güttler & Dr. Bernhard C. Schär ETH Zurich Spring Semester 2018 Time Tue 13.15—15.00 Location HG F 26.5 Abstract How did life on planet earth not only evolve over time, but disperse across geographical space? This is one of the core questions of biogeography--a less known subdiscipline emerging around 1800 and continuing to the present. This seminar ask how biogeography came to shape our understanding of where animals, plants, people, and cultures on planet earth 'came from' and 'belong'. Objectives Much of the intellectual history of the life sciences--from the early days of Natural History to modern Biology--rests on two pillars: 1) the question of how life evolved over time, and 2) the question of how life dispersed across geographical space. While there is a vast historiographical literature on pillar no. 1 (mostly on Darwin and Darwinism), the spatial dimension of the life sciences has received far less attention by historians of science. Research into the distribution of life across space belongs to the little known subdiscipline of 'Biogeography'. Alexander von Humboldt, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Alphonse de Candolle count among the 'founding fathers' of the discipline. The aim of this seminar is to explore how theories, practices, and tools of biogeography changed from their inception in the 19th century to their more recent applications, e.g. in DNA sequencing and the environmental sciences. Students will engage with classical texts from the field and explore how their authors were both shaped by and shaped their changing social, cultural and political environments.
    [Show full text]
  • Adidas Originals Unite All Originals Press
    Very few DJs can jump from club sets to high-profile festival performances, to Kanye West’s larger- than-life stadium shows with ease. In today’s DJ culture, A-Trak holds a truly unique place. He and partner Nick Catchdubs founded America’s most trendsetting new label, Fool’s Gold, launching the careers of artists such as Kid Sister and Kid Cudi. Fool’s Gold’s mission to merge all aspects of club music was already outlined in Trizzy’s original mixtape manifesto, Dirty South Dance, which set the tone for his own production. He is now one of the most sought-after remixers in electronic music, and his remixes for the likes of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Boys Noize have become undeniable mainstays in DJ sets the world over. 2009 saw the release of two critically acclaimed DJ mixes, Infinity +1 and Fabriclive 45, as well as the birth of Duck Sauce, his collaboration with Armand Van Helden. The duo’s radio smash “aNYway” cemented itself as the dance anthem of the year, A-Trak’s first true chart- topper with two videos in international rotation and across-the-board support from Pete Tong to Busy P, David Guetta to 2manydjs. Duck Sauce’s 2010 follow up “Barbra Streisand” was even bigger, a whistling pop sensation that accumulated over 60 million YouTube views of its star-studded video while hitting platinum heights around the globe. They even covered it on X-Factor and Glee! Not bad for a kid whom many viewed as a 90’s turntablism prodigy.
    [Show full text]
  • Socratic Dialectic Between Philosophy and Politics in Euthydemus 305E5-306D1
    CARRIE SWANSON | 43 Socratic Dialectic between Philosophy and Politics in Euthydemus 305e5-306d1 ἴδμεν ψεύδεα πολλὰ λέγειν ἐτύμοισιν ὁμοῖα ἴδμεν δ’, εὖτ’ ἐθέλωμεν, ἀληθέα γηρύσασθαι. Hesiod, Theogony 27-8. Carrie Swanson University of Iowa [email protected] ABSTRACT In the final scene of the Euthydemus, Socrates argues that because the art of speechwriting merely partakes of the two good arts philosophy and politics, it places third in the contest for wisdom. I argue that this curious speech is a reverse eikos argument, directed at the speech- writers own eikos argument for the preeminence of their art. A careful analysis of the partaking relation reveals that it is rather Socratic dialec- tic which occupies this intermediate position between philosophy and politics. This result entails that Socrates’ peculiar art is only a part of philosophy, and its practitioner only partially wise. Keywords: Euthydemus, partaking argument, rhetoric, sophistry. https://doi.org/10.14195/2183-4105_19_3 44 | Socratic Dialectic between Philosophy and Politics in Euthydemus 305e5-306d1 INTRODUCTION: THE My defense and explanation of this claim PARTAKING ARGUMENT is organized into four sections. I begin in sec- (305E5-306D1) tion §1 by extracting the following initial gloss of the partaking relation from 305e5-306d1: an In his final address to Crito in the Euthyde- art X is a partaker of another art Y just in case mus, Socrates improvises an elaborate deduc- the end at which X aims is identical to the end at tion (305e5-306d1) for the claim that the art which Y aims; but since X only partially shares of speechwriting comes in third place, after in the relevant components that constitute Y, X philosophy and politics, in the contest for wis- will only imperfectly achieve the common end dom (σοφία).
    [Show full text]
  • The New Celebrity Scientists. out of the Lab and Into the Limelight. Fahy, Declan
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research Baruch College 2016 Review: The New Celebrity Scientists. Out of the Lab and into the Limelight. Fahy, Declan. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Aldemaro Romero Jr. CUNY Bernard M Baruch College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/bb_pubs/59 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] POLYMATH: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS & SCIENCES JOURNAL Fahy, Declan. The New Celebrity Scientists: Out of the Lab and Into the Limelight. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. 287 pp. $38.00 hardcover (ISBN 978-1-4422-3342-3) Reviewed by Aldemaro Romero Jr. Baruch College In the last couple of decades, we have seen the widespread ascendancy of the phenomenon of celebrity in society. Celebrities as a cultural manifestation are not necessarily something new. We saw that notion in the twentieth century being exploited by Hollywood through their “star system” as well as by sports teams hungry to increase their revenues. Now that phenomenon has expanded into areas that we would not have imagined decades ago, and one of them is in the field of science. With the advent of social media and the relaxation of social views regarding stereotypes, we have seen the rise of the figure of the celebrity scientist. In a very timely and well written book, Declan Fahy analyzes this phenomenon in depth and provides us with an understanding into this trend.
    [Show full text]
  • THE MAN of SCIENCE Steven Shapin
    THE IMAGE OF THE MAN OF SCIENCE Steven Shapin The relations between the images of the man of science and the social and cultural realities of scientific roles are both consequential and contingent. Finding out “who the guys were” (to use Sir Lewis Namier’s phrase) does in- deed help to illuminate what kinds of guys they were thought to be, and, for that reason alone, any survey of images is bound to deal – to some extent at least – with what are usually called the realities of social roles.1 At the same time, it must be noted that such social roles are always very substantially con- stituted, sustained, and modified by what members of the culture think is, or should be, characteristic of those who occupy the roles, by precisely whom this is thought, and by what is done on the basis of such thoughts. In socio- logical terms of art, the very notion of a social role implicates a set of norms and typifications – ideals, prescriptions, expectations, and conventions thought properly, or actually, to belong to someone performing an activity of a certain kind. That is to say, images are part of social realities, and the two notions can be distinguished only as a matter of convention. Such conventional distinctions may be useful in certain circumstances. So- cial action – historical and contemporary – very often trades in juxtapositions between image and reality. One might hear it said, for example, that modern American lawyers do not really behave like the high-minded professionals 1 For introductions to pertinent prosopography, see, e.g., Robert M.
    [Show full text]