DOCSLIB.ORG

Biologists in the Age of Totalitarianism

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Biologists in the Age of Totalitarianism Biologists in the Age of Totalitarianism Biologists in the Age of Totalitarianism: Personal Reminiscences of Ornithologists and Other Naturalists By Eugeniusz Nowak Translated from German by Brian Hillcoat, Leela Sashidharan, and Mike Smart Edited by Brian Hillcoat Biologists in the Age of Totalitarianism: Personal Reminiscences of Ornithologists and Other Naturalists By Eugeniusz Nowak This book first published 2018 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2018 by Eugeniusz Nowak All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-1099-9 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-1099-9 For Sibylle (*1942 - g2010) Conceal nothing, for time, which sees all and hears all, will reveal all. Sophocles (5th century BCE; Hipponous, fragment 323). CONTENTS Translators’ Introduction.............................................................................. x Author’s Preface ........................................................................................ xii Acknowledgements .................................................................................. xiv Chapter One ............................................................................................... 1 Erwin Stresemann (1889-1972) ‒ one of the most prominent biologists of the 20th century (and the so-called 'Pope' of ornithology) Chapter Two ............................................................................................. 37 War, East Prussia, Siberia, Auschwitz ‒ destinies during the worst of times Bolesław Papi (1923-1944) Friedrich Tischler (1881-1945) Lev Osipovich Belopol'skii (1907-1990) Yuri Andreyevich Isakov (1912-1988) Veleslav Wahl (1922-1950) Władysław Rydzewski (1911-1980) Andrzej Dunajewski (1908-1944) Günther Niethammer (1908-1974) Hans Kummerlöwe alias Kumerloeve (1903-1995) Władysław Siwek (1907-1983) Wilhelm Schuster (1880-1942) Chapter Three ........................................................................................ 100 Fugitives, Displaced Persons, Émigrés, Prisoners Kazimierz Wodzicki (1900-1987) Boris Karlovich Stegman (1898-1975) Hubert Weber (1917-1997) Kazimierz Szarski (1904-1960) Nikolai Alexeyevich Gladkov (1905-1975) Won Hong-Gu (1888-1970) & Won Pyong-Oh (born 1929) Jean Delacour (1890-1985) viii Contents Chapter Four ......................................................................................... 159 Living and Working in a World Full of Danger Nikolai Vladimirovich Timoféeff-Ressovsky (1900-1981) Hans Stubbe (1902-1989) Konrad Lorenz (1903 -1989) Roman Wojtusiak (1906-1987) Wolfgang Makatsch (1906-1983) Hans Christian Johansen (1897-1973) Alexei Yevgenyevich Lugovoi (1930-2016) Vasily Nikolayevich Skalon (1903-1976) Tso-hsin Cheng (1906-1998) Chapter Five ........................................................................................... 234 Between Internal Exile and Conformity Fotaq Lamani (1923-2014) Alexander Nikolayevich Formosov (1899-1973) Erich Rutschke (1926-1999) Alexander Bogdanovich Kistyakovsky (1904-1983) Pierre Pfeffer (1927-2016) Chapter Six ............................................................................................. 274 A Look into the Past, into the World of Espionage, and at the Present Michał Jankowski (Mikhail Yankovsky) (1842-1912), Alexander Mikhailovich Yankovsky (1876-1940), Yuri Mikhailovich Yankovsky (1879-1956), & Valery Yurevich Yankovsky (1911- 2010) Charles Vaurie (1906-1975) Richard Meinertzhagen (1878-1967) Salim Ali (1896-1987) Boris Mikhailovich Pavlov (1933-1994) Jerzy Okulewicz (1940-2007) Chapter Seven ........................................................................................ 321 Professor Ernst Schäfer (1910-1992) ‒ two versions of a career, an exhibition, and a magazine feature Biologists in the Age of Totalitarianism ix Sources .................................................................................................... 335 Bibliography Archives, libraries, and other institutions Contemporary witnesses Other informants and helpers Photograph credits Index of Persons ...................................................................................... 352 TRANSLATORS’ INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE EDITION Brief biographies of biologists, ecologists, or ornithologists might not sound like the most exciting reading matter. In most anglophone countries such careers tend to follow the same pattern: upbringing in a solid middle- class home, a good degree at a respected university, post-graduate study on a chosen topic, a certain level of recognition (perhaps even international), publications, awards and honours, respect and authority in a particular field. Their names are rarely known to the general public and only very exceptionally do any of the organs of the state pay them any attention, and if they do it is most likely to be the tax office. So all in all a harmless comfortable life, perhaps even appearing bit boring to outsiders. Yet in some countries at some times the lives of biologists can be anything but routine. Their political opinions, race, religion, even their scientific ideas can suddenly be of life-changing importance. The lives of individuals, their families and colleagues can be turned upside-down; prison and even death can cast their shadows over the most harmless activities, sometimes all because of a chosen profession. Such was often the situation in Eastern and Central Europe, and in much of Asia, during the 20th century, when biological ideas were thrust into the centre of political ideologies. By examining the careers of the naturalists (mostly victims but also some perpetrators) caught up in these deadly mechanisms, Eugeniusz Nowak documents how such political catastrophes shaped their lives, work, and characters. The reasons for persecution are many: refusal to support nonsensical or damaging scientific ideas (Lysenkoism in the USSR, race theories in the Third Reich); being on the 'wrong side' in undemocratic systems or civil wars; suspicion of working in the interests of enemy powers. The titles of Chapters 2 to 6 broadly categorise these different aspects. But Nowak’s book is much more than a detailed account of over 40 ornithologists and nature conservationists. It is ‘lived’ history. Nowak, whose own scientific career brought him to both sides of the ‘Iron Curtain’, met biologists from East and West and tells their extraordinary stories, enriched by documents and photographs from dozens of archives. Dr Eugeniusz Nowak was born in 1933 in Poland, a country that was soon to be crushed between the millstones of two ruthless dictatorships. Biologists in the Age of Totalitarianism xi His later career meant that he travelled extensively and had contact not only with fellow ornithologists and conservationists but also with government officials in many different countries. In the mid-1950s, in the slight thaw in the Cold War following the death of Stalin, though still facing a bewildering array of bureaucratic and political hurdles, he was able to fulfil his ambition of post-graduate work in Berlin under the supervision of Erwin Stresemann. He completed his Magister in Berlin, then after gaining his PhD in Warsaw ‒ on the range expansion and ecology of the Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) in Europe and Asia ‒ Nowak's interest shifted to wetlands, and in the early 1960s he worked for a time close to another very famous ornithologist, this time Sir Peter Scott at his Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge in southwest England. There he was in the International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau (IWRB), and was part of the team that eventually, after exhaustive negotiations and conferences, created the 'Convention on Wetlands of International Importance', better known as the Ramsar Convention after the Iranian city where it was drawn up in 1971. During this time he continued his academic career as a lecturer at Warsaw University. In 1974 he moved to West Germany where, in the Federal Research Institute for Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology in Bonn, he was involved in the drafting of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (the Bonn Convention). Later, and until his retirement, he was a scientific advisor at the UNEP Secretariat of the Convention also in Bonn. So this range of personal and professional experience makes him the ideal author for a book of reminiscences such as those presented here. Dr Nowak knew personally the majority of the scientists in these biographical accounts, and explains in his own introduction why he decided to devote many years of painstaking research to the collection of these narratives. He hopes that lessons can be learned from the past, but when we look at the political world today we might be experiencing the beginning of new kinds of totalitarianism in the forms of increasing intolerance, mistrust of science, and the uncertain long-term effects of the accelerating digitisation of our lives. Brian Hillcoat, Leela Sashidharan, Mike Smart AUTHOR’S PREFACE The subject of this book is the difficult working conditions and tragic fate of many scientists in the 20th and late 19th centuries. Forty biographical accounts deal with
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Kashmir Flycatcher Pale Rock Sparrow Ernst Schäfer
    VOL. 7 NO. 6 Kashmir Flycatcher | Vol. 7 No. 6 | Vol. Pale Rock Sparrow RDS I B Ernst Schäfer Indian CONTENTS Indian BIRDS 153 The female/first winter Kashmir Flycatcher Ficedula www.indianbirds.in VOL. 7 NOS. 6 subrubra: an identification conundrum Prasad Ganpule DATE OF PUBLICATION: 1 JUNE 2012 ISSN 0973-1407 159 Pale Rock Sparrow Carpospiza brachydactyla in Gopalpura EDITOR EMERITUS: Zafar Futehally Hills, Tal Chhapar (Churu district, Rajasthan): a new species for the Indian Subcontinent EDITOR: Aasheesh Pittie Surat Singh Poonia, Manoj Sharma & Harkirat Singh [email protected] Sangha ASSOCIATE EDITORS: V. Santharam, Praveen J. 160 Ernst Schäfer’s comprehensive historical bird collection from EDITORIAL BOARD Sikkim and Tibet at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin Maan Barua, Anwaruddin Choudhury S. Frahnert, P. Eckhoff & J. Fiebig Bill Harvey, Farah Ishtiaq, Rajah Jayapal Madhusudan Katti, R. Suresh Kumar 162 Spotted Crake Porzana porzana sightings in Saurashtra, Taej Mundkur, Rishad Naoroji, Suhel Quader Gujarat, India Harkirat Singh Sangha, C. Sashikumar Ashok Mashru & Bhavesh Trivedi S. Subramanya, K. S. Gopi Sundar CONTRIBUTING EDITORS 163 Status of Oriental White Ibis Threskiornis melanocephalus in Ragupathy Kannan, Lavkumar Khachar Assam with notable recent records Anwaruddin Choudhury CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Clement Francis, Ramki Sreenivasan 164 Photographic record of Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus from Singalila National Park, West Bengal LAYOUT & COVER DESIGN: K. Jayaram Sanjeeb Pradhan, Pemba Tshering Bhutia & Rajarshi OffICE: P. Rambabu Chakraborty NEW ORNIS FOUNDATION 165 Circumorbital skin- and eye-colour of young Indian Grey Hornbills Ocyceros birostris Registration No. 314/2004 Raju Kasambe, Pravin Charde, J. L. Tarar & Anil Pimplapure TRUSTEES Zafar Futehally, Aasheesh Pittie 166 Sighting of Green Imperial Pigeon Ducula aenea in V.
    [Show full text]
  • Epilogue: Pattern Cladistics from Goethe to Brady
    Epilogue: Pattern Cladistics From Goethe to Brady Most, if not all, ideas in science are recycled, rediscovered, or rehashed, either sur- reptitiously, through rereading and rediscovering old works, or simply (commonly?) through lack of knowledge of past achievements. The idea of transformation—that things might change, transform, convert into other things—for instance, has been proposed many times, by both evolutionists and non-evolutionists alike. Yet the notion of transformation is really a myth, a story which many scientists embrace, a story that tells of living things transforming into other living things, with their role to interpret its meaning and mechanism: The fall of Paradise to the untamed wild, the tamed landscape to the Biblical flood, the reigns of monarchs, a kingdom to a republic and the pastoral to the industrial—of transformations there are plenty. A deep desire to uncover what mechanism(s) lie behind these transformations has provided many explanations, from the acquisition of sin after the fall from grace, to God’s will, to progress, however construed. The belief that every transformation neatly fits a law or model by which nature abides has shaped our way of thinking. Yet concomitant with such thoughts is the recognition that Nature is complex, and that Nature’s complexity obeys no single law or theory that places it neatly into a box. For every law and theory, we are told, there are exceptions, which are given ad hoc explanations. Man may have toiled the soil to shape nature into his or her image of Eden, but complexity does not fit any man-made law.
    [Show full text]
  • Experience« of Nature: from Salomon Müller to Ernst Mayr, Or the Lnsights of Travelling Naturalists Toward a Zoological Geography and Evolutionary Biology*
    Die Entstehung biologischer Disziplinen II -Beiträge zur 10. Jahrestagung der DGGTB The »Experience« of Nature: From Salomon Müller to Ernst Mayr, Or The lnsights of Travelling Naturalists Toward a Zoological Geography and Evolutionary Biology* Matthias GLAUBRECHT (Berlin) Zusammenfassung Wir beurteilen die Theorien und Beiträge früherer Autoren auf der Grundlage ihrer Relevanz für den heutigen Erkenntnisgewinn. Mit Blick auf die oftmals unzureichende Klärung der präzisen geographi­ schen Herkunft von Materialproben bei nicht wenigen molekulargenetisch-phylogeographischen Studi­ en (die an aktuellen Arbeiten demonstriert wird), soll die Bedeutung der geographischen »Erfahrung« (im doppelten Wortsinn) - am Beispiel der Erforschung des australasiatischen Raumes - untersucht werden. Anfangs dominierten von staatlicher Seite initiierte bzw. finanzierte Forschungsreisen. Dazu zählen im Gefolge von James CooKS Fahrten durch den Indo-Pazifik beispielsweise die im frühen 19. Jahrhun­ dert von Naturforschern wie QUOY, ÜAIMARD, LESSON, HUMBRON und JACQUINOT begleiteten franzö• sischen Expeditionen der L 'Uranie, La Coquille und L 'Astrolabe sowie die britischen Expeditionen der Beagle oder der Rattlesnake mit Naturforschern wie DARWIN oder MACGILLIVRAY und HUXLEY. Dazu zählt auch die holländische Expedition der Triton, an der der aus Deutschland stammende Naturforscher Salomon MOLLER (1804-1864) teilnahm, der Jahrzehnte vor Alfred Russe! WALLACE (1823-1913) scharfe Faunendifferenzen im indomalayischen Archipel erkannte und beschrieb. Während diese Forschungsfahrten vorwiegend strategisch-militärische bzw. merkantile Ziele ver­ folgten, wurde die naturkundliche Erforschung im späteren 19. und beginnenden 20. Jahrhundert insbeson­ dere von allein reisenden »naturalists« betrieben, wie etwa von W ALLACE, Otto FINSCH (1839-1917) und Richard SEM ON ( 1859-1918), der sich später Expeditionen wie beispielsweise von Erwin STRESEMANN (1889-1972), Bernhard RENSCH (1900-1990) und Ernst MAYR (geb.
    [Show full text]
  • Primary Types of Ichneumoninae Described by Gerd H. Heinrich
    ZOBODAT - www.zobodat.at Zoologisch-Botanische Datenbank/Zoological-Botanical Database Digitale Literatur/Digital Literature Zeitschrift/Journal: Spixiana, Zeitschrift für Zoologie Jahr/Year: 2011 Band/Volume: 034 Autor(en)/Author(s): Schmidt Olga, Schmidt Stefan Artikel/Article: Primary types of Ichneumoninae described by GERD H. HEINRICH deposited in the Zoologische Staatssammlung München (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) 59-107 ©Zoologische Staatssammlung München/Verlag Friedrich Pfeil; download www.pfeil-verlag.de SPIXIANA 34 1 59-107 München, September 2011 ISSN 0341-8391 Primary types of Ichneumoninae described by Gerd H. Heinrich deposited in the Zoologische Staatssammlung München (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) Olga Schmidt & Stefan Schmidt Schmidt, O. & Schmidt, S. 2011. Primary types of ichneumonid taxa described by Gerd H. Heinrich deposited in the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology (Hy- menoptera, Ichneumoninae). Spixiana 34 (1): 59-107. The present study was conducted as part of the German Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF-D) initiative and in particular the project Global Infor- mation System Hymenoptera (GISHym). The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology (Zoologische Staatssammlung München, ZSM) houses 659 primary type specimens described by Heinrich in 154 genera. The type specimens were collected in 39 countries representing five zoogeographic regions. Apart from type information based on the original literature, the catalogue includes information about the cur- rent type status, condition of the type specimen,
    [Show full text]
  • Und Vogelschutz Im Umfeld HAECKELS: Wrlhelm Bölsche, Konrad Guenther, CARL GEORG Schillings
    Anz. Ver. Thüring. Ornithol. 5, 191-200 Dezember 2005 Natur- und Vogelschutz im Umfeld HAECKELS: WrLHELM BöLSCHE, KoNRAD GuENTHER, CARL GEORG ScHILLINGS RosEMARIE NöTHLICH & UwE HaßFELD Mit 3 Abbildungen Zusammenfassung HAECKELS Verdienst, den Begriff »Ökologie<< definiert zu haben, ist hinlänglich bekannt. Bislang kaum erörtert wurde jedoch, wie HAECKEL zu der aufkommenden Naturschutzbewegung stand und welche Kontakte er zu Protagonisten dieser Bewegung besaß. Wie Recherchen jetzt zeigen, stand HAECKEL zumindest der Vo gelschutzbewegung aufgeschlos­ sen gegenüber und unterstützte entsprechende Aufrufe von KONRAD GuENTHER und CARL G. SCHILLINGS. Für den Natur­ und Vo gelschutz engagierte sich auch sein enger Freund, der Schriftsteller WILHELM BöLSCHE, was sich durch dessen Initiativen und Veröffentlichungen, aber auch durch die verschiedensten persönlichen Kontakte belegen läßt. HAECKELS Interesse an der Ornithologie - mehr als Ratgeber und Initiator denn als Fachornithologe - umfaßte dabei einen Zeitraum von fast 50 Jahren, beginnend mit der »Nationalversammlung der Vögel<< (1850) und endend mit der Kolibri-Tafel im Werk über >>Die Kunstformen der Natur<< (1899/1904). Summary ERNST HAECKEL and his influence on the nature conservation movement It is widely known that ERNST HAECKEL coined the term >>ecology<<. Hardly anything has hitherto been known, however, about HAECKEL's relation to the nature conservations movement and its leading protagonists. New archive material shows that HAECKEL - for more than 50 years - was directly involved at least in the bird protection move­ ment, and supported the appeals made by the bird conservationists KoNRAD GuENTHER and CARL G. SCHILLING. HAECKEL's closefriend, the writer WILHELM BöLSCHE, was also involved in the conservation and bird protections movements. BöLSCHE's activities in this area included publications and other initiatives, as weil as various personal contacts with members of the movements.
    [Show full text]
  • “A Conversation with Ernst Mayr: Reflections on the Past, Present, And
    ISSN 1981-8874 9 77198188700360 0 1 7 “A conversation with Ernst Mayr: “Uma conversa com Ernst Mayr: reflections on the past, present, reflexões sobre o passado, and future” presente e futuro” an interview presented at the entrevista apresentada no XII Congresso Brasileiro de XII Congresso Brasileiro de Ornitologia (Blumenau, Santa Ornitologia (Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil: November 2004) Catarina, Brasil: novembro de 2004) David C. Morimoto1, Michael D. Schindlinger²,& Fernando C. Straube³ In 2004, due to professional associations with colleagues of Em 2004, graças a ligações profissionais com colegas da Socie- the Fritz Müller Society of Natural Sciences – Mülleriana –, in dade Fritz Müller de Ciências Naturais – Mülleriana –, em Curitiba, Curitiba, Paraná, DCM was honored and privileged to have been Paraná, DCM foi honrado com o convite de participar do XII Con- invited to attend the XII Congresso Brasileiro de Ornitologia gresso Brasileiro de Ornitologia (CBO) em Santa Catarina, Brazil (CBO) in Santa Catarina, Brazil (http://www.ararajuba.org.br/ (http://www.ararajuba.org.br/sbo/cbo/res_xii_cbo.pdf, acesso em 21 sbo/cbo/res_xii_cbo.pdf, accessed 21 November 2012), to pre- de novembro de 2012) para apresentar sua pesquisa com Seiurus sent his research on Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla) breeding aurocapilla, que versou sobre o sucesso reprodutivo da espécie em success in fragmented habitats (Morimoto et al. 2012). Because hábitats fragmentados (Morimoto et al. 2012). Uma vez que o tema of the XII CBO theme “Ornitologia. Passado,
    [Show full text]
  • S Onsors O the Eastern Branch Th Ann a Ee N
    EASN N NOMOL 88t NN N eort arriott Neot oe s Mar Sonsors o the Eastern Branch th Anna een ADAMA DuPont Agricultural Products Monsanto AMVAC Nichino America, Inc. Syngenta Annual Review 2015 Elsevier/Academic Press BASF Corporation Syngenta Crop Protection FMC Corporation Page 1 of 1 Bayer CropScience Trece, Inc. LABServices Dow AgroSciences United Phosphorus, Inc. oe o ot By attending the 2017 Eastern Branch Annual Meeting, you agree voluntarily to abide by our ethics policy. The full policy may be found online at entsoc.org/conduct. If you need to file a complaint, please contact Rosina Romano at [email protected], 703-593-0222. file:///F:/CONFEX/esa/Publishing/2017eb/images/labservices_logo.svg 3/2/2017 Te o otets Te o otets Te Te o otets NS se ove N N NORMAN STNN OMMITTEES PREN, AKER A AA ES PROGRAM 10 Program Summary .....................10 Sunday, March 19, 2017, Morning ........12 Sunday, March 19, 2017, Afternoon ......13 Sunday, March 19, 2017, Evening President’s Reception and Posters ........17 Monday, March 20, 2017, Morning .......17 Monday, March 20, 2017, Afternoon .....19 Monday, March 20, 2017, Evening Banquet .............................21 Tuesday, March 21, 2017, Morning .......21 SN TRACTS 23 Student Ten Minute Paper Competition ...23 Student Poster Competition .............29 NS 2 Author Index .........................32 Common Name Index ..................35 Scientific Name Index ..................36 NT TT OOR N 38 1 enera een normaon enera een normaon th Anna een o the Eastern Branch o ESA Neot Mar en to eort arriott oster resentaon normaon Aress Americas C Aene eort oster Sie Teeoe Poster must be contained within the 46 × 46 inch (117 × The hotel does not provide shuttle service.
    [Show full text]
  • Nithological Progression I
    Ornithology: From Aristotle to the Present. who are most serious in the pursuit of or- Erwin Stresemann nithologicalresearch. (Originally published in German as "Die F.S. Schaeffer F,ntwicklung der Ornithologie von Aristoteles bis zur Gegenwart.")Harvard University Press,Cam- Review of Farner,D.S., and J.R.King feds.).Avian bridge,Mass. ©1975. $20.00. Biology,Vol. 3 (1973),xx & 573pp. ($44.00);Vol. 4 (1974),xxii & 504pp. ($37.00).Academic Press, New Erwin Stresemann's name is one of the most York. respectedin the world of ornithology.Most of his works were rather scientificand complex-- all of It has been over 10 years since A.J. Marshall's them brilliant. Biology and ComparativePhysiology of Birds provided a comprehensivetreatment of all facets The work being reviewed is a departure from the of avian biology. The four volumes of Avian scientific. It is not for the casual birder but for the Biology published under the editorship of D.S. seriousstudent of ornithology.It is the history of Farner and J.R. King (1971-1974)are not, for the ornithology, with heavy emphasis on the mostpart, simply an updatingof Marshall's work. philosophicalaspect of the formationof this field Each topic has been reworked in the light of over the years. It is thorough; it has the present-day understanding,and some of Mar- thoroughnessof an analyticalmind. I did not ex- shall'stopics have been largelyreduced or entirely pect this type of work from Stresemann,but it is so deleted while other topicshave been added.Thus, appropriatethat this subjectwas takenup by him Avian Biologystands independent of Marshall's rather than, for instance,by a newcomer to the Biology,although the editorsadmit conceptualin- field.
    [Show full text]
  • S: Material and Social Practices in the Trajectory of Ornithologist Emilie Snethlage (1868–1929)
    Among birds and net(work)s: material and social practices in the trajectory of ornithologist Emilie Snethlage (1868{1929) Miriam Junghans Doctoral candidate at Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Fiocruz Rio de Janeiro [email protected] Abstract: In the course of her career, German ornithologist Emilie Sneth- lage (1868{1929), who worked in Brazil in the early twentieth century, was involved in all the steps that characterize the \production" of a specimen for scientific collection: from fieldwork, with the collection and preparation of materials, to their description and publication of results. Each of these stages mobilizes different material practices and sociability networks. During fieldwork or in her museum activities, the fact of being a woman demanded from Snethlage specific strategies for establishing her scientific legitimacy, analyzed in this article, especially her activities related to collecting prac- tices. Keywords: Women scientists, Ornithology, Scientific collections, Germany, Brazil Introduction Grallaria martinsi, Synallaxis martinsi, Picumnus limae and Xiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus berlepschi are birds found in the northern region of Brazil. They were collected, described, identified, and named by German HoST - History of Science and Technology 10, pp. 71{101 DOI 10.1515/host-2016-0004 72 Among birds and net(work)s. ornithologist Emilie Snethlage (1868{1929), who worked in the country be- tween 1905 and 1929. In spite of its apparent coldness, the scientific nomen- clature allows for a glimpse, in the above cases, into human interactions,
    [Show full text]
  • The Ibis, Journal of the British Ornithologists' Union: a Pre-Synthesis Poredacted for Privacy Abstract Approved: Paul L
    AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Kristin Renee Johnson for the degree of Master of Science in History of Science, th presented on August 7 , 2000. Title: The Ibis, Journal of the British Ornithologists' Union: A Pre-Synthesis poRedacted for privacy Abstract approved: Paul L. Farber In 1959 the British Ornithological journal, The Ibis, published a centenary commemorative volume on the history of ornithology in Britain. Over the previous few decades, the contributors to this volume had helped focus the attention of ornithologists on the methods, priorities, and problems of modem biology, specifically the theory ofevolution by natural selection and the study ofecology and behaviour. Various new institutions like the Edward Grey Institute ofField Ornithology symbolized the increasing professionalization of both the discipline's institutional networks and publications, which the contents of The Ibis reflected in its increasing number ofcontributions from university educated ornithologists working on specific biological problems. In looking back on the history of their discipline, the contributors to this centenary described both nineteenth century ornithology and the continued dominance oftraditional work in the pages of The Ibis in distinctive ways. They characterized them as oriented around specimens, collections, the seemingly endless gathering of facts, without reference to theoretical problems. The centenary contributors then juxtaposed this portrait in opposition to the contents ofa modem volume, with its use of statistics, graphs, and tables, and the focus ofornithologists on both natural selection and the living bird in its natural environment. This thesis returns to the contents ofthe pre-1940s volumes of The Ibis in order to examine the context and intent ofthose ornithologists characterized as "hide-bound" by the centenary contributors.
    [Show full text]
  • Cuius Regio? REGIO Ideological and Territorial Cohesion of Silesia Vol
    CUIUS Cuius regio? REGIO Ideological and Territorial Cohesion of Silesia vol. 3 eds Lucyna Harc, Przemysław Wiszewski, Rościsław Żerelik Silesia under the Authority of the Hohenzollerns (1741–1918) (1741–1918) Silesia under the Authority of Hohenzollerns vol. 3 Silesia under the Authority This volume contains a collection of studies which are the product of research of the Hohenzollerns (1741–1918) on the formation of Silesia as a region in the period 1740-1918. It is another portion of the summary of research undertaken by a team of Polish historians in conjunction with their participation in the programme of the European Science Foundation entitled Cuius regio. An analysis of the cohesive and disruptive forces determining the attachment and commitment of (groups of) persons to and the cohesion within regions. The project’s assumptions were for original analyses to be conducted on five factors significant in the functioning of the region: administration (Paweł Jaworski), economy (Teresa Kulak), social groups (Wanda Musialik and Dorota Schreiber-Kurpiers), ethnic issues (Dorota Schreiber-Kurpiers) and the national and cultural identity of the region’s inhabitants (Teresa Kulak). In each of the spheres analysed in this book, what has been demonstrated is the prevalence of disintegrating factors in the region from the period of its seizure by the armies of Frederick II until the conclusion of World War I. Top-down efforts undertaken by the authorities aimed at integrating the region with the Prussian state, and then with the Reich, did not fully achieve their objectives. The split into the two sub-regions of Upper and Lower Silesia would seem to be inevitable, in spite of particular unifying elements, particularly in the economic sphere during the second half of the 19ʰ and beginning of the 20ʰ century.
    [Show full text]
  • The Authority of the German Religious Constitution: Public Law, Philosophy, and Democracy (2013) Ian Hunter
    The Authority of the German Religious Constitution: Public Law, Philosophy, and Democracy (2013) Ian Hunter Preliminaries Germany’s current religious constitution is primarily contained in Article 140 of the 1949 Grundgesetz or Basic Law, which in turn states that ‘The provisions of Articles 136, 137, 138, 139, and 141 of the German Constitution of 11 August 1919 shall be an integral part of the Basic Law’.1 Among these articles drawn from the 1919 constitution of the Weimar republic are those guaranteeing familiar rights and liberties for individuals. These include the independence of civil and political rights from religious affiliation, the enjoyment of such rights as religious privacy, access to public office independent of religious creed, and freedom from religious compulsion.2 Other articles, however, specify the corporate rights and liberties of religious confessions or associations. In addition to stipulating that there shall be no state church, these articles protect the right to form religious associations and they guarantee each such association the right to ‘regulate and administer its affairs independently within the limits of the law valid for all’.3 They also specify that those religious associations that have been corporate bodies under public law shall remain so, while new associations may apply for this status, which brings with it the right to levy taxes on the basis of civil taxation lists.4 Somewhat surprisingly from an English, French, or American perspective, the Weimar articles also stipulate that ‘Associations whose purpose is the cultivation of a philosophical ideology [Weltanschauung] shall have the same status as religious bodies’.5 1 Parliamentary Council [of the Federal Republic of Germany], The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Wiesbaden: Foreign Office, 1971), p.
    [Show full text]