Annals of Science最新文献

In 1614, the German astronomer Simon Mayr published his claim about the discovery of Jupiter's satellites. In his treatise Mundus Jovialis, Mayr made his assertion in a convoluted but unequivocal manner, earning resentment from Galileo Galilei, who published his harsh protest in 1623 in Il Saggiatore. Though Galileo's objections were fallacious in some respects, and though numerous scholars took to the field to prove Mayr's claim, none ever really succeeded, and the historical evidence remains to Mayr's detriment. On the basis of such historical evidence, including comparisons between Mundus Jovialis and Mayr's earlier works, Mayr's independent discovery of the satellites can be ruled out. Indeed, it is very likely that he never observed them before 30 December 1610, nearly a year after Galileo. The lack of a corpus of Mayr's observations and the inaccuracy of his tables are also puzzling.

As a style of writing and a form of communication, the modern scientific report enables the creation, sharing and continuous updating of natural knowledge in such a manner that the idiosyncrasies of ordinary language are reduced to a minimum. This article examines how the standards for scientific reporting were 'born' in the seventeenth century and their legacy. The first part of the article reviews the existing literature on this topic. The second part outlines the key features of the scientific report and the common standards for scientific reporting. The third part presents detailed historical evidence to trace the emergence of these standards in seventeenth-century England. The final part discusses why the scientific report means so much for the progress of science, for understanding the history of science and science popularization, and even for the development of academia more generally.

This paper utilizes the concept of the agency of material objects, proposed as a tenet by several historians of science in the late twentieth century. It argues that scientific instruments have agency in the field due to their value and fragility, both of which attributes served to dictate a social hierarchy of activity. Furthermore, the resulting numerical outputs served to discriminate between various groups. The principal focus is the role of instruments used by travellers sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society, London, but it also looks at the role of instruments on a larger triangulation; the project to survey the African part of the arc of the 30th meridian east of Greenwich. Seeing the instruments as material objects allows insights into the social arrangements and interactions taking place. It is argued that instruments, and the results of instrument use, entrenched existing power hierarchies, imparting greater prestige to those who were previously endowed with privilege. It is argued the instruments contributed to 'othering' both in the field and in the publications resulting from the expeditions.

Alsatian engineer Gustave-Adolphe Hirn is best known to historians of science for his experimental determination of the mechanical equivalent of heat, first published in 1855. Since the 1840s, that equivalent has been closely associated with the conservation of energy, indeed often conflated with it. Hirn was one of Thomas Kuhn's twelve 'pioneers' whose work he deemed relevant to the ostensible 'simultaneous discovery' of energy conservation. Yet Hirn never wholeheartedly embraced energy conservation. After reviewing his experimental work, his philosophical reflections, and his response to developments in heat theory, this article identifies three factors as having played central roles in this regard: Hirn's deepest concerns were ontological, not energetic; none of the concepts basic to his natural philosophy were appropriate stand-ins for a quantitatively conserved energy; and, accurately reflecting the most common interpretation of the principle of the conservation of energy from the 1860s on - as exemplified already by Helmholtz in 1847 - Hirn associated its corpuscular-mechanical underpinning with the despiritualizing materialism he saw as dominating contemporary science. Hence although Hirn's natural philosophy embraced sentiments quite in the spirit of the conservation of energy, he never explicitly subscribed to that principle.

During the French Revolution, obstetrics underwent substantial transformations in practice, teaching, and the physical spaces where it was conducted. The revolutionary authorities implemented reforms in French medical institutions that promoted an instrument-centred style and the dissemination of novel surgical techniques in obstetrics. The selection of professors for the obstetrics chair at the newly established École de santé and the appointment of chiefs for the new maternity ward in Paris favoured proponents of a mechanistic approach to labour assistance. This essay explores the theoretical principles and societal pressures that guided these transformative reforms and the remarkable changes they introduced in healthcare and in the practise of medicine and surgery. Furthermore, it examines the consolidation of new epistemological, ethical, and professional boundaries within the context of late eighteenth-century French obstetrics. A critical section of this study focuses on the debate ignited by the contemporaries who voiced concerns that the rise of surgical interventions on pregnant women's bodies might result in unwarranted violence, in a diminishing of midwives' roles, and in a departure from the tradition of natural childbirth. These controversies among obstetricians highlight significant contradictions within the Revolutionary medical reforms.

Antonino Saliba, a sixteenth century cartographer hailing from the Maltese island of Gozo, published a map in 1582 espousing his cosmology. Its popularity at the time is attested via the multiple editions and copies that were produced in Europe. Numerous sky phenomena, amongst them comets, are portrayed in the map. This study presents a detailed analysis of Saliba's treatment of these phenomena, following the first comprehensive translation of the map's text to English. It elucidates the sources that Saliba used, clarifying and shedding further light on the views he held. Where possible, the comets mentioned by Saliba are identified and explained. Besides showing how Saliba wholly conformed to the Aristotelian and Ptolemaic representation of the world, in which respect he was quite orthodox, it is also shown for the first time that his work is significantly derived from previous and contemporary sources.

Concentrating on the Qingdao Observatory, this paper will explore the role of scientific facility in asserting China's sovereignty during the first half of the twentieth century. Although scholars have explained the efforts of China's internationalization in diplomacy through the perspectives of politics, economics and culture, they have not paid attention to science. Therefore, this paper aims to shed some light on how scientific issues were solved via diplomacy during the Republic of China, while further asserting that the focus in negotiations was not confined to science itself, but rather to sovereignty within a scientific context. In this process, the meaning of sovereignty has also been expanded basing on the improvement of nation's scientific capability. Besides, the participation of different actors involved in sovereignty assertion is investigated by this paper. Although the diplomatic negotiation was held at the international level, the local government and scientific community were main promoters in this case, which calls for attention on the various subjects in sovereignty issue. Consequently, this paper argues that Asian countries, such as Republic of China, could also employ science as a means to negotiate with foreign powers and claim their due rights.