Pub Date : 2024-03-27DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2024.2332884
Photis Dais
In this essay, I will compare the character, scientific style, and writing style of the American physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs and the French physicist Pierre Maurice Duhem. I begin with biographical notes to portray some significant moments of their lives. I will contrast their characters and scientific styles as manifested in their social and scientific activity influenced by the cultural traditions of their countries and the social and scientific milieu of their time. Also, in these sections, I will discuss features of their familial relationships that affected their youth, their psychology, and the shaping of their characters. I will compare their writing styles emphasizing the differences observed between Gibbs's dense and austere style, unlike Duhem's detailed and informative way of writing his essays. I will further examine the way by which each physicist used Mach's doctrine of the economy of thought in shaping their writing style. A final contrast is reserved for their pedagogical styles. In this case, I will let their students and colleagues speak for them, while I comment on why they did not leave behind a school of thought.
在这篇文章中,我将比较美国物理学家乔赛亚-威拉德-吉布斯(Josiah Willard Gibbs)和法国物理学家皮埃尔-莫里斯-杜恒(Pierre Maurice Duhem)的性格、科学风格和写作风格。我将从传记开始,描绘他们生活中的一些重要时刻。我将对比他们的性格和科学风格,这些性格和风格体现在他们的社会和科学活动中,并受到他们国家的文化传统以及他们时代的社会和科学环境的影响。在这些章节中,我还将讨论他们家庭关系的特点,这些家庭关系影响了他们的青年时期、他们的心理以及他们性格的塑造。我将比较他们的写作风格,强调吉布斯绵密朴实的文风与杜亨细致翔实的文章写作方式之间的差异。我还将进一步研究两位物理学家如何运用马赫的思想经济学说来塑造自己的写作风格。最后一个对比是他们的教学风格。在这种情况下,我会让他们的学生和同事为他们说话,而我则会评论他们为什么没有留下一个思想流派。
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Pub Date : 2024-03-07DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2024.2326414
Karen Hunger Parshall
Published in Annals of Science (Ahead of Print, 2024)
发表于《科学年鉴》(2024 年提前出版)
{"title":"Framing global mathematics: the International Mathematical Union between theorems and politics","authors":"Karen Hunger Parshall","doi":"10.1080/00033790.2024.2326414","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2024.2326414","url":null,"abstract":"Published in Annals of Science (Ahead of Print, 2024)","PeriodicalId":8086,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140076216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-05DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2024.2304332
George Hook
This article investigates Haast's claim that in March 1862 he independently reached the same controversial conclusion as Ramsay, that lake basins in previously glaciated regions were formed by ancient glaciers. Both men's views fuelled a passionate debate in British scientific societies. However, science historians largely ignore Haast's contribution or imply he knew about Ramsay's 'theory' before coming to a conclusion about Southern Alps lakes.To assess whether Haast independently reached that conclusion in March 1862, field records, correspondence, reports, newspaper articles, and scientific publications are examined. Of significance are communications with geologists Hochstetter, Hector, and Ramsay, botanist Hooker, and physicist Tyndall. Consideration of what Haast observed in March 1862 is also critical.However, Haast's 1862 conclusion differs from Ramsay's. While Ramsay was convinced ancient glaciers scooped out rock basins, resulting in deep lakes, Haast believed ancient retreating glaciers left moraines that dammed valleys, resulting in shallow lakes. Regardless of their differences, after Haast read Ramsay's paper in 1864, he applied Ramsay's 'theory' to New Zealand's alpine lakes and proposed an excavation process.The essence of both Ramsay's and Haast's conclusions has been confirmed by research in formerly glaciated regions worldwide. However, Haast's contribution to glaciology is overlooked or underemphasized, and warrants being more widely acknowledged.
{"title":"Julius Haast and the discovery of the origin of alpine lakes.","authors":"George Hook","doi":"10.1080/00033790.2024.2304332","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00033790.2024.2304332","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article investigates Haast's claim that in March 1862 he independently reached the same controversial conclusion as Ramsay, that lake basins in previously glaciated regions were formed by ancient glaciers. Both men's views fuelled a passionate debate in British scientific societies. However, science historians largely ignore Haast's contribution or imply he knew about Ramsay's 'theory' before coming to a conclusion about Southern Alps lakes.To assess whether Haast independently reached that conclusion in March 1862, field records, correspondence, reports, newspaper articles, and scientific publications are examined. Of significance are communications with geologists Hochstetter, Hector, and Ramsay, botanist Hooker, and physicist Tyndall. Consideration of what Haast observed in March 1862 is also critical.However, Haast's 1862 conclusion differs from Ramsay's. While Ramsay was convinced ancient glaciers scooped out rock basins, resulting in deep lakes, Haast believed ancient retreating glaciers left moraines that dammed valleys, resulting in shallow lakes. Regardless of their differences, after Haast read Ramsay's paper in 1864, he applied Ramsay's 'theory' to New Zealand's alpine lakes and proposed an excavation process.The essence of both Ramsay's and Haast's conclusions has been confirmed by research in formerly glaciated regions worldwide. However, Haast's contribution to glaciology is overlooked or underemphasized, and warrants being more widely acknowledged.</p>","PeriodicalId":8086,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139691061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-03DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2023.2289524
Christoph Lüthy
We are all used to drawing straight lines to represent time, and above them, we plot historical events or physical or economic data. What to us is a self-evident convention, is however of an astonishingly recent date: it emerged only in the second half of the eighteenth century. To us, this late date seems paradoxical and cries out for an explanation. How else did earlier periods measure change, if not as a function of time? it will be argued that since Antiquity, time was taken to measure change, and change to occur in space. 'Our' idea of representing time as an independent dimension would have seemed aberrant. But then, a second issue arises. Did not medieval natural philosophers employ timelines, Oresme's diagram of the mean speed theorem being the most famous case? However, as will be shown, our interpretation of his diagram is probably wrong. This insight, in turn, takes care of a third paradox, namely Galileo's initial inability to represent the law of free fall correctly. This article will document that the timeline first emerged in the late sixteenth century in works on chronology, made its first appearance in physics in Galileo's diagrams, and had its general breakthrough in the eighteenth century.
{"title":"The late origins of the timeline, or: three paradoxes explained.","authors":"Christoph Lüthy","doi":"10.1080/00033790.2023.2289524","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2023.2289524","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We are all used to drawing straight lines to represent time, and above them, we plot historical events or physical or economic data. What to us is a self-evident convention, is however of an astonishingly recent date: it emerged only in the second half of the eighteenth century. To us, this late date seems paradoxical and cries out for an explanation. How else did earlier periods measure change, if not as a function of time? it will be argued that since Antiquity, time was taken to measure change, and change to occur in space. 'Our' idea of representing time as an independent dimension would have seemed aberrant. But then, a second issue arises. Did not medieval natural philosophers employ timelines, Oresme's diagram of the mean speed theorem being the most famous case? However, as will be shown, our interpretation of his diagram is probably wrong. This insight, in turn, takes care of a third paradox, namely Galileo's initial inability to represent the law of free fall correctly. This article will document that the timeline first emerged in the late sixteenth century in works on chronology, made its first appearance in physics in Galileo's diagrams, and had its general breakthrough in the eighteenth century.</p>","PeriodicalId":8086,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139680572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-25DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2024.2304737
Dominique Raynaud
Published in Annals of Science (Ahead of Print, 2024)
发表于《科学年鉴》(2024 年提前出版)
{"title":"A light on Ibn al-Haytham’s optics, Books IV and V","authors":"Dominique Raynaud","doi":"10.1080/00033790.2024.2304737","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2024.2304737","url":null,"abstract":"Published in Annals of Science (Ahead of Print, 2024)","PeriodicalId":8086,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139587265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-21DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2024.2305331
Noemi Di Tommaso
The history of science is increasingly directing its attention to the diachronic examination of women's involvement within spaces dedicated to scientific inquiry. While this field of study boasts rich and meticulous historiography, delving into the sixteenth century leaves the impression of encountering either a noticeable absence of women in the realm of natural history or an underexplored period in this regard. Undoubtedly, within the Italian context of the time, the cultural milieu shaped by the Counter-Reformation further heightened the social challenges faced by women.Notwithstanding these challenges, a noteworthy female figure emerges in the latter half of the sixteenth century - Francesca Fontana, the second wife of the natural history scholar Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605). From an overall view of the sources, Fontana seems to assume a pivotal role in the realization of collections and works attributed to the eminent naturalist. This study aims to delineate the role played by Fontana within Aldrovandi's 'officina naturale.' By examining the available documents in a chronological order, my aim is to provide insights into the evolution of her education and her practical and technical skills, harnessed in the pursuit of her husband's enterprises and scholarly contributions.
科学史越来越关注对妇女参与科学探索空间的非同步研究。虽然这一研究领域拥有丰富而细致的史料,但深入研究 16 世纪给人的印象是,在自然史领域明显缺少女性的身影,或者是对这一时期的研究不足。毫无疑问,在当时的意大利背景下,反宗教改革所形成的文化环境进一步加剧了女性所面临的社会挑战。尽管存在这些挑战,16 世纪后半叶还是出现了一位值得注意的女性人物--自然历史学家乌利塞-阿尔德罗万迪(Ulisse Aldrovandi,1522-1605 年)的第二任妻子弗朗西斯卡-方塔纳(Francesca Fontana)。从资料来源的整体来看,丰塔纳似乎在实现归功于这位杰出博物学家的藏品和作品方面扮演着举足轻重的角色。本研究旨在描述丰塔纳在奥尔德罗万迪的 "officina naturale "中所扮演的角色。通过按时间顺序研究现有文献,我希望深入了解丰塔纳所受教育的演变过程,以及她在从事丈夫的事业和学术贡献时所掌握的实践和技术技能。
{"title":"Sailing the ocean of nature: Francesca Fontana Aldrovandi in early modern Bologna.","authors":"Noemi Di Tommaso","doi":"10.1080/00033790.2024.2305331","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00033790.2024.2305331","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The history of science is increasingly directing its attention to the diachronic examination of women's involvement within spaces dedicated to scientific inquiry. While this field of study boasts rich and meticulous historiography, delving into the sixteenth century leaves the impression of encountering either a noticeable absence of women in the realm of natural history or an underexplored period in this regard. Undoubtedly, within the Italian context of the time, the cultural milieu shaped by the Counter-Reformation further heightened the social challenges faced by women.Notwithstanding these challenges, a noteworthy female figure emerges in the latter half of the sixteenth century - Francesca Fontana, the second wife of the natural history scholar Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605). From an overall view of the sources, Fontana seems to assume a pivotal role in the realization of collections and works attributed to the eminent naturalist. This study aims to delineate the role played by Fontana within Aldrovandi's 'officina naturale.' By examining the available documents in a chronological order, my aim is to provide insights into the evolution of her education and her practical and technical skills, harnessed in the pursuit of her husband's enterprises and scholarly contributions.</p>","PeriodicalId":8086,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139511568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-21DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2024.2304738
Robert W. Smith
Published in Annals of Science (Ahead of Print, 2024)
发表于《科学年鉴》(2024 年提前出版)
{"title":"Star Noise: Discovering the Radio Universe","authors":"Robert W. Smith","doi":"10.1080/00033790.2024.2304738","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2024.2304738","url":null,"abstract":"Published in Annals of Science (Ahead of Print, 2024)","PeriodicalId":8086,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139552920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-18DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2024.2304715
John A. Schuster
Published in Annals of Science (Ahead of Print, 2024)
发表于《科学年鉴》(2024 年提前出版)
{"title":"Heroic resuscitation? An attempt to revive Descartes’ method","authors":"John A. Schuster","doi":"10.1080/00033790.2024.2304715","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2024.2304715","url":null,"abstract":"Published in Annals of Science (Ahead of Print, 2024)","PeriodicalId":8086,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139552937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-15DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2024.2304718
Cristiano Zanetti
Published in Annals of Science (Ahead of Print, 2024)
发表于《科学年鉴》(2024 年提前出版)
{"title":"Lynceorum historia: le ‘schede lincee’ di Martin Fogel","authors":"Cristiano Zanetti","doi":"10.1080/00033790.2024.2304718","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2024.2304718","url":null,"abstract":"Published in Annals of Science (Ahead of Print, 2024)","PeriodicalId":8086,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139500216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-12DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2023.2289531
Liz Kambas
On November 14th, 1770, the young chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) read his 'Sur la nature de l'eau' to the Académie des Sciences. Eventually published in the Académie's journal in 1773, the two-part memoire challenged a widely held view of earlier experimenters: the transmutability of matter. Specifically, experimenters such as Jean-Baptiste Van Helmont (1580-1644), Robert Boyle (1627-1691), and Ole Borsch (1626-1690) had noted that when distilled water was heated in a glass vessel, a small amount of earthy residue remained, seemingly demonstrating the transmutation of water into earth. Antoine-Laurent designed an experiment to determine whether it was really to the 'destruction of a portion of the water that this residual earth owed its origin, or if it was to that of the glass.' In partial agreement with Jean-Baptiste Le Roy (1720-1800), a fellow academician, Antoine-Laurent aimed to disprove the antiquated belief - the transmutation of one element into another - by using a glass vessel from the alchemist's cabinet: the pelican.
{"title":"Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier's 'Sur la nature de l'eau': an annotated English translation.","authors":"Liz Kambas","doi":"10.1080/00033790.2023.2289531","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2023.2289531","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>On November 14th, 1770, the young chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) read his 'Sur la nature de l'eau' to the Académie des Sciences. Eventually published in the Académie's journal in 1773, the two-part memoire challenged a widely held view of earlier experimenters: the transmutability of matter. Specifically, experimenters such as Jean-Baptiste Van Helmont (1580-1644), Robert Boyle (1627-1691), and Ole Borsch (1626-1690) had noted that when distilled water was heated in a glass vessel, a small amount of earthy residue remained, seemingly demonstrating the transmutation of water into earth. Antoine-Laurent designed an experiment to determine whether it was really to the 'destruction of a portion of the water that this residual earth owed its origin, or if it was to that of the glass.' In partial agreement with Jean-Baptiste Le Roy (1720-1800), a fellow academician, Antoine-Laurent aimed to disprove the antiquated belief - the transmutation of one element into another - by using a glass vessel from the alchemist's cabinet: the pelican.</p>","PeriodicalId":8086,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139428309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}