HPSC0010 History of Modern Science - UCL · Hughes, Jeff (2003) ‘Radioactivity and nuclear physics’, in Mary Jo Nye (ed.) The Cambridge History of Science. Volume 5: The Modern

HPSC0010

HistoryofModernScience

CourseSyllabus

2018-19session|ProfessorJonAgar|[email protected]

CourseInformation

BasiccourseinformationCoursewebsite:

SeeMoodle

MoodleWebsite:

moodle.ucl.ac.uk

Assessment: EssayandExam

Timetable: Seeonlinetimetable

Prerequisites: None

Requiredtexts: Readingslistedbelow

Coursetutor(s): ProfessorJonAgar

PGTA:[email protected]

Contact: [email protected]|t:02076793521

Web: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/staff/agar

Officelocation: 22GordonSquare,Room2.2

This module provides an overview of the development of the sciences from 1850 to the present, with particular emphasis on the twentieth century. The development of science will be considered in its social, political and cultural contexts. Topics include science in different national contexts, science and war, the development of key new disciplines (such as quantum physics, relativity, genetics, particle physics) as well as the development of older ones. Emphasis will be on the physical and life sciences, with some comparative consideration of the social sciences.

Schedule

UCLWk Date Topic Activity

1 20 7.1 DiscoveryofDeepTime

2 20 8.1 DarwinandtheProfessionals

3 20 10.1 Week1Seminar Read:Turner

4 21 14.1 EnergyandInvention

5 21 15.1 Germs

6 21 17.1 Week2Seminar Read:Kohler

7 22 21.1 NewPhysics

8 22 22.1 GeneticsandEugenics

9 22 24.1 Week3Seminar Read:Stepan

10 23 18.1 NewSciencesoftheSelf

11 23 29.1 ScienceintheFirstWorldWar

12 23 31.1 Week4Seminar Read:Manifestoofthe93

13 24 4.2 ScienceandGermany

14 24 5.2 EcologyandEmpire

15 24 7.2 Week5Seminar Read:TBC

ReadingWeek nolectures

16 26 18.2 ScienceandtheUnitedStates

17 26 19.2 ScienceandtheSovietUnion

18 26 21.2 Week7Seminar Read:Graham

19 27 25.2 FromLabtoLosAlamos

20 27 26.2 RadarSciences

21 27 28.2 Week8Seminar Read:Science,theEndlessFrontier

22 28 4.3 BigScienceandtheColdWar

23 28 5.3 TheStandardModel

24 28 7.3 Week9Seminar Read:Edwards

25 29 11.3 ScienceinSocialMovements

26 29 12.3 DNAtoBiotech

27 29 14.3 Week10Seminar Read:Carson

28 30 18.3 DiversityofScience

29 30 19.3 NewEnds

30 30 21.3 Week11Seminar Watch:Oreskes

Assessments

Summary

Description Deadline

Wordlimit DeadlineforTutorstoprovideFeedback

50% Essay 26March2019 2,500 26April2019(totakeintoaccounttheEasterbreak)

50% Examn/a n/a

n/a

Assignments

The essay is designed so that you explore the academic scholarship on the history ofnineteenthortwentiethcenturyscience.‘Writeacriticalsummaryofthescholarlysecondaryliteratureonthehistoryofadisciplineinadecadewithinthetimespan1800-2000,chosenfromthelistcirculated’Furtherdetailedinstructionswillbegiveninclass.SpecificCriteriaforAssessmentforthisModule:Tobediscussedinclass.Aims&objectives

aims

The aims of this course are to provide students with the knowledge of an overview history of modern science (particularly science in the twentieth century) and skills necessary to begin further study if twentieth century science as a historical topic.

objectives

By the end of this module students should be able to:

• Knowledge of an overview of the development of modern science, with particular emphasis on science in the twentieth century

• Skills for further study of twentieth century science as a historical topic

ReadinglistBestGeneralIntroductions:Bowler, Peter J. and Iwan RhysMorus (2005),MakingModern Science: a Historical Survey.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,Agar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:PolityJohn Krige and Dominique Pestre (eds.), Science in the Twentieth Century, Amsterdam:HarwoodAcademicPublishers,1997

Week1Session17January2019

DiscoveryofDeepTime

Introductiontothecourse.Thediscoveryof‘deeptime’inthelate18th-early19thcenturies.BackgroundReadingBowler,PeterJ.andIwanRhysMorus(2005),MakingModernScience:aHistoricalSurvey.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,pp.103-127.MartinJ.S.Rudwick,BurstingtheLimitsofTime:theReconstructionofGeohistoryintheAgeofRevolution,Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,2005.


DarwinandtheProfessionals

ThecareerandideasofCharlesDarwin,andhisfollowers,capturesmanyinterestingfeaturesof19thcenturyscience:travelandexploration,gentlemanlyandamateurcultures,supposedconflictswithreligion,andthegrowingprofessionalisationofscience.Keyscientists:CharlesDarwin,ErnstHaeckel,T.H.HuxleyBackgroundReadingBowler,PeterJ.andIwanRhysMorus(2005),MakingModernScience:aHistoricalSurvey.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,pp.129-164.PeterBowler,HistoryoftheEnvironmentalSciences,London:Fontana,1992,chapters8and10AdrianDesmondandJamesMoore,Darwin,London:Penguin,1991


Seminar:SciencevsReligion

FrankTurner’sargumentaboutunderstandingthesciencevsreligionconflict.EssentialReadingTurner,FrankM.(1978)‘TheVictorianconflictbetweenscienceandreligion:aprofessionaldimension’,Isis69,pp.356-376.


EnergyandInvention

The19thcenturysawtheconstructionoftechnologicalsystemsthattransformedVictoriantimeandspace.Examplesincluderailways,landandsubmarinetelegraphs,andelectricalsystemsofpowerandlighting.Thislecturesexplorestheinvolvementandconsequencesforthephysicalsciences.Conservationofenergy.Keyscientists:JamesClerkMaxwell,LordKelvin,ThomasEdison,CharlesSteinmetz,HermanvonHelmholtz,JamesJouleBackgroundReadingBowler,PeterJ.andIwanRhysMorus(2005),MakingModernScience:aHistoricalSurvey.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,pp.79-102.Schivelbusch,Wolfgang(1986)TheRailwayJourney:theIndustrializationofTimeandSpaceinthe19thCentury.Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress.Dennis,MichaelAaron(1987)‘Accountingforresearch:newhistoriesofcorporatelaboratoriesandthesocialhistoryofAmericanscience’,SocialStudiesofScience17,pp.479-518.Hughes,ThomasP.(1989)AmericanGenesis:aCenturyofInventionandTechnologicalEnthusiasm,1870-1970,NewYork:Penguin,pp.13-52,pp.138-183.Nye,MaryJo(1996)BeforeBigScience:thePursuitofModernChemistryandPhysics,1800-1940.Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress.Schaffer,Simon(1992)‘LateVictorianmetrologyanditsinstrumentation:amanufactoryof

ohms’,inRobertBudandSusanE.Cozzens(eds.),InvisibleConnections:Instruments,Institutions,andScience,Bellingham,WA:SPIEOpticalEngineeringPress,pp.23-56.MaryJoNye(ed.)TheCambridgeHistoryofScience.Volume5:TheModernPhysicalandMathematicalSciences,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.311-327,p.317.


Germs

Inthelate19thcenturyanewgermtheoryofdiseasechallengedand(mostly)replacedoldertheories.Thetheoreticalchangewasaccompaniedbychangesinscientificpractice,notleasttheexpansionoflaboratoriesforthelifeandmedicalsciences.Keyscientists:LouisPasteur,RobertKoch,ClaudeBernardBackgroundReadingBowler,PeterJ.andIwanRhysMorus(2005),MakingModernScience:aHistoricalSurvey.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,pp.439-461.RoyPorter,TheGreatestBenefittoMankind,London:Fontana,1997,chapter14,pp.428-461.W.F.Bynum,ScienceandthePracticeofMedicineintheNineteenthCentury,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1994GeraldL.Geison,‘LouisPasteur,inDictionaryofScientificBiography.NancyTomes,TheGospelofGerms,Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress,1998


Seminar:ModelOrganismsandtheLifeSciences

Themodernlifesciencesfocustoaverygreatextentonmodelorganisms,suchasthemouse,rat, Arabidopsis plant, and so on. This seminar examines one of the most important andproductive: the fruit fly Drosophila. How does the historian Robert Kohler explain theextraordinaryproductivenessofthefruitflyasamodelorganism?EssentialReading:Kohler,Robert(1999)‘Moraleconomy,materialculture,andcommunityinDrosophila genetics’, in Mario Biagioli (ed), Science Studies Reader, London: Routledge, pp.243-257.


NewPhysics

Around1900physicistsdiscoveredaseriesofnewphenomenathatwouldultimatelyleadtoanewphysics,aswellasnewindustries.ExamplesofsuchphenomenaincludeX-rays,radioactivityandtheelectron.Thislecturelooksathowexperimentalistsandtheoreticiansarguedandmadesenseofthephenomena.Keyscientists:WilhelmRöntgen,J.J.Thomson,MarieCurie,AlbertEinstein,NielsBohrBackgroundReadingCassidy,David(1995)EinsteinandOurWorld,AtlanticHighlands:HumanitiesPress.Bowler,PeterJ.andIwanRhysMorus(2005),MakingModernScience:aHistoricalSurvey.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,pp.253-276.Agar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.15-43.Nye,MaryJo(1996)BeforeBigScience:thePursuitofModernChemistryandPhysics,1800-1940.Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress.Hughes,Jeff(2003)‘Radioactivityandnuclearphysics’,inMaryJoNye(ed.)TheCambridgeHistoryofScience.Volume5:TheModernPhysicalandMathematicalSciences,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.350-374.Darrigol,Olivier(2003)‘Quantumtheoryandatomicstructure,1900-1927’,inMaryJoNye(ed.),TheCambridgeHistoryofScience.Volume5:TheModernPhysicalandMathematicalSciences,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.331-349.

Galison,Peter(2003)Einstein’sClocks,Poincaré’sMaps:EmpiresofTime,London:HodderandStoughton.Kuhn,ThomasS.(1978)Black-bodyTheoryandtheQuantumDiscontinuity,1894-1912,Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress.


GeneticsandEugenics

Around1900thescientificclaimsofGregorMendelwere“rediscovered”.Theresulteventuallywouldbeanewscienceofgenetics,developedbothintheoryandinpractice.Thislecturetracesthehistoryofgeneticsinthecontextofaninterestinbetterbreeding,bothinlivestockandinhumans(“eugenics”).Keyscientists:GregorMendel,HugodeVries,WilliamBateson,FrancisGalton,KarlPearson,ThomasHuntMorganBackgroundReadingBowler,PeterJ.andIwanRhysMorus(2005),MakingModernScience:aHistoricalSurvey.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,pp.189-212.Agar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.44-62.Brannigan,Augustine(1981)TheSocialBasisofScientificDiscoveries,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.Kimmelman,BarbaraA.(1983)‘TheAmericanBreeders’Association:geneticsandeugenicsinanagriculturalcontext,1903-13’SocialStudiesofScience13,pp.163-204Kevles,DanielJ.(1992)‘Outofeugenics:thehistoricalpoliticsoftheHumanGenome’,inKevlesandHood(eds.),CodeofCodes:ScientificandSocialIssuesintheHumanGenomeProject,CambridgeMA:HarvardUniversityPress,pp.3-36Paul,DianeB.(1995)ControllingHumanHeredity:1865tothePresent,AtlanticHighlands:HumanitiesPressKohler,RobertE.(1994)LordsoftheFly:DrosophilaGeneticsandtheExperimentalLife,Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress.


Seminar:‘Race’andScience

NancyStepanarguesthat‘“racescience”,althoughundergoingmanychangesinthecourseofitshistory,neverthelessisbestunderstoodnotintermsofchangingstages,butintermsofanunderlyingcontinuity’.Readthethreeexcerpts,oneintroductoryandtheothertwooneugenics,andmakenotesaboutwhatthiscontinuitymightbe.Essentialreading:NancyStepan(1982)‘Introduction’,‘Eugenicsandrace,1900-25’,and‘Aperiodofdoubt’,inTheIdeaofRaceinScience:GreatBritain1800-1960.London:Macmillan,pp.ix-xxi,pp.111-139,andpp.140-169.


NewSciencesoftheSelf

Thislecturecomparesandcontrastsnewsciencesofhumanselfofthelate19thcenturyandearly20thcentury:thepsychoanalysisofFreud,thepsychologicalprogrammesofBinetinFrance,andofWatsonintheUnitedStates,andimmunology.Keyscientists:SigmundFreud,AlfredBinet,IvanPetrovichPavlov,JohnB.Watson,IlyaIlyichMechnikov,PaulEhrlichBackgroundReadingRoyPorter,TheGreatestBenefittoMankind,London:Fontana,1997,chapter16,pp.493-524.Watson,JohnBroadus(1913)‘Psychologyasthebehavioristviewsit’,PsychologicalReview20,pp.158-177.Agar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.63-85.Sulloway,FrankJ.(1979)Freud,BiologistoftheMind:BeyondthePsychoanalyticLegend,London:BurnettBooks.Smith,Roger(1997)TheFontanaHistoryoftheHumanSciences,London:HarperCollins

Todes,DanielP.(1997)‘Pavlov’sphysiologicalfactory’,Isis88,pp.205-246Soderqvist,Thomas,CraigStillwellandMarkJackson(2009)‘Immunityandimmunology’,inPeterJ.BowlerandJohnV.Pickstone(eds.),TheCambridgeHistoryofScience,Volume6,TheModernBiologicalandEarthSciences,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.


ScienceintheFirstWorldWar

ThesciencesweremobilisedforactionintheFirstWorldWar.Thislectureassessestheclichéoftheresulting‘chemist’swar’,andlooksathowchemists,physicists,engineersandpsychologistsbothcontributedtheirexpertiseandsoughttochangethefortunesoftheirdisciplinesduringtheglobalconflict.Keyscientists:FritzHaber,AlbertEinstein,GeorgeElleryHale,ThomasEdisonBackgroundReadingAgar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.89-117.Kevles,DanielJ.(1971)ThePhysicists:theHistoryofaScientificCommunityinModernAmerica.CambridgeMA:HarvardUniversityPress,p.113.Hughes,ThomasP.(1989)AmericanGenesis:aCenturyofInventionandTechnologicalEnthusiasm,1870-1970,NewYork:Penguin,p.109,p.137.Charles,Daniel(2005)MasterMind:theRiseandFallofFritzHaber,theNobelLaureateWhoLaunchedtheAgeofChemicalWarfare.NewYork:EccoNye,MaryJo(1996)BeforeBigScience:thePursuitofModernChemistryandPhysics,1800-1940.Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPressKevles,DanielJ.(1968)‘TestingtheArmy’sintelligence:psychologistsandthemilitaryinWorldWarI’,JournalofAmericanHistory55,pp.565-581Roland,Alex(2003)‘Science,technology,andwar’,inMaryJoNye(ed.),TheCambridgeHistoryofScience.Volume5:TheModernPhysicalandMathematicalSciences,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.561-578


SEMINAR:Manifestoofthe93

Thisseminarlooksatwhosigned,andwhy,twoverydifferentmanifestosonscienceandwarin1914.Readbothmanifestos.PickthreenamesofsignatoriesoftheManifestoofthe93anduseinternetresourcestoconstructabriefbiographyofeachperson.Makenotesaboutwhatkindofexperttheywere,whattheydidbefore,duringandaftertheFirstWorldWar,andconsiderwhytheymighthavesignedtheManifesto.‘Manifestoofthe93’.Availableintranslationat:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifesto_of_the_Ninety-Three‘ManifestototheEuropeans’Availableintranslationat:http://being.publicradio.org/programs/einsteinsethics/einstein-manifesto.shtml

Week5Session134February2019

ScienceandGermany

Germansciencewasintheascendantinthelatenineteenthandearlytwentiethcentury.ThislecturereviewsthedevelopmentsinGermanscienceaftertheFirstWorldWar,comparingandcontrastingsciencesinthecontextoftheWeimarrepublicandtheNaziregime.Keyscientists:NielsBohr,WolfgangPauli,WernerHeisenberg,ErwinSchrödinger,JohannesStark,PhilippLenard,MaxWertheimer,WolfgangKöhler,OttoNeurath,PascualJordan,FritzHaberBackgroundReadingAgar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.118-141andpp.211-228.Forman,Paul(1971)‘Weimarculture,causality,andquantumtheory,1918-1927:adaptationbyGermanphysicistsandmathematicianstoahostileintellectualenvironment’,HistoricalStudiesinthePhysicalSciences3,pp.1-116

Darrigol,Olivier(2003)‘Quantumtheoryandatomicstructure,1900-1927’,inMaryJoNye(ed.)TheCambridgeHistoryofScience.Volume5:TheModernPhysicalandMathematicalSciences,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.331-349Ash,Mitchell(1995)GestaltPsychologyinGermanCulture,1890-1967:HolismandtheQuestforObjectivity.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPressProctor,RobertN.(1988)RacialHygiene:MedicineundertheNazis,Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress


EcologyandEmpire

Thislectureexaminesthegrowthofecologicalideasinanimperialcontext.TheBritishEmpireprovidedaglobalcontextforscience,whileatthesametimescienceprovidedcrucialtechniquesandknowledgeforcolonialadministrationandImperialrule.Keyscientists:RonaldRoss,ArthurGeorgeTansley,CharlesElton,JanSmuts,JulianHuxleyBackgroundReadingAgar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.142-160.MarkHarrison,‘ScienceandtheBritishEmpire’,Isis(2005)96,pp.56-63Anker,Peder(2001)ImperialEcology:EnvironmentalOrderintheBritishEmpire,1895-1945.Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPressBasalla,George(1967)‘ThespreadofWesternscience’,Science156,pp611-622Palladino,PaoloandMichaelWorboys(1993)‘Scienceandimperialism’,Isis84,pp.91-102Bynum,W.F.etal,TheWesternMedicalTradition:1800to2000,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2006,pp.229-239.


SEMINAR:TBC

TBCEssentialactivity:TBC

Week6

**READINGWEEK**


ScienceandtheUnitedStates

Americansciencewasextraordinarilysuccessfulinthetwentiethcentury,buthowcansuchsuccessbeexplained?OneclueistheAmericanapproachtophilanthropy,andtherecyclingofnewindustrialwealthtosupportscience.AnothersetofcluescanbefoundinthedemandsofAmericanindustriesandmarkets,andrelationshipsofcitizenstogovernment.Keyscientists:GeorgeElleryHale,AndrewCarnegie,JohnD.Rockefeller,Sr.,MaxMason,EdwinHubble,AlfredWegener,FrederickWinslowTaylor,LillianGilbreth,JohnScopesBackgroundReadingHughes,ThomasP.(1989)AmericanGenesis:aCenturyofInventionandTechnologicalEnthusiasm,1870-1970,NewYork:Penguin,pp.184-248.Agar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.161-185.

Smith,RobertW.(1982)TheExpandingUniverse:Astronomy’s‘GreatDebate’,1900-1931.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPressKay,LilyE.(1993)TheMolecularVisionofLife:Caltech,theRockefellerFoundation,andtheRiseoftheNewBiology.Oxford:OxfordUniversityPressKevles,DanielJ.(1971)ThePhysicists:theHistoryofaScientificCommunityinModernAmerica.CambridgeMA:HarvardUniversityPressOwens,Larry(1997)‘ScienceintheUnitedStates’inJohnKrigeandDominiquePestre(eds.)ScienceintheTwentiethCentury,Amsterdam:HarwoodAcademicPress,pp.821-837Kanigel,Robert(1997)TheOneBestWay:FrederickWinslowTaylorandtheEnigmaofEfficiency,London:Viking


ScienceandtheSovietUnion

TheSovietUnionbeganin1917andlasteduntiltheendoftheColdWar.Theregime,whichononehandwasbasedonsupposedlyscientificfoundationsandontheotherhandwasintenselysuspiciousoftherivalformofauthorityfoundinscience,offersanunparalleledopportunitytoexaminetherelationshipsbetweenpoliticsandscience.Keyscientists:VladimirIvanovichVernadsky,LevSemeovichVygotsky,AleksandrIvanovichOparin,J.B.S.Haldane,SergeiChetverikov,NikolaiIvanovichVavilov,TrofimDenisovichLysenko,TheodosiusDobzhanskyBackgroundReadingAgar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.186-210.Graham,LorenR.(1993a)ScienceinRussiaandtheSovietUnion.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.Graham,LorenR.(1993b)TheGhostoftheExecutedEngineer:TechnologyandtheFalloftheSovietUnion,Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress


SEMINAR:MoneyorFreedom?

Loren Graham, a historian of Russian and Soviet science, asks a very interesting question:which ismore important to science,moneyor freedom? In Soviet times, some scienceshadplenty of resources but little freedom. In post-ColdWar Russia, scientists found themselveswithmorefreedom,butalsomuchlessmoney.Acomparisonofthetwoperiods,inthesameland,thereforeprovidescluestohowGraham’squestionmightbeanswered.Graham,LorenR.(1998)‘Chapter3:Howrobustinscienceunderstress?’,inWhatHaveWeLearnedaboutScienceandTechnologyfromtheRussianExperience?Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress,pp.52-73.


FromLabtoLosAlamos

OneoftheimportantthemesofresearchanddevelopmentbeforetheSecondWorldWarwasthesearchformethodsofscalingupresearch,fromtheincreasingthescaleofinstrumentationinphysicstothescienceofmacromoleculesandpolymersinchemistry.InthislectureweexplorethisthemebylookingatthescaleofphysicsfromsmalllabstotheManhattanProject.Keyscientists:ErnestO.Lawrence,J.RobertOppenheimer,LinusPauling,PatrickBlackett,ErnestWalton,JohnCockcroft,HidekiYukawa,TheodorSvedberg,WarrenWeaver,MaxDelbrück,SalvadorLuria,FrederickBanting,WallaceH.Carothers,VannevarBush,JamesBryantConant,HowardFlorey,LeoSzilard,EnricoFermi,RobertOppenheimer,LeslieGroves,WernerHeisenberg,AlbertEinsteinBackgroundReadingHughes,Jeff(2002)TheManhattanProject:BigScienceandtheAtomBomb.Cambridge:IconBooksHughes,ThomasP.(1989)AmericanGenesis:aCenturyofInventionandTechnologicalEnthusiasm,1870-1970,NewYork:Penguin,pp.353-442.Agar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.229-259,pp.283-300.

Seidel,Robert(1992)‘TheoriginsoftheLawrenceBerkeleyLaboratory’,inPeterGalisonandBruceHevly(eds.)BigScience:theGrowthofLarge-ScaleResearch.Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress,pp.21-45Bird,KaiandMartinJ.Sherwin(2005)AmericanPrometheus:theTriumphandTragedyofJ.RobertOppenheimer.London:AtlanticBooksHounshell,DavidA.(1992)‘DuPontandthemanagementoflarge-scaleresearchanddevelopment’inGalisonandHevly,op.cit.,pp.236-261


RadarSciences

ThemobilisationofsciencefortheSecondWorldWarhadmanyconsequencesforpost-warscienceandtechnology.Thislectureexaminesthedevelopmentofradaranditspost-warinfluence,notleastforastronomy,electronicsandcomputing.Keyscientists:BernardLovell,MartinRyle,NorbertWiener,PatrickBlackett,WilliamShockley,TomKilburn.BackgroundReading:Agar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.229-259,pp.367-387.Galison,Peter(1994)‘Theontologyoftheenemy:NorbertWienerandthecyberneticvision’,CriticalInquiry,pp.228-266.Kirby,MauriceW.(2003)OperationalResearchinWarandPeace:theBritishExperiencefromthe1930sto1970.London:ImperialCollegeCampbell-Kelly,MartinandWilliamAspray(1996)Computer:aHistoryoftheInformationMachine.NewYork:BasicBooks.


SEMINAR:Sciencepolicy

SeminarReading:JustbeforetheendoftheSecondWorldWar,PresidentRooseveltaskedhisscienceadviser,VannevarBush,tomakerecommendationsfortheroleandorganisationofscienceinthepost-warworld.Theresultwas‘Science:theEndlessFrontier’.ReadBush’sreportonline,via:http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/nsf50/vbush1945.htm

Week9Session224March2019

BigScienceandtheColdWar

ThepermanentmobilisationofscienceintheColdWar.Scientistsandthequestionofcontrolofnuclearweapons.TheSovietbomb.McCarthyismandtheOppenheimertrial.AtomsforPeace.BigScience.SpaceRace.Platetectonics.GreenRevolution.Keyscientists:VannevarBush,RobertOppenheimer,IgorKurchatov,PeterKapitsa,WernhervonBraun,SergeiKorolev,NormanE.BorlaugBackgroundReadingJamesH.CapshewandKarenA.Rader,‘BigScience:Pricetothepresent’,Osiris(1992)7,pp.3-25Agar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.301-353.Leslie,StuartW.(1993)TheColdWarandAmericanScience:theMilitary-Industrial-AcademicComplexatMITandStanford.NewYork:ColumbiaUniversityPressPaulForman(1987)‘Beyondquantumelectronics:nationalsecurityasbasisforphysicalresearchintheUnitedStates’,HistoricalStudiesinthePhysicalSciences18.pp.149-229Holloway,David,(1994)StalinandtheBomb:theSovietUnionandAtomicEnergy,1939-1956,NewHaven:YaleUniversityPress

VanKeuren,DavidK.(2001)‘ColdWarscienceinblackandwhite’,SocialStudiesofScience31,pp.207-252Oreskes,NaomiandRonaldE.Doel‘Thephysicsandchemistryoftheearth’,inMaryJoNye(ed.),TheCambridgeHistoryofScience.Volume5:TheModernPhysicalandMathematicalSciences,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.538-557Frankel,Henry(2009)‘Platetectonics’inPeterJ.BowlerandJohnV.Pickstone,TheCambridgeHistoryofScience,Volume6,TheModernBiologicalandEarthSciences,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.385-394Perkins,JohnH.(1997)GeopoliticsandtheGreenRevolution:Wheat,GenesandtheColdWar.Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress


TheStandardModel

Thislecturelooksatthedevelopmentofthe‘StandardModel’,thenearestapproximationwehavetoaunifiedtheoryofphysics.TheStandardModelisoneofthegreatmodernmilestones,partlyaproductof‘BigScience’,acollaborativeachievementofexperimentersandtheorists,andreliesonevidencefrommeasurementsmadeonthetiniesttothelargestscales.HansBethe,JulianSchwinger,RichardFeynman,TsungDaoLeeandChenNingYang,AbdusSalam,MurrayGell-Mann,GeorgeGamowBackgroundReadingSchweber,SilvanS.(2003)‘Quantumfieldtheory:fromQEDtotheStandardModel’,inMaryJoNye(ed.),TheCambridgeHistoryofScience.Volume5:TheModernPhysicalandMathematicalSciences,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.375-393Kragh,Helge(2002)QuantumGenerations:aHistoryofPhysicsintheTwentiethCentury,Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress.


SEMINAR:Edwards

WhataretherelationshipsbetweencomputersandtheColdWar?Is‘discourse’ausefultermforhistoriansofscienceandtechnology?SeminarReading:Edwards,PaulN.(1996)‘Chapter1:“Wedefendeveryplace”:buildingtheColdWarworld’(part)TheClosedWorld:ComputersandthePoliticsofDiscourseinColdWarAmerica.Cambridge,MA:MITPress,pp.1-30.


ScienceinSocialMovements

Thelong1960sasaperiodoftransition.Socialmovementsandthesciences.Newenvironmentalism.Pillsandthebiomedicalisationofeverydaylife.Cybernetics,theLimitstoGrowthandChina’sOneChildPerFamilypolicy.Neo-catastrophism.Keyscientists:RachelCarson,BarryCommoner,MauriceWilkins,MargaretSanger,QianXuesen,SongJian,NilesEldredge,StephenJayGould,LuisandWalterAlvarez,CesareEmiliani,EdwardLorenzBackgroundReadingAgar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.403-432.Agar,Jon(2008)‘WhathappenedintheSixties?’,BritishJournalfortheHistoryofScience41,pp.567-600Mendelsohn,Everett(1994)‘Thepoliticsofpessimism:scienceandtechnologycirca1968’,inYaronEzrahi,Mendelsohn,andHowardSegal(eds.)Technology,PessimismandPostmodernism,London:KluwerAcademicPublishers,pp.151-173Ravetz,JeromeR.(1990)‘Orthodoxies,critiquesandalternatives’,inRobertOlbyetal(ed.)TheCompaniontotheHistoryofModernScience,London:Routledge,1990,pp.898-908Lear,Linda(1997)RachelCarson:WitnessforNature.NewYork:HenryHolt

Watkins,ElizabethSiegel(1998)OnthePill:aSocialHistoryofOralContraceptives,1950-1970.Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsUniversityPressGreenhalgh,Susan(2008)JustOneChild:ScienceandPolicyinDeng’sChina.Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPressWeart,SpencerR.(2003)TheDiscoveryofGlobalWarming.CambridgeMA:HarvardUniversityPress


DNAtoBiotech

DiscoveryofthestructureofDNA.Breakingthecode.Newbiotechnologyandentrepreneurialscience.Intellectualproperty.BigPharma.DiscoveryofArchaea.Bio-collecting.SequencingandHumanGenomeProjects.Keyscientists:JamesWatson,FrancisCrick,RosalindFranklin,PaulBerg,HerbertBoyer,StanleyCohen,AnandaChakrabarty,CarlWoese,FrederickSanger,JohnSulston,CraigVenter,KaryMullisBackgroundReadingAgar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.433-465.Judson,HoraceFreeland(1979)TheEighthDayofCreation:MakersoftheRevolutioninBiology.London:PenguinBooksBowler,PeterJ.andIwanRhysMorus(2005),MakingModernScience:aHistoricalSurvey.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,pp.205-209deChadarevian,Soraya(2003),‘PortraitofaDiscovery:Watson,Crick,andtheDoubleHelix’Isis94(1),pp.90-105Wright,Susan(1986)‘RecombinantDNAtechnologyanditssocialtransformation,1972-1982’,Osiris2,pp.303-360Bud,Robert(2009)‘Historyofbiotechnology’,inPeterJ.BowlerandJohnV.Pickstone(eds.)TheCambridgeHistoryofScience,Volume6,TheModernBiologicalandEarthSciences,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.524-538Sulston,JohnandGeorginaFerry(2002)TheCommonThread:aStoryofScience,Politics,EthicsandtheHumanGenome.London:BantamPress

Kevles,DanielJ.andLeroyHood(eds.),TheCodeofCodes:ScientificandSocialIssuesintheHumanGenomeProject.Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress.(SeeinparticulartheessaysbyKevles,‘Outofeugenics’andJudson,‘Ahistoryofgenemappingandsequencing’)Cook-Deegan,Robert(1994)TheGeneWars:Science,Politics,andtheHumanGenome.NewYork:W.W.NortonJudson,HoraceFreeland(1979)TheEighthDayofCreation:MakersoftheRevolutioninBiology.London:PenguinBooks


SEMINAR:RachelCarsonRachelCarsonwasoneofthefinestsciencewriters.InSilentSpring(1962)sheachievedsomethingelse:adramaticaccountofwhatchemicalsmightbedoingtolivingorganisms,andcalltoarmsforenvironmentalaction.Inthisseminar,readtheexcerptsofSilentSpring,andmakenotesonhowCarsonpresentsthescienceandmovesthereader.Read,too,howreviewersresponded.SeminarReading:RachelCarson,SilentSpring.Excerptsavailableviamoodle.Reviewers’responsestoSilentSpring.Excerptsviamoodle.


DiversityinScienceDiversityinscienceintermsoflanguageandgender.HowandwhydidEnglishemergeasthemostcommonlanguageofscience?Howhavethepatternsofgenderdiversityinsciencechangedovertimeandwhy?BackgroundReadingPninaG.Abir-Am,DorindaOutram(eds.),UneasyCareersandIntimateLives:WomeninScience,1789-1979,NewsBrunswick:RutgersUniversityPress,1987HenryEtzkowitz,CarolKemelgor,BrianUzzi,Brian,AthenaUnbound:theAdvancementofWomeninScienceandTechnology,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2000.MichaelD.Gordin,ScientificBabel:HowScienceWasDoneBeforeandAfterGlobalEnglish,Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,2015.WendyFaulknerandE.A.Kerr,‘Onseeingbrockenspectres:sexandgenderintwentiethcenturyscience’,inJohnKrigeandDominiquePestre(eds.),ScienceintheTwentiethCentury,Amsterdam:HarwoodAcademicPublishers,1997,pp.43-60AngelaSaini,Inferior:HowScienceGotWomenWrongandtheNewResearchThat'sRewritingtheStory,London:FourthEstate,2017


NewEndsPhysicalsciencesandtheendoftheColdWar.CERNandtheSSC.Scienceandglobalclimatechange.Trendsindiseaseandhealth.BackgroundReadingAgar,Jon(2012)ScienceintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond,Cambridge:Polity,pp.466-496.RoyalSocietyandRoyalAcademyofEngineering(2004)NanoscienceandNanotechnologies:OpportunitiesandUncertainties.London:RoyalSocietyRiordan,Michael(2001)‘Ataleoftwocultures:buildingtheSuperconductingSuperCollider,1988-1993’,HistoricalStudiesinthePhysicalandBiologicalSciences32,pp.125-144.

Kevles,DanielJ.(1997)‘BigScienceandbigpoliticsintheUnitedStates:ReflectionsonthedeathoftheSSCandthelifeoftheHumanGenomeProject’,HistoricalStudiesinthePhysicalandBiologicalSciences27,pp.269-297Gieryn,ThomasF.(1991)‘TheeventsstemmingfromUtah’,Science252,pp.994-995Weart,SpencerR.(2003)TheDiscoveryofGlobalWarming.CambridgeMA:HarvardUniversityPress,


Seminar:MerchantsofDoubtWatchandmakenotesofhistorianofscience,NaomiOreskes’lectureonthesourcesofdoubtandskepticisminthedebateonglobalwarming:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXyTpY0NCp0

HPSC0010 History of Modern Science - UCL · Hughes, Jeff (2003) ‘Radioactivity and nuclear physics’, in Mary Jo Nye (ed.) The Cambridge History of Science. Volume 5: The Modern

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