Biographies of Scientific Objects

Biographies of Scientific Objects PDF

Author: Lorraine Daston

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2000-06-15

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9780226136721

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Looks at how whole domains of phenomena come into being and sometimes pass away as objects of scientific study. With examples from the natural and social sciences, ranging from the 16th to the 20th centuries, this book explores the ways in which scientific objects are both real and historical.

Biographies in the History of Physics

Biographies in the History of Physics PDF

Author: Christian Forstner

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-07-22

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 3030485099

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This book sheds new light on the biographical approach in the history of physics by including the biographies of scientific objects, institutions, and concepts. What is a biography? Can biographies also be written for non-human subjects like scientific instruments, institutions or concepts? The respective chapters of this book discuss these controversial questions using examples from the history of physics. By approaching biography as metaphor, it transcends the boundaries between various perspectives on the history of physics, and enriches our grasp of the past.

Objectivity

Objectivity PDF

Author: Lorraine Daston

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-02-02

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 1942130619

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Objectivity has a history, and it is full of surprises. In Objectivity, Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison chart the emergence of objectivity in the mid-nineteenth-century sciences — and show how the concept differs from alternatives, truth-to-nature and trained judgment. This is a story of lofty epistemic ideals fused with workaday practices in the making of scientific images. From the eighteenth through the early twenty-first centuries, the images that reveal the deepest commitments of the empirical sciences — from anatomy to crystallography — are those featured in scientific atlases: the compendia that teach practitioners of a discipline what is worth looking at and how to look at it. Atlas images define the working objects of the sciences of the eye: snowflakes, galaxies, skeletons, even elementary particles. Galison and Daston use atlas images to uncover a hidden history of scientific objectivity and its rivals. Whether an atlas maker idealizes an image to capture the essentials in the name of truth-to-nature or refuses to erase even the most incidental detail in the name of objectivity or highlights patterns in the name of trained judgment is a decision enforced by an ethos as well as by an epistemology. As Daston and Galison argue, atlases shape the subjects as well as the objects of science. To pursue objectivity — or truth-to-nature or trained judgment — is simultaneously to cultivate a distinctive scientific self wherein knowing and knower converge. Moreover, the very point at which they visibly converge is in the very act of seeing not as a separate individual but as a member of a particular scientific community. Embedded in the atlas image, therefore, are the traces of consequential choices about knowledge, persona, and collective sight. Objectivity is a book addressed to any one interested in the elusive and crucial notion of objectivity — and in what it means to peer into the world scientifically.

Dream Big, Little Scientists

Dream Big, Little Scientists PDF

Author: Michelle Schaub

Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing

Published: 2020-02-18

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 1632897865

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Twelve kids. A dozen bedtimes. Endless sweet ways to say goodnight with science! Spark curiosity and exploration with this innovative bedtime story for budding scientists that introduces eleven branches of science. From astronomy to physics to chemistry to geology, this STEM picture book will help kids get excited to explore. Includes further information about each branch of science.

Museums and Biographies

Museums and Biographies PDF

Author: Kate Hill

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 184383961X

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Exploring the relationship between museums and biographies, this collection of essays examines examples from the early 19th century to the present day.

Perspectives on Chemical Biography in the 21st Century

Perspectives on Chemical Biography in the 21st Century PDF

Author: Isabel Malaquias

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2019-01-14

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1527524973

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Overlooked, even despised by historians of chemistry for many years, the genre of biography has enjoyed a revival since the beginning of this century. The key to its renaissance is the use of the biographical form to provide a contextual analysis of important themes in contrast to the uncritical, almost hagiographic, lives of chemists written in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Bringing together the contributions of scholars active in several different countries, Perspectives on Chemical Biography in the 21st Century leads the reader through emerging questions around sources, and the generic problems faced by authors of biographies, before moving on to discuss aspects more related with physical, theoretical and inorganic chemistry, and facets of 19th century chemistry. In contrast to the letters and diaries of earlier chemists, we are now faced with scientists who communicate by telephone and email, and compose their documents on computers. Are we facing a modern equivalent of the destruction of the Library of Alexandria where all our sources are wiped out electronically?

The History of Science in Bite-sized Chunks

The History of Science in Bite-sized Chunks PDF

Author: Nicola Chalton

Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books

Published: 2019-05-30

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 1789291771

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Since ancient times, we have tried to make sense of our universe by observing objects far beyond our abilities to see or touch - from the smallest atom to the farthest star. This book covers, in chronological order, all the key discoveries and remarkable minds in each scientific field, including Aristotle's geocentric model of the cosmos, Darwin's theory of evolution, Newton's theory of gravity and Einstein's theory of relativity. Also included are fascinating anecdotes about the lives of influential scientists: learn how Ptolemy fixed his results to match his theories; Freud used cocaine to expand his mind; and Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, was banned from using university computers after being caught hacking. Revealing how human curiosity knows no bounds, and how the field of science has evolved over the last 2,500 years, this book breaks everything down into easily digestible sections to give a broad overview of the fascinating history of science.

Birds of empire, birds of nation : a history of science, economy, and conservation in United States-Colombia relations

Birds of empire, birds of nation : a history of science, economy, and conservation in United States-Colombia relations PDF

Author: Quintero Toro, Camilo

Publisher: Ediciones Uniandes-Universidad de los Andes

Published: 2012-09-01

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9586957969

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This book reveals the history behind the trade of Colombian birds as a means of comprehending the scientific, economic and environmental relations between the United States and Colombia from the 1880s to the 1960s. Through the study of the feather trade, scientific expeditions, scientific communities and nature conservation, the author brings to light how international relations and national agendas shaped the study and perception of nature in both countries during those years.

Biographies of Scientists for Sci-Tech Libraries

Biographies of Scientists for Sci-Tech Libraries PDF

Author: Tony Stankus

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-12-05

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1000755118

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This book, first published in 1991, is an invaluable guide to biographies of scientists from a wide variety of scientific fields. The books selected for this highly descriptive bibliography help librarians shatter readers’ stereotypes of scientists as monomaniacal and uninteresting people by providing interesting and provocative titles to capture the interest of students and other readers. The biographies included in this very special bibliography were carefully selected for their humour and human insights to give future scientists encouragement, inspiration, and an understanding of the origins of particular scientific fields. These biographies are unique in that they explore the whole personality of the scientist, giving students a glimpse at the variety and drama of the lives beyond well-known contributions or Nobel prize accomplishments.