Biographies in the History of Physics: Actors, Objects, Institutions PDF
Preview Biographies in the History of Physics: Actors, Objects, Institutions
Christian Forstner Mark Walker Editors Biographies in the History of Physics Actors, Objects, Institutions Biographies in the History of Physics Christian Forstner Mark Walker (cid:129) Editors Biographies in the History of Physics Actors, Objects, Institutions 123 Editors Christian Forstner Mark Walker Ernst-Haeckel-Haus UnionCollege Friedrich-Schiller-University Schenectady, NY,USA Jena, Germany ISBN978-3-030-48508-5 ISBN978-3-030-48509-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48509-2 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicencetoSpringerNature SwitzerlandAG2020 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsaresolelyandexclusivelylicensedbythePublisher,whether thewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseof illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmissionorinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilar ordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfrom therelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained hereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremainsneutralwithregard tojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations. ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland Contents 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Christian Forstner and Mark Walker Part I Individuals 2 The‘InvisibleHand’ofCarlFriedrichGauß—RetracingtheLife of Moritz Meyerstein, a 19th century Instrument Maker and Universitäts-Mechanicus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Klaus Hentschel 3 The Personal is Professional: Margaret Maltby’s Life in Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Joanna Behrman 4 Erwin Schrödinger in the Second Spanish Republic, 1934–1935 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Enric Pérez 5 Ludwig Prandtl: Pioneer of Fluid Mechanics and Science Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Michael Eckert 6 Rudolf Tomaschek—An Exponent of the “Deutsche Physik” Movement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Vanessa Osganian 7 The ‘Better’ Nazi: Pascual Jordan and the Third Reich. . . . . . . . . 111 Dieter Hoffmann and Mark Walker 8 Relativity and Dialectical Materialism: Science, Philosophy and Ideology in Hans-Jürgen Treder’s Early Academic Career. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Raphael Schlattmann v vi Contents 9 Biography and Autobiography in the Making of a Genius: Richard P. Feynman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Christian Forstner Part II Collectives 10 A Biography of the German Atomic Bomb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Mark Walker 11 The Multiple Lives of the General Relativity Community, 1955–1974 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Roberto Lalli 12 Whose Biography Is It Anyway? Shared Biographies of Institutions, Leaders, Instruments, and Self . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Catherine Westfall Part III Objects 13 Lost in the Production of Time and Space: The Transformation of the Airy Transit Circle from a Working Telescope to a Museum Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Daniel Belteki 14 Scientific Instruments Turning into Toys: From Franklin’s Pulse Glass to Dipping Birds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Panagiotis Lazos Part IV Limitations 15 I’m Not There. Or: Was the Virtual Particle Ever Born?. . . . . . . . 261 Markus Ehberger 16 Biography or Obituary? The Historiographical Value of the Death of the Ether . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Jaume Navarro 17 The Meaning, Nature, and Scope of Scientific (Auto)Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 Thomas Söderqvist Index .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 319 Chapter 1 Introduction ChristianForstnerandMarkWalker OnBiography Many historians of science who have written on biography are themselves biog- raphers with direct experience of the advantages and difficulties presented by this genre.ThomasHankins,whoarguablybeganahistoriographicdiscussionoftherole of biography in the history of science with an essay entitled “In Defense of Biog- raphy,” noted that: “The biographer of a scientist tends to be drawn either to the personallifeofhissubjectortothetechnicaldetailsofhissubject’sscientificwork. It is difficult to bring these two different aspects together in a harmonious way.” (Hankins1979,p.2).Likemanybiographerswhohavefollowedhim,andwithsome justification, Hankins also bemoaned the fact that mainstream history of science did not give biography much respect. At that time biographical approaches were often associated with the hagiographic tradition of the 19th century and therefore rejected.Scholarshipthatfocusedonthesocialdeterminantsofsciencehadbecome more influential, breaking with traditional biography and yielding new insight for thehistoryofscience.However,inthemeantime,thegenreofbiographyhasmade acomeback. MottGreeneprovidedablueprintforagoodbiography,arguingthat“…towrite abiographyisalmostinevitablytowriteahistoricalnovel,albeitahistoricalnovel constructedaccordingtoademandingsetofrules.”Suchabiographywouldfollow therulesofthenineteenth-centuryBildungsroman,portrayinga“strivinghero”who overcomes obstacles and achieves goals in the service of their self-development B C.Forstner( ) Friedrich-Schiller-UniversitätJena,AGWissenschaftsgeschichte-Ernst-Haeckel-Haus, KahlaischeStr.1,07745Jena,Germany e-mail:[email protected] M.Walker DepartmentofHistory,UnionCollege,Schenectady,NY12308,USA e-mail:[email protected] ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicence 1 toSpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2020 C.ForstnerandM.Walker(eds.),BiographiesintheHistoryofPhysics, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48509-2_1 2 C.ForstnerandM.Walker (Greene2007,pp.730,746).However,MargitSzöllösi-JanzecitesPierreBourdieu’s warning against the “biographical illusion,” whereby the chronological narrative of the Bildungsroman can suggest more coherence and meaning in a life that was actuallythere(Szöllösi-Janze2000,p.30).AccordingtoHelmuthTrischler,themain taskofbiography,“…describingindividuallives,isnot…anendinitself,ratherit lies in the connection of the general with the particular, in the mediation between individualityandsociabilitybymeansofperson-centeredresearch”(Trischler1998, p.46). MaryJoNyeproposesthreeprincipalformsofbiographyforthehistoryofscience. Firstisthe‘lifeofthescientist,’wherethebiographerstudiesascientistasthe“chief protagonist in a broad sweep of historical events” that transcend that scientist’s own work. Examples include several biographies of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein, Ruth Lewin Simes’ book on Lise Meitner, David Cassidy’s study of Werner Heisenberg, and Szöllösi-Janze’s biography of Fritz Haber (Nye 2015, p. 284). Here one could add Crosbie Smith’s and Norton Wise’s work on Lord Kelvin(Kragh2015,p.275).Nextisa‘scientificbiography,’interestedmainlyinthe scientist’scontributiontoscientificknowledge.TheseincludeHelgeKragh’sstudy of Paul Dirac, Kostas Gavroglu’s book on Fritz London, and Frederic Lawrence Holmes’biographiesofAntoineLavosier,HansKrebs,andClaudeBernard.Finally, Nyedescribesa‘biographyofscientificcollaboration,’whichofcoursefocuseson individuals, but does not “distort the processes of science” by placing excessive emphasisontheirroles.ExamplesincludeSamSchweber’shistoryofthecreationof quantumelectrodynamics,DeborahR.Coen’sstudyofthreegenerationsofscientists inVienna,andNye’sownworkonMichaelPolanyi(Nye2015,p.284). Oneofthestrongestadvocates forbiography inthehistoryofscience,Thomas Söderqvist,breaksthisdownintosevensubgenres: (1) Biographyascontextualhistoryofscience(ancillahistoriae); (2) Biographyasameansforunderstandingtheconstructionofscientificknowledge; (3) Scientificbiographyandthepopularunderstandingofscience; (4) Scientificbiographyasbelles-letters; (5) Scientificbiographyaspubliccommemoration(eulogy); (6) Scientificbiographyasprivatecommemoration(laboroflove); (7) Scientificbiography,researchethics,andthe‘goodlife.’ ForSöderqvist,biography“isnotjusthistorybyothermeans.”Itallowsscientific results to be understood in the context of the scientist’s “motivations, ambitions, ideas, feelings, personality traits and personal experiences.” Biographies can have anintrinsicaestheticvalueandcanpayrespecttothedeceasedbyerectinga“sym- bolicgravestone.”PerhapsmoststrikingisSöderqvist’sdescriptionofan“existen- tialbiography,”whichfocusesbothonthelifeandthewritingofthebiographyas achievementsinthemselves. … one could argue that it is a good thing to write about recent life scientists in order to understand their work and their lives, but it is an equally good thing to write about them as a way of practicing the care of one’s own scholarly self. Writing the history of 1 Introduction 3 thelifesciencesandwritingβ„oιofcontemporarylifescientistsarethuswaysbywhich historians,biographers,andscientistsalikecanexploretheperennialquestionofhowto craftaworthwhilelife-courseoutoftalentandcircumstances.(Söderqvist2011,pp.636, 637,642,647) Scholars have challenged the traditional definition of biography by seeking to expand it beyond studies of an individual or collections of people to material and immaterialthings.Inanarticleonthe“CulturalBiographyofObjects,”theanthro- pologistsChrisGosdenandYvonneMarshallarguethathumanandobjecthistories influenceandinformeachother:“…aspeopleandobjectsgathertime,movement and change, they are constantly transformed, and these transformations of person and object are tied up with each other,” giving both of them a ‘biography.’ As an example, theydiscusstheroleplayed bytabua,wholewhale’steeth,innineteenth centuryFiji.Thesecirculatedaspartofaritualizedcurrencyexchangebetweengods, chiefs,andpeople.Tabuawerecradledinthehand,becomingdarkerincolorover timefromtheoilsofthemanypeoplewhoheldthemandaccumulatingthepower oftheirsuccessivechieflyowners.“Thedepthofatabua’scolour,asindicatorofa lengthybiography,isaprimarydeterminantofatooth’svalue”(GosdenandMarshall 1999,p.169). With the turn towards material things, the biography of objects has also found itswayintothehistoryofscience.Researchersworkingwithscientificinstruments have chosen this approach in particular to explore the different levels of meaning foranobjectinchangingenvironments.DavidPantalony,forexample,demonstrates theselevelsinamedicalradiationdevice,theCanadianTheratronJunior(Pantalony 2011).SamuelAlbertihasoutlinedahistoryofmuseumswrittenthroughbiographies of objects in their collections (Alberti 2005). Katherine Anderson, Mélanie Frap- pier,ElizabethNeswald,andHenryTrimuseanartifacttorevealrichandcomplex networksofnarratives(Andersonetal.2013). LorraineDastonandOttoSibumexpandthegenreofbiographyinadifferentway byexaminingthescientificpersona:“Intermediatebetweentheindividualbiography and the social institution lies the persona: a cultural identity that simultaneously shapes the individual in body and mind and creates a collective with a shared and recognizablephysiognomy.”HeretheauthorsinDaston’sandSibum’seditedbook workaremorelikebotaniststhanbiographers,piecingtogetheratypespecimenthat representsaclassinsteadofanindividual.Personaarerare,andnottobeconfused withprofessionalizationorinstitutionalization:“tobeapastrycheforforthatmatter an inorganic chemist is to follow a profession, but not to embrace a persona. To achieveapersonapresupposesacertaindegreeofculturalrecognition,aswellasa group physiognomy that can be condensed into a type…” J. Robert Oppenheimer embodiedthepersonaofamoderntheoreticalphysicistbycombiningelementsof thetheorist,teacher,administrator,andadvisor(DastonandSibum2003,pp.2,5). ThetruebogeymanforcurrentbiographersofscientistsisundoubtedlyTheodore ArabatzisandhisbookRepresentingElectrons:ABiographicalApproachtoTheo- reticalEntities.HelgeKragh,inachapterinadifferentbookco-editedbyArabatzis, wentsofartosay:“Althoughadmittingthatthisisbiographyonlyinametaphorical sense,he[Arabatzis]maintainsthatitisalegitimateandusefulnotion.Thequestion 4 C.ForstnerandM.Walker iswhetheritisbiographyatall”(Kragh2015,p.279).Söderqvist,inhiscontribution toourbook,makeshisskepticismclear: …mentalconstructsarenotpersons(orassemblagesofpersons)anddonothaveanyof thepropertiesofpersonhood;aconceptdoesnotliterallyhaveconsciousness,memoryor emotions,andthusdoesnothavealifeofitsown.Arabatzis’andotherhistoricalstudies ofconceptsandtheoreticalentitiescanthereforenotbecalledabiographicalstudyinany meaningful way, unless the terms ‘life’ and ‘life course’ are defined so broadly that the denotationof‘biography’includesthedescriptionandanalysisofthechangeofallkindsof mentalconstructsovertime.(Söderqvist,p.304) Arabatzis explains how he came to the genre of biography through the concept ofrepresentation.Hehadassumedthatrepresentationwasa“plasticresource”that physicistsandchemistscouldmanipulateatwill.Butwhenheexaminedwhathad happenedwhenanewproperty,spin,wasattributedtotheelectron,Arabatzisrealized thattheexistingrepresentationoftheelectrondidnottoleratethenewlysuggested propertyandindeedledtoaviolationofthespecialtheoryofrelativity.Physicists werethenforcedtomodifytherepresentationoftheelectiontoaccommodatespin. This suggested that theoretical entities like the electron, defined by Arabatzis as constructionsfromexperimentaldata,were“activeagentswhoseinternaldynamic transcendsthebeliefs,abilities,andwishesofhumanactorsandactsasaconstraint on the development of scientific knowledge. Even though they are the products of scientificconstruction,theyhaveacertainindependencefromtheintentionsoftheir makers; that is, they have a life of their own…” Here Arabatzis makes clear that heisusingtheterm‘biography’inametaphoricalsense,andrecognizesthatevery metaphorhasitslimits.Thehistoryoftheelectronresemblesabiographyinsome respects,butnotothers.“Inparticular,Idonotwanttoattributeintentionalitytothe representationoftheelectron,ortoimplythatithadwishesorotheranthropomorphic features”(Arabatzis2005,pp.35,46). Thesethreeexamples,GosdenandMarshall,DastonandSibum,andArabatzis, allexplicitlyusetheterm‘biography’inunconventionalways,butarguablydonot stray that far from its essence. The whale teeth do not have a ‘life’ of their own, rather only in the interaction with the people who desire and exchange them. A scientificpersonawouldbemeaninglesswithoutthemanylivesofthescientiststhat this concept embodies. Finally, in a sentence from Arabatzis’ book that his critics rarelyquote,hemakesclearthat“…thisbookisabiographyoftherepresentation oftheelectronandnotoftheelectronitself.”(Arabatzis2005,p.49)Inotherwords, Arabatzis,likeGosdenandMarshall,andDastonandSibum,canbeseenasbeing engagedinaspecificformofcollectivebiography:howhavetherepresentationsof theelectron,eachcreatedbyoneormoreindividualscientists,changedovertime? ThisBook This book brings together both biography in Nye’s and Söderqvist’s senses and approaches that attempt to stretch this genre. The first section includes ‘classical’
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