Science history : a traveler's guide PDF
Preview Science history : a traveler's guide
Science History: A Traveler’s Guide In Science History: A Traveler’s Guide; Orna; In Science History: A Traveler’s Guide; Orna; 1179 ACS SYMPOSIUM SERIES Science History: A Traveler’s Guide Mary Virginia Orna, Editor The College of New Rochelle New Rochelle, New York Sponsored by the ACSDivisionoftheHistoryofChemistry AmericanChemicalSociety,Washington,DC DistributedinprintbyOxfordUniversityPress In Science History: A Traveler’s Guide; Orna; LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Sciencehistory:atraveler’sguide/MaryVirginiaOrna,editor,TheCollegeof NewRochelle,NewRochelle,NewYork;sponsoredbytheACSDivisionoftheHistoryof Chemistry. pagescm.-- (ACSsymposiumseries;1179) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-0-8412-3020-0(alk.paper) 1. Science--History.2. Sciencemuseums--Guidebooks.3. Chemistry--History. I.Orna,MaryVirginia,editor.II.AmericanChemicalSociety.DivisionoftheHistoryof Chemistry. Q105.A1S372014 509--dc23 2014040142 ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmericanNational Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSIZ39.48n1984. Copyright©2014AmericanChemicalSociety DistributedinprintbyOxfordUniversityPress AllRightsReserved. ReprographiccopyingbeyondthatpermittedbySections107or108 oftheU.S.CopyrightActisallowedforinternaluseonly,providedthataper-chapterfeeof $40.25plus$0.75perpageispaidtotheCopyrightClearanceCenter,Inc.,222Rosewood Drive,Danvers,MA01923,USA.Republicationorreproductionforsaleofpagesinthis bookispermittedonlyunderlicensefromACS.Directtheseandotherpermissionrequests toACSCopyrightOffice,PublicationsDivision,115516thStreet,N.W.,Washington,DC 20036. Thecitationoftradenamesand/ornamesofmanufacturersinthispublicationisnottobe construedasanendorsementorasapprovalbyACSofthecommercialproductsorservices referenced herein; nor should the mere reference herein to any drawing, specification, chemicalprocess, orotherdataberegardedasalicenseorasaconveyanceofanyright or permission to the holder, reader, or any other person or corporation, to manufacture, reproduce,use,orsellanypatentedinventionorcopyrightedworkthatmayinanywaybe relatedthereto. Registerednames,trademarks,etc.,usedinthispublication,evenwithout specificindicationthereof,arenottobeconsideredunprotectedbylaw. PRINTEDINTHEUNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA In Science History: A Traveler’s Guide; Orna; Foreword The ACS Symposium Series was first published in 1974 to provide a mechanism for publishing symposia quickly in book form. The purpose of the series is to publish timely, comprehensive books developed from the ACS sponsoredsymposiabasedoncurrentscientificresearch. Occasionally,booksare developed from symposia sponsored by other organizations when the topic is of keeninteresttothechemistryaudience. Beforeagreeingtopublishabook,theproposedtableofcontentsisreviewed forappropriateandcomprehensivecoverageandforinteresttotheaudience. Some papersmaybeexcludedtobetterfocusthebook;othersmaybeaddedtoprovide comprehensiveness. When appropriate, overview or introductory chapters are added. Draftsofchaptersarepeer-reviewedpriortofinalacceptanceorrejection, andmanuscriptsarepreparedincamera-readyformat. As a rule, only original research papers and original review papers are included in the volumes. Verbatim reproductions of previous published papers arenotaccepted. ACSBooksDepartment In Science History: A Traveler’s Guide; Orna; Editor’s Biography Mary Virginia Orna MaryVirginiaOrna,ProfessorofChemistryatTheCollegeofNewRochelle, received a B.S. in Chemistry from Chestnut Hill College, and M.S. and Ph.D. degreesinAnalyticalChemistryfromFordhamUniversity. Herresearchinterests include pigment and dye analysis of archaelogical artifacts and, in particular, of medieval manuscripts. She is the author or editor of 14 books (including ACS Symposium Series volumes) and over a hundred encyclopedia, journal, and monograph articles. She is the recipient of numerous awards including a FulbrightFellowshipforIsrael,theACSGeorgeC.PimentelAwardinChemical Education (1999) and the ACS Volunteer Service Award (2009). In 1990, in collaboration with John T. Stock of the University of Connecticut, she began conducting study tours for students as partial fulfillment of the requirements of acourseinthehistoryofscience. Thesestudytoursexpandedovertheyearsto include adult learners; they also broadened their scope to include most of the venuesdescribedinthisvolume. ©2014AmericanChemicalSociety In Science History: A Traveler’s Guide; Orna; Chapter 1 Science History on the Road: An Overview Mary Virginia Orna* DepartmentofChemistry,TheCollegeofNewRochelle, NewRochelle,NewYork10805,UnitedStates *E-mail: [email protected] Whilethepresentvolumehaditsoriginsinasymposiumheldat the237thNationalACSMeetinginSaltLakeCity,thecontent hasbeengreatlyexpandedtoincludemanyadditionalsites. This introductorychapteroutlinestherationale, goalsandcoverage of the book and includes some practical helpful information aboutitsuse. Origins of the Volume WhenPaulandBrendaCohenbegantheirbook(1)withthesewords,“Why write a book on travel to places with scientific content?” and then proceeded to outlinetheirreasons,thisstruckachordinmywanderingsoul. Formanyyears,I hadbeenawareoftheirregularcolumnintheJournalofCollegeScienceTeaching (2), and for perhaps just as long, I knew of John Wotiz’s legendary “forced marches”acrossthefaceofEurope,IronCurtainnotwithstanding(3). AndI,too, was a scientific traveler of a sort, having organized and taught for more than a decadeanundergraduatecoursecalled“HistoryofScienceandMathematics”that includedatwo-weektravelcomponenttoEnglandandScotlandinalternateyears. During that decade, I became acquainted, through the good graces of John T. Stock(1911-2005),anACSDivisionoftheHistoryofChemistrycolleaguefrom theUniversityofConnecticut(andanativeLondoner),withmanyofthe“movers andshakers”inthehistoryofscience,andparticularlythehistoryofchemistry,in theU.K.: RobertG.W.Anderson,formerDirectoroftheRoyalScottishMuseum and of the British Museum; Peter J. T. Morris of the London Science Museum whoknowsscientificLondonlikethebackofhishand;andFrankA.J.L.James, prolificauthorandincomparableFaradayscholarattheRoyalInstitution. ©2014AmericanChemicalSociety In Science History: A Traveler’s Guide; Orna; In the late 1990s, as the popularity of my course waned among my undergraduatestudents,foravarietyofreasonsthatincludedadeclineinfunding and changes in curriculum requirements, my tours to the U.K. gained adherents among faculty and other ACS colleagues from around the country. Word of mouth is a powerful communicator, and soon I had a mailing list of almost 100 potential and past participants who were eager to get out on the road but with a themed and structured program that provided intellectual stimulation – and not all of them were chemists or even scientists! So almost another decade passed when,in2009,Idecideditwastimeto“gopublic”andinformtheACSworldof thesetourswhichhad,inthemeantime,branchedouttotheEuropeancontinent. Among the speakers that I had lined up for a symposium at the Salt Lake City ACSmeetinginthespringof2009wereapersonwhohadparticipatedinaJohn Wotiztour,somewhohadparticipatedinmyowntours,somewhohadorganized and participated in the Science History Tours run by Yvonne Twomey and Lee Marek,anIsraeli,ZviKoren,whoproposedanarchaeologicalstudytourofIsrael, and a “flight of fancy” tour to some almost improbable sites by Carmen Giunta, presentlyEditoroftheBulletinfortheHistoryofChemistry. Withsuchastellar cast, it is no wonder that the ACS invited me to organize the talks into an ACS SymposiumSeriesvolume. Goals for the Development of This Volume So what is different about this volume? The Cohens’s book is targeted scientifictravel. Itdevotesatleastoneor2pagestoover250scientifictreasures in the United States, to sites as eclectically diverse as the National Museum of RollerSkatinginLincoln,NEandtheFermiNationalAcceleratorLaboratoryin Batavia,IL.Theircriteriaforincludingeachsiteasa“treasure”were: thecontent and completeness of the collection had to be special, the site had to provide an educationalcomponent,andthepresentationoftheexhibitshadtobebeyondthe ordinary. Could my Symposium Series volume live up to these expectations? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this volume would have to bedifferent,andyetcomplementarytotheCohens’sgoals. First of all, my study tours had as one of its goals learning science through traveltositeswherethescienceactuallyhappened,aprivilegeavailableonlysince thelatterpartofthepastcentury. Anothergoalwastodescribehowsuchtravelcan interfacewiththeprofessionalgoalsofchemistsinacademe,industry,andother areas of endeavor. In accomplishing these goals in detailing places of scientific interestthroughoutEurope,Israel,andothernon-Europeanvenues,Irealizedthat thebookcouldprovideitsreaderswiththefollowinginsights: Visitstoplacesimportantinthehistoryofsciencecanprovideteacherswith interestingexperiencestouseinbroadeningtheirsciencecurricula. Emphasisonthechemistrybackgroundofeachofthesiteswouldbehelpful tochemistryteachersandotherchemistsalike. Thescientificandtechnologicaldevelopmentsofothercultures,thematerials theyused,theextentofinternationalcommerceingoodsandcraftscanimpacton ourownunderstandingofhowscienceistaughtandpracticedintheUSA. 2 In Science History: A Traveler’s Guide; Orna; Even vicarious visits to faraway places of scientific interest can enrich the homeboundorthoseunabletotravel. It would be possible to plan a scientifically-oriented visit to a place not necessarilyassociatedwithscience. It would be possible to plan a scientifically-oriented visit to well-known scientific sites armed with information not necessarily available on the internet oringuidebooks. Volume Outline and Content While the book is broadly scientific and treats areas other than chemistry, where appropriate, chemistry is the highlighted science. The book is also organized on the “base city” principle whenever possible: certain cities are hubs from which the traveler can branch out to other venues of interest. This is certainly true of London, Paris, Stockholm, and to a certain extent Prague and Vienna. Thefirstpartofthisbookisanoverview,firstbywayofthischapter,and secondly, by way of the incomparable narrative of a John Wotiz tour by Leigh Wilson. The second part of the book consists of four chapters on the sites in the British Isles: London and environs, including Oxford, the Royal Institution, Cambridge and Scotland. The third part of the book contains eight chapters on sitesincontinentalEuropemovingfromnorthtosouthandthenwesttoeast. The finaltwochapterstakeusbeyondEuropeansciencetoencompassthearchaeology of Israel and fanciful journeys to far-flung Asia, Africa, and North and South America. The bibliography at the end of this chapter, while it concentrates on Europe,alsoincludesreferencestositesintheUnitedStatesandelsewhere. Theauthorsofthevariouschapters,includingmanyalreadymentioned,have first-handknowledgeandinmanyinstances,professionalexpertise,withrespectto thehistoryofthesites. HavinglivedinRomeforthepast5years(whichpartially explainsthedelayinpublishingthisvolume),Ihavevisitedthescientificvenues in Italy many times and have also become an associate member of the History SectionoftheItalianChemicalSociety. MarcoFontani,acolleagueintheItalian Chemical Society and co-author of The Lost Elements (4), writes knowledgably andlovinglyofscienceinFlorence,thecityofhisbirth. LeighWilsongivesusa first-handexperience(Figure1)ofwhatitwasliketotravelononeofJohnWotiz’s legendaryforaysintotheCommunistbloc,completewithtalesofaggressiveguard dogs(andguards)! GaryPatterson,ChiefBibliophileoftheBoltonSociety,treatsustosomeof thetreasurestobefoundattheFitzwilliamandWhippleMuseumsinCambridge. Jan Hayes, Roger Rea, and David Katz delight us with their insights into the scientific joys of southern Germany, Eastern Europe, and Copenhagen, respectively. Roland Adunka, Founding Director of the Auer von Welsbach Museum,beckonsustothewonderfullittletownofAlthofenwhereonecanenjoy Alpine views, medieval castles and cathedrals, and unique industrial sites along with a visit to his museum, which documents the incredible accomplishments of the nobleman and chemist who laid claim to discovering four elements. Jim and Jenny Marshall take us on a rollicking adventure through Sweden, Finland, 3 In Science History: A Traveler’s Guide; Orna; and Norway (and a smidgen of Germany) to seemingly inaccessible sites, some markedwithonlyamailbox,intheirsearchfortheoriginalminesandlaboratories wheremanyof30-some-oddelementswerediscovered. Hangontoyourseatsas wetakeoff–youareinforaspecialtreat! Figure1. Travelersinthe1985SouthernIllinoisUniversityHistoryofChemistry Tour. JohnWotizisinthethirdrowslightlytotheleftofcenter. Photograph courtesyofLarryWestmoreland. Practical Information Here is some practical information on what you may find in some of the chaptersorvenues: Navigation Using GPS (Global Positioning System). When Selective Availability was discontinued by President Bill Clinton in the year 2000, high resolution GPS became available to the general public (20 meters). This has resultedintheproliferationofcommercialdedicatedGPSreceivers,nowroutinely used by travelers and hikers. Persons who visit Europe may generally use their pre-set dedicated GPS units in Europe -- either automobile or hand-held -- if they procure the European packages, available on the map shop of the pertinent website. Sometimes more convenient are apps on smart phones. Perhaps the most popular app is Google Maps, a system that was launched in 2005 and has progressed through several improvements. A traveler usually can immediately use this app in Europe (sometimes, one must formally activate the “European plan”tosavemoney). 4 In Science History: A Traveler’s Guide; Orna;
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