Session B2: History of Physics

Science and Politics in the Philosophy of Science of Popper, Polanyi, and Kuhn

The names of Karl Popper, Michael Polanyi, and Thomas Kuhn are well-known among scientists and among historians and philosophers of science. Around 1960 they published books that excited considerable discussion because of their independent rejection of the philosophical tradition that uses simple empiricism or positivism to differentiate science from religion, metaphysics, ideology, or pseudo-science. Popper's original field of expertise was scientific education and psychology. Polanyi had a distinguished career in physical chemistry and chemical physics, while Kuhn worked briefly in solid-state physics before turning to the philosophy of science. Their descriptions of scientific practices and values have roots not only in their scientific educations and experiences, but also in the political questions of their time. This paper focuses on political dimensions in the philosophical work of these three twentieth-century figures.   

A Bit More Sinuosity: John Herschel's Graphical Method

The word ``graph'' entered the English language only in 1878. Graphs themselves first appeared in the mid-eighteenth century and became common in the 1830s. The entire Scientific Revolution took place without graphs. Graphs received a boost in 1833 when John Herschel published a graphical method for determining the orbits of double stars. He argued that his method, which depended on human judgment rather than mathematical analysis, gave better results than did analytical methods, considering the uncertainty in the data. Herschel found that astronomy and terrestrial physics were especially suitable for graphical treatment and he expected that graphs would soon become important in all areas of science.   

The German Physical Society in the Third Reich: Local Conservatism between Co-optation and Autonomy.

During the National Socialism regime the German Physical Society (GPS), like many other German professional organizations, faced difficult choices along the spectrum of co-optation into the Nazi power structure and autonomy from the regime. This paper examines several examples of the Society's actions which shown an seeking to maintain traditional disciplinary standards while at the same time selectively cooperating with some of the regime's expectations. The successful riposte to ardent Nazi Johannes Stark's effort to become GPS chair in 1933 showed that the GPS was able to assert its traditional disciplinary authority structure even in the face of efforts to subsume the Society under the leadership principle favored by the Nazis. The Society's later election of industrial physicist Carl Ramsauer showed the GPS emphsizing the strategic (also military) importance of physics--and also willing to accommodate the regime's demand for the exclusion of non-Aryans. Finally, the choices behind the GPS's awarding of its presitigious Max Planck Medal in the late 1930's and early 40's show that both achievement in physics and political considerations--favoring scientists sympathetic to the regime, avoiding those antagonistic to it--were taken into account. Taken together, these examples demonstrate a kind of ``local conservativism'' that was at some times at odds with Nazi ideology but which nevertheless avoided open confrontation and indeed selectively cooperated with the regime's agenda.   

Plato's Ideas and the Theories of Modern Particle Physics: Amazing Parallels

It is generally known that the question, ``What are the most elementary particles that all matter is made from?'', was already posed in the antiquity. The Greek natural philosophers Leucippus and Democritus were the first to suggest that all matter was made from atoms. Therefore, most people perceive them as the ancient fathers of elementary particle physics. However, this perception is wrong. Modern particle physics is not just a simple atomism. The characteristic point of modern particle theory is that it is concerned with the symmetries underlying the particles we discover in experiment. More than 2000 years ago, a similar idea was already advanced by the Greek philosopher Plato in his dialogue Timaeus: Geometric symmetries generate the atoms from just a few even more elementary items. Plato's vision is amazingly close to the ideas of modern particle theory. This fact, which is unfortunately little known, has been pointed out repeatedly by Werner Heisenberg.   

The Role of Competition, Community, and Priority in the Discovery of the Tau Lepton

In this paper, I examine the interactions between the scientific communities of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in the discovery of the tau lepton by physicist Martin Perl between 1973-1977. Although the experiments responsible for the discovery of this new particle were part of a collaborative effort between SLAC and LBNL, Perl became known for his individual role in interpreting the data and was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his work in 1995. Drawing upon personal and professional papers from the SLAC Archives and History Office, the LBNL Archives and Records Office, and my discussions with the physicists involved in the discovery, I argue that the discovery of the tau lepton challenges many of the common generalizations regarding the practice of ``Big Science.'' Big Science has often been associated with a transformation in the life of the experimenter as individual autonomy was subsumed by a `factory' work style typified by teamwork on a massive scale. However, an examination of the discovery of the tau lepton reveals that physicists at SLAC worked in small research groups, enjoyed great scientific freedom, and maintained a direct and interactive role in shaping research. This study also illustrates how scientific ambition motivates decisions underlying priority and discovery, which is highlighted by Perl's rush to publicize his findings in order to establish priority.   

The Context, Significance, and Reception of Helmholtz's Physiological Acoustics

Helmholtz published an influential work in 1863, \textit{The Sensations of Tone}, that illustrates his deep interest in the intersection of physics and physiology. Much of his pre-1871 career is marked by questions overlapping both domains. His work on the conservation of energy in 1847 sprang in part from study of the energy transformations in the movement of frog muscles.~In the first half of the 1850s he moved forward to the measurement of nerve impulses, developed his own view of sense perception, and began a two-front inquiry into physiological acoustics and optics in the 1850s. In the work leading to the \textit{Sensations of Tone}, Helmholtz developed a number of distinct instruments to support his diverse acoustic experiments.~He collaborated with a Paris-based instrument maker, Rudolph Koenig, who became a significant contributor to experimental acoustics in the late nineteenth century.~ Koenig became one of the chief interpreters of Helmholtz's acoustics, incorporating some of Helmholtz's main ideas into new apparatus.~However, in developing his own instruments Koenig carried out a series of experiments that called into question Helmholtz's cherished hypotheses about tone quality and combination tones.~~~   

Einstein and the Quantum: The Secret Life of EPR

Locality, separation and entanglement -- 1930s style. Starting with Solvay 1927, we'll explore the background to the 1935 paper by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen: how it was composed, the actual argument and principles used, and how the paper was received by Schroedinger, and others. We'll also look at Bohr's response: the extent to which Bohr connects with what Einstein was after in EPR and the extent to which EPR marks a shift in Bohr's thinking about the quantum theory. ~Time permitting, we will contrast EPR with Bell's theorem.