5TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

Scientific cosmopolitanism and local cultures:

religions, ideologies, societies

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS
ATHENS, 1-3 NOVEMBER 2012

Edited by

Gianna Katsiampoura
Published by

Institute of Historical Research/National Hellenic Research Foundation

Logo designed by

Nefeli Papaioannou
ISBN 978-960-9538-13-8

Committees
International Programme Committee
Chair
Sona Strbanova
Vice-Chair
Efthymios Nicolaidis
Members
Fabio Bevilacqua, University of Pavia, Italy
Maria Teresa Borgato, University of Ferrara, Italy
Olivier Bruneau, Laboratoire d'Histoire des Sciences et de Philosophie LHSP - Archives Poincar,
France
Robert Fox, Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, United Kingdom
Hermann Hunger, University of Vienna, Austria
Helge Kragh, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Ladislav Kvasz, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
Maria-Rosa Massa-Esteve, Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya, Spain
Erwin Neuenschwander, (Universitt Zrich, Switzerland
Raffaele Pisano, Cirphles, cole Normale Suprieure, France/Research Centre for the Theory and
History of Science, Czech Republic
Maria Rentetzi, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Antoni Roca-Rosell, Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya, Spain
Felicitas Seebacher, Alpen-Adria-University of Klagenfurt, Austria
Milada Sekyrkov, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic
Ida Stamhuis, Vrije University, Netherlands
va Vmos, Hungarian Museum for Science and Technology

Local Organizing Committee

Efthymios Nicolaidis, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens
Constantine Skordoulis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Aristeides Baltas, National Technical University of Athens
Yanis Bitsakis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Efthymios P. Bokaris, University of Ioannina
Krystallia Halkia, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Gianna Katsiampoura, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens
Eugenia Koleza, University of Patras
Demitris Kolliopoulos, University of Patras
Evangellia Mavrikaki, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Kostas Nikolantonakis, University of Western Macedonia
Christine Phili, National Technical University of Athens
Maria Rentetzi, National Technical University of Athens
Fanny Seroglou, University of Thessaloniki
Vassilis Tselfes, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
George Vlahakis, Hellenic Open University, Patras

Conference Secretariat
Avgeri Danai
Bakou Ersi-Eleni
Balampekou Matina
Chrysochou Polina
Darmou Maria
Exarchakos Kostas
Kontotheodorou Kostas
Koumanzelis Kostas
Makrinos Kostas
Oikonomidou Fani
Skordoulis Dionysis
Skoufoglou Manos
Skoufoglou Nicholas
Tampakis Kostas
Vitsas Christos

Introduction
Welcome
to the 5th International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science
"Scientific cosmopolitanism and local cultures: religions, ideologies, societies"
Science as practice and culture has an international and ecumenical dimension. The Science of the
Ancient Greek world dissipated in the Roman Empire and later in the Islamic world and Medieval
Europe, the Science of the Islamic world was spread over Medieval Europe and Asia and in turn
European science all over the world. The diffusion of scientific ideas is associated with scholars
mobility. Scholars travel to teach, to learn or exchange ideas, often during periods when their
homelands are in war with those visited. Byzantine astronomers were found in caliphs courts and
Arab astronomers to Byzantine emperors courts during the Arab-Byzantium wars, Arab scientists
travelled all over the Iberian Peninsula during the Islam-Christian conflicts, Catholic and Protestant
scientists travelled all over Europe during the Religious Wars, French and British scientists maintained
contacts during the wars between France and Britain etc. From the birth of science and all over its
history, scientists in their majority seem to feel members of an international community. They seek
for interlocutors without consideration of nationality or religion beliefs.
This scientific cosmopolitanism often comes in conflict with local cultures. Greek science was
considered as a vector of paganism by certain Fathers of Christian Church, European science was
faced with suspicion in China, Japan or Eastern Europe. Traditional societies came often in conflict
with new scientific ideas, originating mainly from Europe. Despite its cosmopolitan character,
nationalism is not absent from science. Byzantine scholars felt proud to be the inheritors of Greek
science, Chinese astronomers promoted their methods as part of the tradition, German, French or
British scientists debated for the parentage of scientific discoveries.
The theme of the 5th International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science
aims to discuss all these topics from an interdisciplinary point of view. It is organized jointly by the
National Hellenic Research Foundation and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, two
prominent scientific institutions that fostered the development of History of Science in Greece in the
last decades.
The logo of the Conference represents the Antikythera mechanism, this almost mythical instrument
considered as the first computer in human history. During the Conference, an exhibition takes place
at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens about the Antikythera shipwreck and an important
section is devoted to the Mechanism.
It is our pleasure, in our capacity as local organizers of this important event, to welcome all the
participants in the city of Athens.
Just opposite the National Hellenic Research Foundation are the ruins of the Lyceum of Aristotle,
found some years ago by Greek Archaeologists. We wish you a nice and productive stay and many
cosmopolitan contacts!
On behalf of the LOC and all the colleagues who participated in the organization of the Conference,

Efthymios Nicolaidis and Constantine Skordoulis

Plenary lectures
The Reception of Darwin in Greece
Costas B. Krimbas, Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece

Cosmopolitan Education and Training of the Engineers in the 18th and 19th
centuries
Robert Halleux, Universit de Lige, Lige, Belgium
At the time of the Industrial Revolution, the term engineer covers a very mixed environment. Here
one finds ingenious workers skilled by practice as well as graduates of the top mining schools in
Central Europe, former military men trained at the "coles d'application" and - later - the polytechnic
institutes, as well as university engineers. This environment is cosmopolitan in its origin (both for
students and teachers) due to study trips, missions of espionage, and practical experiences at sites
scattered throughout the world. All who belong to it share a body of technological doctrine in which
innovation diffuses rapidly.

Einstein as a Cosmopolitan
Jurgen Renn, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany

Fifty Years since Kuhns Structure: Professionalization in a Period without

Tranquility
Fabio Bevilacqua, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
Born from Big Science and Two Cultures, History of Science today faces at least two main
challenges: the shrinking of the humanities and the expansion of the digital domain. Trying to escape
irrelevance implies adopting brave strategies: conservation of primary sources; greater interaction
between the fewer historians; stimulating the interest of scientific faculties; availability of open
access results to a wider public; commitment to international graduate studies programs and to preservice and in-service teacher training; developing cooperation and funding within the EU
frameworks. We can argue that European cultural identity is shaped by the history of science, but
our discipline can play an even more important role showing that science is a truly cosmopolitan
activity and that Chinese, Indian, Islamic cultures gave and give an enormous contribution to its
evolution. We can attempt to overcome quantification and Culture Wars with qualification and
cosmopolitanism.

SYMPOSIA

SYMPOSIUM 1

Ancient Astronomy
and its Later Reception
Organizers
Alena Hadravova, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
Alexander R. Jones, New York University, New York, USA
The Symposium will be devoted to the studies in the history of astronomy in ancient cultures,
especially in Greece and the whole Mediterranean region, as well as of the later development of the
ideas in medieval and early modern science.
The astronomy is commonly said to be the oldest science because it ever led mankind to search for
laws of nature and their quantitative formulation. Astronomy thus became a prototype of exact
sciences. Based on earlier Babylonian roots, astronomy was advanced a great deal in ancient Greece,
from where the first theoretical models of planetary system based on geometry are known. A
dissemination of these ideas in Arabic and Christian cultures and their boost from Renaissance
resulted in the development of contemporary science and technology. It is thus of general
importance for the history of science to study this development in time, to follow the spreading of
ideas to different cultures and to compare their mutual influences with the cultures of the societies.
These topics are to be subject of the proposed Symposium. The contributions will be based on
studies of both the preserved texts and artifacts. A traditional example of relevant problems are the
roots of Copernican revolution in the ancient planetary theories. Another related subject is the
development of astronomical instruments, e.g. the astrolabes dated back to Ptolemy's
Planisphaerium or the recently revived study of the Antikythera Mechanism and its analogies in
medieval astronomical clocks. Yet another example worth to deal with, is the development of Greek
textual tradition in treatises on astronomy, e.g. on stars and their influence on the globe-making.

The Rising Times of the Zodiac in Babylonian and Later Astronomy

John Steele, Brown University, USA
The rising times of the 30 degree stretches of the ecliptic defined by the signs of the zodiac provide a
method for calculating the length of daylight. Neugebauer (1953) has shown that rising arc schemes
underlie the calculation of the length of daylight in the Babylonian System A and System B lunar
theories. A separate group of Babylonian texts, studied by Schaumberger (1955) and Rochberg
(2002), describe another scheme for calculating the length of daylight using rising arcs whose
beginning and end are defined by the culmination of certain stars. In this paper I will discuss the
various rising arc schemes in Babylonian astronomy on the basis of new textual evidence from
currently unpublished cuneiform texts. Finally, I will discuss the legacy of these schemes for the rising
times in later astronomy.

The Antikythera Mechanism: the Structure of the Mounting of the Back Plates Pointer and
the Construction of the Spirals
Magdalini Anastasiou, J.H. Seiradakis, C.C. Carman, K. Efstathiou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
Thessaloniki, Greece
The Antikythera Mechanism, the ancient mechanical computer of unique technical sophistication,
dated to the 2nd century B.C., was housed in a wooden case and had dials at its front and back side
as well as lots of inscriptions covering its front and back sides and doors. Its back side displayed two
main spiral dials. Only the pointer of the upper dial has partially survived, with a few remains of the
mechanism that supported it and transferred to it the rotation of the main shaft. Using these
remains we have reconstructed the skilful mounting of the pointer. The reconstruction fits perfectly
the inscription at the back door of the Mechanism describing the pointer mechanism of the upper
dial. From the two back spirals, about one third of the upper dial is nowadays preserved on one
fragment (fragment B) while the lower dial is preserved in three fragments (fragments A, E and F),
forming about half of the initial lower spiral. Using these existing parts, the type of the spirals was
also investigated: were they constructed as Archimedean spirals or as Half Circle spirals?
Our results show that both spirals were Half Circle spirals, drawn from two different centres. The two
centres of the upper dial are the pointer centre and an upper centre while the two centres of the
lower dial are the pointer centre and a lower centre. The structure of the mounting of the back
plates pointer and the construction of the spirals amaze with the intelligence that they have been
constructed. The mechanics way of thinking and working is ingenious.

An Hipparchian Astronomical Papyrus : P. Fouad Inv 267A

Anne Tihon, Universit Catholique de Louvain, Louvain, Belgium
The Papyrus Fouad inv 267A discovered by Jean-Luc Fournet in the papyrological collection of the
IFAO (Cairo) is a document of exceptional interest for the history of ancient astronomy. It is a
fragment of a codex, written recto /verso. The text contains an example dated A.D. 130 Nov 8, at
Alexandria : it is thus directly contemporary with Ptolemys astronomical activity. It is a fragment of a
treatise, but more a matter of a draft or notes taken from an oral teaching rather than a finished
text, with some important errors such as a confusion between sidereal and tropical year. The
substance of the document concerns the Sun. The author begins by distinguishing the different years
for which he gives precise values : the sidereal year (365d + 1/102), the ordinary year of 365d ,
and the tropical year (365d - 1/309). The author then considers the precession of the equinoxes
and refers to a Syntaxis which is based of Hipparchus observations, especially an observation of the
Summer Solstice otherwise unknown, B.C. 158 June 26. The calculation of the Sun implies a model
with an eccentric and a correction, like in Ptolemys tables. The theory is followed by an example
taken A.D.130 Nov 8. The recto of the papyrus ends with tables of the three calculations. The verso
of the papyrus is much more damaged than the recto. It deals with the correction of seasonal hours
into equinoxial hours, the readjustment of the solar longitude for the corrected time and the
obliquity of the Sun. The document reveals a very sophisticated Syntaxis, made by an unknown
author and based on Hipparchus observations. We are now able to present the edition of the text
with a French translation and explanation.

Ptolemaic Eccentricity of the Superior Planets in the Medieval Islamic Period

Seyyed Mohammad Mozaffari, Research Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics of Maragha,
Maragha, Iran
The medieval astronomy remained within the framework of the planetary models and the
mathematical and astronomical methods established by Ptolemy in his Syntaxes.
9

The structural parameters defining the geocentric orbit (Deferent) of a planet are eccentricity and
the longitude of apogee. The Ptolemaic eccentricity of a planet is the sum of the two vectors: its
heliocentric eccentricity projected on Earths orbit and Earths eccentricity. Its value thus depends on
the two eccentricities, the inclination of planets orbit, and the angle between the apsidal lines of the
orbits of planet and Earth.
Since all the heliocentric quantities are changed with the passage of time, it is expected the new
values for Ptolemaic parameters would have been obtained around a millennia elapsing since his
day. The calculations show that from AD 1 to 1600 the geocentric eccentricity of Mars was changed
from 5.95 to 6.00, Jupiter, 2.70 to 2.87, and Saturn, 3.62 to 3.31 (Deferents Radius = 60).
From the medieval Islamic astronomy, only Muhy al-Dn al-Maghrib (Maragha 12601283) gave his
dated observations and measurements. He obtained the near to Ptolemaic values for the
eccentricities of Jupiter and Mars (2.75 and 6) and a new value for that of Saturn: 3.25. The other
results are: Ibn al-Alam (Baghdad d. 985): Sat: 3.04 Jup: 2.90. The Iranian astronomers working in
China (after 1270): Sat: 3.31 Jup: 2.66. Ibn al-Bann (Marrakech 12501320): Jup: 2.98. An
astronomer working in central Iran ~ mid-13th c. (a certain Abul-Hasan, Raz Zj, or a Muntakhab alDn, Muntakhab Zj, both of Yazd): Mars: 6.25 (also applied to Ulugh Begs Sultn Zj, 1450).
The most critical change during the millennia is the case with Saturn; thus, the values contemporarily
obtained by al-Maghrib and Iranian astronomers in China should be taken as the improvements over
Ptolemys. But, in the case of the two other planets (esp. for Mars whose eccentricity was not so
varied in this period), all new values are out of range and so adopting the Ptolemys ones remains a
better choice.

Jbir b. Afla on the Order of the Spheres

Jos Bellver, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
The aim of this paper is to describe Jbir b. Aflas most famous criticism of
Ptolemys Almagest present in his main work, the Il al-Majis. This criticism deals with the order
of the planetary spheres. Even though Jbir b. Aflas criticisms have attracted some interest in
recent scholarship, his main criticism for which he came to be known in later sources remains to be
studied in depth.
Jbir b. Afla was an Andalusian mathematician and astronomer, probably from Seville, known in the
Latin world as Geber. He was active during the first quarter of the 12th century. His most notable
work was the Il al-Majis orCorrection of the Almagest, in which he rewrote the Almagest to
simplify its mathematics and introduced some criticisms from a mathematical perspective. The Il
al-Majis was an astronomical handbook in circulation until the 18th century, above all in the Latin
world. It was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187) and published in 1534 by
Petrus Apianus (1495-1552), a copy of which was given by Rheticus to Copernicus, who annotated it.
Ptolemy considered the order of the spheres in the beginning of Book V of his Almagest. He also
considered it in hisPlanetary Hypotheses, although Jbir b. Afla seems to be unaware of this second
discussion.
Ptolemy pointed out that the most ancient authorities believed that the spheres of Mercury and
Venus were below the sphere of the Sun, while a group of later authorities believed that they were
above it, on the basis that no solar transits were observed. He supported the first group by adducing
that transits may never take place and added parallactic and physical arguments to his discussion.
Jbir b. Afla demonstrated that, according to Ptolemys models, in case the spheres of Mercury and
Venus were below the Sun, transits would take place. He also answered Ptolemys parallactic and
physical arguments. Therefore, Jbir b. Afla concluded that the spheres of Mercury and Venus were
actually above that of the Sun.
Jbir b. Aflas arguments were extensively quoted by later authors becoming a matter of discussion
up to Copernicus.
10

This paper is therefore devoted to discuss Jbir b. Aflas criticism of Ptolemy and to follow his
influence upon later astronomers.

On the Sphere of Anaximander

Radim Kocandrle, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic
Diogenes Laertius reported that Anaximander of Miletus had, also fashioned a sphere. Unfortunately,
the meaning of the term a sphere is not clear. Was the sphere a model or a drawing? We know that
Diogenes Laertius had anachronistically ascribed to Anaximander the concept of a spherical earth, so
the term can mean an earth globe. However, Anaximander conceived the earth as cylindrical and flat.
Another possibility is that a sphere is a celestial globe. Although this is disputable since the universe
of Anaximander was not probably spherical at all due to his notion that in the greatest distance from
the earth is the wheel of the sun. Was then the sphere an artificial model of the armillary sphere?
We know that Anaximanders conception of cosmology supposed a flat earth at the centre of the
concentric wheels of the celestial bodies the sun, moon and stars. It can be surmised that term
sphere is only due to an anachronism of later authors. Contrarily, the term sphere is used in the
description of cosmogony as a sort of sphere of flames around the air. In my talk, I will speak on the
slight possibility of Anaximander fashioning a three-dimensional model since it could lead to revision
in his conception of the universe. Mainly I will focus on the analogy between Anaximanders map of
the earth and the map of the universe which can be that sphere. I will also discuss some problematic
points in the Anaximanders conception of cosmology which can be solved by the supposition that
Anaximander made a map of the universe.

A Map for Aratus

Anna Santoni, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy
This paper aims to investigate the characters and the different versions of a type of celestial map
preserved in some of the manuscripts of the Greek and Latin Aratean tradition (mss. Vat. Gr. 1087;
Basil. AN IV 18; Harl. 647; Bern. 88; etc.); the map includes all the constellations of the Aratean sky
from the North Pole to the Tropic of Capricorn; it is easy to prove that it could be used as the
simplest iconographic support to the comprehension of the first part of the poem, since it allows
an overview of all the constellations introduced by Aratus in his description of the sky (Phaenomena,
vv. 26.454): the reader can move his finger on the map according to the instructions of the poet and
follow the path of his verses through the starried sky. Two versions of the map are preserved in our
manuscritps: the first one contains the archaic Zodiac with eleven figures, perfectly consistent with
the sky of Aratean-Eratosthenic times. The second version of the map, probably originated in the
context of the Latin tradition of Aratus, contains an up-dated version of the sky with the twelve
Zodiac figures, in consequence of the introduction of the Libra from the first century a.D. onwards (in
place of the Claws of the Scorpio). Despite the presence of other more detailed types of celestial
maps in these manuscripts, the permanence of the earliest kind can be considered a piece of
evidence of its value in the tradition of the Aratean text. The role of the illustrations in the Greek
poem will also be discussed in relation to the structure of the Phaenomena and in relation to the
influence of the Eratosthenic extracts.

11

Reflection of Ancient Greek Tradition in the 13th c. Premyslid Celestial Globe Saved in
Bernkastel-Kues
Alena Hadravova, Petr Hadrava, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
In 1444 Nicolaus Cusanus bought a collection of astronomical instruments and manuscripts
belonging formerly to Czech Kings from Premyslid and Luxembourg dynasties. One of the
instruments was a wooden celestial globe of about 27cm in diameter dated to the 2nd half of the
13th century, saved until now in Bernkastel-Kues (Germany). Letting aside several Arabic globes, the
Premyslid globe is, after the three preserved ancient globes (Atlas Farnese, Mainz-globe, Kugelglobe), the oldest one originating in the Christian Europe. All fourty eight Ptolemaic constellations are
marked on this globe with most of the stars from the Ptolemys Star catalogue. The relations
between the constellations and their parts as well as positions of the stars within them correspond
with the ancient textual tradition known from the works by Aratos, Pseudo-Eratosthenes and
Hyginus. Provenience of the globe is unknown (Prague or Germany are speculated in the literature).
The lack of an Arabic influence in the iconography of the globe sugests that it has not originated in
the Toledan court of Alfonso X the Wise. We assume that the globe is probably connected with the
Sicilian court and cultural centre of Friedrich II of Hohenstaufen, known by the direct continuation of
the ancient Greek tradition.

Mathematical Investigation of the Premyslid Celestial Globe Saved in Bernkastel-Kues

Petr Hadrava, Alena Hadravova, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
Regarding the uniqueness and importance of the Premyslid celestial globe and also the deteriorating
state of this fragile artifact, it deserves a careful investigation and documentation. For this purpose
we perform measurements of scanned photographs taken almost a century ago as well as of recent
digital photographs. Spherical coordinates of the marks of stars and of drawn lines are then fitted by
least-squares method. The Premyslid globe was constructed as the universal precession globe which
is described in the Ptolemys Almagest, i.e., in ecliptical coordinates. According the results of our
measurements, the positions of most of stars correspond with those given in Almagest with rootmean-square error of a few tenths of degree, i.e., within about one millimetre. It reveals that the
globe was not a mere decoration but remarkably precise instrument.

Almagest's Star Catalogue and First Celestial Maps

Giancarlo Truffa, Milan, Italy
The star catalogue contained in the Almagest has been the standard star catalogue for European
astronomers and astrologers from the Roman Empire until the end of XVI cen. when the Landgrave
of Hessen and Tycho Brahe made new observations of star positions and created new star
catalogues.
I will analyze the transmission of the Ancient star catalogue and the other star catalogues derived
from it between the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Based on these star catalogues, "scientific" celestial maps were created, the first dating from the end
of XIV century. I will examine some of these maps preserved in manuscripts, in engravings and on
one astronomical instrument.

12

An Arabic Ephemeris for the Year 1026/1027 CE. in the Vienna Papyrus Collection
Johannes Thomann, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
The Vienna Papyrus Collection (Papyrussammlung) forms part of the Austrian National Library
(sterreichsiche Nationalbibliothek) and is one of the largest collection of its kind. It is famous for
its 70000 Greek documents from Ancient Egypt. There is an even greater number of Arabic
documents, approximately 75'000. From these, less than 2000 pieces are published. In an ungoing
survey of Arabic astronomical documents in the Vienna Collection a number of datable texts were
discovered. Among them are horoscopes for the years 1007 (or 1210?), 1044 and 1058 (or 1117?)
CE.. Further, a fragment of an astrological almanach for the year 991 CE. was found. An ephemeris
for the year 931/932 CE has been edited in Kaplony, A. /Roemer, C. (ed.) , From Nubia to Syria
(forthcoming). Another ephemeris for the year 994/995 is in process to be published. During the last
research visit in 2011 a fragment of an ephemeris was found which derserves special attention (A.Ch.
25613). It contains the top left corner of the recto and top right corner of the verso of a leave. On the
recto the last three column headings are preserved. They are jawzahar ([ascending] lunar node)
and below al-aqrab (scorpion), al-irtif (rising [of the sun at midday]) and sat al-nahr (hours
of the day). In the last column the three first values for the day-lenght indicate to the month of
April. On the verso the names of the four calendars are frs (Persian), ynn (Greek), qif
(Coptic) and arab (Arabic). In a fifth columns the days of the week are indicated. Three lines of
the chronological columns are preserved. The best fitting year for these synchronies is 1026 CE. It is
corrborated by the position of the lunar nodethe. The recalculated value is SCO 28 for April 9, 1026
CE, the date corresponding to the first line of data on the recto.

From Oxyrhynchus to Nrnberg: Ancient and Modern Ephemerides

Alexander Jones, New York University, New York, USA
The term "ephemeris," often loosely applied now to any table of positions of heavenly bodies
computed for a series of dates, referred specifically at two widely separated periods to calendrically
structured tables of daily positions directed towards astrological predictions. The ephemerides
preserved in papyri from Greco-Roman Egypt from the late first century BC through the fifth century
AD show remarkable similarities to the printed European ephemerides of the fifteenth century and
after. If there was a historical connection linking these practices, what was it? Two possibilities
deserve consideration: a medieval Arabic tradition that has only recently come to light, and a set of
anonymous texts embedded in Byzantine astrological manuscripts.

The Doctrine of the 3rd, 7th and 40th day of the Moon in Ancient Astrology
Stephan Heilen, University of Osnabrck, Osnabrck, Germany
The doctrine of the importance of the third, seventh, and fourtieth day of the Moon after a persons
birh is attested in more than a dozen texts from the first century CE through the Byzantine period to
the Latin Middle Ages. We find it in Greek and Latin manuals of astrology such as those of Dorotheus
of Sidon, Antigonus of Nicaea, Vettius Valens, Firmicus Maternus, the astrologer of Emperor Zeno,
Rhetorius of Egypt, in the Liber Hermetis, Theophilus of Edessa, and Hugo of Santalla. In addition,
there are some references to it in orginal horoscopes found on papyri. The doctrine certainly goes
back to the early stage of Hellenistic astrology in Ptolemaic Egypt, probably to the pseudepigraphic
manual of Nechepsos and Petosiris (2nd c. BCE). The relevant sources have never been collected and
analyzed systematically. I plan to investigate the connection between this doctrine and the lunar
cycle, its debt to old number speculations and to Greek medical especially embryological
theories, and the astrological significance attached to it.
13

Tables, Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, and Medieval Latin Astrological Texts

Richard L. Kremer, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
The Latin translation of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos is extant in about 20 manuscripts, all of which present
the text in a prose format, divided into chapters, without any images or diagrams. Only at the end of
Book I do several tables appear, in which the "terms" of each zodiacal sign are presented in rows and
columns. These tables have twelve rows for the signs, and 6 columns, displaying the number of
degrees within the sign and the planet for each "term" of that sign.
As far as I know, Ptolemy was the first self-reflexive table-maker. In the Almagest, he presented
much material in a tabular writing format and at several points discussed in considerable detail how
and why he made the tables. He also introduced a Greek term (kanonion), used earlier to describe
rulers, small beams, rods, or a monochord, to depict the tabular format, a term that subsequently
would become widely used in Greek literature for "regularity, according to a rule."
In this paper, I want to think about the place of writing formats, especially tabular formats, in
medieval Latin astrological texts. Even though Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos is filled with information that
might, to our thinking, be more efficiently presented in tables rather than prose (e.g., properties of
planets), in that text Ptolemy used only one table. Yet by the time the twelfth-century translators
began bringing Greek and Arabic astrological texts into Latin, tables start appearing more frequently
in these materials. Why the shift from prose to tabular formats? What might have been gained (or
lost) in such shifts? Can other self-reflexive table makers be found among the astrological authors or
their scribes? On the basis of a survey of writing formats in some of the major Latin astrological texts
from the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries, I hope to draw some conclusions about the
epistemological consequences of pushing astrological content, especially from the Tetrabiblos, into
rows and columns.

Religion in the Cosmological Ideas in Ukraine (from XI to XVII century)

Oksana Yu. Koltachykhina, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
In Ukraine in the early XIth century, a great authority, and the spread had a Byzantine texts.
Ukrainian chronicles (beginning with the XI-XII) described the structure of the world. There were
several options: Christian topography by Cosmas Indicopleustes, Shestodnev by John the
Bulgarian, Chronicle by George Hamartolus. The astronomical interpretation of cosmological ideas,
a system of Ptolemy, was stated in Izbornyk treatise. Courses of philosophy which were read in
Ukraine in the first half of XVIII century were saturated with religious influence. Innocent Gizels
philosophy course The work of the whole philosophy taught at the Academy in the 1645-1647
includes knowledge about all directions of philosophy. Chronologically, this work was the first course
of philosophy, read at the Academy. Besides geocentric world system, Gizel I. studied the system of
Copernicus. It was the first mention of the name of M. Copernicus in Ukraine. Theophane
Prokopoviches work Physiophilosophy or physics defines the notion world. According to him, the
world is the structure that consists of heaven, earth and other elements that are located between
the heaven and earth. In other words, the world is the order and location of all that is saved God.
Prokopovich acquainted with all common theories about the universe of that time. At the beginning,
he taught the world system of Ptolemy. Then, he taught Copernicans system and the theory of
Tycho. Despite the fact that in his course Th. Prokopovich taught various systems of the world, he
believed that the world had been created by God. He mentioned that according to Holy Scripture,
the world did not exist forever, Heaven and Earth were originally created'. So, Ukrainian schools
gave students information about all existing at the time cosmological theories, but at the same time,
religion had a big impact.

14

The reception of ancient astronomy in the early histories of astronomy

Daniel Spelda, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic
Considering the fact that in the history of astronomy there is a missing entry a history of the history
of astronomy my contribution concerns the reception of ancient astronomy in the early histories of
astronomy which began to appear during the 18th century. In particular, I will focus on the way the
first historians of astronomy evaluated the historical importance of ancient astronomy. Some
questions arise: How did they imagine the origins of astronomy? How did they assess the
persuasiveness of ancient heliocentrism (e.g. Pythagoreans, Aristarchus)? Did they think that the
history of astronomy ran in cycles of success and decline, or did they assume the existence of
continual linear progress in astronomical knowledge? The answers of the early historians of
astronomy to these questions will be commented upon by looking to the philosophical,
anthropological, economical, and cultural ideals of the Enlightenment. My attention will focus
particularly on these works: Bailly Histoire de lastronomie ancienne (1781); C. G. F. (anonymous)
Geschichte der astronomie (1792); Cassini De loriginie et du progress de lastronomie (1699);
Costard The History of Astronomy (1764); Esteve Histoire de lastronomie (1755); Heilbronner
Historia matheseos (1741); Montucla Histoire des mathmatiques (1758); Weidler De ortu et
progressu astronomiae (1741).

15

SYMPOSIUM 2

Around Henri Poincars Centenary:

physics, mathematics and philosophy
Organizers
Christian Bracco, UMR Artmis, Universit de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, OCA, CNRS, Nice, France
(associate researcher in the team Histoire de lastronomie, Syrte, Observatoire de Paris)
Enrico Giannetto, Universit Degli Studi di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
Year 2012 will celebrate the centenary of the death of Henri Poincar (April 29th 1854 in Nancy, July
17th 1912 in Paris), who was one of the last great universal scientists. Not only Poincar has made
important contributions to mathematics, celestial mechanics and mathematical physics, but he was
also interested in philosophy, in diffusion of science and (less known) in science teaching.
If everyone agrees to praise Poincars works in the field of mathematics, the situation appears to be
more contrasted in the field of theoretical physics, due in part to an underestimation of the
conceptual role of mathematics in physics and to an abusive recourse to conventionalism so as to
specify his philosophy.
We propose to focus this symposium on Poincar's last works in physics (the dynamics of the
electron and the gravitation in 1905, and the quanta in 1911) on which he comes back, with a more
philosophical point of view, in Mathematics and Science: Last Essays (1913). Poincars late
contribution to the theory of quanta is not well known and his attitude towards relativity theory has
suffered from repeated misconceptions concerning, either the Palermo Memoir and its logic, or his
scientific popularizing texts which reproduce principally Lorentz approach with some additional
pedagogical remarks, bearing no relation with the Memoir. In this text, the role of the
electromagnetic conception of Nature needs to be clarified.
More generally, this symposium aims to associate an analysis of the contents of Poincar's
contributions to modern theoretical physics with a discussion of his scientific methodology,
emphasizing his aptitude to operate unexpected relations between e.g. precise mathematical results
or concepts and paradigmatic changes in physics.

Poincars 1905 Palermo Memoir: analysis of its logic and comparison with secondary texts
Christian Bracco, UMR Artmis, Universit de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, OCA, CNRS, Nice, France
(associate researcher in the team Histoire de lastronomie, Syrte, Observatoire de Paris)The analysis
of La dynamique de llectron (The Palermo Memoir, submitted 23th July 1905, published January
1906), has been renewed recently . Although Poincar starts from Lorentz electromagnetic
conception of matter, his approach, which is more intelligible through his letters of May 1905 to
Lorentz, is quite original and modern, although different from Einsteins one: introduction of active
Lorentz Transformations to account for the contraction of the electron (without any change of
reference frame); call for a group condition restricting to Mechanics (by elimination of dilatations)
the invariance properties of electromagnetism; emphasis of the role of action and its invariance to
derive the relativistic Lagrangian; discussion of electron models in order to get an existence theorem.
Due to the technical difficulty of the Memoir and for the sake of simplicity, many discussions on
Poincars point of view on relativity rely on his conferences for large audiences. Unfortunately, such
discussions may lead to misinterpretations because Poincar adopts there an historical Lorentzian
approach (without quoting his own contribution) and because he

16

usually concludes them by the necessity to keep Newtonian Mechanics (only in the perspective of
teaching). This talk aims to present the content and the logic of the Memoir and to compare it with
his secondary writings.

Principles of Physics in Poincars thinking: from history to philosophy of science

Isabel Maria Serra, Maria de Paz, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
In his paper The Principles of Mathematical Physics Poincar presented a historical overview of
physics, describing its evolution from the physics of central forces to the physics of principles.
Despite the crisis of physics in the late 19th Century, Poincar had great confidence that the
principles could be preserved. He based this confidence in the historical evolution of physics in
earlier centuries. It was precisely his knowledge of the history of physics which led him to hold some
philosophical positions, such as conventionalism.
However, Poincar was not the only philosopher-scientist to use the historical significance of the
physical principles to support a philosophical conception. That is the case of Mach, who in his critical
positivist insight, affirmed that Poincar was right in asserting that the mechanical principles are
conventions.
Taking into account the development of the history of science and its relevance for philosophy, we
aim to compare Machs and Poincars views in the light of the role played by the physical principles.
We also want to put forward how the use of the principles as a guide for theoretical research, led
Poincar to important discoveries in science, such as the new mechanics in which he reveals the
essential character of the relativity principle. As a result, our purpose is to show the success of his
historical-philosophical methodology. Finally, we will reveal that in the year of the centenary, his
ideas are still inspiring.

Poincars Space and Time Conference and his Attitude towards Relativity
Jean-Pierre Provost, University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Eze, France
The conference Space and Time (in Mathematics and Science: Last essays) held by Poincar at the
London university, May 4th 1912, two months before his death, is particularly interesting from the
point of view of the Maths-Physics relation because it illustrates the influence of the new theory of
relativity (to which he contributed in the 1906 Palermo Memoir) on his conception of geometry
(formulated for example in Science and Hypothesis). For the first time, Poincar makes in this
conference a comparison between geometry and Lorentz relativity. It leads him to modify his past
point of view on geometry, the invariance of physical laws with respect to Lorentz group replacing
now the role of Helmholtz solids for the definition of motions. Making a clear cut between what he
calls psychological relativity (possibility of simultaneous deformations of objects and instruments
known today as diffeomorphism invariance) and physical relativity (Lorentz one), he raises the
question of the true convention which lies behind the principle of relativity. For him, this convention
is the independence of local observers, a formulation which could be considered as insignificant (or
axiomatic), if one forgot that it is precisely this independence which will be abandoned in the future
gauge theories of interactions. These not well known positions of Poincar with respect to relativity
may also enlighten what could have been Poincars attitude towards Einsteins geometrical
formulation of relativistic gravitation.

17

Poincar and the Negative Results: an Attitude of Deconstruction

Thierry Paul, France
Twice at the two extremes of his life Poincar presented as negative two important results
concerning first celestial mechanics and then quantum theory. In the (well known) first case Poincar
let emerge the new paradigm of chaotic dynamical systems out of precise and tedious readings of
astronomys computations. In the (much less known) second one Poincar not only proves the
mathematical impossibility to obtain Plancks law of blackbody radiation from continuous energy
exchanges but also the necessity of Plancks hypothesis.
In both situations this aptitude of Poincar to associate paradigmatic changes in physics by a deep
technical analysis of failures of reasoning seems to be one of the original signatures of his scientific
methodology. The purpose of this talk will be to show how Poincars attitude with respect to
negative results, especially his deep analysis of writings of the formulae, can be truly seen as a
deconstruction of negative.

Scientific Generalization, Order and Compatibility between Disciplines in Poincars

Thinking
Anne-Franoise Schmid, Universit de Lyon, Lyon, France
The philosophy of Poincar is usually analyzed discipline by discipline and not in its systematicity. So
that it is difficult to understand exactly the limits of his conventionalism and its so called
"inductivism". It has sometimes been told that Poincars positions with respect to Newtons or
Einsteins mechanics were examples of his conventionalism (considered as a mark of his philosophy
of science). In fact, paradoxically, although a convention is out of the reach of experiment, it seems
that in Poincars mind a necessary condition for an assertion to become a convention is its
confirmation by experiment. The convention becomes the philosophical link between science and
reality. More generally, one might wonder whether Poincars attitude with respect to science
(pragmatism, structural realism, reticence to axiomatism, conventionalism, continuity of ideas in an
historical perspective) is part of a general philosophy. Poincar operates unexpected relations
between scientific disciplines: it is the heuristic side of what he calls "decomposition" between the
observed fact and the language chosen for its scientific generalization. Rather than a philosophy
looking for classical criteria of scientificity, the posture of Poincar is the one of a thought which
looks for compatibilities between different disciplinary languages (for example mechanics and
algebra), on the condition of respecting an order between them. This talk aims to present the
Poincars criterion of scientific generalization and his thinking about the value of science.

Poincar's Relativistic Dynamics and the Electromagnetic Conception of Nature

Enrico Giannetto, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
The revolution in xxth century physics, induced by relativity theories, had its roots within the
electromagnetic conception of Nature, yielding that light (electromagnetic field) is the only physical
reality. It was developed especially by Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853-1928), Joseph Larmor (18571942), Wilhelm Wien (1864-1928), Max Abraham (1875-1922) and Henry Poincar (1854-1912),
through a tradition related to Bruno and Leibniz physics, to the German Naturphilosophie and English
xixth physics.
Electromagnetic conception of Nature was in some way completely realised by relativistic dynamics

18

of Poincar on 1905, even if Poincar said relativistic dynamics could be indipendently true.
Einstein, on the contrary, since 1907 linked relativistic dynamics to a mechanistic conception of
Nature. Here, a comparison between these two conceptions is proposed to understand the
conceptual foundations of special relativity within the context of the changing world views. A short
look to Poincars electromagnetic quantum relativistic mechanics is presented.

19

SYMPOSIUM 3

Byzantine and post-Byzantine Alchemy:

Principles, Influences and Effects
Organizers
Gianna Katsiampoura, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece
Jennifer Rampling, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
Rmi Franckowiak, Universit des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, Lille, France
Historical research has traced the first written documents of alchemy back in the 3rd century AD.
From the 1st to the 4th centuries, alchemical practice develops itself into an art of metallic
transmutation and two distinct alchemical schools seem to emerge: the one, represented by
Ostanes, is still based on the practical knowledge of craftsmen, blacksmiths and dyers, although a
shift is being accomplished from chrysosis (giving to a base metal the appearance of gold) to
chrysopoeia (transforming a base metal to gold); the other, represented by Zosimos and Maria the
Jewess, assumes a religious, Gnostic orientation, putting the emphasis on the elaboration of
distillation techniques. The period of Byzantium is a turning point, not only because there are many
commentators of the ancient alchemical texts, but for the attempt, during the 10th century, to
collect these texts and to articulate them in a coherent corpus, the surviving manuscript copies of
which comprising, to our days, the main evidence for the emergence and the historical development
of Greek alchemy.
During the last decades, historians have shown that from the Renaissance onwards a field of
knowledge concerning chemical phenomena begun to crystallize itself and to be differentiated from
traditional chrysopoeia, in the sense that it implies more an experimental research of how physical
bodies are composed or decomposed than a quest for the proper process of metallic transmutation.
We may denote this field of knowledge by the term Chymistry.
Key role in the articulation of chymistry played a kind of occultism which has developed at the end of
the 15th century in Florence by Marsiglio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. What we may call
Renaissance Occultism is the outcome of piecing together the fragments of many different ancient
and medieval traditions. The whole construction, though, is a consistent one, aiming at the
knowledge of nature in terms of becoming, and thus at the unfolding of the occult life of God, who
permeates nature and is regarded as an emanative cause, tending, more and more, to be an
immanent cause. Chymistry seems to emerge when this occultism gives an epistemic horizon to the
late medieval, and especially Geberian, alchemy, in a way that henceforth the empirical knowledge
of substances properties and natural principles has to be developed into the theoretical
knowledge of material transformations.
In this context, we will try to explore in this symposium the relationship between Greek, Byzantine
and post Byzantine alchemy, as well the transformation of alchemical principles from Eastern to
Western Europe.

Les traits techniques du corpus des alchimistes grecs

Robert Halleux, Universit de Lige, Lige, Belgium
Dans sa collection des Anciens Alchimistes Grecs, Marcellin Berthelot a regroup sous le nom de
traits techniques un ensemble htrogne qui rassemble des fragments dauteurs connus (Zosime),
des recueils de recettes anonymes et des traits darts et mtiers. Une analyse codicologique des

20

manuscrits M (Marcianus Graecus 299), B (Parisinus Graecus 2325) et A (Parisinus Graecus 2327)
permet de dfinir exactement le contenu du corpus et den dater les lments qui schelonnent du
IVe sicle au XVe sicle et refltent lvolution de la technique byzantine.

Which Kind of Alchemy is Handed down by the ms. 67 of the Aghios Stephanos Monastery
of the Meteors?
Matteo Martelli, Humboldt Universitt zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
This paper would like to focus on a recently discovered alchemical manuscript, copied down in the
1503/504 and kept in the library of the Saint Stephen Monastery (Meteors), which has been not yet
either fully described or taken into account in the recent studies concerning Greek and Byzantine
alchemy. I would like to present a general introduction to its content, by focus my attention on the
possible criteria used by the complier for selecting specific passages or specific texts from the
precedent alchemical tradition. Particular attention will be paid to an interesting recipe book (ff. 180202), for which the codex is one of the most important testimonies.

John Kanaboutzes Commentary on Dionysios of Halicarnassus: A Perception of Alchemy in

a late Byzantine Text
Sandy Sakorrafou, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece
Gerasimos Merianos, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece
The so-called Alchemical Corpus does not exhaust the references on alchemy in Byzantine
literature. Other texts of various literary genres designate Byzantines familiarity with what they
considered to be an art. In this paper we study John Kanaboutzes reference on alchemy in his
commentary on Dionysios of Halicarnassus. He wrote the commentary in the first half of the 15th c.,
and dedicated it to Palamede Gattilusio, the Genoese lord of Ainos and Samothrace. Kanaboutzes
owned, among other, a manuscript containing the Testament of Solomon. Thus, his interest in
alchemy was probably a manifestation in occult knowledge. Whether he practiced it or not is
unknown.
Kanaboutzes defines alchemy as (art of chymia). By the term (or any of its
different spellings) Byzantines ascribed to what we call alchemy a certain philosophical and practical
system. As his commentary is addressed to a Latin ruler, he shows interest in clarifying the etymology
of the Latin-derived term (archymia), which is analyzed into arte and chymia.
Accordingly, he defines the subject matter of the alchemical study in practical terms of the
dissolution of metals.
Throughout the passage in question he repeats that is a mystical, secret and sacred art. A
notion that probably reflects the belief that alchemy has a ritual and occult character, identified with
the subjection of supernatural forces in controlling nature, a knowledge which cannot be accessed by
anyone. Yet, as the key-concept that penetrates the commentarys prooimion is , the relation
of with the theoretical natural philosophy is revealed. Probably this judgement echoes the
Byzantines attempt to connect alchemy with Greek philosophy, or the Latin approach, which
considers alchemy as a science among others in the hierarchical structure of natural knowledge. For
Kanaboutzes, the emphasis is given to the primary object of alchemical study, the transmutation of
metals and minerals, which occurs with the aid of the lapis philosophorum. It is this knowledge of
transmutation, often received as a result of divine inspiration, which places alchemy as a part of
natural philosophy. It is noteworthy that the use of Latin terms is most likely related to Kanaboutzes
dedication to Gattilusio, but still implies Western influence on Byzantine scholars at that time.

21

Ex Oriente Ignis: Incendiary Weapons Technology between Byzantium and Islam

Christos G. Makrypoulias, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
Of all the weapons in Byzantiums arsenal, Greek Fire is perhaps the best-known. Its appearance at
the end of the seventh century is thought to have saved the empire from the Arab onslaught and its
composition was regarded as a state secret not to be divulged to barbarians. The aim of this paper
is to put the myth of the Greek Fire in its proper perspective, shifting through the various
references in the sources in order to give an accurate picture of the incendiary weapons used by both
Byzantines and Arabs, as well as of the scientific knowledge that was necessary to produce this level
of military technology.

Athanasius Rhetor: a Greek in Paris, a Priest in Alchemy

Remi Franckowiak, Universit des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, Lille, France
Athanasius Rhetor, born in Cyprus in 1571 and died in Paris in March 1663 was certainly a particular
and obscure personage among those who contributed to the intellectual life of the French capital in
the second third of the seventeenth century. Greek priest of the Church of Constantinople who
attended a Jesuit school before owing allegiance to the pope, settled by his love of learning in
Rome in the 1610s, then in Paris in the 1620s Athanasius became the protg of the French
Chancellor Sguier. He contributed to the development of his library (and of the Mazarins one too)
by spending 10 years in acquiring hundreds of manuscripts in Mount Athos, Meteora, Constantinople
and Cyprus, and by selecting manuscripts to be copied from the French royal library. He had an
extensive knowledge of Greek philosophical and patristic literature, and published a series of
philosophical works, one of which was against Campanella. He wrote other texts remained
unpublished and based on Aristotles, Platos and especially Neo-Platonism inspired writings. Sguier
appropriated Athanasius manuscripts and papers left behind at his death (remnants of his library
went to the library of the Abbey of Sainte Genevive). Among these papers there were alchemical
papers.
It is certain that Athanasius writings have not received the interest which they deserve from the
researchers, and they still remain quite ignored. But it is equally certain that his alchemical papers
have never been studied nor even really read. These papers, most of them in Greek, represent a
completely striking account, even unique, about a man whose classical and religious culture did not
exclude an unquestionable interest for the alchemical subjects. We discover here a man who was
being trained in a Western and Paracelsian alchemy particularly from Italian and French handwritten
sources, who was encountering difficulties to translate in Greek some terms of substances and
processes and was reluctant to take up a certain alchemical editorial style, who was carrying out
operations of transmutation, who was in touch with Capuchins chemists, and who wrote down even
a few Levantine alchemical receipts.

Cosmopoiesis as a Chymical Process: Jean d'Espagnet's Enchiridion Physicae Restitutae and

its Translation in Greek by Anastasios Papavassilopoulos
Vangelis Koutalis, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece
The anonymous work Enchiridion Physicae Restitutae was first published in 1623 (according to some
sources, there may have been an edition of 1608, but no copies of it are preserved). Its authorship is
attributed to Jean dEspagnet (1564-1637), president of the parliament of Bordeaux, whom Pierre

22

Bayle, in his Dictionnaire historique et critique, calls one of the 17th century savants (Rotterdam
1695, p. 1095; 3rd edition, Rotterdam 1715, Vol. 2, pp. 1117-1118). It is a book exemplifying a strong
conjunction between occult or Neoplatonist philosophy and empirical knowledge: natural
phenomena are explained by recourse to the agency of certain primary chemical substances, while
the order of nature is represented as following the pattern of Gods emanation, and Hermes
Trismegistus, as well as the Scriptures, are considered as equally, if not more reliable authorities than
Aristotle or Plato, in decoding the secrets of nature. Charting a middle course between David
Gorlaeus atomism and van Helmonts chemical philosophy (according to the analysis of Lasswitz,
Geschichte der Atomistik vom Mittelalter bis Newton, Hamburg, 1890, Vol. I, pp. 335-339),
Espagnets restored physics is highly indicative of the way Renaissance occult philosophy (as
developed by Mirandola, Ficino, and Agrippa) was utilised, during the 17th century, both as a
theoretical background and as an epistemic horizon for the transformation of early modern alchemy
into a new kind of philosophy, a renovated philosophy on nature. As an index of its influential role in
the articulation of such a new philosophy, we will examine its manuscript translation into Greek by
Anastasios Papavassilopoulos (middle of the 17th c. middle of the 18th c.), surviving in three
copies, and dated 1701. This translation, which had been already preceded by translations into
French, English, and German, was also the first, as far as we can tell, compendium of modern, nonAristotelian natural philosophy rendered available in Ottoman Christian communities.

Chemical Medicine in 16th and 17th c. Europe: Remarks on Local, Religious and Ideological
Connections
Georgios Papadopoulos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Although the roots of chemical medicine could be traced back to the alchemy of the Middle Ages, its
expansion during the 16th and 17th centuries was based to a great extent on the writings of
Paracelsus. During this time its exponents formed a quite separated group that seemed to have
connections to Protestantism although Paracelsus was never committed to the Reformation and
e.g. Van Helmont remained a catholic until the end of his life. Although chemical medicine spread
quickly over many European countries (France, England, Denmark etc.), a great deal of related
activities seem to have been connected to German-speaking countries as documented e.g. by the
appearance of publications or by the fact that the first chair for chemical medicine was established in
a German university. On the other hand, it should be taken into account that a, so to say, hard core
of exponents of chemical medicine (in which one should include Paracelsus, Van Helmont etc.)
formed, by its own right, a separate group in view of their ideological (better: world view)
background. This had possibly to do, to a certain extent, with their alchemical (or hermetic) roots or,
in other words, with esoteric aspects of religious ideas; in this respect it is interesting to consider
more closely the connection of their ideas with those of such personalities as Jacob Boehme. On the
other hand many religious people not sharing these ideas were in fact their opponents. These
conflicts and their ideological basis seem to have significant consequences for the further
development this scientific domain. The paper aims to discuss the roles played by the mentioned
connections and relationships and by their interactions on the development of chemical medicine in
16th and 17th centuries Europe.

Byzantine and post-Byzantine Alchemy: a Research Project in Progress

Gianna Katsiampoura, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece
In this presentation we report on recent progress and future work of a research program mainly
concerned with the development of a digital archive of the works of and about alchemy in Byzantium
and in the Greek-speaking communities of the Ottoman Empire and its educational as well as its
cultural utilization. This project aims to address a significant gap in the current historiography of
23

sciences, by exploring and carefully mapping a vast unknown territory: that of Byzantine and postByzantine alchemy. The principal objective of the project is to reconstruct the history of alchemy in
the Medieval and Early Modern Greek-speaking world, through the creation of a comprehensive,
open access, digitized, and searchable archive of texts relevant to alchemy, written in Medieval or
Modern Greek, from the period of Byzantium to the 18th century. More specifically the project aims
to:
a) Identify, collect, digitize, and classify all surviving manuscript primary sources relevant to the study
of alchemy during the periods of Byzantium and of the Ottoman Empire.
b) Identify, collect, digitize and classify the printed primary sources that are found to be relevant to
alchemy. Thus, texts or passages extracted from texts, whose content is alchemical or at least refer
explicitly or implicitly to alchemical practices, will be articulated in a coherent corpus of texts, so as
the penetration of alchemical knowledge in different disciplines or arts to be illustrated.
c) Collecting and classifying the secondary bibliography.
d) Create biographical entries for every identifiable author, so as to map the actors of the history of
alchemy, their roles in this history and the subjective positions pertaining to these roles.
e) Evaluate, on the basis of the collected primary sources, the modifications or even transformations
which Byzantine alchemical tradition has undergone through the passage of time, and to ascertain its
relations with Hellenistic, Arabic, or (after the 10th century) Latin alchemy.
f) Determine what twists in the development of alchemy have taken place after its introduction in
the cultural context of Greek-speaking communities under Ottoman domination, from the 15th to
the 18th century.
Additional objectives of our project are the following:
i) The enrichment of the history of Byzantium, drawing lines of connection between the
historiography
of Byzantine alchemy and that of the natural sciences in South-Eastern Europe.
ii) The production of a historical material that is both profitable in terms of educational applications
and suitable for activities tending to promote public awareness of the different temporalities that
having been merged in the history of science and render the written monuments of this history
tokens of a common cultural legacy.
The project is under the patronage of the International Academy of History of Science.

24

SYMPOSIUM 4

Cartesian Physics and its Reception:

between Local and Universal
Organizers
Delphine Bellis, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Mihnea Dobre, University of Bucharest, Bucarest, Romania
In our symposium, we would like to address one of the most important receptions of a system of
natural philosophy in the seventeenth century. Namely, we shall focus on how Descartes physics has
been commented and developed in a number of places, including France, Switzerland, the Low
Countries, and England. The various ways in which Descartes philosophy influenced the
seventeenth-century thought can hardly be overestimated. However, most of the studies on the
reception of Cartesian philosophy in the second half of the seventeenth century focus on Descartes
metaphysics. Our symposium aims at providing a fresh perspective on the reception of Cartesian
physics and its development against various backgrounds throughout Europe.
After Descartes death, new followers of his philosophy began to print their own thoughts;
contributing to something that Dennis Des Chene notoriously called Cartesiomania. Yet, general
Cartesian ideas became fertile in particular contexts which clearly influenced the way Descartes
physics was understood, discussed, adopted, and modified, some of its dimensions being
highlightened and some others being left in the shadow. Our team will explore several physically
oriented Cartesians in an attempt to discern the influence of particular philosophical, political,
institutional, and religious ideas upon the evolution of the new physics.
For many of Descartes own contemporaries, his physics was considered as built upon the atomist
theory. Alexandra Torero-Ibad will expose the various contextual reasons for this reception of
Cartesian physics as atomism. Ren Sigrist will discuss the context of Calvinist Geneva, where
Cartesian physics came to be adopted in its Acadmie. The diffusion of Cartesian physics in England
through Rohaults Trait de physique and its association with Newtonianism will be presented by
Mihnea Dobre. However puzzling this association may seem, it will be better understood if other
earlier episodes are taken into account. For this, our symposium will discuss two other important
contexts: Leibnizs early critique of Cartesianism (by Epaminondas Vampoulis) and Regius inner
development of a more empirical approach to natural philosophy (by Delphine Bellis).

Descartes' Laws of Motion and Rules of Impact

Ricardo Lopes Coelho, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
The foundations of Descartes theory of motion consist of the law of conservation of the quantity of
motion, three laws of nature and seven rules of impact (1644). As usually presented in the history of
science, the first two laws form together the law of inertia and the third one is wrong. Only one of
the seven rules of impact is correct. Due to this, Descartes has been criticised for decades by
historians of science and philosophers as well (Tannery 1926, Dubarle 1937, Dugas 1954, Blackwell
1966, Costabel 1967, Hbner 1976, Szab 1977, Clarke 1979, Gabbey 1980, Jammer 1990, Garber
1992, among others). Moreover, the connection between the laws of motion and the rules of impact
is a standard question of the literature (Garber 1992).
The equations for the rules of impact (Coelho 2005) show, however, that Descartes theory of impact
is mathematically coherent. Furthermore, this enables us to understand the role of the laws of

25

motion in founding the rules of impact. Understanding the laws in this way, it follows that the two
first laws of motion do not form together the law of inertia. Nevertheless, they play a role within
Descartes theory of motion, which is analogous to that which is played by Newtons first law in
classical mechanics or Hertzs fundamental law in his mechanics (Coelho 2010).
The link between the laws of motion and the rules of impact, based on the equations referred to, as
well as the interpretation of the first two laws will be presented in this paper. The main topics of the
criticism of Descartes physics will be addressed.

Spinoza and Cartesian Physics

Filip Adolf Buyse, CHSPM, Universit Paris 1 - Panthon / Sorbonne, Paris, France
Spinoza (1632-1677) was not a physicist in the strict sense of the word. There is no doubt, however,
that he was very interested in Cartesian physics, especially during the early 1660s. Moreover,
according to a letter of C. Bontekoe, the Dutch philosopher tutored several students of the University
of Leyden in Cartesian physics during that period. Spinozas interest in physics is very relevant for his
philosophy and its development, but is underestimated in the secondary literature.
It is well known that Spinoza wrote an interpretation of Descartes Principia: the Principles of
Cartesian Philosophy (PPC). The PPC had started with an interpretation of the second part of
Descartes Principia the part Descartes often called ma physique. We will demonstrate via several
examples that Spinozas text differs from Descartes, albeit in ways that are not obvious.
Furthermore, we will show also that Spinoza applies the Cartesian physics in a much more radical
way than does Descartes (1596-1650) himself.
Spinoza dealt with physics again in the second part of his main work, the Ethics, in the so-called Short
Treatise on Physics. We will examine this treatise in comparison with the PPC. As we will see, the
physics in The Ethics is different and less Cartesian than the physics in the PPC. There is thus an
evolution in Spinozas physics. We will concentrate on the principle of inertia to illustrate this.
Furthermore, we will argue that Spinoza very probably changed his physics under the influence of
Hobbes De Corpore, which had been published in Amsterdam by Joannem Blaeu between the
publication of the PPC and the redaction of the Ethics.

Leibniz and Descartes' Physics

Epaminondas Vampoulis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Studying Leibnizs attitude towards Descartes physics means having to deal with a complicated issue.
This is so mainly because this relation is a relation between two different kinds of thought. What
makes things even more complicated is the fact that Leibnizs relation with Cartesian physics is
closely related to the evolution of his own philosophy.
One can quite easily trace back the steps of Leibnizs initiation to Descartes physics by following his
correspondence. Additionally, any researcher of our times who wants to examine this issue in every
detail is in possession of sources which are even more precious from the point of view of their
content, sources revealing Leibnizs thoughts concerning the principles of Descartes physics: we
have Leibnizs own remarks on Cartesian texts of great importance. Thus, we are in possession of two
sets of remarks on Descartes Principia Philosophiae, remarks written during two different periods of
Leibnizs career. While examining these remarks one can approach Leibnizs critique of Descartes
through the lens of a comparative study which will reveal the points on which Leibnizs critique
focuses as his thought evolves.
In this paper we will try to shed some light on Leibnizs positions concerning the major issues
developed in Descartes texts on natural philosophy. These issues include the problem of the nature
of matter and the reduction of matter to extension; the problem of the definition of force; the
problem of the laws of collision between bodies; the problem of the limits of mechanical philosophy.
26

Concerning all these issues the principles Leibniz chooses as a starting point for his thought are very
different from those proposed by Descartes. But at the same time his writings are in a constant
dialogue with Descartes natural philosophy and the basic premises underlying Cartesian physics. This
dialogue serves, in fact, as the ground upon which Leibniz has built his own physics.

The Reception of Descartes Physics as an Atomism in 17th century Natural Philosophy

Alexandra Torero-Ibad, Paris, France
Descartes strongly opposes atomism, and especially the indivisibility of atom and the existence of
void. However, his philosophy has been compared to atomism by some of his contemporaries, not
only in the 1630s, but throughout the 17th century. Indeed, such assimilation comes from distortions
and misinterpretations. It can also be explained by the controversial nature of some of these
readings whether this comparison being malevolent or benevolent. However, such a reception has
something to tell us about Cartesian natural philosophy. Without forcing Descartes into an atomist, it
leads us to pay attention to some actual common points. Beyond, and in the very transformations
and distortions, it can offer new keys to enter Descartes system itself. The posterior attempts to
bring closer Descartes and atomists, such as Cordemoys and Boyles, can also bring to light some
possibilities offered by the system, as well as some major internal tensions.
Putting aside the assimilation of Descartes to atomism which belongs to religious controversies, I will
focus on the philosophical reception. I will consider both the interpretations of Descartes as an
atomist, and the uses of Descartes physics in an atomistic perspective. Beyond the question of the
truth and the falsity of these interpretations, I will pay attention to the mechanisms of
displacements, cuttings and reorganizations. Besides, I will try to study these receptions in the
perspective of an interrogation on Descartes physics itself: what is at stake is to understand how the
contrasted relation of Descartes physics to atomism (with consideration to both what opposes them
and what brings them together) could be constituent of its elaboration and of its own legacy.

The Role of the Dutch Context in the Function Ascribed to Experience in Cartesian Natural
Philosophy (the case of Regius)
Delphine Bellis, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Regius was one of the first followers of Descartes and was mainly interested in natural philosophy
and physiology. Nevertheless, the collaboration between the Dutch and the French philosophers
ended up in 1646 when Regius decided to publish his Fundamenta physices. In the Conversation with
Burman, Descartes reproaches Regius with his unwillingness to provide a demonstration of the way
the organisation of the cosmos can be deduced from the first principles of physics (that is essentially
extension and movement), contrary to what Descartes attempts to do in the third part of his
Principia philosophiae. According to Descartes, this theoretical attitude is linked to Regius rejection
of any metaphysical commitment. But this difference in the attitude of both philosophers also
originates from a different understanding of experience. To a certain extent, Descartes does not fully
understand the contextual reasons, political, academic, and above all religious, that play a role in
Regius approach to natural philosophy. These have specific consequences on the function ascribed
to experience for the constitution of natural philosophy. Indeed Orthodox Calvinists such as Voetius,
while downplaying to a certain extent the power of reason, insist on the use of the senses in the
constitution of knowledge as a way to counter some dissident reformed (sometimes seen as
enthusiast) movements. They particularly stress the empiricist elements in Aristotles theories. The
senses are therefore a source of knowledge, but also a way to control the validity of any theoretical
statement. Whereas for Descartes, experience has no value independently from the possibility to be
linked to all the phenomenal aspects of the world through a series of demonstrations, Regius
elaborates an empiricist psychology and epistemology and considers experience as a source of
27

factual information on nature. For Regius, nature is a set of facts which can be considered
independently and accounted for from mechanical principles. My aim will therefore consist in tracing
empiricist elements in Regius natural philosophy back to the specific context that can account, at
least in part, for them.

Aboa Aristotelico non-Cartesiana. Cartesian Physics and Strategies of Stability in the

17th-century Sweden
Maija Kallinen, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Ren Descartes died at the court of Queen Christina in Stockholm in February 1650. His philosophy
did not, however, land to Swedish seats of learning through his actual presence. Cartesian philosophy
was imported to the flagship of Swedish universities, the University of Uppsala, by medics such as
Olof Rudbeck in the 1660s. Disputes on the validity of Cartesian principles and the right to teach
non-Aristotelian views were conducted in Uppsala in the 1660s and especially in the 1680s.
Whether the teaching of Cartesianism should be allowed was not debated within the walls of the
academia only, but the matter escalated into a power struggle between Faculties at the University of
Uppsala, the Church of Sweden, and the estates convening at the Diet and no lesser authority was
required to settle the dispute but the King of Sweden in 1689.
On the other side of the Bothnic Gulf, at the University of bo (Turku in Finnish), such blatant
disputes were carefully avoided. This was not due to ignorance of Cartesian philosophy, for
theologians from bo were in fact active in discussing Cartesianism at the Diet in Stockholm.
Moreover, Cartesianism was very thoroughly and cleverly attacked in a dissertation published in bo
in 1661, about a year before any disputes began in Uppsala. My paper discusses the strategies of
stability used by bo scholars to maintain their Aristotelianism intact from Cartesian or any other
infection. Despite outspoken hostility towards novelties, I will show how bits and pieces of
Cartesian physics were nevertheless introduced at bo, and integrated into the otherwise overtly
Aristotelian natural philosophy. My paper discusses the question how and why it was possible, in an
intellectual culture otherwise hostile to Cartesianism, to favor Cartesian physical theories without
causing any argument about it.

Mixing Cartesianism and Newtonianism: the Reception of Cartesian Physics in England

Mihnea Dobre, University of Bucharest, Bucarest, Romania
In 1671, Jacques Rohault published his Trait de physique, a textbook on physics relying on his
weekly conferences held in Paris. A good mathematician and at the same time a curious
experimenter, Rohault was one of the main Cartesian figures of his time. His natural philosophy was
quickly disseminated through translations of his book. The first was issued in Geneva, in 1674, when
Thophile Bonet made a Latin translation, which was later used in various European universities,
including Louvain, Leiden, and Cambridge. The importance of disseminating Cartesian ideas reveals
important themes in the history of science and Bonets translation pictures an important lineage
between Cartesian and Newtonian ideas. This Latin edition was used in England up to the end of the
century and some of the first-generation Newtonians were learning physics from it. Not only that
Rohaults physics has become an important textbook in Cambridge, but also, in 1697, a fresh
translation was made by the celebrated Newtonian, Samuel Clarke. What is of great historical
interest in Clarkes new translation is that he commented the text, making a mixture of Newtonian
and Cartesian ideas. This edition was published a number of times in both Latin and English
surviving up to the 1730s despite the increased Newtonian context.
In my paper, I shall explore this puzzling fusion of Cartesianism and Newtonianism. A particular
attention will be devoted to Rohaults experimental approach of some problems and to how Clarke
commented on them. The experimental culture of the Royal Society will play an important role for
28

this reception, as I shall argue in the case of some experiments; for instance, the ones with airpumps, which, at that time, were very fashionable on both England and the continent.

Cartesianism in a Calvinist Context: Geneva (1670-1720)

Ren Sigrist, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Because of the orthodox character of the 17th century Calvinism in Geneva, the teaching of Cartesian
philosophy was not introduced in the local Acadmie before 1669. Yet, given the strong connexions
between theology and natural philosophy within this institution since the time of Thodore de Bze
(1519-1605), Cartesianism had to fulfil the role devoted so far to Aristotelian scholasticism: that of
providing a physical worldview compatible with the word of the Bible. Jean-Robert Chouet (16421731), the first Cartesian professor of philosophy at the Acadmie, had therefore to remain careful
about the potential implications of his teaching for Calvinist theology. Yet, his defence of the libertas
philosophandi took the form of weekly public lectures where current physical topics were examined
through the means of experimentation. In academic teaching as well, a growing number of Cartesian
explanations and principles had to be abandoned in favour of physical concepts borrowed from
Leibniz, or later from Newton.
After 1686, the crisis of Calvinist dogmatic theology opened new perspectives to Cartesianism and to
natural philosophy in general. If some theologians remained seduced by the deductive and
systematic character of the Cartesian method, others thought that the best means for fighting deists,
sceptics and atheists was to develop the rational side of theology with the help of the critical
methods of natural philosophy. Jean-Alphonse Turrettini (1671-1737), for instance, considered the
Cartesian method expressed in the Discours de la mthode as containing the best precepts to guide
human reason and to enlarge the capacities of the mind; he also saw in geometry the best means to
convey clear and distinct ideas and to give exactness and precision in the conduct of investigations.
These principles guided the 1703-04 reforms of the Acadmie curriculum, whereby natural
philosophy and mathematics were introduced as the basis of intellectual training of pastors and
magistrates.
Inspired by Boyle, Genevan natural philosophers had themselves developed a tendency to insist on
the harmony between faith and reason and to underline the usefulness of philosophy to prove Gods
existence. The hypothetico-deductive method, as illustrated by Nicolas Fatio de Duilliers theory of
zodiacal light, remained their favourite tool of investigation, although Chouets successors also
introduced some experiments in their teaching of physics and a few observations of the heavens in
their astronomy courses. By applying the Cartesian method of systematic doubt to the Cartesian
principles themselves, they finally prepared the way to their gradual abandon in favour of a complete
acceptance of Newtonian science (1718-1723).
The aim of my presentation will be to analyse the methodological impact of Cartesianism in its
various methodological interpretations (deductive, hypothetico-deductive method, critical), and the
significance of experimentation within each of these different options. A concluding section will be
devoted to the persistence, among a few scholars, of a mechanistic mentality of a Cartesian type
even after the acceptance of Newtonian science in the early 1720s.

29

SYMPOSIUM 5

Cultural Identity and Trans-Nationality

in the History of Science
Organizers
Kapil Raj, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France
Kenji Ito, Graduate University for Advanced Studies (Sokendai), Kanagawa, Japan
Studies in the history, sociology and anthropology of science have in recent decades increasingly and
convincingly shown that scientific research is based not only on logical reasoning but, like in the
practical crafts, at least as much on locally specific and historically contingent pragmatic judgment.
Local circumstances and cultures are thus as crucial to the understanding of scientific practices as are
the wider shared values and transnational connections that make it possible for these spatially
specific ideas, texts, practices, norms, instruments, procedures, protocols, personnel and materials to
travel beyond their site of invention to cross and transcend national boundaries to other parts of the
globe. Indeed, the very construction of these shared values and transnational connections is itself an
integral part of scientific practice and its history as also is the seemingly contradictory strategy of
simultaneously seeking to construct national and cultural identities through the very same objects,
theories and practices.
Although this question of the mobility of locally shaped knowledge has been the object of much work
in recent history and sociology of science, the focus of these studies has been limited preponderantly
to Western Europe and North America. Besides, their studies have tended by and large to seek in the
objects, practices and norms certain inherent qualities such as fluidity or the appropriate mix of
plasticity and robustness that ensure their transnational capacities and cultural specificities.
This symposium will eschew this idea of intrinsic qualities that favour circulation. Based on individual
case studies from across a wide range of spaces within and beyond the West, it is aimed at bringing
out the methodological and historiographical issues involved in the problematic of circulation, while
at the same time attempting to deparochialise the debate.
This symposium is planned and supported by the International Association for Science and Cultural
Diversity (IASCUD) and joined by the International Commission on Science and Empire.

Towards a History of the Historiography of Circulation of Knowledge

Karine Carole Chemla, REHSEISSPHERE, University Paris Diderot, CNRS, ERC Advanced Grant SAW
"Mathematical Sciences in the Ancient World", Paris, France
In his research on the history of science in China, most notably in Science and Civilisation in China,
Joseph Needham gave the issue of the circulation of knowledge a key role. He made his motivations
explicit in the authors note that he inserted at the beginning of volume V.4 (1980, p. xxxvi), where
we read: There is a danger to be guarded against, the danger of () denying the fundamental
continuity and universality of all science. This could be to resurrect the Spenglerian conception of the
natural sciences of the various dead (or even worse, the living) non-European civilisations as totally
separate, immiscible thought-patterns, more like distinct works of art than anything else, a series of
different views of the natural world irreconcilable and unconnected. Such a view might be used as the
cloak of some historical racialist doctrine, the sciences of pre-modern times and the non-European
cultures being thought of as wholly conditioned ethnically, and rigidly confined to their own spheres,

30

not part of humanity's broad onward march. However, it would leave little room for those actions
and reactions that we are constantly encountering, those subtle communicated influences which
every civilisation accepted from time to time" (my emphasis).
These lines capture the issues at stake for Needham, when he chose to lay emphasis on questions of
circulation of knowledge. They also illustrate a specific way of approaching these questions. The talk
sketches Needhams practice of the history of science on this point. It more generally outlines a
research program on the history of the historiography of the circulation of knowledge from the 18th
century on, paying attention to specific issues, such as: What motivations can we identify that
various practitioners of the history of science of the past had, when they addressed such questions?
What was their historiographic practice in this respect? In which terms, with which concepts have
they framed their inquiries?

Questioning the Transfer

Aleksandra Majstorac-Kobiljski, CECMEC, CNRS/EHESS, Paris, France
In 1895, Shimomura Ktaro quit his job as professor of chemistry and the head of the Harris School of
Science at a missionary college in Kyoto and started learning French. Five years later, using Belgian
technology he successfully set up Japan's first by-product coking plant in Osaka. What looked like a
simple technology transfer was in fact a very creative process as he had to do far more than order
sixteen coke ovens in Bruxelles and have them assembled in Japan. In fact, the imported ovens were
useless for his purpose because they were made with good quality coal in mind, a luxury Japan did
not have. Thus, rather than import Belgian technology, Shimomura had to bend it and use the ovens
to do what his European colleagues were telling him was impossible, to produce good quality coke
for steel industry using impure Japanese coal. Shimomura disagreed and went on to bend the rules of
coking. By examining a specific case, within the context of transfer of coal technology, this paper
productively complicated the notions of transfer and Japan's places on the map of circulation of
technical knowledge in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Circulations and Innovations in Soviet Union during Interwar Period

Grgory Dufaud, Universit Paris 1 Panthon-Sorbonne; Centre d'tudes des mondes russe,
caucasien et centre-europen, Paris, France
Larissa Zakharova, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France
Focusing on two specific fields, psychiatry and telecommunications, this paper aims to understand
the politics and uses of innovations coming from abroad in Soviet Union. This state distinguished
itself by permanent and direct intervention of the political authorities in the field of sciences, as well
as by its pretention to achieve an autarkic model. We will identify circuits of circulations and
mechanisms of innovation through following procedures: 1) paying attention to the changes of
actors interests during controversies; 2) evaluating the role of repressions of the end of the 1930s on
the conception and realization of innovations; 3) putting aside the vision of the progress elaborated a
posteriori by the actors as well as the oppositions between politics and sciences, sciences and
society.
In the field of telecommunications, the controversies emerged concerning the types of telephone
systems: Swedish stations Ericsson taken as the model for the Soviet production in 1926 were
criticized in the beginning of the 1930s and some Soviet researchers were punished in 1937 for the
choice of this model. The accusations impeded innovations and complicated borrowing from abroad.
In the field of psychiatry, mental hygiene and local (district) psychiatry (care in the community) were
promoted in Soviet Union in the end of the 1920s, in the beginning of industrialisation. They were
supposed to limit mental and nervous troubles of which workers could suffer because of the works
intensification. These new approaches were not able to become dominant and the psychiatrists who
31

defended them were denounced for the mechanical borrowing of ideas from the West without an
effort to found authentic Soviet psychiatry. We will compare the two cases in order to conclude on
the specificities of circulations of ideas and technologies through the USSR borders.

The Fiocruz Minas -Brazil Heritage and Scientific Education Centre

Benedito Tadeu Oliveira, Fundao Oswaldo Cruz, Ouro Preto, Brazil
The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), affiliated with the Brazilian Ministery of Health, is one of the
most important scientific and technological institutions in the health field in Latin America. Its
affiliate in the State of Minas Gerais is the oldest in Fiocruzs network of regional centres distributed
around the country. From 1907 onwards and throughout the twentieth century, Fiocruz has been
present in a variety of ways. Of particular interest are the discoveries made by Carlos Chagas (1878
1934) in the community of Lassance. Working under extremely primitive conditions, this scientist
succeeded in 1909 in achieving a coup considered unique in medical history, a triple discovery: a new
type of human disease (Chagas disease), its active agent ( the protozoa known ad Trypanosoma cruzi,
in homage to the scientis Oswaldo Cruz), and the insect that transmitted it (triatomineo, known as
the barbeiro or bed bug).
In 2007, the governing body of Fiocruz took the decision to locate the institutions future installations
in Minas Gerais within the Technological Park of Belo Horizonte - BHTec, so as to improve working
conditions, upgrade processes in scientific output, and maintain its policy of physical and territorial
expansion.
The nature of the programme has led to the adoption of a concept of an architectural complex
comprised of well defined volumes corresponding to specific functions and the necessary division by
function: a large entrance hall, an administrative block, a teaching and research pavilion, a block
designed to house production and multiple usage spaces, among which will be located the Centre for
Heritage and Scientific Education.
The Centre is to be responsible for the preservation and dissemination of the following collections:
architectural, that of material and immaterial culture, archival and iconographic, videos and CDs, and
scientific collections composed of phlebotominae (sandflies), mollusca and triatominea.
The Heritage and Scientific Education Centre, the subject of this abstract, is to be responsible for
organizing scientific congresses and educational activities such as workshops, theatrical
presentations etc., promoting interaction between scientific, cultural and artistic fields. These
activities will address teachers, students in the primary education system, and the general public,
using the appropriate means for organizing and enabling universal access to the history of Fiocruz
Minas and its scientific output.

Behavior Analysis in Brazil in the 1960s: Shaping the Laboratory as a Pedagogical Tool
Sergio Cirino, Rodrigo Lopes Miranda, Eustaquio Jose de Souza Junior, Universidade Federal de
Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
In this work, we present an introduction to the history of behavior analysis in Brazil at the beginning
of the 1960s. Behavior analysis is a branch of the experimental psychology. It is a school of
psychology based upon the foundations and principles of the philosophy of radical behaviorism
proposed by the North American psychologist B. F. Skinner. One of the core principles of behavior
analysis is the inductive and data-driven investigation of functional relations related to the behavior
of organisms. Behavior analysis can also be characterized by its emphasis in the laboratory as the
main locus for empirical and systematic observation of measurable behavior.
Among the goals of the current historians of psychology is to understand how it became a legitimate
form of knowledge in various countries. From this point of view, contemporary history of psychology
focuses on the comprehension of how different paths of psychology were established by a varied of
32

contextual aspects. This perspective points out a range of cultural, social, and institutional milieus in
which psychology was produced.
We discuss the way that the laboratory of behavior analysis was received in Brazil. Our time frame is
the 1960s and it includes the establishment of the first behavior analysis laboratory in Brazil by the
North American Fred S. Keller in 1961. As the main result of this investigation we found out that the
behavior analysis laboratory was shaped as a pedagogical tool for the teaching of psychology. This
appropriation was grounded on two major aspects, the Brazilian higher educational debate and the
context of psychology in Brazil. To address this issue we present: the zeitgeist of Brazilian higher
education and psychology at the beginning of the 1960s; the background of Fred Kellers arrival in
1961; and the reception of the behavior analysis laboratory as a pedagogical tool.

Beyond Orientalism: A Case in the East Asian STS

Ryuma Shineha, Masaki Nakamura, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Kanagawa, Japan
When discussing the possibility of a new research framework based on the unique experiences of
particular regions, we should avoid a-priori assumptions about the differences between regions such
as the Western and the Orient. In this talk, we would like to discuss this point through case of science
& technology studies (STS). Currently STS researchers in East Asian regions have tried to establish
fresh framework based on the unique experiences of Asian context. However, at the same time, we
think we should look at our perspectives reflexively to avoid falling in self-orientalism. In our opinion,
to consider this, we need to grasp diversity of context/interest of STS.
In order to fully understand the diversity of interests within the STS community, one first needs to
grasp the themes and frameworks to which research communities are attracted. In grasping the
current/actual status of expert communities, an important unit for analysis is the journal
community, because the standards of the journal community, which is configured through trial and
error concerning the submission and review of articles, define the norms of expert communities
(Fujigaki 2003). Although individual researchers may belong to several journal societies, and although
individual STS journal communities necessarily bear complete similarity to the STS communities in
their countries, visualizing the interests of each journal community will not teach us more than a
little about the current/actual activities of STS experts. We have to re-think the current/actual status
and role of STS, based on journal communities interests.
Thus, as a first step, we conducted analysis of commonalities and differences between topics in five
domestic/international STS journals, including journals published in Asian regions, and found a
diversity of interests within each journal community. In our opinion, it is necessary to re-think the
meaning of research and practice within local contexts/experiences.

"Samurai science" Revisited: Modern Science in Japan and its Cultural Origins
Kenji Ito, Graduate University for Advanced Studies (Sokendai), Kanagawa, Japan
This paper addresses the problem of overemphasizing a certain cultural particularity in an attempt to
understand science in the Non-West. It examines some arguments that characterize science in Japan
after the Meiji Restoration as related to "samurai" in some way (which I call "samurai science"
theses), and discusses to what extent such arguments are valid. It argues that relevance of "samurai"
to science in Japan after the Meiji Restoration was much more limited than some studies seem to
suggest.To show this, I make the following points. First, although many Japanese scientists after the
Meiji Restoration were indeed of samurai origin, that did not necessarily affect their scientific
practices in a way to justify calling them "samurai scientists." To show this, this paper examines some
of scientists whose ancestors had samurai status. Second, there were important leading scientists
who were not of samurai origin. As examples, I examine two leading Japanese physicists, Honda
Ktar and Nishina Yoshio. They were extremely important physicists in Japan, not only in terms of
33

their scientific contributions but also as leaders of a productive research group as well as because of
their influential status in the scientific community. I show that their leadership styles and
behavioral/relation patterns indicate those of other social strata than the ones described by classics
of samurai ethics, or perceived so by their contemporaries. Third, while terms related to samurai
worked as cultural resources to shape scientific practices in Japan, I show that tropes used to
conceptualize scientific practices were not always related to samurai. Hence, if "samurai" provided
cultural resources for Japanese scientists, such cultural resources constituted only a part of the
cultural resources available and/or utilized by them.Then, the paper turns to a discussion of the
methodological issues to the "samurai science" theses. While the "samurai science" theses can be
refuted by their factual flaws, their fallacies suggest their methodological problems. I argue that the
problem originates from of cultural particularities.

Colonizing the Underwater. Engineering and National Identity in Singapore

Sulfikar Amir, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
In 2010, a group of engineers at Nanyang Technological University embarked on an unusual project
to solve one of the most acute problems in Singapore: lack of space. Funded by the prestigious
National Research Foundation, the engineers were about to initiate a large-scale endeavor in
extending the limited space of Singapore to the sea by building what is referred to as the
Underwater City. This groundbreaking approach will make use of the underwater space in the sea to
be used for residential, commercial, and public purposes. Focusing on the extended space of
Singapore, this paper discusses the socio-technical dimensions of Singapores future underwater city
as a venue to construct a new identity. Specifically, the paper examines the symbolic meaning
engendered by the construction of this marvelous infrastructure and how it is related to the history
of Singapore as a nation eager to catch up with advanced countries in the field of science and
technology. Examining the Underwater City illuminates what makes Singapore suddenly obsessed
with science and technology and the logic that drove the Weberian technocratic state of Singapore
to resort to engineering for solving its problems. Two crucial aspects are examined. First, it looks at
the arrangements of technoscientific institutions involved in the Underwater City project that reflect
the role and location of technoscience in Singapores developmental logic. It sheds light on
interconnectedness that globally links Singapore to numerous technoscientific centers around the
globe. Second, the paper explores the symbolic meaning that underlies the state's ambitious
endeavor in the pursuit of technoscientific progress. The paper will contribute to our understanding
of the history and sociology of engineering science in the Southeast Asian context.

Layers of the Past. Hrdlika Museum of Man between trans-Nationality and Racial Identity
Marco Stella, Toman Petr, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
The still existing Hrdlika Museum of Man was founded in 1937. Less than a year before the Munich
Pact was signed, border areas of the state with a German majority were connected to the Third
Reich, leaving Czechoslovakia unprotected from a Nazi military invasion, which came in March 1939.
The museum was financially supported and its concept developed by Ale Hrdlika (1869-1943), a
prominent US physical anthropologist with a Czech origin. The museum and its displays were
practically realized by the Czech anthropologist and Charles University official Jindich Matiegka
(1862-1941), Hrdlikas close collaborator. In return, Hrdlika furnished Czechoslovak anthropologists
with anthropological materials from North and South America. Placed in the premises of the Institute
of Anthropology of the Charles University in Prague, it was the first Czech museum dedicated solely
to human evolution, ontogeny, racial variability and pathology. It was Hrdlikas and Matiegkas
personal dislikes towards German anthropology and the political situation at the time when the
34

museum was founded that shaped the final contents of the museum. While similar museums in
Germany after 1933 became still more engaged with the ideological pillars of the Nazi ideology,
such as narratives of German racial superiority or state-supported Rassenhygiene, Hrdlika and
Matiegka fought back with a mixture of anthropologically, archaeologically, geographically and
ethnographically supported displays of Slavic racial superiority. They used the same ideological
weapons to achieve a reversed meaning. Based upon newly discovered materials and archival and
visual materials stored in the museums depositories and preserved fragments of the former exhibit,
the paper attempts to reconstruct the looks and contents of the display of the museum between
1937-1939, when it emerged as an unusual combination of transnational cooperation and
nationalism supported by Slav-centered racial theories.

Christian Astronomy against the Heathen: Remarks on Jacobo Fenicio's "Livro da Seita" (c.
1609)
Thoms Santoro Haddad, University of So Paulo, So Paulo, Brazil
The long process of "invention of Hinduism" to early-modern European audiences (which was to be
completed only in the eighteenth-century British Orientalist movement) was informed, from the
start, by travel narratives, historical chronicles of the exploits of Western nations in several parts of
India, and, evidently, by missionary literature in various genres (letters, relations, grammars,
treatises, maps etc.). Seventeenth-century sources of these kinds abound in expositions of customs,
rituals, "mythologies" and denunciations of idolatry (especially when it comes to missionaries'
writings), and they even give some useful information on local natural-historical knowledge, but they
are scant in representing local cosmological traditions. In this regard, the Jesuit Jacobo Fenicio's
treatise "Livro da Seita dos Indios Orientais", written in the first decade of the century (but only
published, partly, in the 1930s, although having circulated in manuscript quite widely until the
eighteenth century), is a notable exception. The book already starts with the presentation of
cosmological conceptions of Malabari Brahmins (whom the author calls "the natural philosophers of
those parts"), and proceeds to their refutation on the basis of contemporary European astronomy,
which is taken as self-evidently correct. Natural knowledge is thus clearly identified as a key cultural
trait and, concomitantly, as a cultural weapon to be deployed in the representation of the other,
which is the main function of the book. Here we examine the details of Fenicio's exposition and the
place he accords to European and Indian cosmologies in wider Jesuit policies and worldviews,
reflecting also on the uses of science to reinforce cultural and religious identities and divides in earlymodern contact zones.

Scientific Cosmopolitanism and Local Cultures: Reactions to Symbols, Icons and

Advancements of Science in the the Reconcavo Territory, Bahia, Brazil
Fabihana Souza Mendes, Amilcar Baiardi, Alex Vieira dos Santos, Januzia Souza Mendes de Arajo,
Wellington Gil Rodrigues, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Feira de Santana BA, Brazil
The cosmopolitanism of science clashes with the reality of the territories in different ways,
depending on their culture, values, religiosity etc. The Reconcavo territory, State of Bahia, Brazil, has
become an emblematic case of this phenomenon. For historical reasons this territory, which was in
the colonial period Bahias the most important commercial center and also its largest producer of
sugar cane and cotton, have its population constituted by descendants of landowners sugar
producers and their skill workers belonging to white ethnicity and by former slaves, Afrodescendants, that belongs to black ethnicity. Over the centuries these populations consolidated their
Christian beliefs on modalities, such as Catholicism and Protestantism, their African modalities such
as Il Ax Ogunj and Candombl Nag and Mal, with Islamic influence and as their mixed
modalities, involving Catholicism and African religions, type Boa Morte, "good death", sect and the
35

Ubanda. This wide spectrum of religions has showed different reactions to symbols, icons and
advancements of science. Subjects such as genetic modification, use of stem cells, cloning, etc. are
seen differently, with greater tolerance or resistance of these belief systems. This paper proposes to
make a systematization of symbolic elements of these religions with straights implications for full
acceptance of the canons of modern science.

36

SYMPOSIUM 6

Engineers, Circulation of Knowledge, and

the Construction of Imperial and PostImperial Spaces (18th-20th c.)
Organizers
Darina Martyknov, University of Potsdam, Germany
Ana Cardoso de Matos, University of vora (CIDEHUS), Portugal
Irina Gouzvitch, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France
The circulation of knowledge and the construction of modern structures of government have been
identified as key forces that shaped modern profession of engineer. In this session, we would like to
take a step further and test the role of engineers as mediators in the transnational circulation of
knowledge and skills in a specific political framework: the imperial powers in the margins of Europe.
Ruling elites of these empires systematically encouraged the transfer of specific knowledge and skills
as they strove to maintain and strengthen the geo-political position of the empire. They framed this
effort in the discourses of rattrapage and modernization. Similar discourses and practices were
developed by the leaders of political movements that challenged the established regimes, although
the territorial unit and the community to be saved and modernized could differ. By the 19th century,
the very legitimacy of these empires was challenged and, in the 20th century, at the latest, they had
disintegrated and/or transformed into Nation-States.
Besides the states, there were other important frameworks for the engineers practice: 1) the
companies; and 2) the intellectual/expert communities, both being transnational entities that could
not be easily linked to a particular country. In these complex settings of highly fluid power structures,
the engineers had to negotiate their professional identities and their practice. How was the
construction and reconfiguration of professional identities and practice shaped in the changing
political and economic frameworks? How did technical knowledge and professional discourses shape
the economic and political structures, institutions and practices? Is there a relation between specific
patterns of domination and governance, on the one hand, and the construction of modern
engineering, on the other?
We are particularly interested in late patrimonial empires of the European periphery (Portugal,
Spain, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Russia) and the Nation-States that emerged from
them (Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Greece, Serbia, Egypt, etc.). The participants will include comparative
and/or transnational perspective. The time span is from the 18th to the 20th century. The papers will
be presented in English and French. The session should provide material for an analysis that would
combine history of science and technology, political and economic history as well as sociology of
professions.

The Rise of the State Technical Corps and the Building of Imperial Technical Regime in
Russia
Dmitri Gouzevitch, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France
The technical corps arose from the felt need to settle the activity of a numerous and heterogenous
professional group which was that of engineers at the 17th century. Once launched, this form of
37

professional organization turned out effective enough so that a large set of countries would adopte it
during the next two centuries. It knew, at first, a rapid extension in the military field: most of the
national armies appointed themselves with military technical corps, those of artillerymen and
military engineers. Contrastingly, the technical corps acting independently of the armed forces knew
only a moderated expansion with regard to their military counterparts. One find them, however, in
most of the European countries: in Spain and in Sweden, in German and Italian States, in Portugal
and in France, this former being considered as classic champion of these organizations.
The history of diverse European technical corps seems studied rather well. By contrast, in the Russian
historiography this field has been explored in a very sporadic and fragmented way, and this in spite
of the fact that the process of "corps buillding" in the Russian Empire had met a spectacular
dynamics during the 18th century. The subject is, doubtlessly, very complicate, both from the factual
and methodological points of view.
Aware of all the inherent difficulties, we tempted to meet this problematic by privileging a synthetic
aproache which leans on a mass of primary and secondary sources analyzed in a critical way. Our
study is focused at the genesis and the evolution of technical corps in Russia during the "big 18th
century", a decisive period of their stake in system on the scale of the State. We also want this study
to be systematic and contextual. Because we wish, on one hand, to investigate the archetypes of
these administrations, elaborated according to the groving experiences and the emerging needs
conditioned by both the legacies of past and the synthesis of the imported prototypes, and on the
other hand, to inscribe this specific process of administrative creation in a wider sociopolitical and
historico-cultural frame. Finally, even if the systematic comparison with the similar European
administrations still remains a work to be made, the last researches allow to apply this aproach to
some specific scenarios, and our study will take it into account.

Engineers for the Brazilian Empire

Silvia Fernanda Figueiroa, University of Campinas, Campinas-SP, Brazil
The first institutions of military education in the Portuguese colonies date from late seventeenth
century, products of the political and military contexts of the Portuguese Restoration, and of disputes
with Spain. In Portuguese America, military schools were founded in Bahia (1696), Rio de Janeiro
(1698), So Luis do Maranho (1699) and Recife (1701), as well as in other parts of the empire: Goa
(1699), Angola (1699) and Viana do Castelo (1701). Since the transfer of the Court to Brazil, in 1808,
the number of institutions dedicated to professional engineering education expanded, due to the
needs of the new Metropolitan center, and to the perception of the gap between Portugal and its
time. Besides the creation of the Marine Guards Academy, the Royal Military Academy was founded
in 1810, later changed into the Military School (1839), the Central School (1855), and finally, into the
Polytechnical School (1874).
However, the training of engineers, military or civil, was not restricted to local institutions: as already
mentioned in other works, between 1825 and 1903 (79 years), almost 90 Brazilians went to Paris to
study engineering at the Grandes coles namely, Polytechnique, Mines and Ponts-et-Chausses ,
as well to Portugal, at the Polytechnico of Lisbon. This paper presents and discusses this community
of engineers in its time and space, aiming at contributing to the understanding of the social roles
Brazilian engineers played, and the marks they left in the historical process.

Describe to Design. A Comparative Analysis of Two Models of Technical Reports for the
Development of Public Works in the Transition from Colony to Republic. Chile, 1780-1850
Jaime Parada, Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
This presentation compares two models of technical analysis for the development of infrastructure
works in Chile during two historical moments. The objective is to reveal the processes that led to the
38

appearance and evolution of engineering as a new form of scientific thinking in a country with
absence of early disciplinary tradition in the fields of technical science.
The kinds of reports discussed in this presentation are the so called feasibility reports, which
contain a great deal of information capable of illustrating a new way of thinking, a scheme of work
and the status of this science in a specific context and time, specifically during the XVIII and XIX
centuries. This type of source has not been remarked or studied sufficiently, even though it contains
different discursive levels that range from complex decoding to more literal contents. These sources
become extremely useful for the understanding of the social and scientific reality in Chile in the
described area.
In this sense, the chilean case is very particular: on the one hand, it was a country that presented one
the poorest displays of Spanish imperial engineering during the XVIII century, which was a century of
splendour for the Royal Corp of Engineers. On the other hand, during the republican times, Chile
became one of the first Latin American nations to design a policy for the recruitment of foreign
engineers and technical science professors that could influence and assist the future material
development. Both phenomena explain why Chile tended to a particular engineering identity, which
is partly reflected in the reports that we will discuss in this presentation.

On the boundaries of systems and countries - Jozef Cieszkowskis contribution to the

development of european mining
Andrzej Wojcik, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Polish miner and mining geologist Jzef Cieszkowski (1789 1867), having finished grammar school,
took up further education at the Academy of Mining in Kielce. In 1820 Cieszkowski was employed as
an assistant engineer and from 1823 he worked in the zinc mines. The abilities he showed must have
been noticed by his superiors as he was sent to study abroad in England, France and Belgium (18261827). Cieszkowskis reports on his education have preserved only in manuscripts and are kept in
Mining Institute in Saint Petersburg (Russia). Miner and mining geologist was promoted over the
years in ministerial mining from assistant engineer to the position of stationmaster of mines. In 1834
he became the Chief stationmaster of mines and from 1841 until 1861 he was the head of the West
Mining District, Division of Mines. Cieszkowski is also the author of several terms that were published
in H. abckis Mining dictionary (1868). He defined, inter alia, overburden, reconstruction
(coal bed exploitation), incline, cross-cut and outcrop. He explained Polish term Zagbie
(coal basin) too. Cieszkowski understood it as a soil concavity of different capacity where beds of
fossils are located or in other words a place where mineral beds are hutch-shaped. So, in this
definition, Cieszkowski put emphasis on description of geological structure that is characterized by
synclinal arrangement of sedimentary-rock-beds. This definition was gradually introduced into Polish
mining terminology, beginning from 1840.

Engineers and Circulation of Knowledge - the Case of Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria (18601914)
Alexandre Kostov, Institute for Balkan Studies, Sofia, Bulgaria
The paper is devoted to the to the migration of qualified labour force from Western Europe to the
Balkans and especially in the European part of the Ottoman Empire and in Bulgaria during the period
1860-1914. From the from 1860 onwards there were Western engineers who were taking part in the
building activities in the Ottoman empire, which were occupied in the construction of the first
railways in its Balkan provinces for. ex. Ruse Varna railway and the first segments of the famous
Eastern railways. The second field, in which Western construction specialists were taking part, was
the building of roads and bridges.

39

After the Congress of Berlin (1878) foreign engineers played in important role in the construction of
the railways in the newly liberated Bulgaria and in European Turkey ( for ex. Dedeagatch Salonica
Monastir). Besides the railways Western engineers actively took part in other fields of public building
- bridges and roads, water-supply networks, tramways, gas and electricity lighting etc. Western
engineers contributed to the transfer of technological knowledge and to the modernization of
European part of Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria in the mentioned period.

Evolution of education programmes of Engineering Schools during the formation of

modernity from Ottoman to Republican Period of Turkey
Cemil Ozan Ceyhan, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
Modernity formation attempts in Turkey began in military. Since the 18th century, modern military
schools have also been the roots of modern engineering education. Engineering Schools were the
fundamentals of both modern civil and military engineering activities. Besides engineering,
modernization of education also brought new ideologies which had an important impact on Turkish
intelligentsia. While the history of Ottoman Empire was coming to an end, a new, educated class
aroused which was going to shape the new modern Turkey. Firstly French, then German type of
modernity affected Turkey in all areas including education. These education models shaped
republican and nationalist movements as well. Until the second half of 19th century, Engineering
Schools had included both civil and military engineering education and afterwards they were
separated. This situation also resulted with an affect of military intervention to politics; because
modern education was held in these modern engineering schools and the modern needs of the
country were supported by these new educated elite. Engineering education is the root of Istanbul
Technical University which is one of the leading engineering universities in Turkey since 1944. Three
people, who had been graduated from Istanbul Technical University, became prime minister in
Turkey, two of which had also become the president of republic.
This study mainly focuses on the evolution of education programmes of Engineering Schools in terms
of lectures, teachers, exams and other activities. The importance of Engineering Schools, which has
also shaped the new ideologies of Modern Turkey, is aimed to be examined.

Spanish Engineers and the Regeneration of a Peripheral European Country after the
Disaster of 1898
Francisco A. Gonzlez Redondo, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Francisco Gonzlez de Posada, Universidad Politcnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
After the Spanish Empire decomposed in 1810s-1820s, the remaining colonial possessions (Cuba,
Puerto Rico, the Philippines, etc.) acquired high symbolical value. Therefore, their loss after the
defeat in the war against the USA in 1898 was experienced as the Disaster. That former
transoceanic imperial Spain was to remain since then practically confined to the Iberian Peninsula
(Portugal excluded) and small territories in Northern and Central Africa, reduced to the category of a
peripheral southern European country. But the overall decline in terms of geopolitical relevance of
Spain and the final loss of the colonies overseas gave rise to a process of what became to be known
as Regeneration. Under these premises, in this work:
:1) The same concept of Regeneration is characterized, not only as an intellectual attitude (from
the Institucin Libre de Enseanza -Institution for Free Teaching- to Jos Ortega y Gassets personal
appeal), but as a movement full of social-political-economical aspirations (Joaqun Costa), through
even scientific materialisations of international significance (Santiago Ramn y Cajal, Blas Cabrera,
and their respective disciples) and significant realisations in the realm of Civil and Industrial
Engineering (specially by means of Leonardo Torres Quevedos works).
40

2) The role of our most significant engineers in the Regeneration process-movement, from Eduardo
Saavedra (1900) to Lorenzo Pardo and Clemente Sanz (1930) is detailed: Ministry of Public Works,
development of an ambitious plan for large hydraulic works widespread along all Spanish geography,
design and construction of road and railway networks, re-design and upgrading of obsolete sea-ports
to 20th century requirements, erection of bridges, etc.
3) The relevant role played by Leonardo Torres Quevedo is also analysed, not only as an individual
genius, but also for the institutions conceived around him, all of them consecrated as remarkable
milestones in the Regeneration process: the Centro de Ensayos de Aeronutica -Centre for
Aeronautical Research-, Laboratorio de Mecnica Aplicada -Laboratory of Applied Mechanics-, the
first period of the Junta para Ampliacin de Estudios e Investigaciones Cientficas (JAE) -Council for
Studies Extension and Scientific Research-, JAEs Asociacin de Laboratorios -Association of
Laboratories-, Laboratorio de Automtica -Laboratory of Automatics-, Instituto de Material Cientfico
-Institute for Scientific Material-, the Fundacin Nacional para Investigaciones Cientficas y Ensayos
de Reformas -National Foundation for Scientific Research and Reform Studies-, etc.
4) And, finally, a brief survey is undertaken of the international presence of Spanish Engineering
through two of the most outstanding personalities, Leonardo Torres Quevedo and Juan de la Cierva
Codorni: opposite to the widespread rhetorical discourse inside the country, with both of them the
Regeneration fulfilment is seen materialized in their respective international recognition as
significant Engineers of universal scope.

From Railways to Politics: The Portuguese Pink Map Project and the British Empire
Maria Paula Pires dos Santos Diogo, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
In this paper I argue that one of the most important diplomatic incidents between Portugal and Great
Britain was the result of the technology-driven colonial policy of the late nineteenth century. The
Berlin Conference (1885) and its new policy of effective occupation of colonial territories changed
the nineteenth century imperial map. The aggressive policies of Disraeli and Cecil Rhodes for the
British Empire, of Leopold II of Belgium over Congo, of France towards their African colonies and
Bismarcks colonial expansion clearly threated Portuguese historical rights. Portugal, being a
peripheral country within Europe, is suddenly aware that its presence in Angola and Mozambique
must be strongly visible. Technical infrastructures, mostly civil engineering works, are chosen to show
the great European powers that Portugal was indeed able to master its African empire, within the
civilizing missions rationale. To oppose Livingstone, Stanley and Cameron expeditions that
bordered dangerously Portuguese territories.
Portugal supported Capelo and Ivens' scientific journey across Africa, from the western coast of
Angola to the eastern coast of Mozambique.
At the same time, the Portuguese government ordered its engineers to step into Africa and start the
construction of the first railway lines both in Angola and Mozambique. The purpose was to link
eventually the two main Portuguese colonies from Luanda to Lourenco Marques, creating the socalled Pink Map. This project clashed Cecil Rhodes's Cape to Cairo railway line, thus opening a period
of strong tensions between Portugal and Great Britain which culminated with the 1890 British
ultimatum.
Saving the Empire: Attitudes of Ottoman Engineers and Officials towards Foreign Investment and
Modernization of Public Works during the Electrification of Istanbul
Ulas Duygu Aysal Cin, Bilkent University, Istanbul, Turkey
This paper focuses on Ottoman officials and engineers who worked in Istanbuls electrification
project in the late 19th and early 20th century with a special focus on the ideas and attitudes of
Ottoman officials and engineers towards foreign investment and modernization of urban
infrastructure.
41

The attempts for the lighting of Ottoman Istanbul with electricity began in the 19th century as early
as 1870s. Since then, leading European and American multinational companies backed by
international financial institutions, made various offers to the Ottomans in order to electrify Istanbul.
Ottoman officials were in the aim of modernize urban infrastructure as well. However, the Empire
needed foreign investment and personnel for the realization of Istanbul's electrification since it had
to transfer the appropriate technology of electrification and it lacked necessary capital for the
project. Therefore, the modernization of the urban infrastructure -the electrification of Ottoman
Istanbul- was realized by foreign investment within the leading role of Ottoman officials and
engineers in the early 20th century.
In order to locate the local dynamics of the issue, this paper seeks to analyse the role of Ottoman
officials and engineers in the electrification project of Istanbul while drawing a special focus on their
attitudes towards foreign investment modernization of urban infrastructures, their national concerns
when applying the technology and the degree of their technical knowledge. Additionally, it should be
remembered that the electrification process of Istanbul, the 1870s and 1910s were the period in
which the Empire was transformed into the Turkish Republic and disintegrated. And, this paper
argues that the Ottoman bureaucrats and engineers acted for the sake of the Empire as if it would
not come to an end.

Ferroconcrete and the Professional Regulation of Architects and Engineers in Brazil

Roberto Eustaaquio dos Santos, Univerisdade Federal de Minas Gearais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Although there had been higher education in architecture and engineering in Brazil since the early
nineteenth century, these professions were regulated only in 1933, when a Vargas government
decree created the Federal Council of Engineering and Architecture. Parallel to professional
regulation, this government also promoted a major educational reform. Architecture and engineering
curricula acquired a technicist bias based on mathematical calculation. After that, the diploma had
become mandatory to professional practice.
The Vargas industrialization policy formalized construction activities, gradually transforming them
into a building construction industry. The systematic employment of ferroconcrete, at the expense
of brick masonry and imported steelwork, was crucial to this reorganization. Since the knowledge
related to ferroconcrete was monopolized by graduated architects and engineers, the new
technology enabled them to take charge of building construction against its former controllers: the
master builders. Moreover, this change converged with Vargas cultural policy of nationalization.
The mathematical systematization of empirical methods, namely the foreign patents of Monier and
Hennebique, produced an extraordinary development, later known as "Brazilian School of
[Ferro]Concrete". Furthermore, the Brazilian architecture of that time, in line with the Modern
Movement, achieved unusual and audacious expressions.
Who did benefit from this new productive arrangement? The State was strengthened as such; the
new professional group legitimated its authority in building construction, and, mainly, the portland
cement industry increased production. In contrast there was a general lowering of working
conditions on construction sites, because the concrete is less demanding with regard to skilled labor.

Hydraulic Engineers of Czech Ethnicity Between the Empire, the Nation and the Third Reich
Jiri Janac, Czech Republic
At the end of the 19th century, Czech hydraulic engineers found themselves in the midst of conflict
they did not initiated. Growing ambitions of the Czech national movement started to collide with the
development policy of the multiethnic Habsburg Empire. While Modernization was a common goal
shared by both sides of the controversy, opinions on the best way to achieve it differed significantly.
Solutions promoted by imperial authorities often met with criticism from national circles.
42

Czech hydraulic engineers actively participated in the national movement. Leading personalities,
professors at Technical Universities in Prague and Brno Antonin Smrcek and Jan Vladimir Hrasky,
represented national political parties in the imperial parliament. However, they did not perceive
national and imperial perspectives as inevitably contradictory. In their opinion modernization of
water management in Bohemia and Moravia formed a crucial part of modernization of the
monarchy. In their activities, they tried to align conflicting views. Smrcek and Hrasky promoted even
broader frame for transnational cooperation and actively supported plans for the establishment of
Central European waterway network.
After the First World War and creation of independent Czechoslovak state, Smrcek retired from
political life and limited his service to the nation to his own field of expertise. Together with Hrasky
they acted as experts of Czechoslovak delegation at the Paris peace conference in 1919 and later in
the interwar international river commissions. However, their vision of the Czechoslovak waterway
and water management policy was inconsistent with the geopolitical view of the official political
representation. In the eyes of Smrcek and his colleagues, such attitude of Czechoslovak government
resembled that of Austrian imperial authorities and posed a threat to the Modernization of the
Nation. Growing dissatisfaction with such national policy led Smrcek to welcome the Nazi initiative to
build the Grossraum waterway network and re-organize water-management in Bohemia and
Moravia on principles of Grossraum planning.
Smrcek`s limited allegiance to the national political representation contrasted with his faithful
dedication to the idea of progress. In his case, the belief in Modernization was epitomized by his
tireless support for the construction of the artificial waterway connecting the Danube with the Oder
and Elbe. The project was launched by the Austrian Waterway Act of 1901, but the construction
works were not started until the Nazi took control over Central Europe in 1939. In this paper,
Smrceks efforts at realization of the Canal project vis--vis changing political configurations serve as
a case study of the negotiation of the professional identity of an engineer and his practice in the
process of disintegration of the Austrian Empire.

Science - for the Glory of the German People. Construction and Destruction of Scientific
Cosmopolitanism by National Ideologies at the Academy of Sciences in Vienna
Felicitas Seebacher, Alpen-Adria-University of Klagenfurt, Austria
Since 1893, the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna was connected with some German
academies in a powerful "cartel, presenting 'German' Science internationally. To strengthen its
position in the international scientific community, it became a member of the International
Association of Academies in 1899. Joint projects, e.g. with the Royal Society, constructed new
imperial spaces and allowed a transnational circulation of knowledge. After World War I, the
Academy of Sciences in Vienna lost its scientific superiority in Europe. With the rise of the national
socialist party, scientific cosmopolitanism diminished step by step and the cartel was replaced by an
imperial association. National ideologies, praising the glory of 'German' Science, concentrated on
research to serve the 'German people'. Scientific exchange with foreign institutions, especially of
hostile countries, had to be cancelled at the Academy of Sciences in Vienna at the beginning of World
War II. Herbert Matis sees the loss of academic freedom as the "severest restriction.
Nevertheless, members of the Academy in Vienna were involved substantially in this repression.
Physicians, worshipping a racialist image of man, contributed to the fact that internationally
approved scientists and Nobel Prize Laureates had to leave the Academy. Following Adolf Hitlers
order, new statutes of a German Imperial Academy of Sciences were drawn up in Berlin in 1940, in
cooperation with the Academy in Vienna. The idea of an Imperial Academy, a centre for the Nazi
research, teaching and education", and the idea of an International Union of Academies of Sciences
under German leadership failed. The glory of 'German' science was over, as soon as World War II
ended.
This paper examines, if the Academy of Sciences in Vienna was able to preserve its autonomy and
43

internationality in the "cartel of German academies and learned societies" before 1938. It wants to
find out the influence, it had on the idea and implementation of a German Imperial Academy. The
paper raises the question, whether the era of National Socialism was an "era of adjusted survival", as
Edward Seidler states, or whether the Academy of Sciences in Vienna found possibilities to resist the
totalitarian science policy of the Nazi regime. Here a comparative perspective between the Czech
ethnicity in Jir Jancs paper Between the Empire, the Nation and the Third Reich and the German
ethnicity in this paper will be most useful.

Engineers, Circulation of Knowledge, and the Construction of Imperial and Post-Imperial

Spaces (18th- 20th century). A Theoretical Approximation
Darina Martyknov, Irina Gouzvitch, Ana Cardoso de Matos, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences
Sociales, Paris, France
During the last few years, we have analyzed the configuration of engineers professional identities in
a national framework or, at maximum, comparing two or three national settings. Sharing the results
of our work has made us aware of the existence of certain common patterns and processes and we
have begun to enquire ourselves about how to interpret these similarities. While we have identified
some traits as being part of transnational processes and discursive frameworks, we have also seen
the important shaping power of the legal and institutional frameworks defined at the level of existing
political units, be them patrimonial or colonial empires or Nation-States. In order to check our initial
impressions and develop them into more specific hypotheses, we have organized this symposium
focused on the empires in the margins of Europe. We would like to take a closer look at this specific
context: 18th-century patrimonial empires -with or without an old colonial tradition- in the margins
of Europe, in close contact with the dominant powers of the period, empires where the ruling elites
interiorized the discourse of rattrapage and developed projects of modernization, empires that
became questioned and transformed into one or several Nation-States by the beginning of the 20th
century.
Taking to consideration the analyses presented by our colleagues at the symposium, we will outline
preliminary answers to the following questions: How was the construction and reconfiguration of
professional identities and practice shaped in the changing political and economic frameworks? How
did technical knowledge and professional discourses shape the economic and political structures,
institutions and practices? Is there a relation between specific patterns of domination and
governance, on the one hand, and the construction of modern engineering, on the other?

44

SYMPOSIUM 7

Exact Sciences in Habsburg Monarchy in

18th century (on 300th Anniversary of
Boscovich's Birthday)
Organizers
Stanislav Juznic, University of Oklahoma, Norton, USA
Bruno Besser, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria
The physics and astronomy lectures following the introduction of Boscovichs aspects of Newtonian
physics in Habsburg Monarchy will be described. Boscovich personally visited Mid-Euroipean Towns
at least three times on his way from Vienna to Venice and back. Boscovich traveled in early April
1757 on his way to Vienna where he took care for the first edition of his main work. On his return trip
to Italy he was kindly welcomed in Ljubljana Jesuits house and slept there on March 9, 1758. T In
early June 1763 Boscovich visited Mid-European towns again just before he was appointed
mathematical chair of Pavia in November 1763.
The high Nobles were frequently extremely interested in Boscovich know-how because Boscovich
was always welcomed in their meetings. The Counts Cobenzls (Kobencl) from Ljubljana and Brussels
were Boscovichs personal friends and helped him a lot, acting from their influent positions in
Brussels where Johann Karl Philip Count Cobenzl was the Empress omnipotent minister for Habsburg
Belgium. The development of Mid-European Jesuit physics and astronomy did not suffer much after
the suppression of the Jesuit order because just the Jesuit theology professors lost their positions,
but the chairs connected with mathematical sciences were occupied by Jesuits for next three
decades. There were just no other professors to replace the former Jesuits.
After the introduction of Boscovichs way of Newtonian physics in Mid-European higher studies the
local professors there were among the greatest promoters of Boscovichs views in their physics and
mathematics lectures. Boscovich was very popular among the Mid-European Jesuits, and his fame
did not fade in the early 19th century.
The Franciscans also liked Boscovichs work. Boscovichs popularity amongFranciscans went hand in
hand with Boscovich collaboration with French Franciscan teaching in Italian colleges, as were
Thomas Le Seur of Roman La Sapienza in Parma or Franois Jacquier who got the former Boscovichs
chair of mathematics in Collegio Romano in 1773. Joseph Xavier Liesegang, Karl Scherffer, Paul Mako
von Kerek-Gede, and other Boscovichs Mid-European Jesuit friends books were also widely read
among Franciscans and Capuchins.
The Ljubljana Rector and later Viennese Professor Anton Ambschell promoted Boscovich in his
textbooks which were famous for Ambschell and his teacher Herberts very first comparatively exact
measurement of the water compressibility. The suppression of the Jesuit order obstructed the
development of Boscovichs ideas but in no way removed them from the scientific or students
scene. The Boscovichs followers and their students were able to develop strong high-schools
supporting of Boscovich, who kept his great influence in 19th century and paved the way for the
modern use of Boscovichs ideas in Faraday-Maxwells electromagnetism, Kelvins atomism, and
Bohr-Heisenbergs quantum mechanics.
Boscovichs ideas were never forgotten somewhat northern in Mid-European textbooks. Boscovich
legacy also became strong among the Beijing Jesuits. The suppression of the Jesuit order prevented
Boscovichs physics from becoming the standard textbook frame worldwide, but at least second
45

generation of his students still followed Boscovichs ideas in the 19th century. Therefore Boscovichs
ideas did not need any reintroduction via John Robisons Scottish university students into MidEuropean milieu of 19th century because Boscovich fame never faded among the Mid-European
scientists.

Boscovichs North Italian Predecessors and his Followers in Ljubljana

Stanislav Juznic, University of Oklahoma, Norton, USA
Boscovichs fame was endorsed in his Florentine, Venetian, Pavia, Milanese, and Slovenian
headquarters before Boscovichs Venetian or Viennese publications. To provide some insight on
Boscovichs predecessors, two late 17th century North Italian manuscripts were studied. The
manuscript authors opinions on vacuum and recent Athanasius Kirchers works show the North
Italian scholarship of late 17th century. The more accurate date of production of Florentine
astronomical-astrological manuscript Spherae, formerly owned by Valentino Paolitto, was put into
the limelight. The author of other manuscript on Aristotle-s physics was later Archbishop of Treviso,
Augustino Zacco. The Venetian Treviso was near the border of Habsburg province of Carniola, now
central Slovenia, where soon after Zaccos death Boscovich met in person his later influential
followers. The examination themes publicly defended, the books acquired, and the manuscript
experimental instruments catalogues of Ljubljana and Novo mesto Philosophical schools in second
half of 18th century mirrors the influence of Boscovichs natural philosophy, while the list of
Boscovichians among the professors at the schools of philosophy in now Slovenian territory at the
time includes several important names from the Jesuits, Franciscans, and laic milieu.
Boscovichs early Jesuit followers emerged after his three personal visits in Ljubljana (1757-1763).
High nobility of Ljubljana supported Boscovich including Boscovich personal friend count Cobenzl
who was Empress minister for Habsburg Netherlands in Brussels, the Barons Erbergs who provided
several important Jesuit professors, professors from the Slovenian Viennese family of Gruber, and,
last but not least, Anton Ambschel, the Ljubljana rector and later Viennese Professor. Their Ljubljana
students Franc Ksaver (Samuel) Karpe and Jurij (Georg) Vega carried Boscovichan flag to Viennese
headquarters with the famous Boscovichs curve appearing in several Vegas textbooks. Also Jesuits
opponents in Franciscan or laic milieu including Gabrijel Grubers profane enemy Balthasar Hacquet
also endorsed Boscovichs ideas while upgrading Boscovichs descriptions of the Carpathians. After
the suppression of the Jesuit order in 1773 and similar problems of Franciscans a decade later
Boscovichs tradition continued unbroken because Gabrijel Grubers younger brother Anton
continued to teach for next three decades in Ljubljana, and Bavarian Teofil Zinsmeister (OFM;
1817) continued with Boscovichan teachings in Ljubljana and in Novo mesto public Franciscans
Philosophy School as proves the famous Boscovichs curve indorsed in Zinsmeister's manuscripts.

"Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich and his Giornale di un viaggio da Costantinopoli in Polonia".

A travel diary through Eastern Europe with original scientific observations
Marco Martin, Liceo Classico A D'Oria, Genoa, Italy
This original travel report describes the stops of an adventurous back journey, from the Turkish
capital to Polish borders, carried out by Boscovich from May to July 1762 with English ambassador in
Constantinople William Porter. We can read this book as an historical document with many
interesting information about countries in Eastern Europe not so much known for western travellers,
as Boscovich was in the middle of XVIII century. So through Thracia, Rumelia, Bulgaria and Moldavia,
Boscovich analyses an hidden part of great Turkish Empire and becomes eye-witness of Turkish
vilajet, slavic villages, Greek orthodox churches, the country of Moldavia until the coasts of the Black
Sea with its interesting international trade; during his travel he tries to understand words and
realities very different from Western Europes customs. In fact this report shows in particular a deep
46

interest on linguistic matters and, above all, accurate descriptions about survey of latitude and
longitude and the telescope of Dollond. Actually, the reason of this journey was the observation of
the passage in the sky of Venus.
So Boscovich, thanks to this report, can be fit into the rich Italian tradition of travel writers in the
Eighteenth century, because his bright observations must be underlined for precision and sharpness.
In short, the scientist from Ragusa of Dalmatia wrote a little description about the archeological ruins
of the town of Alexandria in Troade even 110 years before Schliemann.

Joseph Liesganig Astronomer by Education, Passionate Surveyor in Austrian-Hungarian

Empire
Bruno P. Besser, Hans U. Eichelberger, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria
Joseph Liesganig, born in 1719 in Graz, joined the Jesuit college in Graz (Styria, province of Austria) in
1734, and was educated with special emphasis on mathematics and astronomy. End of 1744 he was
commanded to study theology at the Jesuit college in Vienna. After his ordination to priesthood in
1749 he first served as preacher in Komorn, Hungaria (today: Komrno, Slovakia) and in 1751 as
mathematics professor at the Jesuit college of Kaschau, Hungary (today: Koice, Slovakia). After
returning back to Vienna in 1752 as mathematics professor at the Jesuit college, he was also
responsible for the observatory (praefect under the head of the Viennese astronomical observatory
Maximilian Hell) till the abolition of the Society of Jesus in 1773. Liesganig then left Vienna for
Lemberg, Galicia (today: Lviv, Ukraine), where he served as director of the state survey of Galicia and
Lodomeria. He died in 1799 in Lemberg.
Already in 1761/2 Liesganig received orders of the empress Maria Theresia to perform an arc
measurement in Austria. He chose Brnn (today: Brno, Moravia, Czech Republic) as starting point
and Warasdin (today: Varadin, Croatia) as end point. The triangle network touched Vienna and his
native country Styria. For this major undertaking he made contact to French geodetic authorities and
arranged for a local copy of the standard French measure of length. From 1762 to 1767 the angles of
22 triangles were measured, the latitudinal differences of the survey points determined
astronomically, and two basis triangulations in Lower Austria (Marchfeld and Neunkirchen) made.
His measurements were scathed by his contemporary Baron Franz Xaver von Zach, but in general
they were fairly accurate (except for two reasons, not (well) known at his time: perturbations of the
vertical in the Alpine region and the spherical excess). After the meridian triangulation in Austria he
was asked to perform another one in Hungary, which he took place in 1768-1769 (triangle chain from
Kistelek to Czurok (today: urug, Vojvodina, Serbia).
The talk serves as late tribute and commemoration to Franz Allmer (1916-2008), geometer and
geodesy historian, who introduced us into the subject, and collected a vast amount of material over
years on Liesganig.

The Problem of Inertia in the Work of Leopold Biwald

Max Lippitsch, Sonja Draxler, Austria
Leopold Biwald (1731-1805) was a Jesuit scientist, working for decades in the University of Graz,
Austria. He is most well-known for his works Physica generalis, Physica particularis, and Institutiones
physicae, that were officially appointed as standard text books for universities in the Habsburg
countries by Emperor Joseph II. Biwald in his text did not claim much scientific originality.
Nevertheless he critically scrutinized the modern scientific ideas of the time and never hold back with
his personal view. This can be seen especially in his position towards the notion of force in
comparison to Newton and Boscovich. His ideas on inertia will be discussed and their influence
traced down over the following generations up to Ernst Mach and Albert Einstein.

47

The Reception of Boscovich's Natural Philosophy at Croatian Philosophical Schools from

1770 to 1834
Ivica Martinovic', Institute of Philosophy, Zagreb, Croatia
On the basis of systematic research into the examination themes publicly defended at Croatian
philosophical schools between 1745 and 1844, the influence of Boscovichs natural philosophy has
been established in fifty-one of them, while the list of Boscovichians among the professors at the
Croatian schools of philosophy at the time includes nineteen names: three Jesuits, two Paulists, nine
Franciscans, a professor of the Rijeka Academy, and four professors of the Zagreb Academy.
Boscovichs first Jesuit follower was Antun Pilippen in Zagreb in 1770, the first among the Paulists
was Kandid oteri in akovec in 1774, the first Franciscan follower was Aleksandar Tomikovi in
Baja in 1776, Luigi de Capuano at the Rijeka Academy in 1776, and Antun Kukec at the Zagreb
Academy from 1780 at least. The first thesauri reverberating with Boscovichs theory of forces was
published by Antun Pilippen in 1770, the last by Antun uflaj in 1829. uflaj had published as many as
nineteen thesauri with Boscovichs theses. The influence of Boscovichs theory of forces is regularly
present in the thesauri dealing with general physics, and to a lesser degree in those concerned with
particular physics. Metaphysics, in concordance with Boscovichs doctrine on the principles of bodies
and on space, was expounded by three professors only: Mirko Mihalj in Zagreb in 1772, Terencijan
Buberle in Poega in 1781, and Kerubin Csepregy in Varadin in 1809.
Two traditions of the expounding of Boscovichs theory of forces were broken by the authorities
decisions: among the Jesuits at the Zagreb Collegium in 1773 and among the Franciscans in the St.
John of Capistrano Province in 1783. With regard to continuity in teaching Boscovichs natural
philosophy at Croatian schools of philosophy the Zagreb Royal Academy of Sciences (Regia Academia
scientiarum Zagrabiensis) took precedence, while the state school founded in Zagreb in 1776, at
which Antun Kukec, Juraj ug, Gabrijel Valei, and Antun uflaj maintained an unbroken fifty-year
tradition of teaching physics that included Boscovichs two fundamental philosophemes: the doctrine
on nonextended substances or beings as the metaphysical principles of bodies, therefore avoiding
Boscovichs original terminology, and the law of mutual forces.

From Boscovich to Faraday

Arcangelo Rossi, Universita' del Salento, Lecce, Italy
The impact is underlined of the well known point-atoms theory proposed by the Jesuit priest Roger
Joseph Boscovich since 1745, on the development of the 19th Century European physical thought.
Originally it was a brilliant escape from the difficulties linked to the 18th Century philosophicalscientific atomism/conservation controversy. Boscovichs point of view was in fact mainly developed
between the 18th and the 19th Centuries by British chemists and physicists who were dissatisfied
with the dominant Newtonian paradigm and rather linked to the Continental Conservation Theory.
Anyway, the most creative use of Boscovichs conception was made only some decades after by the
great physicist Michael Faraday, who progressively radicalized and extended Boscovichs point-atoms
theory to a purely dynamistic world view, explaining the gravitational, electromagnetic, chemical and
optical phenomena by a unique web of physical lines of force acting by contact, so even eliminating
Boscovichs residual unextended cores of matter (the point-atoms themselves!), not only the atomic
extended poles of action-at-distance theories of electricity and magnetism. Faradays great
follower J. C. Maxwell reduced Faradays claims in his electromagnetic field theory by coming back to
a conception of a material ether endowed with a polar structure, even sharply re-distinguishing
between electromagnetic (including optical) and gravitational phenomena. It was then necessary to
wait for the following century to have a full execution of Faradays legacy by Einsteins Relativity
Theory.

48

Role of Boscovich's theory in modern physics and chemistry

Dragoslav M. Stoiljkovic, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
Nobel laureate Werner Heisenberg wrote in 1958 that Boscovich gave a "key to understand the
structure of mater". This statement was repeated in 1993 by another Nobel laureate Leon
Ledermann who wrote that Boscovich's theory is a "key for entire modern physics". The aim of this
work is to present what the "key" looks like and how it can be used in modern physics and chemistry.
Structure of fluids: Modern physics can not describe trustfully the structure of fluids (i.e. liquids and
real gases). That is a huge problem, since many physical, chemical and other processes are
preformed in them. According to Boscovich, the interaction between particles in fluids can be
described by a curve "force-distance" that has two cohesion limits and one non-cohesion limit. Some
particles are at nearer, but some at more separated limits. Hence, fluids are the mixtures of two
phases, having different densities. Each phase contributes to the overall properties of liquid
proportionally to its quantity. But, what that phases look like and what their quantities are? We
proved for 143 substances that cohesion and non-cohesion limits correspond to some well know
characteristic states of matter, from an ideal gas up to solid phase at absolute zero temperature. We
described the structure of fluids in that states and developed a mathematical expression to calculate
the densities and the fractions of the individual phases in fluids. Hence, we have applied this concept
to solve the following problems.
Ethylene polymerization: It was discovered in 1933 that gaseous ethylene can be polymerized only if
it was compressed above 1000 bars. Thus, a very useful plastic material, i.e. polyethylene, is
produced. Why extremely high pressure is necessary? It was proposed that compressed ethylene
molecules were regularly arranged. But, how? In spite very extensive researches, there were no
answers. We answered them at late 1970 applying the cohesions and non-cohesions limits suggested
by Boscovich.
Polyethylene melting: By knowing how compressed ethylene molecules were arranged, we used the
law of continuity published by Boscovich in 1754 to predict the effect of pressure on melting
temperature of polyethylene.
Methylmethacrylate (MMA) polymerization: Using Boscovich's Theory and the mentioned
mathematical expression, we interpreted the structure of liquid MMA, theoretically predicted and
experimentally confirmed its polymerization.
Density of solar planets: According to Boscovich, there are different forces in the nature, but they are
changed by a unique law, described by Boscovich's curve. Hence, it can be proposed, by analogy, that
the same mathematical expression should be applied to calculate densities of fluids as well as
densities of solar planets. We have confirmed that proposal.

Scientific Cosmopolitanism in Boscovichs Collected Works and Correspondence

Daniele Macuglia, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Considered the forerunner of the Theories of Everything, Roger Joseph Boscovich (1711-1787) is the
scientist credited for having developed the first scientific description of the atomic theory by means
of a continuous force law which unified all natural forces thus far discovered. His tendency to
propose a unitary description of nature is indeed connected to specific aspects of his own life-style.
Author of a huge correspondence, Boscovich traveled all around Europe and forged bonds of
intellectual discourse between scientific and intellectual practitioners throughout the whole
continent. As John Heilbron has recently maintained, we can see him as a Jesuit mathematician at
loose in the Republic of Letters. Transcending mere national boundaries, Boscovich was a
cosmopolitan of his time who showed a deep interest for differences in religion, ideologies and social
customs.

49

This point is supported also by Germano Paoli in one of the most complete and detailed sources in
the scholarly literature on Boscovichs studies. Nevertheless, as many authors have maintained, one
of the reasons why Boscovich didnt succeed in becoming a giant of his time was in part due to his
cosmopolitan approach to life. His frequent travels, diplomatic appointments and his curiosity to
approach different people and cultures is seen by these authors as a source of continuous
distraction, an interruption of his very scientific and philosophical enterprise.
This assertion, well-established in the current literature, constitutes a crucial point for any historical
investigation, but put in this way it looks somehow problematic. This paper will show that the rubric
of cosmopolitanism helped Boscovich create a medial space between relativism and universalism,
with a cosmopolitan ideology resulting in a nexus of social, ethical and scientific values that favored
the formulation of distinctive traits of his natural philosophy. By means of extensive analyses of
Boscovichs correspondence and diaries, a study of Boscovich Cosmopolitan helps us reread his life
and scientific works, offering new venues of research to critically approach, from a mostly
unexplored perspective, the nature of international scientific exchange in the eighteenth century
Europe.

The Boscovichean concepts of space and time in the Supplements to Philosophiae

Naturalis Theoria
Barbara Villone, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Torino, Italy
Starting from the analysis of the Supplements to Philosophiae Naturalis Theoria, I discuss the concept
of space and time in Boscovich.
Among results of my research, I will present:
- The relation between both space and time, by attempting a diachronic perspective.
- The Boscovichean paradigmas : real mode of existence and imaginary mode.
In the Boscovichean perspective, they represent, in some sense, the concept of existence and
possibility of existence, pertaining space and time.
- the connection of such concepts with phase space, a powerful tool developed by Gibbs in the XX
century.
I examine also the interesting point of no communication between spaces (and times), which
incidentally was brought up by Boscovich in the Supplements.
In my talk I will also present a review of literature on the space-time in Boscovichean perspective.

50

SYMPOSIUM 8

From Cameralism and Natural Philosophy

to Applied Biology: Agriculture and Science
in the 19th-20th c.
Organizers
Marina Loskutova, St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science and Technology,
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Staffan Mueller-Wille, University of Exeter, UK
Anastasia A. Fedotova, St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science and
Technology, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Some scholars in science policy studies have recently argued that late twentieth and early twentyfirst century research is distinctive from preceding forms of knowledge production, as it is typically
driven by particular problems arising in the context of applied research. These problems, emerging in
the real world, require multidisciplinary approaches, they define the agenda of research, and the
type of specialists assembled to solve them.
However, it can be plausibly argued that historically this type of research was the original mode of
science before its academic institutionalization and professionalization in the nineteenth century. At
the same time, it was never extinct even in the period when pure academic research fragmented
along disciplinary divisions that strove to establish themselves as science par excellence. It is rather
the dominant ways of writing the history of life sciences that has been focused on their progressive
disciplinary diversification and therefore has obscured the actual operation of the life sciences within
society.
The symposium aims to re-examine the history of life sciences by exploring the history of complex
relations between science and agricultural practices in modernizing societies of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. It will explore the role of economic, political and cultural contexts in the making
and unmaking of distinctive disciplinary fields and their institutional infrastructure, the circulation of
ideas and practices among academic communities, governmental boards, local authorities, voluntary
societies, landlords, farmers and peasants, the professionalization of research, and the connections
between material aspects of agricultural practices and scholarly ideas about nature and its
cultivation. We are also interested in the transfer of ideas across national cultures, and in the role of
local milieu in the scientization of agriculture and related fields.

Revisiting the history of the life sciences in the long 19th century
Staffan Mueller-Wille, University of Exeter, UK
Historiography, especially in English-speaking countries, has so far been preoccupied with the history
of evolutionary theory, neglecting other important topics like the rise of biochemistry, experimental
physiology, cell theory, and microbiology. The history of 19th-century biology, moreover, has mostly
been framed as the history of a discipline and its internal differentiation into sub-disciplines. I will
suggest that it is more promising to look at biology as a particular perspective that arose at the
intersection of disciplines largely belonging to three groups: classical natural history (botany;
zoology; microbiology), the medical sciences (physiology; medical statistics), and agro-industrial
research (mining; biochemistry; plant and animal breeding). Opportunities for such intersections

51

arose within new, often state-funded institutions and the networks they formed (research
universities like Imperial College; marine biological stations; industrial laboratories; agricultural
stations) that have yet been little studied. Revisiting the history of biology from this point of view
reveals that mode 2 research, often considered as characteristic of late twentieth century
biotechnology, has a long prehistory. It also lends itself to a comparative approach on a European
level (Britain, France, Prussia, Austria, Russia), with prospects of revealing distinctive, national styles.

Between the Coast and the Sertao. The Naturalist Travel of Auguste de Saint- Hilaire and
the Integration Politics of the Southeast of Brazil at the Beginning of the XIX century
Alda Heizer, Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botnico do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The French naturalist Auguste de Saint- Hilaire was in Brazil between 1816 and 1822, eight years
after the Portuguese crown was installed in Rio de Janeiro. The record of his trip is present on field
notes, reports and exsicatas and contain informations about Brazil moments before its
independence.
The naturalist saw and recorded plants, their network and social spaces where they belong to. Apart
from that, his observations about Brazil are current and allow us, nowadays, to interfere on
threatened plants and its locations.
Researchers with different backgrounds have been dedicated to the mentioned issues, however,
there are no works in Brazil relating records of the different places the naturalist has been and the
integration politics of the southeast at that moment in time, through the donation of major
extension of land and incentive for population and colonization.
Regardind this, it is intended to consider the result analysis of the French naturalist trip to Brazil at
the beginning of the XIX century, his descriptions of the use of the land, approaching two aspects
that can not be separated of the landscape of that moment: the enviromental and political aspects.

Mapping and Planting Forests in the early 19th century Russia: Russian Forestry between
Economic Considerations and Environmental Concerns
Marina Loskutova, St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science and Technology,
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
An early history of scientific forestry has been often cited as a case that illustrates the emergence of
new mechanisms of social and ecological control based on a close interaction between government
and science in the late 18th early 19th century Europe. In particular, the rise of scientific forestry
and the introduction of forest management planning in Germany in the early decades of the 19th
century have been closely examined by scholars who emphasize their links to cameral science and
considerations of financial efficiency. It was only from the 1870s onwards when German forestry
experts began to relate large-scale reorganization of forests that had been carried out in the
preceding decades with their increasing vulnerability to forest pests, storms and draughts. By the late
19th century Germany forests began to be considered within a broader framework of other
environmental factors; scientific forestry was re-oriented towards life sciences and their
methodology.
The paper aims to complicate this picture by exploring an early history of Russian scientific forestry:
its conceptual framework, its practices, as well and its social, cultural and political context. We will
identify the key figures in the emerging community of specialists in scientific forestry, their academic
background, and agenda they pursued in scientific forestry. We will analyze the sources of their
credibility, both in terms of their disciplinary allegiances and socio-political alliances. In particular we
will explore the contacts of Russian scientific forestry with Germany and France: we will examine the
transfer and reception of ideas and practices. In this way we hope to address a key issue: to what
extent cameralist thinking and fiscal considerations shaped the early history of scientific forestry in
52

the eastern periphery of Europe. How the peripheral position of the Russian empire affected the
early history of forestry science in this country? Were there any other ways of conceptualizing the
interaction between humans and their natural environment available to Russian forestry experts?
How was the emerging discipline related to natural history and philosophy in Russian context?

Gregor Mendel between Naturphilosophie and Positivism

Ji Sekerk, Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic
The way of Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) to his famous discovery of particulate inheritance has been a
good summary of his consuming knowledge gathered from cameralism to experimental and applied
nature science. Mendel's discovery has been connected with the Association for the Improvement of
Agriculture, Nature Science and Knowledge of the Country (henceforth Agriculture Association) and
the breeding and hybridization of ornamental plants carried out by Moravian gardeners.
The Agriculture Association was a practically oriented society of Moravia that originated through
unification of private initiatives of feudal landlords and farmers concerning the improvement of their
farming estates. The word Nature Science in the name of the Agriculture Association symbolizes a
new approach to studying and understanding nature as a real world. Mendel was named a
member of the Natural Science Section of Agriculture Association on January 1855. According to the
statutes its task was to investigate and spread knowledge on botanical, zoological, mineralogical and
geological conditions of Moravia. At that time Mendel was a substitute professor of physics and
nature science. In teaching physics and nature science he supported the modern trend of
implementation of real subjects into the educative process.
The Agriculture Association underwent structural reform after the 1848. Mendel took active part in
the transformation of the youngest natural science section into the Nature Research Society in 1861
that organised his famous lecture in 1865 and published his discovery lecture in 1866. The word
research in the Nature Research Society title stressed the novel role of experimentation of the
material substance of Nature. Mendel was best equipped for experimental research as a student of
Doppler's practical courses at the Institute of Physics at the University of Vienna.

Inoculation of Cattle Plague in Russia: the Case between Veterinary Practices and New
Laboratory Science, 1800-1900
Natalia Beregoi, St.Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science and Technology, St.
Petersburg, Russian Federation
The relationship between people and agricultural animals are traditionally considered in respect of
food history, however in some cases they have direct influence on social, economic and political
history of the country, and the history of science. Fighting against cattle plague in the 19th century is
a case which shows that all these aspects appear closely bound with the forming scientific veterinary
in Russia.
Cattle plague had been considered one of the most terrible disasters for people and their cattle since
ancient times. By the end of the 19th century cattle plague, after the intensive flash in the central
Europe in 1870-s and in Russia in 1880-s, was finally limited to the far corners of Russia the TransCaucasian and Central Asian regions.
In the first half of the 19th century many scientists believed that the steppes of the Southeast Russia
were the native land of cattle plague. In 1830-50-ies a few scientists approached the government
with the idea of inoculation of cattle plague as a mean of prevention of epizooties. The government
concerned it seriously and in 1853 set up a commission to look into the question of inoculation of
cattle. However it had many opponents. As a result, despite rather promising projects on inoculation
of cattle plague which had been checked up in many experiments, the government closed the
commission and refused to finance any of the further research. But ongoing epizooties made harm
53

not only to cattle owners but also to the state as a whole because it affected a foreign cattle trade.
The paper aims to show how the advance of veterinary science was determined by the economic and
political demands, and how the case of cattle plague inoculation appeared in the controversy
between traditional veterinary practices and new laboratory science.

Soil as a Natural Resource Transfer and Conflict of Scientific Concepts between Germany
and Russia (1840-1910)
Jan Arend, Gibraltar
By looking at the example of an episode of the history of science in the second half of the 19th
century, namely the reception of German Agrikulturchemie in Russia and the formation of Russian
Soil Science (Pochvovedenie), the contribution will ask, how scientific understandings of the concept
natural resource develop. Both German Agrikulturchemie and Russian Soil Science conceptualized
soil as a natural resource. This was true in the very general sense, that soil was regarded as a good,
which constitutes a precondition for value-adding processes (mainly in agriculture). Beyond this
common ground the understandings of natural resources differed. While Agrikulturchemie focused
on human influence on soil (soil as a refinable commodity), for Russian Soil Scientists the soil
constituted one of the riches of nature.
The presentation will first explore Russian reception of Agrikulturchemie and then identify contexts,
which can explain why in Russia different concepts of natural resource became prominent. Two
explanations can be offered. First: Unlike in Western and Central Europe, in the second half of the
19th century in Russia natural scientists could still explore in large measure soils which were in a
natural state, not altered by human activities. This helps explaining why they were first and foremost
interested in this natural state, and not in the techniques of influencing soils with practical goals.
Secondly: Soil Science developed in the context of descriptive geographical sciences (for example
landscape science and regional science). One of the tasks of these sciences was describing the
homeland and the nature of the fatherland. The understanding of natural resources as riches of
nature fitted well to this task of producing nationally encoded imaginations of nature.

From "Pure" Science to Practical Science: the Difficult Journey of the Belgian State Botanic
Garden (1870-1914)
Denis Diagre, National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Meise, Belarus
The State Botanic Garden of Belgium was founded in 1870. From its very inception, it was supposed
to do research primarily on floristics and taxonomy, which were then regarded as pure activities
more or less devoid of practical applications. The reason being, that the founder of the Garden was
an old-fashioned botanist, who also was a conservative and influential member of the Chamber of
Representatives. Another reason was that Barthlemy Dumortier was the chairman of the Socit
Royale de Botanique de Belgique, whose members largely dedicated themselves to floristics and
systematics. The Society provided him with the first State botanists, even though none of them had
graduated in science. It did not take long before the Belgian political context began to impact the
activities of the national institution. From 1884 onwards, the then almighty Catholic Party wanted to
impose the Botanic Garden with new missions that would interfere with the aforementioned
activities of the State botanists: discourses on horticulture, pruning, grafting, growing crops etc.
Another symptom of the changing statute of the Botanic Garden, in the mind of the politicians, was it
being suddenly removed from the Home Office to the newly created Ministry of Agriculture (1884).
As a consequence, in the course of three decades, the (at first) reluctant State botanists were asked
to pay more and more attention to either applied research or laymans activities, such as
horticulture, fruit production, market gardening and forestry. This last activity related to the
Catholic need to seduce people (voters) living from agriculture sensu lato and to the shortage of
54

wood for Belgian coal mines. Those strategies also took place in a context of growing democracy, and
reluctance towards modernity and urban ideologies (socialism and liberalism) in the Belgian
Catholic milieu. Owing to local political pressure and in order to deserve state financial support, the
Botanic Garden had progressively switched to less noble (more applied) activities. The only pure
research field that was left to the State Botanic Garden studies on the Flora of the Congo had,
anyhow, highly political issues.

The Special Expedition and the Making of Experimental Forestry in southern Russia in
the 1890s
Anastasia A. Fedotova, St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science and
Technology, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
After the disastrous drought of 1891, the Forestry Department funded a new large-scale research
project proposed by Vasiliy Dokuchaev. Within a short period the Special Expedition (The
Expedition of the Forest Department for testing and accounting of different methods and techniques
of forestry and water management in the steppes of Russia) was sent to southern Russia where it
established three forestry stations in three different provinces.
In actual fact, the stations that the expedition apparently established had existed earlier as model
steppe forestry districts with qualified foresters as their chiefs, with nurseries and primary forest
schools. The foresters published their recommendations on afforestation methods. However their
publications were focused on practical advice; they had little to do with science. No systematic
research and experimentation in the modern sense of the word were carried out. As the head of the
Veliko-Anadol Forestry explained in 1889, the Forestry had been created to improve steppe climate
by means of afforestation, but even after 45 years of successful work it was not yet possible to
determine whether the afforestation could actually ameliorate local climate or not, as no regular
observations on this matter had been accumulated. In my presentation, I am going to discuss the
conceptual shift that occurred in the 1890s. The hit and miss approaches in forestry were replaced by
modern scientific methodology: the collection of observational data sets on habitat conditions
constituted the first step in research, and then these data were analysed to provide the basis for
subsequent experiments with all their standard attributes. The primary task of a forester in the
experimental forestry districts was not so much a successful afforestation, but developing, testing
and describing afforestation techniques that could be used in other sites.

Outline of the Plant Physiology Development in the second part of XIX century and the
first part of XX century in Poland
Izabela Krzeptowska-Moszkowicz, ukasz Moszkowicz, Cracow University of Technology, Cracow,
Poland
Genesis and developing modern plants physiology in the world is strictly connected with Juliusz Sachs
(1832-1897) and his laboratory in Wrzburg. His scholar Emil Godlewski Senior (1847-1930) was
pioneer of this scientific discipline in Poland. Godlewski after six month period in Sachs laboratory
started his own researches on many physiological problems in Krakw. He create own large school
which developed numerous distinguished scientists. It was estimated that Godlewski directed work
of 40 scholars, most of them in his laboratory in Agriculture Studies of Jagiellonian University.
Physiological researches had practical applications in agriculture that time. Many of Godlewskis
scholars became professors of universities. Part of them create their own scientific schools of plants
physiology and microbiology in the scientific centers in Independent Poland. Among most
distinguished Godlewskis scholars should be mentioned: M. Korczewski (1889-1954), S.
Krzemieniewski (1871-1945), H. Krzemieniewska (1878-1966), W. Vorbrodt (1883-1940), A.
Pramowski (1853-1920), S. Jentys (1860-1919), W. Bereza (1884-1932).
55

Some Polish young scientists studied or spent short period grants abroad, among others in Wilhelm
Pfeffer laboratory. One of them was Bronisaw Niklewski (1879-1961), plant physiologists and
microbiologist educated in Germany. He was an author of first Polish academic book of plants
physiology. Kazimierz Bassalik (1879-1960) also studied and worked abroad. In Warszawa he taking
up mainly microbiology. He organized his own scientific school.
Except mentioned scientific schools, research of plants physiology were leading by scientists whose
activity mostly concentrated in other branches of botany. This group of scientists included: M.
Raciborski (1863-1917) - enzymes of higher plants (oxidizes), W. Rothert (1863-1916) - heliotropism,
T. Ciesielski (1846-1916) - root geotropism, E. Janczewski (1846-1918) - seeds germination, A.
Wodziczko (1887-1948) - plants oxidize enzymes, in vitro tissues cultures. Important researches on
the most important green pigment - chlorophyll led L. Marchlewski (1869-1946). Before World War II
began scientific activity of significant plants physiologist F. Grski (1897-1989). He led researches on
photosynthesis and optical isomers in living organisms.

Conceptualisations of Natural Physical Systems and Natural Resources amongst Russian

Geographers during the late Tsarist Period
Jonathan Oldfield, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
The Russian natural sciences developed strongly during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, driven forward by the expansion of Russias higher education system and associated
advances in both conceptual and applied work. These broad developments had a substantial
influence on the subsequent unfolding of Russian geographical thought and practice, which had
gained a foothold in the university system during the 1880s, stimulating debates concerning the
object and method of geographical science and establishing influential themes which would remain
evident within the discipline, in varying degrees, during the course of the twentieth century.
This paper is concerned with exploring one particular theme in more detail, namely, the way in which
natural systems and natural resources came to be understood and conceptualised by Russian
geographers during this period. In order to open up this area for greater scrutiny, the paper is
structured around the three following interconnected areas,
(i)An exploration of the link between emerging geographical practice in the late nineteenth century
and the establishment of a complex understanding of natural resources/natural systems linked to the
work of the soil scientist V.V. Dokuchaev and his school.
(ii)An evaluation of the developing body of work concerning the influence of human activity on
natural resources, paying particular attention to the writings of the climatologist and geographer, A.I.
Voeikov (1842-1916). More specifically, Voeikov published a series of papers during the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries evaluating societys influence on a range of natural
resources as well as reflecting upon the links between climate and agricultural activity.
(iii)An examination of strategic conceptualisations of natural resources linked to the expeditionary
work of natural scientists and geographers as well as the more formalised activities of initiatives such
as the Permanent Commission for the Study of Natural Productive Forces (KEPS) during the early part
of the twentieth century.
The research on which this paper is based was funded by the UKs Arts and Humanities Research
Council (AHRC), Reference No. AH/G011028/1.
The Real Solution to the Agricultural Problem: Nature as Culture in Land Grant University

Outreach Programs, 1887-1915

Kevin C. Armitage, Miami University, Oxford, USA
Among the most profound cultural and public policy questions in the United States during the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the question of generational retentionkeeping kids
down on the farm, in the parlance of the day. This question preoccupied social thinkers who were
56

worried that urbanization undermined the independence and self-reliance that, at least in myth,
characterized rural America. But how could farm life compete with the cultural attractions of the
city? Attempts at rural scientific education remain one of the most important, yet most overlooked,
responses to this vexing concern. Reformers argued that educating farmers would not only improve
agricultural efficiency, but also, through greater appreciation of the workings of nature, give them
the cultural and intellectual resources that would counteract urban attractions. The scientific study
of nature, then, was meant to solidify rural society at the same time as it was modernizing the
countryside. For many reformers, it was agricultural science that would revitalize rural America.

Natural Science and Agrobiology in Soviet Secondary Schools (1918-1933)

Anna V. Samokish, St. Petesburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science and Technology,
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
The first years after the revolution in Russia and then the USSR were a time of teaching experiments.
Old prerevolutionary programs and techniques were recognized as incompatible with the new
ideology. They were replaced by new ones, which were focused not on theoretical issues, but on the
practical application of knowledge. They were to raise citizens of the new country. The 1920s were
the time of discussions between two groups of educators: the young and the youngest. In the
late 19th early 20th cc. a new generation of teachers came to Russian schools. They had a
university background and were committed to the idea of bringing science to a wider public audience
and making the science more applied. To achieve this objective they used new approaches like
research projects or excursion. After the October Revolution of 1917, the Bolshevik state supported
these ideas. It was the time of new forms of science popularization and a new relationship between
the state and scientists. However as time passed, the state policy on science and education became
more and more utilitarian, while the utopian ideas of this generation, which stressed the civic activity
of scientists, were increasingly out of touch with the dominant state-sponsored ideology. The
youngest generation of teachers came with new ideas of replacing natural science with
agrobiology. They rejected the lessons of individual subjects and all of fundamental science and
encouraged students to go into the field and to get real experience. Most of these teachers had not
special education and work experience, but their new ideas were extremely suitable for the new
authorities and new practical curricula were adopted in schools. However, this pedagogical
experiment was unsuccessful. The quality of the students knowledge was completely unsatisfactory.
In the early 1930s the old system of teaching returned back to schools with a renewed serious
theoretical basis.

Nikolai Vavilov: Unity of Theory, Practice and Politics (Commemorating 120 Anniversary of
a Great Traveller and Biologist)
Eduard I. Kolchinsky, St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science and
Technology, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
There is a vast and ever expanding literature devoted to Nikolai I. Vavilov, his life and contribution to
science (Esakov, 2008; Pringle, 2008, Argueta, Argueta, 2011; Nabhan, 2011). Most studies still focus
principally on Vavilovs opposition to Lysenko and Lysenkoism. In the last few years we have
witnessed a certain revival of Lysenkoism in Russia: a few books have been published that glorify
Lysenkos achievements in applied biology and blame Vavilov for his alleged failure to focus on real
problems of agriculture. Vavilov is portrayed as a scholar who was engaged in useless theorizing, a
person, who politicized academic debates. The paper aims at establishing a socio-cultural context of
the recent revival of criticism against Vavilov in Russia. We argue that all Vavilovs work, from his
early research on plant immunity (1913) to his work on systematics of cultivated plants (1940) the
last publication, which appeared in his lifetime, aimed at mobilizing biospheres genetic resources for
57

increasing crop yields and thus overcoming famines. Vavilov took an active part in the debates that
had been waged in Russian biology from the 1920s; he demonstrated: it was only a good theory
based on vast empirical data produced by field and laboratory research that was able to find
solutions for these global problems. His position has been justified by the history of his own concepts
about plant immunity, homologous series of inherited variation (1920), and the centres of origin of
cultivated plants (1925). These theories formed the basis, on which bio-geographical and geneticecological rationales emerged for the choice of source material in selection. At the same time,
Vavilovs tragic fate demonstrates the extent, to which practical application of a scientific theory
depends on support given by the state and society to a scholar.

Science and Environmental Control: Soviet Geographers and the Great Stalin Plan for the
Transformation of Nature, 1948-1953
Denis J. B. Shaw, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
The Great Stalin Plan for the Transformation of Nature was a grandiose, Communist Party and
Soviet government-sponsored scheme for the amelioration of climatic conditions across the foreststeppe and steppe vegetation zones of the European USSR and, in its broadest manifestation, across
adjacent parts of south-western Siberia and Central Asia. The immediate historical context was
provided by the food shortages of the post-war period which were exacerbated by drought and
climatic fluctuations. The region which was the object of the scheme was in essence the USSRs
breadbasket and it was believed that by planting a whole series of shelter belts and attendant
environmental measures a significant and reliable increase in agricultural production might be
secured. The entire plan was to be put into effect within fifteen years.
Whilst a considerable amount of academic research has been done on the politics surrounding the
plan and on its generally negative environmental consequences, less attention has been paid to the
role of scientists in its design and implementation. This paper seeks to make a contribution to our
understanding of that role by focusing on one group of scholars, namely the geographers. Though by
no means central to the scientific input into the plan, and indeed having considerable uncertainties
over the value of their efforts, the geographers nevertheless played an important role, aided by the
broad interdisciplinary nature of their subject. For example, the forest botanist V N Sukachev, who
was director of the State Forestry Institute, also headed the department of biogeography in the
Faculty of Geography at MGU. Geographers also looked back to the earlier work of V V Dokuchaev
and A I Voeikov as progenitors of their work on the plan. The paper will consider some of the
scientific, political and practical problems which geographers faced in their attempts to realise the
Stalin Plan.

The Birth of Rational Fertilization: the Establishment of the Soil Service of Belgium (SSB) in
1946
Hanne Laure De Winter, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
The scientific branch of soil science was worldwide firmly established at the beginning of the 20th
century. In this period, it developed strongly in various countries. During the thirties, interest in soil
science and its subfields ( plant nutrition, soil hydrology, soil microbiology,) grew even more
strongly, which can be demonstrated by the rapid growth of soil research institutions all over the
world.
In Belgium, it was professor priest Joseph Baeyens (1885-1990) who established the first chair of Soil
Science in 1935 at the Catholic University of Louvain. He can be considered as a Belgian pioneer in
soil fertility research. After having done prospective soil research in the Belgian Congo, he started
doing the same for the Belgium soils. It was financed by the Belgian government.
This innovative soil fertility research was done at the Soil Science Institute of the University of
58

Louvain, which was established and lead by Joseph Baeyens himself. His goal was to determine the
fertility norms of the Belgian farmlands. After this large-scale study was done, the fertility norms and
associated fertilizer needs could be presented to farmers all over the country. The overall goal was to
increase crop production and to minimize fertilizer costs. When Joseph Baeyens started to spread his
knowledge to the farmers, it would not take long before the demand for his knowledge grew
significantly. This lead in 1946 to the erection of the Soil Service of Belgium: an independent
laboratory, analyzing soil samples in order to customize fertilizer recommendations for farmers.
This paper discusses the establishment and-development of the SSB. It covers the period between
1930 and 1950.Following questions will be addressed: How unique was the development of SSB on a
national and international level? How did research take shape at the SSB? How did the SSB obtain its
place in the Belgian agricultural network? What was the role of the government in all this? And
finally, how did the institution generate and disperse its scientific knowledge?

59

SYMPOSIUM 9

Gender and the Cosmopolitan Character of

Science
Organizers
Annette B. Vogt, President of the Women's Commission of the DHST/IUHPS
Maria Rentetzi, Anne-Sophie Godfroy, Members of the Board of the Women's Commission of the
DHST/IUHPS
It is indubitable that local cultures played an important role in the development of science. Exchange
of knowledge and expertise among scientists of several countries stand on the top of their agenda.
This session investigates the historical process that gave rise to the spread of practices, skills, and
knowledge, as well as the exchange of instruments and materials among different local scientific
cultures. The session wants to confront the tension between the local and the global focusing on the
gender dimension of cosmopolitanism in science. How might the rubric of cosmopolitanism help
reformulate our understanding of gender differences in science, technology and medicine?
Through comparative and contextual approaches we want to examine the process of
cosmopolitanism in science from a gender perspective. We aim to bring together case studies
ranging from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries that examine
- the development of local cultures in science and the role gender played in this process
- the scientific personae, both female and male, and the ways that it has been constructed either as a
cosmopolitan or a provincial character
- traveling as a process of becoming cosmopolitan in science and how this affected differently
womens and mens opportunities from scientific work
- gender differences in the methods of knowledge exchange
Proposed by the Commision on Women in Science and Gender Studies (Women's Commission) of the
DHST/IUHPS

Cases of Forced Cosmopolitanism: Women Academics and Researchers in France during

World War 2
Anne-Sophie Godfroy, CNRS-ENS-Universit Paris 1 & Universit Paris Est Crteil, Paris, France
What happened to women scientists and academics in France during WWII has been very little
documented even if very famous figures as Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil or Hlne Metzger were in
France during that period.
The case of men has been well studied by Jean-Franois Sirinelli in Gnration intellectuelle,
Khagneux et Normaliens dans l'entre-deux-guerres, and by Stephane Isral in Les Etudes et la guerre:
les Normaliens dans la tourmente (1939-1945). Sirinelli devotes only 8 pages (page 208-215) on 700
to women, and Isral never mentions them although a few women had studied at the Ecole Normale
rue d'Ulm during the '30s and many at the women's Ecole Normale in Svres.
Through the study of selected biographies and research in the archives of the Ecole Normale
Suprieure, we propose to investigate how women academics coped with WWII, how it affected
their careers and in some cases forced them to move either to other countries or culture, or to other
occupations or disciplines, or to political engagement, or brutally ended their life because of
deportation or assassination by the nazis.

60

What did they bring, as researchers, to those new places or fields? In return, we will try to assess
how this forced cosmopolitanism has affected their work as scientist. What did the war make to a
generation of women scientists? How the war forced them to cross the borders, literally and
figuratively?
Finally, we will compare the situation of men and women academics facing the same events, and
determine to what extent gender played a role in the choices they made or were forced to make, and
changed the conditions for the cosmopolitan researcher.

An Unusual Case: the Role of Marlies Teichmller (1914-2000) in Internationalizing the

Field of Coal Petrology
Barbara Mohr, Museum of Natural History, Berlin, Germany
Annette Vogt, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany
During the 19th and first half of the 20th Century coal, especially hard coal, mined in open cut or
underground mines, was the main source of energy. Major efforts were made to improve the
methods to find, mine and valuate coal seams all over the world. Several scientific working groups
developed methods to make better use of the varieties of coal, a mixture of organic and inorganic
components, and improve their usage in technical and/or industrial processes. This scientific work
had been mostly done in Europe and the U.S.A., and to a minor degree in Australia and Japan.
In Germany the Prussian Geological Survey, in combination with the Technical University of Berlin,
set up a working group who developed the study of coals organic constituents, combined with
palaeobotanical work and the development of coal classification systems. In the U.S.A. mainly the
Bureau of Mines in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) furthered the field of organic coal petrography. All
these laboratories worked independently and to a certain degree in isolation.
Mining and related fields have been traditionally in Europe and the U.S.A. a domain for men (in Japan
miners were women!). After the late Middle Ages mining and related work aspects were not more a
field in which women had a say. Ironically it was a woman, Marlies Teichmller (1914-2000), who in
the 1930s was able to internationalize the field of coal petrology and break the barriers between
scientific traditions that had developed between Europe and the U.S.A. How and why did this
happen? Hard work, intelligence, support of her teachers and luck granted this success.
Marlies Teichmller was an ardent student. Thus she passed the entrance hurdles easily that had
been erected in 1933 by the Nazi-Government to hinder womens access to universities. She had
decided to study geosciences at the Berlin university at the time the most prominent one in
Germany - and soon was attracted to the applied aspects of geology. She found a committed teacher
in Erich Stach (1896-1987) who himself had written a text book on coal petrology. Her intellect and
diligence were acknowledged and she was given a stipend to study the differing characterization
methods of coal at the Pittsburgh Institute of Mines, with the aim to compare European with the
American ways of categorization. After WW II M. Teichmller became the head of a working group
on coal petrology in Germany and the main author of an internationally appreciated text book.

A Comparative Study of Lives of First Female University Graduates in Prague

Milada Sekyrkova, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
In my study, I compare the lives of first female graduates of the Czech university and the technical
university in Prague, who completed their studies in early 20th century.
The opportunity to study at a university and to pursue a scientific career was for centuries open only
to men. At the end of the 19th century, however, the lecture halls of some faculties at some
universities in the Habsburg monarchy welcomed their first female students and the WWI brought
women also to technical universities.

61

Their student life and subsequent careers were, in great majority of cases, not easy. The students
came from different social and religious backgrounds, achieved different academic results, and found
employment in different professions.
I follow the fortunes of the following women who studied in Prague: Anna Honzkov (18751940),
the first female physician who graduated in 1902, Olga rmkov (born 1876), a philosophy student
who graduated at the Czech Faculty of Arts on June 3, 1902, Marie Vvrov (born 1877 or 1878), the
first Protestant woman to graduate, also at the Czech Faculty of Arts, Alice Masarykov (18791966),
the first female doctor of history at the Czech Faculty of Arts, and Milada Petkov-Pavlkov (1895
1985), the first female architect who graduated in 1921 at the Czech Technical University in Prague.
Some of these women had successful careers in their fields and became part of the Bohemian and
Czechoslovak public life. Others married, abandoned professional ambitions, and devoted their lives
to their families and children.
Society was at that time only getting used to the idea of female university graduates. Opinions and
views of them ranged from strongly negative and disapproving to very positive and supportive, and
advocates of these positions tried to argue for their views. The lives of female graduates we follow
lend, in varying degrees, support to all contemporary societys views.

Cosmopolitism and Science: Female and Male Scientists in Exile between 1933 and 1945 Or, how to Become Cosmopolitan?
Annette Vogt, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany
Research on emigration of scientists, on scientists in exile, has been part of the field of the history of
science for decades of years. Several surveys have investigated the life and fate of scientists who had
to emigrate, those who were forced to leave their countries because of the Nazi regime, first from
Nazi Germany and, later from countries occupied during World War II. Fewer investigations have
explored the contributions of scientists in exile to the development of science and technology in their
adopted countries. How did this process rely on cosmopolitism in different academic institutions, and
different countries? What was the role played by the gender dimension of cosmopolitism? What was
the significance of local scientific cultures - as opposed to global ones - and issues of gender in local
culture?
On the basis of the author's research on female and male German-Jewish scientists in the Kaiser
Wilhelm Society and at the Berlin University, who were forced to emigrate from 1933 onwards, these
questions will be discussed. I will describe the difficulties faced by scientists in exile and clarify the
different modes of emigration and the different strategies which were adopted. When they moved
to other countries with different local scientific cultures, emigres were forced to become
cosmopolitan. Did this process affect men and womens opportunities differently? What does it
mean for a scientist to encounter other scientific cultures and styles of thinking? There were several
"lost scientists" who had to quit their scientific work and to go to other locations as well as the
"success stories" of those who took their chances and made a new and even better career in the
scientific community of their adopted homeland. What were the reasons for these differing fates?

62

SYMPOSIUM 10

Global Phenomena and Local Specificities:

Conduits between Scientifically Minded
Elites and Holders of Artisanal Knowledge
between the East and the West
Organizers
Simona Valeriani, London School of Economics, London, UK
Liliane Hilaire-Prez, Universit Paris 7 Paris Didero, Paris, France
Histories of science and technology tend to underline the importance of local contexts for the
production and diffusion of Useful and Reliable Knowledge. Nevertheless the importance of
interactions between different localities and of so called contact zones has been recognised
(Roberts 2009). Critical discussions of established geographical scales of enquiry have proliferated:
Perez & Verna (2006) suggested, for example- that the local and the international -rather than the
national- are adequate scales of enquiry for discussions of the production and diffusion of Useful and
Reliable Knowledge. Sivasundaram (2010) recently proposed to concentrate on crosscontextualization and to go beyond the dichotomy between colonial and national/ local. But what
are the methodological approaches that will enable us to go all the way from a micro analysis to a
meta-narrative on a global scale? In recent times we have witnessed a strong movement towards a
history of connexions and networks (Bala 2010, Sivasundaram 2010). However, despite all the
methodological difficulties, a comparative approach could be heuristic analysing in detail specific
localities while considering the global context.
The symposium will try to do this by offering a comparative analysis of the institutions, networks and
mechanisms established in different cultures for the production, accumulation and circulation of
scientific and technical knowledge. Particular attention will be paid to methods and processes set
up in different world regions for the codification of knowledge and to the major actors involved
including the state and local governing bodies, as well as private and corporate firms. The papers will
analyse the conduits and connexions between artisans, thinkers and learned people, wealthy patrons
and investors in innovation in different world regions in early modern times. Much work has been
done in recent years by scholars of European history on this problem. They have been investigating
different mechanisms that affected the relationship between learned elites and craftspeople but also
the relationships between those possessing the knowhow and potential investors (Ash 2004, Smith
2004, Fox 2009, Mokyr 2002 and 2010). The symposium will tackle the problem of how such
interactions compare across cultures.

Artisans and Labour Rationalisation in the West: the Case of George Willdey, Toyman in
London c. 1700-1737
Liliane Hilaire-Prez, Universit Paris 7 Paris Didero, Paris, France
A trend of recent studies has identified both in Europe and in China has tended to analyse the forging
of technological culture within a similar framework, that is by enhancing the part played by literati

63

(together with experts coming from trade and crafts) and administration in the process of
codification and standardization of technology. We would like to stress another path towards the
rational understanding of labour by focussing on entrepreneurs records in XVIIIth century-England,
showing a close relation of technological knowledge with markets and consumption. Cross-skills and
technological convergences were actually reshaping the world of trades, hence transforming crafts
work into trade and enterprise.
It is this curious story, of useful knowledge within a Smithian growth that we would like to enhance
by focusing on one artisan-entrepreneur of the beginning of the XVIIIth century, George Willdey, who
set up a fruitful international trade in toyware and optics in London, where he died in 1737. He was
led into that trade by his former specialization in optical instruments which he sold in large amounts,
even into pieces, suggesting a high degree of coordination between entrepreneurs and the
development of fitting skills across trades. Not only optical instruments and toyware were connected
as curious commodities, but they all belonged to assembling trades that were reshaping crafts
activities.
As his records reveal, the London context for toyware, was fostering the rise of operative skills, that
is the burst of a technological culture based upon the understanding of work as a process, of work as
a sequence of operations. Although this is more frequently associated with mechanics, with
engineering sciences and with the philosophy of manufactures, it seems that the idea of work as a
process was already a reality in the world of artisans-entrepreneurs at the beginning of the XVIIIth
century. Beyond the boundaries of crafts, a sectorial economy was developing, fostering the growth
of markets of production for pieces and components, which did not fit with any traditional craft
but which were relying on high fitting skills among artisans. Within the economy of products,
comprehensive firms were reshaping urban activities into labour processes.
Our study, which will rely on Willdeys business ledgers, finally suggests that we can interpret
commercial archives as sources for the history of technology and technological thought, not only of
trade and commerce. They illustrate that artisans-entrepreneurs invented a technological language
even more sophisticated than the learned elites although they did not mean to build any science of
their arts.

The Role of in-between Objects in the Creation of New Knowledge in Europe in early
Modern Times: 3-D models, Technical Drawings, Maps and Instruments
Simona Valeriani, London School of Economics, London, UK
The coming together of two kinds of knowledge - the theoretical and the experiential - was an
important factor in the emergence of a new culture for investigating nature that underpinned the
development of the new empirical sciences in early modern Europe. The sharing of both working
locations and practices by people with conceptual and applied skill sets allowed for the exchange of
their factual and methodological expertise and their knowledge creation practices, facilitating the
developement of new ways of investigating nature and producing knowledge about natural
phenomena. This theme has been elaborated in recent years under different labels, such as the
Mindful Handand the Enlightened Economy as well as, more latterly, in Pamela Longs
development of the concept of Trading Zones.
The argument put forward in this paper focusing mostly on three dimensional models is that a
range of in-between objects played an important role in the coming together of such categories as
theory/praxis, intellectuals/artisans, speculative knowledge/skill - that had been seen as distinct in
the Middle Ages. Artefacts such as maps, scientific instruments, technical drawings, three
dimensional models etc. were in between objects -important loci where practically minded
intellectuals, and speculating artisans, navigators, geographers etc. could meet and shared their
different knowledges. In so doing they created something new that could not have been produced
by either of the two groups independently. While, obviously, these objects already existed and were
in use before the Early Modern times, their importance - in both general terms, and specifically their
64

significance as instruments for knowledge production - increased in the period under consideration.
Analysing the role(s) played by such objects can help us understand the ways in which knowledge
was created and accredited changed in early modern Europe.

Reverse-engineering of Enamel in China: Jesuit Science and Chinese Technology

Xiaodong Xu, Palace Museum, Beijing, China
In the 23th year of emperor Kangxi reign (1662-1720), painted enamel artifacts were brought to
China for the first time by Jesuits from Italy and France. The Emperor showed great enthusiastic in
this exotic art as other west science and technology of that time. Requests for skilled west painted
enamel artists were delivered intensively from then on via Jesuits in Beijing. Furthermore, appointed
representatives, both Chinese and Jesuits in Beijing, were sent by the emperor to France just to look
for the enamel specialists. Not until the 35th year of Kangxi reign (1695) when Father Kiliam Stumpf
came to Beijing from German. A glass factory was soon set up near the Forbidden City. Though Jesuit
Kiliam Stumpf is only an expert in glass, he was also asked to practice enamel production. Books on
enamel were also demanded by Jesuits in Beijing.
The lack of professional supervising from enamel specialists always troubled the emperor. Though
the body of painted enamel is metal while that of porcelain is fired kaolin mud, porcelain makers at
Jindezhen, famous porcelain production center, were sent to the Imperial Workshop to practice
enamel painting on metal. While in the meantime, enamel pigments made in the Glass Factory in
Beijing were sent to Jindezhen and began to apply on porcelain in stead of traditional glazes. Muffle
kiln from west was also introduced to Jindezhen after it was practiced at the Imperial Workshop for
years.
The combination of Jesuits science and porcelain knowledge of Chinese craftsmen resulted in great
success of painted enamel making in the late years of Kangxi, and reached its peak during Yongzheng
period (1721-1735). Painted enamel on metal (including gold, silver, bronze), glass and porcelain
continue flourishing in Qianlong reign (1736-1785).
Managing Energy in the Industrial Enlightenment : Gas Technologies in European Towns, between
Scientific Theories and Micro-inventions
Marie Thebaud-Sorger, University Paris Diderot, CNRS, Paris, France
This paper deals with two main issues, first of all the role of mediating places where inventions are
displayed under the eyes of various audiences- and secondly the very stimulating field of the
chemistry of gases, steam and heat, which fostered a set of innovative devices during the second half
of 18th century. This field seems particularly relevant to grasp how the public is called to examine
and judge inventions independently from scientific authorities such as academies. Through contests,
prices, public events, an autonomous milieu of improvers, craftsmen, entrepreneurs, amateurs,
encounters new emerging forms of expertise offered by the societies for improving the arts, or
societies mixing teaching and sociability, or various kinds of technical, agronomical or natural history
societies, which are not restricted to an elite. I will focus mainly on London and the Society of Arts,
created in 1754, which openness of knowledge against the habit of secrets or exclusive patents
systems: therefore the society develops complex processes which requires the deposit of models
(exhibited afterward for a large audience), proceeds to experiments, and even later publishes the
noticeable inventions. Then I will emphasize upon calls to a wider audience through periodicals and
advertising, in order to attend some shows which occurs in museums or repositories, linked to
craftsmen workshops, but also takes place in parks or banks of rivers (for trials of pumps for
instance). All these interaction devices allow us to sketch out the complexity of the circulation of a
body of knowledge from a place to another, from an audience to another. However, academies seem
to play a minor role, while a new understanding on these fluids develops through numerous paths
deriving from curiosity habits, consumption culture, or patriotic and utilitarian expectations. The
65

analysis seeks to put public mobilization at the heart of the dissemination process of innovative
knowledge, in urban locations across Europe.

Models, Sketches, Artefacts during the Qing Era

Dagmar Schaefer, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Models, sketches and artefacts are substantial sources for the procedural character of technological
development. My contribution to this volume looks at the range of materials produced while making
technology happen for the question of when and how conceptual awareness about technology
becomes manifest. Technology I herein understand as a complex socio-technical system about
which people reflected (this is basically the definition of F. Bray). Models, sketches and artifacts
from the samples to the end-product relate to a planning phase during which technology is still
negotiable, and execution and implementation is tested. Within the process of planning, people
negotiate and weigh diverging ways of how-to and how-to-do practical matter and thus unfold
how they see specific techniques and complex actions, ethics, social issues and politics in general
related to each other. Connections or competitive agendas and aims in fields of knowing and doing
come to the fore. A socio-material system emerges and its intellectual embedding.
Research on these materials in the Chinese context is still in its infancy. Studied have been those of a
quintessential character and style, that is synergetic materials, and arbitrary bits of this range of
secondary materials finally enter official accounts or printed books (see the exceptional volume by
Bray/Metaill/Lichtmann, The warp and the weft). The way in which Chinese actors used these
sketches, models, tools, samples etc. which I subsume under the rubric storage devices to
communicate needs and desires in the transitory phase of planning is still open to debate.
Individuals and approached these materials quite different from the state. In this article I will discuss
how the Qing monopolized and reconfigured the landscape of practical knowledge communication to
control production, establish standards of validity or channel (or are unable to channel) creativeness
and originality, and juxtapose these with individual artisanal approaches in the field of silk
production (and bridge construction). Storage devices display a far more diverse picture of the
interaction: power relations between artisans and elites were not only much more complicated;
artisans often emerge as forceful agents. Storage devices hence give a more balanced view of the
artisan-elite relationship than the one-sided reports of official and elite writing. Additionally through
their choice of storage devices actors display a varied conceptual awareness of what technology was
and what it was for and which of these claims required further substantiation through the realm of
the written word.

Between Global and Local: Antiquarianism in early Colonial India (c. 1750-1830)
Anne-Julie Etter, Universit Paris Diderot - Paris 7, Paris, France
An essay on the architecture of the Hindus was published by the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain
and Ireland in 1834. Its author was Ram Raz, a native of Tanjore in the employ of the East India
Company (EIC), who translated some ancient Sanskrit architectural treatises. In order to understand
the technical terms that are used in these texts, Ram Raz addressed not only scholars (pundits), but
also artisans. Ram Razs essay can be considered as being part of the large set of Orientalist works
that had been published from the end of the 18th century onwards, both in India and Britain.
Documentation of Indian monuments developed parallel to the rise of British rule. Civil and military
employees of the EIC set about studying monuments during their leisure time and collected statues,
inscriptions and coins. These administrators-turned-antiquarians got assistance from a wide range of
Indian guides, interpreters and scholars. The EIC as an institution also played an important role.
Though documentation relied mainly on individual initiative, the EIC tried to encourage its servants

66

scholarly activities, while providing them with networks through which objects and data could
circulate.
Much has been written about colonial knowledge. It has led to contrasted analyses of the nature of
knowledge deriving from interaction between British administrators and their local informants, as
well as its finalities. Rather than focusing on colonial knowledge, this paper aims at exploring the
articulation between the global and the local in the making of antiquarian knowledge. It will do so by
examining conduits and connexions between the different groups engaged in the production and
diffusion of knowledge and underlining the importance of commercial networks. It will also detail the
modalities of knowledge making on the spot, taking into account the necessity to negotiate access to
monuments and information but also the impact of the nature and function of collected materials,
such as inscriptions which mainly record grants of lands. Lastly it will insist on the reciprocal influence
of the study of British and Indian antiquities. If British administrators in India were guided by topics
and methods of antiquarianism as it had developed in Britain, investigation of Indias past and
material remains also influenced the study of British antiquities, thus enriching the relationship
between global context and specific localities.

The Conflict of Professional Identity in the Scientific Definition of Aptitude. The Case of
the Psychotehcnics Laboratory of French Northern Railways
Marco Saraceno, Universit di Pisa, Pisa, Italy
The psychotechnics appears, in the first decade of the century, as a science of work. This scientific
study of work is not only the study of the muscular energy, as the psycho-physiology did, but also
the explication of reasons of the productivity of professional act. The scientific paradigm of
psychotechnics analysis assumes that science could better understand the professional act than
worker themselves. The scientific practice of psychotechnics has a complex position between the
employers, who had to fund the research, and workers, who should be the beneficiaries.
The purpose of this paper is to clarify which conception of "professionalism" has produced by the
psychotechnics, to justify its activities in relation to a particularly innovative company and to a
particularly "professionalized" group of workers. We will study the case of the first laboratory of
Industrial Psychology of French Northern railways created by Jean-Maurice Lahy in 1931. The French
physiologist obtains the permissions to implant his laboratory convincing: the company of the
importance of professional selection, and the workers of the rules of science in the improving of
conditions of work.
The concept of professionalism is well developed between the company need of a work-force
efficient and responsive to technological innovation, and the trade-union necessity to defend a
practical knowledge not reducible to a simple execution of gestures. The analysis of this case shows
the role played by science in the definition of savoir-faire at the intersection of productivity
conception of work and the romantic idea of professionalism as an expression of the person.

67

SYMPOSIUM 11

Historical Narratives of Cold War Science

Organizers
Simone Turchetti, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
John Krige, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Xavier Roqu, Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Jahnavi Phalkey, Kings College, London, UK
Gisela Mateos, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mexico, Mexico
Alexis De Greiff, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia
During the last twenty years the historiography on Cold War science has developed substantially.
Following the pioneering work of Paul Forman, historians of science have discussed the cogency of
the distortionist hypothesis coming to a variety of interpretations and broadening the analysis
further. In particular, the geopolitical and diplomatic components in the shaping of Cold War science
have come to the fore suggesting that while military interests existed, the promotion of science
created important synergies within the Western and Eastern blocs and beyond. Several scholars have
argued that scientific collaborations allowed the Superpowers to administer relations with Cold War
allies in Europe. The implications of using science in international relations with a number of
countries especially in Latin America and Southern Asia- have been revealed. The critical role of
science in the colonization and administration of Polar Regions has also been investigated. Thus
traditional studies of Cold War research as a national endeavor consistent with military goals have
coupled with new work focusing on science as a tool to gain influence internationally, transnationally
and globally.
Episodes of international scientific collaboration have been singled out as particularly revealing.
Often depicted as the result of openness and tolerance allowing a freewheeling debate amongst
participants, they embedded national ideologies and interests. This collaboration entailed the sharing
of values and the definition of cultural commonalities. It was consistent with the effort to better
integrate defence alliances (e.g. NATO). It had implications for control of distant territories and
entailed the appropriation and re-appropriation of strands of knowledge consistently with the
ambitions of governmental agencies.
This symposium aims to explore the richness and variety of narratives discussing Cold War science
and answer to sets of related questions including: what factors were decisive in shaping Cold War
science? How can we frame the role of prominent scientists in the new funding regime that the
confrontation between Superpowers defined? Does the analysis of international scientific work help
to appraise dominant views? Are we satisfied with the existing narratives and periodization of Cold
War science or should we strive for new interpretations?
A Cold War Science? Myths about Computing in postwar Czechoslovakia
Helena Durnova, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
In his essay "You and the Atom Bomb" [published in Tribune, 19 Oct 1945], George Orwell expressed
his opinion that if both blocs, with their implacable ideologies, would soon posses a weapon that
could potentially wipe out the mankind, the only mode of co-existence would be the state of "peace
that is no peace, or 'cold war'". This notion of 'cold war' is more fitting for the case of Czechoslovakia
than the notion of Cold War as something intrinsically invoking connections between scientists

68

(scientific agenda) and the military. On the other hand, it is a common belief today that in
Czechoslovakia, the field of computing technology was the place to be for subversive elements. This
view is probably best illustrated by a poster mentioning Charta 77 signatories working at the
Research Institute for Mathematical Machines, a top computing technology research and
development institution in Czechoslovakia, and is often supported by members of the community
who frequently stress their anti-communist sentiments.
Current historiography of computing in Czechoslovakia consists mainly of articles written by the
actors themselves. Looking at these actor accounts and contrasting them with archival evidence and
published material calls for a broader discussion of history of computing in Cold War Czechoslovakia.
Recent trend among Czech historians shows a move towards a less black-and-white perspective.
Most notably, this can be seen in the works of Michal Pullmann and Martin Franc, who study political
history and history of consumption in Czechoslovakia, respectively.
In my talk, I aim to show a more sober perspective on history of computing in Czechoslovakia --- one
that would allow me to explain the contradictions between oral history and archival sources, as e.g.
the received view that borders were closed, but computer scientists travelled a lot, even to the West.
This way, I hope to tackle the question of the communist government allegedly slowing down the
development of computing in Czechoslovakia on the basis of the connections of the Czechoslovak
computer pioneer Antonn Svoboda with MIT during WWII.

Detente and the Changing Pattern of International Collaboration

John Krige, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Most scholarly attention to science in the Cold War is concentrated on the period up to 1970. Little
has been done regarding the period of detente, when the US and the USSR agreed to 'normalize'
relations. Trade was increased between the US and the eastern bloc, along with closer scientific and
technological collaboration (including the famous Apollo-Soyuz 'handshake in space'). Tensions rose
again in the 1980s. This paper wll discuss the new measures taken in the US to constrain scientic and
technological collaboration with the USSR as the Soviet Union, capitalising on the previous decade of
openness, began to rapidly close the technological gap with its rival. The measures taken by
Washington at that time were but the first steps in an expanding regulation regime that now
penetrates to the core of international face-to-face encounters between American researchers and
foreign nationals.

The Atomic Push: Prospecting Uranium and Phosphates in the Spanish Sahara (1945-1975)
Simone Turchetti, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Nstor Herran, UPMC, Paris, France
Lino Camprub, UAB, Barcelona, Spain
In 1945, geologist Manuel Ala Medina conducted a series of geological studies in the Spanish Sahara.
Radioactive deposits and phosphates reserves immediately called his attention. In 1948, Medina
produced a report on Saharan phosphates for the state mining company Adaro and he published in
1952 the first geological map of the Spanish Sahara.
The state-founded Junta de Energa Nuclear (Spanish Board of Nuclear Energy), as part of its program
for uranium prospection, appointed Medina as chief of its Geological Service in 1953. From this
position, he proposed a research program on the possibilities of obtaining uranium from the
fabrication of superphosphates. He also collaborated with the private company Fosfatos del Bucraa,
whose president was also the president of an association of private companies promoting nuclear
energy founded in 1962.
Constantly navigating between civil and military interests, and between the needs of agriculture and

69

of nuclear energy, Medina led until the 1970s a number of prospection expeditions to the Spanish
Sahara, trying to emulate French efforts in Algeria, a site for phosphate extraction and, from 1960,
nuclear bomb testing.
In our paper, we use the focus on the Spanish Sahara to deepen into the relationships between
nuclear, geological and agricultural sciences in the Cold War, as well as to illuminate the colonial
dimension of these undertakings and its overlapping with national security concerns.

The Pontecorvo Affaire Reappraised. Five Decades of Cold War Spy Stories (1950-1998)
Stefano Salvia, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
In March 2011, on the occasion of the 14. Physikhistorische Tagung Physik im Kalten Krieg in
Dresden, I gave the talk From Russia with Love. The Pontecorvo Affaire (to be published in the
volume Physik im Kalten Krieg, Vieweg-Verlag, Berlin). Aim of that paper was to provide a general
overview of the whole 1950 affaire and of its political implications both in the West and in the East
until the the 1990s.
Who was Bruno Pontecorvo, beyond his scientific achievements? A model of socialist science or a
utopian scientist? A pacifist like Robert Oppenheimer or a communist traitor who contributed to
pass strategic information to the East, like Klaus Fuchs? Did he really work only on non-strategic
subjects in Dubna, where most of Soviet secret nuclear laboratories were concentrated? Did he
actually spy on the Anglo-Canadian atomic programme before moving Russia?
I already discussed how the perception of Pontecorvos case changed in the public opinion from 1950
to the early 1990s, as a mirror of the global tensions between the two blocks. The affaire was object
of harsh political confrontation in Italy, very close to the Iron Curtain, where the strongest and the
most heterodox communist party in the West was excluded from the national government since
1948 but maintained its cultural hegemony in the country until 1990.
In this paper I will focus on such a local 50-year long debate (especially on the role played by the
Italian communists in Pontecorvos defection to the USSR and its real motivations), which reflected
the history of post-war PCI from Stalinism to anti-Soviet euro-communism until the social-democratic
turn of the late 1980s. My primary sources will be newspaper articles (in particular those appeared
on Il Corriere della Sera, La Stampa, La Repubblica, Il Tempo, and L'Unit from 1950 to
1998), as well as essays, interviews, records, documentaries, and related materials recently published
on the Web.

70

SYMPOSIUM 12

History and Historical Epistemology of

Science. Conceptual Streams and
Mathematical Physical Objects in the
Emergency of Newtons Science
Organizers
Jean Jacques Szczeciniarz, REHSEIS University Paris 7, Paris, France
Marco Panza, IHPST/CNRS University Paris 1, Paris, France
Raffaele Pisano, Cirphles, cole Normale Suprieure, France/Research Centre for the Theory and
History of Science, Czech Republic
In Principia Newton wrote: Since the ancients (according to Pappas) considered mechanics to be of
the greatest importance in the investigation of nature and science and since the modernrejecting
substantial forms and occult qualitieshave undertaken to reduce the phenomena of nature to
mathematical laws, it has seemed best in this treatise to concentrate on mathematics as it relates to
natural philosophy. (Preface. Cambridge Trinity College May 8, 1686).
Newton offered a new approach to science establishing a standard in the treatment of mechanics.
The latter is divided in a pure part, essentially mathematical in nature, and an applicative part, where
mathematics becomes the tool for account for physical (mainly celestial) phenomena. In studying
Newtons science, one may then focus on mathematics and study the way it allow one to treat with
physical phenomena. This requires studying the relation between mathematical and physical
quantities: how time as occurring in geometrical arguments is related to time understood as a
physical magnitude, for example?
The evolution of Newtons setting resulted from the middle of 18th and during the 19th c. in new
scientific approaches also involving interplay between pure mathematical developments (differential
and integral calculus) and the study of physical phenomena (of different sorts). Thus a new relation
between mathematical structure and physical quantities emerges.
The debate:
1. Relationship physics and mathematics both in the Newtonian and the posterior settings: physical
and mathematical objects.
2. Heritage of Newtonians science: Newtonian foundations in others sciences in the history.

The Mathematics of Newton's Principia and its Influence on Newton's System of the World
Paolo Bussotti, Edizione Nazionale Opere Federigo Enriques, Livorno, Italy
The mathematical tecnique used by newton in his principia can be undestood only analyzing in detail
the proofs of the most significant propositions he dealt with in his text, especially in the first book.
The basic problem is that generally newton follows a synthetic reasoning (one could say la euclid or
la apollonius), but, at the end of the reasoning, he uses the concept of limit making to converge
two point or two lines in order to obtain the results he was looking for. The literature on newton's
mathematics is abundant, but not so abundant are the specific examinations and explanations of the
individual propositions in the principia. in this sense, a fundamental reference point is the edition of

71

the principia edited by thomas le seur and francis jacquier in 1739-1742 and reprinted in 1822, where
newton's text is annotated and commented. However, to reach the full comprehension of the
mathematics newton used in the principia, it is necessary: 1) to make the historical references more
profound they are in le seur's and jacquier's edition; 2) to avoid the use of analytical concepts in the
cases in which newton did not use them. In the first part of my talk, i am going to propose, as
examples, a complete mathematical explanation of two significant propositions in the first book of
the prinicipia, the demonstrations of which are extremely elliptic in newton's text.
No method is neutral in respect to the results obtained: newton is one of the inventor of calculus and
he framed his mathematical physics in the above outlined way, that is using many elements of the
classical synthetic geometry in a new manner. How did this influence his physics and his system of
the world? is there a connection bewteen the extensive use of synthetic methods we find in the
principia and newton's physics of forces? Why is the recourse to synthetic geometry in newton still
so important and pervasive? From a methodological point of view, did newton think that euclidean,
and in general synthetic, geometry is more perspicuous than calculus and, hence, it is better to use it
as far as possible? In the second part of my talk, i am going to deal with these difficult questions with
the intention to pose the problems rather to solve them. In fact, only a collective, historical
scientifical work could answer such difficult questions.

Newton as a Cartesian
Ladislav Kvasz, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
The aim of the paper is to argue that the most suitable background for understanding of Newtonian
physics is the Cartesian system. In particular it tries to show that some of the fundamental principles
as well as of the basic concepts of Newtonian physics have Cartesian origin. The Cartesian system is
viewed not as a mere metaphysical physics, as many interpreters view it, but as a truly
mathematical physics, which introduced the first universal natural lawthe law of conservation of the
quantity of motionin history of western science. Newtons description of interaction of bodies, as
action of forces, can be best understood on the background of the Cartesian description of
interaction, based on the concept of conservation of the quantity of motion. The Cartesian context
puts the whole Newtonian system into a new perspective.

Can We Reassert the Influence of Mercators Logaritmotechnia (1668) on the Invention of

Calculus by Newton and Leibniz?
Jean Dhombres, Centre Koyr, Paris, France
Since history of mathematics was created as a separate domain during the 18th century, almost
every historian of mathematics has tried to comment about the invention of differential and integral
calculus. For sure, as there is plenty of documents, an emphasis has been put on the priority quarrel
between Leibniz and Newton which lasted long after the death of the two protagonists. Due to the
existence of what we may call the Newtonian and the Leibnizian sects, it is certainly the most
celebrated case for social studies on science, far before social studies on science were precisely
defined in opposition to what was called either traditional, or internal, and even sometimes positivist
history of mathematics. Most historians insist on the intellectual isolation of the two protagonists,
and also on the apparent oblivion of their own results which were revitalized only with the
appearance of Leibniz famous paper in October 1684 in Acta Eruditorum. My aim is to reassert the
role of so-called minor actors in the process, and precisely of Nikolaus Mercators Logarithmotechnia,
published in 1668, where integration of a very special function is provided by a power series, using
what we may call two different Riemann sums, with equidistant and non equidistant steps. They are
clearly seen on the geometrical figures which were used in the analysis provided that same year and
somewhat transformed by John Wallis in the Philosophical Transactions in London, and by Christiaan
72

Huygens at the Academy of sciences in Paris. Using various recent works, and I think some new
interpretation, my aim is to try to recognize what can be understood from the year 1668 in the
Principia eleven years later, in the Leibniz papers in the Acta up to 1686, and in the Meditationes of
Jacob Bernoulli around these years. And I wish to take into account what may be said about a general
knowledge on quadratures at the time.

Newton, Gravity, and the Mechanical Philosophy

Hylarie Kochiras, New Europe College, Bucharest, Romania
Although the mechanical philosophy is frequently characterized as having a requirement of material
contact action as its sine qua non, this paper defends a different characterization, and argues that
Newtons natural philosophy qualifies. A mechanical philosophy of the seventeenth century may be
understood as a natural philosophy that retains the realists goal of discovering causes of natural
phenomena, while also drawing upon the simple machine tradition, putting aspects of that tradition
to work toward the end of discovering causes. Newton crafts his mechanical philosophy by
reconfiguring the relationships among geometry, mechanics, and natural philosophy. He does this in
such a way that gravity becomes part of mechanics, and mechanics ceases to be a mixed science,
instead becoming part of natural philosophy. Pace the presumption of rational mechanics, Newton
wants us to realize that there is exactness in the divinely created machine of the world. Thus the
objects of mathematical methods are not confined to abstract mathematical entities, and mechanics
should no longer be thought to be a mixed mathematics, that is, a branch of mathematics. Pace the
longstanding presumption that practical mechanics, with its restricted domain, legitimately
represents the science of motion, Newton wants us to realize that the science of motion
fundamentally includes the natural powers, notably gravity, levity, elastic forces, resistance of fluids,
and forces of this sort, whether attractive or impulsive. We should no longer allow our
understanding of the domain of mechanics, the science of motion, to be determined by practical
mechanics, which traditionally restricted its gaze to the imperfect machines of human creation, and
the powers associated with them. Newton then claims to have discovered the gravitational force
through mechanical principles, which he identifies with the mathematical principles of natural
philosophy that provide the title for his treatise, these mathematical-mechanical principles being the
element he draws from the simple machine tradition.

On the historical epistemology of the Newtonian principle of inertia and Lazare Carnots
Premire Hypothse
Raffaele Pisano, Cirphles, cole Normale Suprieure, France/Research Centre for the Theory and
History of Science, Czech Republic
Generally speaking, a principle may be considered one of the first elements in the development of a
scientific theory and it cannot be mathematically confuted or experimentally demonstrated. On the
other hand, it is possible to read both physical principles and mathematical principles in many
scientific books where the role played by observation, measurement and mathematics modelling
depends on also the physics mathematics relationship in theory adopted by the author to investigate
a certain phenomena.
In my talk I will speak about on the physics mathematics relationship expressed by Isaac Newton
(16421727) in his first Principle ("Principia", 1687) and by Lazare Carnot (17531823) in his First
Hypothesis of the "Principes fondamentaux de l'quilibre et du mouvement" (1803). The two
different uses of conceptual streams in the physical and mathematical reasoning will be discussed.

73

The development of Newtonian Gravitation from Kant to Fries

Erdmann Grg, Philosophie und Pdagogik, Bochum, Germany
My talk explores the development of the law of gravitation from Newton over Kant to Jakob Friedrich
Fries a philosopher, mathematician and physicist in the tradition of Kant, but with strong empiricist
leanings. I will focus on the motivation of Kant and Fries for incorporating the law of universal
gravitation in their natural philosophies and on their justification of this law. My aim is to highlight
the rarely considered connections between these three authors: Even though the links between
Newton and Kant are well known, I will enlarge the picture by taking Fries ameliorations of Kantian
fundamental forces into account.
Newton denies that gravity is essential to matter and confines himself to outlining possible causes of
gravitation. He merely shows by induction that universal gravitation does in fact exist but does not
elaborate on its possible cause. Kant picks up the concept of universal gravitation and expands on its
meaning in his Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science. He criticises Newton for his empirical
derivation and tries to deduce the attractive force a priori. Kant considers the attractive force as one
of the two fundamental forces constituting matter. In pointing out the essential character of
attraction, Kant deems it even more universal than Newton does. Fries aims at revising the Kantian
foundation of Newtonian physics. Unlike Kant, Fries goal is not to derive the existence of any
fundamental force a priori. The apriorical status of gravity (even the prime example for a
fundamental force) is relativised by him. His idea is rather to deduce the apriori conditions which
actually existing fundamental forces have to meet. Hence, Fries concept of possible fundamental
forces is open to absorb new, yet undiscovered connections. His a priori-approach is largely heuristic,
i.e. it is meant to help empirical science in discovering new fundamental forces by experimentation.

The Role of Planning and Analyzing Experiments in Elaborating a Scientific Theory.

Historical Reflections on Optiks by Newton
Maria Gentile, Italy
Generally speaking the contribution of Newton in Optics has been pointed out as a corpuscular
theory of light with respect of later wave theory (e.g., Huygens, Hooke ). Its treatise Optiks - Treatise
of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light (1730), which is written in English,
does not present hypothesis-thesis-proof typical of mathematical work, but is centered in concepts
and experiments. In the history of science, Newtonian optical theory is blurred since its investigation
on the spectrum easily suggested a two-sided nature of light, in which coexists both properties that
can be explained by particles and properties peculiar of wave propagation. In my talk I will discuss
the Newtonian nature of light, which can be interpreted into a mathematical formulation, and how
the informal justifications of the assertion he does can be set into the statistical framework of design
of experiments. The wide and varied set of experiment planned and conducted by the scientist
reveals an underlying scheme of sequential analysis, factorial analysis, optimal design, and, further, it
remarkable is the treatment of experimental errors.

Gauss Differential Geometry as a Heritage of Newtonians Science

Marie Vetrovcova, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic
In the beginning of 19th century, differential geometry was established by Leonhard Euler and
Gaspard Monge and his students. Their conceptualization was based on an idea of a surface as a
circumference of a given body, a finite, closed, bounded, irregular solid. Euler conceived a notion of
curvature of a curve and took elements of curved surface theory by differentials. The French school
developed Eulers ideas. Monge described special classes of curved surfaces using second order
PDEs.
74

In this time, astronomy still had an important role of the exact science for which mathematics was a
servant for the celestial mechanics. But, after the Napoleon wars in German speaking lands, there
was a requirement of new cartography. So, there were founded new observatories and set out
associated meridians as a base to strict mapping of lands.
In 1820s, Carl Friedrich Gauss and Heinrich Christian Schumacher made land surveying of Hannover,
Holstein, and Denmark with a goal of the pan-European (geodesic) triangulation network. Note that
Gauss was a director of the Gttingen observatory and Schumacher founded the observatory in
Altona. As a side-effect, geodesy needed a new theoretical and mathematical background by another
approach than Euler had offered. In that new one, a surface is an unfinished surrounding
landscape.
The paper deals with discovering of Gauss' differential geometry in the boundary between a pure
mathematics in nature and applicative aspects for which mathematics becomes the tool for physical
and natural phenomena, in particular in geodesy. It is concentrated on the important parts from the
correspondence between Gauss and his students (Schumacher, Encke) those illustrate moments of
an influence of pure mathematics on geodesic practice and vice versa, and historical conditions and
backgrounds of publishing of Gauss' memoirs on differential geometry (story of the Copenhagen
Royal Society of Science Prize).

Change of the Newtonian Paradigm in the Theory of Elasticity of the 19th century
Danilo Capecchi, Universit di Roma La Sapienza, Roma, Italy
The scientists of the early nineteenth century felt the need to quantitatively characterize the elastic
behaviour of bodies and gave rise to the mathematical theory of elasticity. It was essential for an
accurate description of the physical world, in particular to better understand the phenomenon of
propagation of light waves through the ether. The choices were strongly influenced by the
mathematics in vogue at that period, i.e. the differential and integral calculus. It presupposes the
mathematical continuum and therefore has some difficulty in getting married with the discrete
particle model, which had become dominant. Most scientists adopted a compromise approach that
can now be interpreted as a homogenization technique. Material bodies, with a fine particle
structure following Newtons model of matter, were associated with a mathematical continuum. The
displacement variables were represented by sufficiently regular functions, which assume significant
values only for those points which are also positions of particles. Internal forces exchanged between
particles, initially thought as concentrated, are replaced by their average values that are attributed to
all points of the mathematical continuum, thus becoming stresses. This models gave results not
validate by the experience and aroused doubts on the validity of some Newtonian assumption about
forces.
Other scientists gave up keeping particle physics model. They founded their theories directly on
continua, all points of which now had all physical meaning.
Some scientists oscillated between the two approaches, among them Augustin Cauchy who, while
studying the distribution of internal forces of solids, was systematizing mathematical analysis,
comparing the different conceptions of infinity and infinitesimal, the discrete and continuous. His
oscillations in mathematical analysis were reflected on his studies on the composition of matter.

A Few Doubts and Objections against NewtonSystem

Arnaud Mayrargue, CNRS / REHSEIS from the SPHERE Laboratory University Paris-Diderot Paris 7,
Paris, France
In his first published work about optics, entitled Doubts about Optics questions (1761), dAlembert
expressed his doubts about the Newtons theory.
These doubts about the Newtons light theory are also present in the third volume of the third set of
75

the Opuscules mathmatiques, which is dated from 1764, and more precisely in the 20th memoir of
this corpus. DAlembert was interested in understanding the question of aberrations, notably
chromatics aberrations. After having discussed the means of reducing or suppressing these
distortions, it led him to question the validity of the Newton emission system. He started notably for
that reason, in the framework of the mathematical physics, a deep analysis of the two laws of light
dispersion expounded by Newton in his Opticks, one following a linear form and the other a
quadratic form. Indeed, he questioned the connection between experiment and theory, none of
these laws being able to impose itself by only using theoretical presupposition. What explains his
doubts and objections.The Newtons law of dispersion was refuted by John Dollonds works, who
managed, contrary to what Newton used to deduce from his law what Vasco Ronchi called
Newtons mistake , to experimentally make achromatic system of lenses or prisms. Coming to the
quadratic dispersion law, it appeared that it was incompatible with the signs value of the flingt-glass
and crown-glass glasses used by Dollond in the realization of achromatics systems.
With his works, dAlembert used the results of mathematical physics. His attitude toward Newtons
optics was critical, even if he didnt reject it, as we will see it through the analysis of his works,
especially through the Emission article that he wrote in the 5th volume of the Encyclopedia, which
was published in 1775 and that we will also present here.

76

SYMPOSIUM 13

History and Philosophy of Science in EU

Secondary Curricula? New Proposals
Wanted
Organizers
Efthymios Nicolaidis (GR), Peter Heering (D), Michael Matthews (AUS), Raffaele Pisano (F/CZ),
Constantine Skordoulis (GR), Inter Divisional Teaching Commission of the IUHPS/DHST
It is recognized that science is an important component of the EU cultural heritage and provides the
most important explanations of the material world. Recently fewer youths seem to be interested in
science and technical subjects. Does the problem lie in wider socio cultural changes, and the ways in
which young people in the EU countries now live and wish to shape their lives? Or is it due to failings
within science education itself?
Generally speaking current school science curricula was constructed for preparing students for
university and college scientific degrees. Such education does not meet the needs of the majority of
students who will not pursue tertiary studies in science or even science related fields. These students
require knowledge of the main ideas and methodologies of science. What about of cultural process?
It seems that the didactics of scientific disciplines across Europe failed to solve the crisis between
scientific education and EU social economic development. Reports (e.g., Rocard, et al) suggested new
teaching methods, changed new curricula and purposes.
A special debate multi disciplinary dialogue exchanging new ideas proposals between different
cultural approaches is auspicated:
a) ESHS Historians in EU Institutions, scientific education and secondary school.
b) Hypotheses and perspectives of history and philosophy of science discipline(s) EU secondary
schools curricula.
c) How history and philosophy of science can assist in solving the crisis in science both education
and foundations in Europe?
d) How new science education produce reliable knowledge and the limits to certainty?
e) A proposal would be presented to charged EU Parliament Commission.

Introduction to Symposium: on the Emergency to Discuss H&PS Teaching and Curricula in

EU Schools
Raffaele Pisano, Cirphles, cole Normale Suprieure, France/Research Centre for the Theory and
History of Science, Czech Republic
An outline to be discussed:
Appeal to students for a scientific culture through the culture of history and philosophy, regardless of
the sterile dichotomy between human and scientific disciplines.
Physics in the 20th century changed both the fundamentals of classical physics (and of science as
well), and lifestyle (for better and for worse). A reflection based on a program, according to the spirit
of research and interdiscipline, and pedagogicallyoriented, is always to be regarded as a topic of
interest, never obvious.
Invite a motivated and interested study of physics and mathematics through a wider historical and
philosophical knowledge of epistemological criticism.
Try to rebuild the educational link between philosophy and physicsmathematics: philosophy, from
77

the end of the XIXth century, seems to have no longer found a steady link with physics whose
interpretation of a phenomenon is sometimes based on the involvement of an advanced and
elaborate mathematics.
Dissemination and sharing of difficult theoretical and experiential works.
Make the students understand that the history of scientific ideas is closely related to history of
techniques and of technologies; that is why they are different from one another.
Show the real breakthrough of scientific discoveries through the study of the history of
fundamentals, not yet influenced by the (modern) pedagogical requirements: understanding the
historical turnover of the principles of classical thermodynamics into the usual teaching of physics.
Let the students experiment discoveries with enthusiastic astonishment through a guided iter
reflection on the fundamental stages of progress and scientific thought.
A proposal:
Revolution in Science Education[?]: Put Physics First (Lederman 2001. Revolution in Science
Education: Put Physics, Physics Today, 54/9, 44). All of us put a professional teacher first: teachers
that teach, research and publish.

A European Textbook on The Development of Science in Europe. Questions and

Prospects
Constantine Skordoulis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Efthymios Nicolaidis, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece
This paper discusses the idea of a European textbook on the Development of Science in Europe for
students of the upper secondary schools in Europe and also for the broad public. The textbook,
written by a pan-european team of experts in History of Science and Science Education, will focus on
the development of modern science as an important factor in the formation of a new European
'space' based on science rather than what is promoted by a number of cultural and political
historians promoting a monolithic view of Europe (as defined by "Christian roots" or any other single
factor). A component of this project is the intention to promote greater understanding and a more
positive identification with 'science' among European young people, in the hope that this will
motivate more of them to pursue scientific studies and careers.
Far from being Eurocentric, the textbook should give also a voice to the contribution of noneuropean peoples in the formation of the european scientific outlook and the elaboration of tools
including the Arab contribution to the dissemination of ancient Greek scientific knowledge to
western Europe, emphasizing european connections and ability not only to create, but also to gather,
develop and disseminate knowledge and original ideas.
Another feature of the textbook will be the emphasis in the study of the dissemination to once
"peripheral" regions of Europe, such as the Balkans and eastern Europe, of scientific knowledge
which, in due course, was incorporated into the fabric of local cultures.

A Proposal to Analyse the Representation of the Nature of Science Conveyed by Science

Teaching and to Elaborate New Pedagogical Proposals
Laurence Maurines, Magali Gallezot, Daniel Beaufils, Marie-Jolle Ramage, DidaScO, University
Paris-Sud, France
The French curricula at the secondary school level have changed recently. The underlying stake is not
only to attract more students towards scientific careers but also to give all students a cultural and
scientific background that allow them to become responsible citizens. Science programs recommend
inquiry-based teaching with methods and skills to be acquired and attitudes to be interiorized.
Emphasis is also put on knowledge about the nature of science and scientific activity.
Our main issue is to analyse the representation of science conveyed by the science programs,
78

implicitly or explicitly, in order to identify which features of the NoS are taken into account and
which are not and consequently to help to define and elaborate innovative pedagogical proposals
consistent with the current issues of science education. We adopt here a broad definition of the
acronym NoS: it refers for us not only to the nature of scientific knowledge and process but also to
the psychologica and social aspects of the development of sciences.
We begin by demonstrating how our analysis based on various disciplines (philosophy, history,
sociology and psychology of science; science education research) led us to distinguish different
features about NoS and to elaborate a matrix, which can constitute a reference framework to which
compare teaching programs, pedagogical materials and teachers practices. We then show how we
use this matrix when analyzing the programs of two subject matters (biology-geology/ physicschemistry), of two streams (scientific and literate) and of three school levels (grade 10 to 12). Finally,
we discuss the characteristics of this matrix compared to the various categorisations proposed in the
NoS science education research field and advance some proposals about the programs in order to
enhance the image of NoS among students

The Role of the History and Philosophy of Technology in Secondary Education

Christopher Bissell, UK
If the history and philosophy of science is seen as a useful approach in secondary education, then the
history and philosophy of technology has an equal claim. The history of technology has often been
seen as the poor relation of the history of science, yet its study can not only support the learning of
scientific principles, but also engage students in a debate about contemporary and often contested
technological issues from the information revolution to climate change. From this point of view,
technology is much more than applied science. Certainly, scientific principles are involved, but even
in its purest form, technology is more about designing artefacts and systems than understanding
the natural world. This significant difference is reflected in the sort of models that technologists use
for design. Even where the underlying mathematics of a technological model may be identical to a
related scientific one (differential equations, Fourier transforms, for example), the way the models
are elaborated and used within a technological or engineering culture is very different from the
comparable scientific context.
In recent years the historiography of technology has been greatly influenced by science and
technology studies (STS) and social construction of technology (SCOT) approaches, both of which
can be used albeit in a fairly elementary manner to contextualise school studies in this area. As
far as the philosophy of technology is concerned, it is certainly less well established as a discipline
than the philosophy of science, and its major concerns determinism, social construction, design,
sustainability, tacit knowledge, and so on are perhaps less easy to define than those of the
philosophy of science causality, scientific method, the mind-body problem, scientific revolutions,
for example. Clearly, however, the two fields merge when considering a number of theoretical and
practical issues, in particular the social context of science / technology.
This paper will develop the above themes with suggestions for the secondary school curriculum.

Philosophy of Science and Intercultural Dialogue: Rethinking Education

Arun Bala, Singapore
It is widely acknowledged that the growth of scientific knowledge has been facilitated by
intercultural dialogue across many civilizations. In particular the dialogue of civilizations across the
Eurasian continent and exchanges between them have advanced scientific knowledge in Europe, the
Islamic world, China and India. Civilizations have drawn upon each other not only in terms of material
practices, techniques and technologies, but also theoretical, epistemological and philosophical ideas
in order to advance science in their respective civilization contexts. However, the methodological
79

insights of philosophers of science have yet to be extended to understand how they can contribute
to strategies of critical and creative thinking able to exploit such intercultural exchanges. E.g. can
civilizations serve as reservoirs of ideas for Bacons inductive principles, Whewellian hypotheses,
Popperian conjectures, Lakatosian research programmes and Kuhnian paradigms in science? How
can these ideas from different cultural sources be critically evaluated by adopting the various, albeit
divergent, strategies recommended by leading philosophers of science. Based on approaches used in
teaching comparative philosophy of science in the National University of Singapore and the
University of Toronto in Canada this paper examines how education designed to teach critical and
creative thinking strategies based on the teachings of philosophers of science can be extended to
exploit different reservoirs of cultural traditions in natural philosophy.

History and Philosophy of Science in Science Education

Maria Elisa Maia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
In the last decade, all secondary school students in Portugal have a compulsory discipline of
philosophy, in the 10th and 11th grades, whichever the areas of study they may choose. The
introduction of this discipline in the official curriculum, following national and international
orientations is mainly intended to assume an education for values and attitudes, contributing for the
formation of the civic conscience of the youth, reinforcing the sense of citizenship, inside a
community and in the global world where we all live. Logics, ethics and esthetics are strong points
but philosophy of science, although mentioned in the program is only very superficially covered, as
usually philosophy teachers have a very limited knowledge of scientific disciplines. Moreover, is not
articulated with scientific disciplines because science teachers have no philosophical attitudes
towards science.
General history is studied at a basic level but history of science is not specifically studied in any
discipline at basic and secondary level.
However, the importance of history and philosophy of science in scientific education has been
gradually recognized. Actually, besides allowing students to get a more general perspective of
science, they can be useful didactic tools for the teaching and learning of several topics of the
different sciences taught in basic and secondary schools. The justification of fundamental concepts
which are on the basis of the knowledge in those areas requires a philosophical and historical
approach, which although proposed in the programs, is almost always ignored in practice, due to the
lack of training of teachers in those subjects, and the absence of good materials for teachers to use in
classes.
In this communication we intend to discuss the use of an historic and philosophical approach of some
physics and chemistry topics, that may also allow to clarify the meaning of the duality theoryexperimentation that accompanies the development of science and also, necessarily, the initiation to
scientific knowledge. This can be the basis for a larger discussion of how to introduce history and
philosophy of science in science education.
A Naturalist who Became a Pioneer of Experimental Marine Oceanography in Portugal. Assets for
Science Education
Cludia Faria, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
In this work we present a set of science activities informed by the history of science. The central
theme of the activities was the work of D. Carlos de Bragana, king of Portugal, a pioneer
oceanographer. The activities were addressed to Biology secondary students and were designed in
order to run both in class and in a science museum located near Lisbon, the Vasco da Gama
Aquarium. Activities include a pre-visit orientation, two workshops performed in the Aquarium and a
follow-up learning task. In the pre-visit class, students analysed two excerpts of the kings diary
related to the 1897 oceanographic campaign, in order to discuss different forms of scientific
80

reporting and to deal with different methods of collection of biological specimens in comparison with
present ones. In the Aquarium, students actively participated in two workshops. In the first one,
students were introduced to the kings scientific work and zoological collection. Furthermore, they
compared present classification methods with those developed by the king and classified a group of
marine organisms with a dichotomous key. In the second one, students were introduced to the King's
work as an illustrator and to biological drawing techniques. In addition, they draw some marine
organisms present in life exhibition of the Aquarium. In the follow-up activity, students analysed
excerpts of texts of a contemporary Portuguese oceanographer about the kings scientific work and
reflected about the nature of scientific work. Collecting procedures were designed in order to assess
students performance, perceptions and attitudes. Students considered the project popular and
relevant, highlighting its practical nature and its innovative characteristics, namely the drawing task
and the historical approach. The results of this work suggest that engaging students in an activity that
involves a field trip to a science museum, extending it by adding a historical dimension, can
constitute a compelling context for learning about scientific practices and concerns over time. One
fundamental aspect that emerged from this study is the importance of the use of science museums
as an excellent context to develop activities embedded by history of science, since many of them
possess historical collections that represent unique resources, rarely available in schools.

A teaching proposal on 20th century Physics

Vincenzo Cioci, Secretary of A.I.F. Napoli 2, A.I.F. Associazione per l'Insegnamento della Fisica,
Napoli, Italy
This teaching proposal offers an in-depth analysis in the contribution given to Physics by four
eminent scientists (Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Franco Rasetti and Leo Szilard). These
scientists especially distinguished themselves for their way to view the relationship between
scientific vision of the world, technology, ethics and society.
I have already experimented with this teaching proposal in scientifically-oriented secondary schools
in Italy. In contemporary society it is of primary importance to know the potential and the problems
connected with the development of science. The proposed path responds to this need and starts
from the fundamental concepts of the twentieth century Physics: relativity, quantum mechanics and
nuclear Physics. All it is presented in its historical context. The context of time in which they were
formulated. The work considers also digressions in the latest frontiers of Physics.
In my opinion, the issues presented are fundamental supports to the youth cultural education.
Especially those youth who are preparing to complete the cycle of secondary education.

Historical Tools for Teaching Physics: a Practical Proposal

Francesco Bevacqua, Ricerca & Didattica, Bottega Scientifica, Castrolibero, Italy
With this short paper we will present a working proposal for the use of historical instruments
preserved in collections of technical - present in universities, science museums, and schools.
The meeting includes a brief description of the state of the art technical and scientific collections,
from their establishment until the advent of information technology.
During the conference-show will be shown and used some tools that allow you to perform
mechanical measurements (Atwood's Machine, set of tools for the introduction to the study of
mechanics). The instruments used are replicated copies of antique instruments for physics education.

81

Implementation of the History of Mathematics in Catalan Secondary Schools

M Rosa Massa Esteve, Iolanda Guevara Casanova, Ftima Romero Vallhonesta, Carles Puig Pla,
Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
The History of Mathematics, as an explicit and implicit resource (Massa, 2003) in the classroom,
enables the learning of mathematics to be improved. Through the analysis of significant texts from
the historical evolution of mathematical concepts, the History of Mathematics Group of the
Barcelona Association for the Study and Learning of Mathematics (ABEAM) develops historical
materials to be used in the classroom (Massa et al., 2011).
In Spain, each autonomous community is in charge of its own secondary and university education, so
we deal only with education in Catalonia. In fact, the new Catalan mathematics curriculum for
secondary schools, published in June 2007, incorporates historical contexts in its mathematics
syllabus. Therefore, during recent years many teachers have developed materials and implemented
them in the classroom.
Our aim in this communication is to discuss through these tried and tested historical materials how in
some cases the analysis of mathematical proofs can produce reliable knowledge. In addition, we
discuss the criteria for preparing these historical materials for the classroom, as well as the
conditions for using them as a powerful tool for understanding mathematics.

On Joule's experiment: How the historical experiment can improve the understanding of
energy
Ricardo Lopes Coelho, Mnica Baptista, Ana Maria Freire, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Some physicists have pointed out that we do not know what energy is. Research literature about
students misconceptions is ample. Modern approaches to the energy conservation principle in highschool and university textbooks are the object of our research. Many textbooks present a schema of
the 1850 Joules experiment and use this to explain energy. It will be shown that some of these
schemas are neither historically nor physically acceptable. Furthermore, they lead to an
understanding of energy as somewhat mysterious. The presentation of the historical origins of the
typical characterisations of energy (indestructible, transformable, forms of energy, capacity of doing
work) enables us to overcome this situation. This topic is corroborated by means of an empirical
research carried out in the following terms. Two researchers designed, in collaboration with
schoolteachers, a set of inquiry activities that were implemented in their classroom. These activities
were related with Joules experiment and aimed at allowing students to understand the concept of
energy. Taking this into account, the empirical research intended to describe students explanations
about the historical origins of the typical characterisations of energy, to identify students difficulties
about the concept of energy and to characterize students conceptions about it, after the
implementation of activities. This qualitative research adopted an interpretative orientation and two
kinds of data collection methods were used: students written documents and interviews of the
students and teachers carried out by the researchers after the implementation of the inquiry
activities. Consistent with a naturalistic research paradigm, the analysis of collected data was
inductive, consisting of uncovering salient patterns, singularities and themes associated with
research objectives.

Pythagoras' Theorem and the Resolution of the Second Degree Equation in the Nine
Chapters on the Mathematical Art
Iolanda Guevara-Casanova, INS Badalona VII & ICE de la UPC, Badalona, Spain
In the XXIst century, computers and calculators solve second degree equations, but this subject is
only dealt with in the compulsory secondary education curriculum. Perhaps some features of the
82

history of this equation can explain to our students why it is still necessary to study this subject.
The introduction of diverse procedures to solve problems in the mathematics class fosters the
connection between contents and it favours the students' learning process because it does not limit
them to a closed and finished vision of the problem brought up.
The use of historical texts in the classroom is a good resource to show this variety of procedures that
enrich the learning process and fosters a wider vision of mathematics as a science in continuous
evolution.
In this presentation we propose a sequence of activities for secondary education that connect the
resolution of the second degree equation with the Pythagorean Theorem.The activities have been
designed from three historical texts: the Elements of Euclid, The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical
Art and Hisab al-jabr w'al-muqabala. The aim of the proposal is to present the connections between
geometry and algebra in secondary education using the following historical contexts: Euclides, Liu
Hui and Al-Khwarizmi.

Science/Chemistry Methodology in Education in the Course of Ages from Alchemy to

Information Society
Martin Bilek, University of Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic
The orientation of natural science instruction (including chemistry) towards methodological tools in
natural science cognition, i.e. empirical methods (e.g. observation, measurements, school chemical
experiment), and theoretical methods (e.g. modelling), originates not only from its basis and subject
of chemistry as a scientific discipline, but mainly from the characteristics of the methodology. The
methodology of chemistry was developed in long-time period starting in alchemy, continuing
through iatro-chemistry and chemistry to modern chemistry in computer technology equipped
laboratories. Certain results have been received from the works which deal with the position and
functions of current chemistry methodology elements and other natural sciences in their didactic
systems. Following aspects and approaches may appear, e.g. relation between the problem-solving
principle and the system of experimental activities in chemistry instruction; mathematics and logic in
the methodologically run chemistry instruction (mathematics as a methodological tool in the process
of natural reality cognition); modelling and models in teaching chemistry and other natural science
subjects; the issue of the development of material didactic means for methodologically oriented
chemistry instruction etc. This area also includes innovations of material didactic means. Attention is
paid e.g. to those supporting school experiments with data administered by computer, to computer
simulations in the form of web applets, or to remote and virtual laboratories etc.
The computer and other information technologies can be used as useful supporting means towards
emphasizing methodological aspects of natural science instruction. They are mainly as follows: the
support to running experiments and modelling, the support to directing empiric and theoretic
hypotheses defining and the support to forming empiric and theoretic items of knowledge.

The Use of Science Museums and Historical Scientific Instrument Collections Offers New
Perspectives for the Design of the Secondary Education Science Curriculum
Flora Paparou, 1st High School of Chios, Chios, Greece
Recent international science education research points out the facts that, in the developed countries,
the students express low interest in school science and do not want to become scientists. On the
other hand, during the last decades, science museums and other non formal science education
institutions proved able to make science popular again and reveal it as a socio-cultural enterprise.
Within this framework, the integration of museum exploration programmes in science teaching
attracts the interest of the educational community. Even at the level of national curriculum design,
there exist initiatives that propose the collaboration between schools and science museums, as a
83

means to enhance interest in science and cultivate positive attitudes towards the scientific
enterprise. Many of such school and science museum collaboration projects designed at local or
national level focus on teaching science through the exploration of historical scientific instruments
and experiments.
As an example of this recent trend, we will present how we managed to integrate into the school life
of a small region of Greece the educational programme of a school-museum. We proposed the
exploration of a 19th and early 20th century historical scientific instrument collection through stories
and experiments. The evaluation data, which concerns the opinion of 4000 students who
participated in the educational programme during the period 2003-2008, proves the positive attitude
that the participants expressed towards the lessons at the museum. These lessons had various
forms, such as lecture demonstrations, in situ experimental activities and student-centered projects.
Throughout our educational intervention, we led the students to understand science as culture. The
nature of scientific instruments, the nature of experiments and the links between science and society
were widely highlighted through the educational material we developed. Furthermore, by using
methodology of science issues as design axes of the activities we weaved, we tried to enhance
metacognitive skills. Finally, helped by the intensive study of historical experiments, we particularly
worked out how we can redesign the teaching of experiment, and introduce important experiments
as manifold processes that include intellectual, practical, and socio-cultural aspects.

84

SYMPOSIUM 14

History of Slavic Science Cultural

Interferences, Historical Perspectives and
Personal Contributions
Organizers
Aleksandar Petrovic, University of Belgrade; President of the Serbian Society of History of Science,
Belgrade, Serbia
Witold J. Wilczynski, Pedagogical University of Krakow, Poland
Slavic Science, in spite of its numerous well known scientists and their contributions of crucial
significance to the European and global science, was not formerly a subject of frequent historical and
cultural analysis. Considering the state of world science without the contributions of Copernicus,
Boscovic, Lobachevsky, Mendeleyev, Lomonosov, Tesla, Mohorovicic, Milankovic and others would
be an impossible task. Besides them, there are many Slavic scientists who, although having made
important scientific contributions, are not well-known outside of their respective countries and
cultures.
Strangely enough, even on Wikipedia, the most prominent and non-dogmatic source of knowledge
today, there is no entry for "Slavic Science", or "History of Slavic Science". It seems that the concept
itself, Slavic Science, is not yet established and widely recognized. There are different concepts such
as Slavic cultural studies, Slavic languages, Slavic science fiction, etc, but there is no mention of any
generalized approach to Slavic Science. Contrary to that, on the Web there are multiple entries for
Islamic Science, Latin American science, and the like...
There are numerous important scientists of Slavic origin and cultural background. It is without doubt
that they gave contributions of the utmost magnitude for science in general. But the precedent
question still exists - the dilemma of whether their fundamental endowments could be studied also
within the framework of Slavic Science, or is there nothing specifically Slavic in their scientific
contributions.
Of course, many cultural and scientific essays should be undertaken in order to get an appropriate
answer to that query. Slavic Science is subject to many (one could say innumerable) cultural and
scientific influences which made its profile as it is known today. In any case, it is not low profile
science; contrary to that, it bears a powerful capacity to revolutionize the ruling scientific paradigm.
It is not necessary to mention Copernicus, Boskovic, Mendeleyev, Tesla to understand what it means.
Because of all of that, we think that it is worthy of efforts to call European historians of science, as
well as scientists from other disciplines, to reconsider the possibility of Slavic Science and to expose
various examples and case studies which show interrelations among Slavic and non-Slavic scientists;
to research patterns of influences which made a significant impact on Slavic scientists; and to find
historical routes of circulation of scientific ideas which affected Slavic and European science in
general.

85

Antonin Wurm, a Student of ancient Geography

Dmitriy A. Shcheglov, St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science and
Technology, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Antonin Wurm (1.1.1887 ? 15.4.1941), a Czech scholar, is almost unknown. His works were
extremely rarely cited even in his lifetime and now they become forgotten and turn out to be a
bibliographic rarity. For the most part of his life, A. Wurm taught in the gymnasiums at different cities
of Czechia. As far as I know, A. Wurm never wrote papers for academic journals, but published six
small monographs: Rozbor Ptolemeiovy osm mapy Asie (1926), Marinus of Tyre (Some Aspects of
His Work) (1931), Marinus and Posidonius (1936), Mathematick zklady mapy Ptolemaiovy (1937),
Hannonuv periplus (1937), O vzniku a vvoji mapy Ptolemaiovy (1940). All books issued in Chotbo
in a limited number of copies. Probably it is due this circumstance that his works passed almost
unnoticed by a wide scholarly society. However one should admit that A. Wurm was one of the most
insightful researchers in his field. The focal point of his investigations was Ptolemys Geography and
early stages of its formation. One of his central and most fruitful ideas is that the earliest traceable
layer of Ptolemys map was based on the Eratosthenian estimate of the circumference of the earth,
rather than on that of Posidonius which was Ptolemy adopted for the last version of his Geography.
The works of A. Wurm are full of other stimulating observations and conjectures. The museum of
Chotbo keeps an extensive archive of A. Wurms documents (about 200 units), including two of six
monographs, which are not preserved in the libraries that I know, necrologies and his diary for 1938
1940 in English. I hope that further investigation of these documents will shed some light on life and
work of A. Wurm.

F. I. Jankovic dMirievo - Director of Saint-Petersburg Major Public School

Elena Igorevna Krasikova, The St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science and
Technology, Russian Academy of Science, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Fedor Ivanovich Jankovic dMirievo (1741-1814), representative of an ancient Serbian family, was
invited to Russia during the reign of Empress Catherine II. He had studied law, social and economic
sciences at Vienna University, and he was an excellent teacher. In Austria Jankovic dMirievo
participated in reforming the system of public education. It was aimed at improving the training of
teachers, enhancing efficiency of teaching, establishing special education administration. After
successful establishment of the new educational system in Austria, Catherine II decided to take it as
an example and to introduce it in Russia. Soon one of the authors of the new system Jankovic
dMirievo was introduced to the Russian Empress by Austrian Emperor Frantz Joseph.
In 1782 F. I. Jankovic dMirievo came to Russia. He became a member of the Commission on public
schools establishment. The task of the Commission was to organize public schools and teachers
training, to prepare textbooks. Jankovic dMirievo actively participated in these undertakings. He was
director of Saint-Petersburg Major Public School (Glavnoye Narodnoye Uchilische), where teachers
were trained. On his initiative researchers from St Petersburg Academy of Sciences and Moscow
University were invited to the School as tutors for would-be teachers. N. Ya. Ozerovetsky, V. M.
Severgin and other famous scientists and scholars gave lectures there. Thanks to such a high
standard of teaching and new methods of research the School became one of the most advanced
educational establishments of Russia in the XVIII century. Fedor Ivanovich participated in drafting the
curriculums for Land, Artillery, Engineering Corps. He worked out programmes for the Society of
Education for Noble Girls and School for Middle Class Girls. The system built by the Serbian
enlightener was in use in Russia for many years.
In 1783 F. I. Jankovic dMirievo was elected a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The same
year he was engaged in compiling the first thesaurus of the Russian language. In 1784 and 1786 he

86

was awarded the Order of St Vladimir (of the 3 and 4 degree). F. I. Jankovic contributed much to the
re-editing, enlarging and republishing of the Comparative Dictionary of All Languages and Dialects
Alphabetically Arranged. In course of the work on this dictionary which he carried out on the order
of Empress Catherine II in 1790-1791 he compared 279 languages, among them 171 Asian, 55
European, 80 African and 23 American. The dictionary was an important step in the generation of
Russian linguistics.
A Serbian by birth, he, worked a lot for the good of Russia. He died in 1814 and was buried at the
Alexandre Nevsky Laura memorial cemetery in St Petersburg.

Friendship between Nikola Tesla & Mark Twain

Dragoljub Aleksandar Cucic, Regional Center for Talents "Mihajlo Pupin", Pancevo, Serbia
Aleksandar S. Nikoli, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Bratislav Stojiljkov, Nikola Tesla Museum, Belgrade, Serbia
Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla were friends. The first one of the best writers, the second the biggest
inventor both of them dreamers.
Nikola Tesla has made numerous discoveries and inventions in the field of electric power, lighting
techniques, radio technology, wireless control, and a number of high frequency current applications
in industry, medicine, mechanical engineering and aviation. Two world-renowned and recognized
personalities: Tesla a scientist and inventor, Twain a writer and satirist, lived and worked during
the period that includes the 19th and 20th century. Although their creative orientation was different,
there were great friends and they had deep respect of each other's work and contribution.
In Tesla's legacy, among many surviving archival documents, personal and technical, monographs
and serials were found several letters od correspondence these two giants exchanged.
The aim of this study was to examine the caracter of their friendship, to present details of their
friendship, which denominators were discovered together and offer a new saved documents, lessknown details from the life stories of two deserving people, who through their knowledge and were
trying to create a new and better world.

Victor Conrad and his Interrelation to Slavic Science and Scientists

Christa Hammerl, Zentralanstalt fuer Meteorologie und Geodynamik, Wien, Austria
In 1901 Victor Conrad (1876-1962) became employed as University Assistant at the ZAMG where he
found himself confronted with research tasks of Physical Meteorology.
In 1904 the ZAMG became responsible for the seismic monitoring of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
territory, and Victor Conrad was appointed Head of Department. During this time Conrad developed
an own small version of a seismograph the Conrad-pendulum, capable of recording stronger
ground motions.
From 1910 until the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1919 he was appointed as Professor
for Cosmic Physics at the University of Czernowitz.
From 1915 on during war service (Feldwetterdienst, Feldwetterstation Belgrad), Conrad established a
meteorological network from the Save and Danube to the Osum river in South Albania.
This several years lasting work and many journeys in more or less unknown areas of Montenegro and
Albania culminated in a well functioning network and Conrad could later use the data for a
comprehensive description of the climate of this area.
After the occupation of Serbia by the Central Powers (Mittelmchte) during the WWI Victor Conrad
became commander of the Meteorological Observatory Belgrade between 1916 and 1918.
After the breakdown of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy Conrad again served at the ZAMG. After the
Nazi takeover of power in Weimar Germany in January 1933 Conrad tried to find a new job in one of

87

the meteorological institutes in Europe. He contacted among others also the Serbian geophysicist
and civil engineer Milutin Milankovi, but all attempts were in vain.
After the Anschluss of Austria to the German Reich in 1938, Conrad, Jewish descent, left Europe.
Beno Gutenberg a student of Emil Wiechert assisted him when settling down in the USA.
Conrads scientifically lifework comprises more than 240 papers concerning Meteorology,
Climatology and Seismology.

Hidden Cycles of the Revolution - Milankovic, Wegener and the New Earth Sciences
Aleksandar Petrovic, University of Belgrade; President of the Serbian Society of History of Science,
Belgrade, Serbia
Milutin Milankovic (1879 1958) and Alfred Wegener (1880 1924) have revolutionized the Earth
sciences. Milankovic, with background in Civil Engineering, revived astronomical theory of climate,
dethroned geocentric causality in explanation of climate dynamics and defined climate change as a
general cosmic problem, the same for all the planets with a solid crust. Alfred Wegener, who got his
PhD in astronomy, and performed his research in meteorology, renounced ruling geological concept
of sink bridges between continents and established theory of continental drift. Despite the fact that
Milankovic and Wegener were very close collaborators since 1921, and that their research forced
rewriting of all textbooks in the Earth sciences there is no single comparative study since devoted to
the work of two most prominent scientists. The aim of this paper is to find out striking similarities
between their biographies and scientific work. Especially it will be analyzed significance of the year
1912 when Milankovic published Mathematical theory of climate and Wegener delivered a lecture
The Origin of Continents.

Slavonians between Non-Slavonians (Infancy of the School of Slavonic and East European
Studies in London)
Milada Sekyrkova, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
At the beginning of the autumn term of 1915 the annual calendar published by Kings College
announced the formation of a "School of Slavonic" was originally to consist only of four posts in the
Russian and Serbian languages. The lecture, entitled "The Problems of Small Nations in the European
Crisis" was given by the distinguished Slav savant, Prof. T.G. Masaryk.
The paper has been focused on the relations between Slavonian and Not-Slavonians staff of the
School namely on director Sir Bernard Pares (1867 - 1949).
Based on the correspondence of some Slavonian lecturers (e.g. Otakar Odloilk) is it trying to
recontruct the feel at school in the 20th of the past century.

Scientific activity of Bulgarian S.N.Vankov in Russia and the USSR

Boris I. Ivanov, St. Petersburg Branch, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Semen Nikolaevich Vankov, native Bulgarian, a prominent scholar, manger in science and industry,
and public figure, lived, mostly, Russia and the USSR. The young talented Bulgarian officer as well as a
passionate supporter of Slavic co-unity idea, S.N.Vankov, one of the leaders of pro-Russian party in
Bulgaria, was urged to emigrate from Bulgaria to Russia, where he was welcomed and for prosperity
of which he did a great deal indeed. Apart from Vankovs merits for Russia, here, we take attention
to his scientific activity. It involved his literature heritance. His fluent pen gave tens of scientific
publications: books, articles, papers, speeches and so on. Breadth of their themes were
overwhelming: explosives, and turbines, metal piles and refrigerators, refined iron and electric
equipment of metal rolls, projects of water pipelines and electric power stations, projects of military
plants and Dnieper aluminium integrated works, problems of sciences management and research,
88

problems of development of ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, metal-working industry and so on.
Special features of his works are widely known reference books, useful for broad masses of
engineers, technicians, workers. Vankovs scientific works were distinguished by their actuality, they
made their appearance at the very moments when the urgent themes came into being. Vankovs
scientific works enriched the engineering thought of his contemporaries, promoted their scientific
and, especially, practical activity. Being a scholar, effective manager of science, technology and
practice, S.N.Vankov was outstanding person. He was a man of versatile knowledge and interests, of
a vast energy, target-oriented and consecutive. A characteristic of him was scientific and business
courage, he feels the need of epoch, so, advances the actual problems. But, he was viewing the
future, being distinct in his outlook for perspective, so, he was unmistaken in his decisions.
S.N.Vankov was a person of large scale, of wide thought and wide-ranging enterprise.

Art and Literature in the Context of Slavic Science

Danko Kamcevski, Kragujevac, Serbia
In this paper we shall examine the fusion of science and literature in "Through Universe and
Centuries" and "Through the Realm of Sciences" written by the Serbian scientist, Milutin
Milankovich, viewed in the context of Slavic science. It is well known that Russian philosophy is
contained within its national literature. Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Bulgakov were philosophers as
well as writers. Alexander Borodin, a distinguished doctor of chemistry, was also a renowned
composer of classical music. Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian polymath, wrote poetry. Rudjer Boskovic, a
physicist and astronomer, also wrote philosophical works and poetry. Nikola Tesla translated Serbian
epic poetry, and wrote his own poetry as well; he also discovered rotating magnetic field while
reciting an excerpt from Goethes Faust. Mihajlo Pupin won a Pulitzer award for his book From
Immigrant to Inventor. This tradition is reminiscent of Platos poetical dialogues, Parmenidess
philosophical poems or Heraclituss mystical fragments, evocative of Taoist writings. Hence, the
Slavic approach could lie in reviving and reaffirming this approach, and could serve as a bridge
between ancient and modern, science and art. From there on we shall focus on Milutin Milankovich's
works, analyzing them both as so-called popular-science and as literary pieces. Milankovich's
books, while an introduction to science for non-specialist readers, also recommend themselves to a
lover of literature by the virtue of their style, meditative, spiritual, and poetic. Scientific
developments of the future may render some Milankovich's views obsolete, but, could the strength
of his approach lie in the fact that, long after his findings are superseded, his book shall still remain a
classic of literature? Could Milankovich be a Dostoyevsky of Science? With joining the scientific and
literary spheres does Milankovich represent a holistic way of thinking about nature, as opposed to
compartmentalizing and specialization in modern science?

Russian Influences on Physics Education and Research in Romania after the Second World
War: a Case Study on the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna
Gabriela Eugenia Iacobescu, University of Craiova, Craiova, Romania
As it is well-known, science and art in the Soviet Union were under the strict ideological control of
the communist party. But despite that it could be discerned certain positive elements, for instance
the fast progress of what the party named ideologically secure fields of research, due to the free of
charge education and the scientific research supported by governmental founds. However, in some
cases, the consequences of ideological pressure were dramatic, the most famous examples being
those of "bourgeois pseudo-science", like genetics and cybernetics.
At the end of the fifth decade, were also attempts to suppress special and general theories of
relativity and quantum mechanics, considered idealistic. But, the Soviet physicists said, firmly, that
without using these theories, they wouldnt be able to make a nuclear bomb.
Scientific research in almost all areas was hindered by the fact that many scientists were sent to
89

labor camps, or were executed. They were persecuted for being real or imaginary dissidents, or for
their politically incorrect researches. However, there were significant discoveries during Stalin
regime both in Soviet Union and in Romania.
Starting with the 60s, the Soviet influence on the education and research in physics in Romania,
brought many benefits, mainly due to the available literature in the field of physics and due to the
joint research projects. A good example of cooperation and intercultural influences was and remains
the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna. JINR has at present 18 Member States:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czech Republic, Georgia, Kazakhstan, D. P. Republic of
Korea, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
Participation of Germany and Hungary in JINR activities is based on bilateral agreements signed at
the governments' level.
Besides that, the aim of this article is also to present a study of these documents which could bring
another approach of the role of Slavic culture and science on the Romanian ones. In June 2010, the
Library of the Socio-Humanistic Research Institute "CS Nicolaescu Plopor" from Craiova received an
important donation of books, manuscripts and scientific records from the family of the historian and
researcher Damian P. Bogdan, author and coauthor of several books of translations of the Slavic
documents.

The Achievements of F. Patricius and R. Boscovich to the Notion of Force in the Philosophy
of Nature
Tomislav Petkovic, Faculty of Electical Engineering and Computing (FER), Zagreb, Croatia
Frane Petri (Franciscus Patricius; April 25, 1529, Town of Cres February 6, 1597, Rome) was a
philosopher and scientist at the fall of Renaissance. A short review of the Patricius theory of tides
developed in the three books of Pancosmia in the "Nova de Universis Philosophia" will be
emphasized in the presentation. A hierarchy of the more than 20 tidal causes was investigated by the
Patricius unique philosophical-scientific method. He identified the attraction of the Moon and Sun as
the first two general tidal causes. In the book "Concepts of Force" (M. Jammer, Dover, 1999; First ed.
1957), the name of F. Patricius and his treatise on tides were mentioned on page 83. In his Letter to
H. von Hohenburg (1607), Kepler also quoted the work of Patricus. However, Patricius found neither
epistemic meaning of gravity (a force due to the masses of celestial bodies) nor the true physics
causes for the rise and fall of the sea surface. He rather ascribed tides to be caused by light and heat
(lux and calor), consistent with his philosophical system. Ruer Josip Bokovi (Rogerius Joseph
Boscovich; May 18, 1711, Dubrovnik - February 13, 1787, Milano) was one of the great scientists and
philosophers of all time. He used for the first time a method of thinking of Newton, Descartes,
Spinoza, and Leibniz, to synthesize them into his new original method of thinking of Nature. His
"Theory of Natural Philosophy" (Vienna 1758, Venice 1763) was based on points-atoms as the
ultimate building blocks of matter, whose interactions were synthesized and unified by the single law
of forces that exists in nature (universe). Boscovich is the father of the pictorial representation of the
atomic dynamism which was crucial for the modern subsequent concepts of subatomic and subelementary particles: starting by electrons, protons, neutrons, till quarks today. Therefore, N. Bohr,
W. Heisenberg, R. Feynman, and L. Lederman have 'ad hoc' occasionally brought the Boscovichs
"Theory" in the limelight, along the road of Boscovich's legacy or/and development of physics. A
historico-epistemic compatibility of the Boscovich's notions on the ultimate elementary entities in
nature with the parton-quark physics that come up more than two centenaries later, will be
elaborated in the presentation. Perhaps, that might be particularly imporant today for the epistemic
challenges of the 'new experimental physics' at the high energies.

90

Portraits in Historical Context: the Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova and Mikhail
Vasilevich Lomonosov
Galina Ivanovna Smagina, Institute for the History of Science and Technology St. Petersburg, St.
Petersburg, Russian Federation
The princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (17431810) and Mikhail Vasilevich Lomovosov (1711
1765) occupy a prominent position among many famous Russian statesmen and public figures.
Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova, who served as the director of the St. Petersburg Academy
of Sciences in 1783-1794, deserves a special credit for being able to understand the place of a
scientist, poet and educator Mikhail Lomonosov in the history of Russian culture. Upon her initiative
the Academy of Sciences engaged in a number of commemorative undertakings devoted to
Lomonosov and his legacy. Thanks to Dashkova and her efforts, the Academy produced the first sixvolume academic edition of his works; it began to study his correspondence and produced the first
scholarly biography of Lomonosov. She commissioned one of Lomonosovs best portraits the one
that was painted for the Academy of Sciences Conference Hall. Thus Princess Dashkova was one of
the figures who were indispensable for the rise of research on Lomonosov.

Inspired by Russia: Leibniz's Ideas about the Organization of Science in St. Petersburg
Irina Borisovna Sokolova, The St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science and
Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
The history of the slavic science counts quite a few examples of close and productive contacts and
bonds with scientists, science schools and institutions in Western Europe countries. The XVIII century
became a period of change for the russian culture. At that time a change of scientific rationality was
fixed. The success of such sociocultural transformations became possible in many respects because
of ideas developed by foreign scientists; inter alia G.W. Leibniz, a germane philosopher and
illuminator.
In the period 1697-1716, Leibniz watched closely the events taking place in Russian Empire. He met
Peter the Great several times, developed the draft of the structure of the Russian Academy of
Sciences in St. Petersburg and a number of directions concerning institution and development of
universities. Working out these advices and instructions, Leibniz relied not only on the experience of
organization and work of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, but also on ideas and directions for the
unrealized projects in Vienna and Dresden. The philosopher saw the prospect of the development of
science, culture and education only in their synthesis and close cooperation. To assure the fullfledged functioning of an Academy of Sciences it is necessary to prepare the cultural soil of the
country, that is to rear, through the renewed system of schools and universities, a generation of
educated persons, to reexamine the complex of cultural institutions libraries, botanical gardens,
observatories, cabinets of antics etc., to make them generally accessible, arousing interest in science
and education. The main link of the future system would be "The General Directorate", the highest
authority managing education and science in Russia. Leibniz saw a great potential in Russian culture,
stressing that it was essential "to collect, spread and promote" science, education and arts, exactly
with which views his system was developed. Peter the Great has highly appreciated the
recommendations of the philosopher and used lots of them organizing the St. Petersburg Academy
of Sciences.

91

The International Networks of Finnish Slavists and the Re-establishing the International
Scientific Relationships with Russia in 1921-1923
Jussi-Pekka Hakkarainen, University of Turku, Helsinki, Finland
In early 1920s, Russian scholars were sidelined by the Great War and by the Bolshevik regime from
the international academic debate. Scientific relations with the Western countries started reborn in
the course of the relief programme for the Russian scholars organized by the Academic Relief
Committee of Finland (ARCF) in 1921.
In March 1921, famous Maxim Gorky published his appeal on food relief for the Russian scholars in
the Finnish press. The living conditions in Russia had drastically weakened during past two years and
the members of the House of the Learned ( ) in Petrograd, led by Gorky and , were next
to perish. His plead led to an action and a group of Finnish scholars took the initiative by establishing
the ARCF for aiding the Russian colleagues.
The ARCF was not any rough conglomerate since its executive group was led by many academic Finns
who had had close ties with Russian culture, society and academic life during the years before the
Great War. The key figures were Andrey Igelstrm (18601927), the head of the Russian Library at
the University in Helsinki, ethnographer-slavist Viljo Johannes Mansikka (18861947) and professor
of the Slavonic languages, Jooseppi Julius Mikkola (18861946). These men had collaborated in past
decades with the Russian academic world closely and they were aware of the prevailing conditions in
Russia.
In May 1921, the front members of ARCF, Igelstrm and Mansikka, negotiated with Commission for
Improving the Living Conditions of Scientists in Petrograd (
, PetroKUBU) over the terms on the relief for the scholars of the House of the Learned.
The outcome of negotiations was a plan on the aid and its agenda was mainly twofold: 1) the
arranging the materialistic relief (food, clothes etc.) and 2) the exchange of Russian scientific
publications that could reconnect Russian scholars to the academic debate with the foreign
colleagues after a long period of stagnation.
In this presentation, I will examine how the ARCF executed the agenda on relief in co-operation with
PetroKUBU, managed to organize a Europe-wide relief programme for the Russian scholars in need
and managed to re-establish the scientific relationship between the European and Russian scholars
again with the help of international book exchange.

The Russian Academy and the rise of Slavic studies in Russia

Vladimir Semyonovich Sobolev, The St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science
and Technology, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
The Russian Academy at St. Petersburg (1783-1841) functioned in the period that coincided with the
rise of national liberation movement among Slavic nations, oppressed by two empires, the Ottoman
Empire and the Hapsburg Empire. The activists of Slavic awakening considered national languages
and literatures, their development and codification, as a powerful tool for consolidating their
nations. Therefore they ascribed particular attention to their interaction and contacts with the
Russian Academy the leading centre for research on Slavic languages and cultures in the Russian
empire.
The links between the Russian Academy and Slavic intelligentsia were particularly strong in the early
decades of the 19th century. They exchanged academic literature, carried out joint research projects,
produced dictionaries, studied Old Slavic texts, etc. The Academy provided financial support to Slavic
scholars, funded their academic publications, bestowed awards and honorary titles on them. The
Academys Statute of 1818 provided ample room for this type of assistance.
A number of large-scale joint academic projects that were initiated by the Academy are particularly
interesting for historians of science: the production of Comparative Slavic Dictionary, attempts to
92

establish a Slavic Centre at the Academy, extended academic trips of young Russian scholars to Slavic
countries in order to study languages, dialects, compile ethnographic collections. In those years the
Academy established close and fruitful contacts with a number of eminent Slavic scholars Czech
scholars Dobrovsky and Safarik, a Viennese librarian Kopitra, a Serbian scholar Vuk Karadzic, a
Croatian scholar Ljudevit Gaj, and a few others.
These multifaceted projects laid the foundations for Slavic studies in Russia, and opened up scholarly
research on a number of problems in Slavic philology and history.

Serbian Theologian and Philosopher Vladyka Nikolai (Velimirovich): Returning the Lost
Legacy
Diana Nikolaevna Saveleva, The St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science and
Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Vladyka Nikolai (Velimirovich), Bishop of Ochrid and Zhiche, theologian, philosopher, D-r Honoris
causa of the Columbia University, is of poor knowledge for the present-day Russian reader, being the
most famous author in Serbian spiritual literature of XX century. His works of various genres were
issued in 15 volumes.
In 1902, Nikola graduated from the Seminary and continue his studies in the Old Roman Catholic
Theological Faculty at the University of Berne, Switzerland. He graduated, supporting two
dissertations: in History, and Theology. In 1909, Nikola prepared his Doctorate in Philosophy at
Oxford, England, and, in Geneva, Switzerland, wrote his second doctoral dissertation, entitled The
Philosophy of Berkeley.
In 1910, monk Nikolai was sent to Russia, in Saint-Petersburg Holy Academy.
In May, 1911, he was urgently recalled in Motherland by a cablegram from Belgrade to be
consecrated Bishop. He rejected firmly this proposal and became a lecturer of philosophy, logic,
psyhology, history, and foreign languages in Belgrade Theology. During WWII he was jailed in Dachau
(Germany) on September 15, 1944. On May 8, 1945, the prisoners were released from Dachau.
When Titos regime obtained a full power in his Motherland, Vladyka moved on to America. He
continued his missionary and literary activities. In 1951, beloved Bishop Nikolai moved to St. Tikhons
Russian Orthodox Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. Here he spent the last five years of his
earthly life as a professor, dean, and eventually rector of the Seminary.
Despite of the world-wide glory, the works of Vladyka Nikolai Velimirovich were banned in his
Motherland (also, in Russia, till 1991).
Now, the very fact is that St, Nikolai is an epoch in Serbian Theology, Poetry, and Literature of all
genres. It is out of question that his works attract many Serbian scholars as well as the Russian ones.

93

SYMPOSIUM 15

Humanities, Mathematics and Technics at

Renaissance Courts
Organizers
Martin Frank, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Veronica Gavagna, University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy
The humanist manuscript collectors of the Quattrocento were responsible for assembling in Italy an
almost complete corpus of Greek mathematical writings, where the term 'mathematical' has to be
intended in the wider Renaissance meaning: the arts of quadrivium - arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy and music - as well as optics and mechanics. In this sense, for example, artists and
architects, too, were mathematicians inasmuch as they depended on principles of perspective,
harmony and proportion; not to mention that astronomy and astrology had a strong influence on
such studies as medicine and poetry.
The courts libraries that generally reflected the patron's intellectual interests on the one hand
provided the raw material for a mathematical reawakening, offering access to Latin and Greek
texts of Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius, Diophantus, Proclus, Heron, Pappus and so on. Furthermore,
the patrons could see to the financial security of their protgs and thus permit the development of
mathematics outside the institutional framework of the universities. Actually, mathematics
immensely benefited from the humanists eagerness to rediscover, translate and let circulate Greek
manuscripts.
Recently, many studies have been oriented to reconstruct the intellectual life of the courts in the
fifteenth and sixteenth century. The recovery of classical mathematical tradition went hand in hand
with the tendency to apply mathematics to disciplines like architecture, hydraulics, the science of
fortification and military engineering, which had matured in the environment of the abacus-schools.
Through the encounter of the humanistic culture on the one hand and that of the engineers on the
other, the Renaissance courts thus became one of the focal points of different knowledges and
techniques which generated a new approach to science and to technics.
The aim of this symposium is to investigate the significance of this culture emerged from the
Renaissance courts for the so called "Scientific Revolution".

Architectura est scientia La constitution du savoir architectural dans l'humanisme vnitien

du cinquecento (de Fra Giocondo Vincenzo Scamozzi)
Pierre Caye, INSHS, CNRS, Paris, France
L'incipit du chapitre 1 du premier Livre du De architectura de Vitruve, telle du moins et cette
prcision est importante que le vitruvianisme de la Renaissance en tablit l'dition, dfinit
l'architecture comme une science ("Architectura est scientia"). Nous essaierons de comprendre ce
qu'il faut entendre ici sous le terme de science quand il sert dfinir l'architecture humaniste et nous
verrons en quoi cette "science nouvelle" contribue grandement la gense de la technique
moderne.

94

Mechanics, Mathematics and Architecture: Guidobaldo dal Monte at Urbino and Giovanni
Battista Benedetti at Turin
Martin Frank, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Renaissance courts were important focal points of cultural and intellectual life. Amongst others, they
offered the possibility for studies on the mathematical disciplines and for the scientific exchange
between various scholars. Further, they became the place of a fertile interaction between theoretical
mathematical studies and technical problems related to mathematics, like in architecture, hydraulics
and fortification. In the present talk, we want to analise this interaction in the cases of two major
exponents of sixteenth-century mechanics, Guidobaldo dal Monte and Giovanni Battista Benedetti.In
fact, as recent studies reveal, Guidobaldo dal Monte was closely connected with the ducal court of
Urbino. The Duke conditioned both his scientific work and his activity as engineerarchitect, by
exhorting him to compose certain mathematical treatises and by charging him with tasks to head or
supervising various construction sites. Corrispondingly, several writings of Guidobaldo show the
influences of his interaction with the intellectual life at court, as well as of his contacts with
engineers, architects and technicians. Giovanni Battista Benedettis situation was in a certain extent
similar to Guidobaldos. Amongst his extant works there are manuscripts on scientific instruments
and on gnomonics, apparently composed for the Duke of Savoia. Further he, too, was active as
architect or technical consulent of the Duke. Recent studies have moreover shown the close
interaction with his scientific environment, composed by mathematicians, engineers, architects and
philosophers. The talk will be dedicated to the presentation of these aspects, and to the analysis of
the convergences and divergences of their roles at the respective courts, as well as of the possible
influences on their scientific work.

Federigo Bonaventura (1555-1602), Physics and the Scientific Context in the Duchy of
Urbino between XVIth and XVII c.
Giulia Giannini, Centre Alexandre Koyr, Paris, France
Federico Bonaventura (1555-1602) was above all a courtier. Being left an orphan by father, in 1564
he was taken in Rome and educated by the Cardinal Giulio Della Rovere (1532-1578), brother of the
Duke of Urbino Gudobaldo II (1514-1574). In 1573 Bonaventura arrived in Urbino as a court servant
and he soon found the favor of Francesco Maria II, the new Duke that succeeded his father in 1574.
Author of erudite and ponderous works, Bonaventura is undoubtedly an important figure in the last
phase of the Duchy of Urbino a short time before the end of the Della Rovere family and the
assignment of the Duchy to Papal States (that was signed by Francesco Maria II in December 20th
1624 and became effective on his death in April 23rd 1631).
Federico Bonaventura is mainly known for his political writings. In particular, his Della Ragion di Stato
et della Prudenza Politica (1601) commissioned by the Duke in contrast with the homonymous text
of Giovanni Botero (1544-1617) made him a child of the ratio status, mentioned by Benedetto
Croce (1866-1952) and Friedrich Meinecke (1862-1954) among others.
Despite being quite celebrated for his political activity, the information about his philosophical and
scientific interests is very scanty. It is known that he wrote some very meticulous and erudite works
on various ancient astronomical and meteorological texts and a long treatise on premature births.
Nevertheless, these works are largely unknown, they never were re-edited and they remained
substantially unsold.
The study of these astronomical works and the analysis of the manuscripts preserved in the
Oliveriana Library in Pesaro and in the archives of Urbino, will, for the first time, allow us to assess
and clarify the extent of Bonaventuras contribution in the physical debate of his time while at the

95

same time contributing at a deeper understanding of neglected aspects of Urbinos scientific context
between XVIth and XVIIth century.

A Mathematician and Scholar of ancient Mechanics at Court: Bernardino Baldi at

Guastalla, Sabbioneta, Roma and Urbino
Elio Nenci, Universit degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
Bernardino Baldi was a very important representative of the so-called Urbino school of mathematics.
For a long time he was employed as mathematician by the little court of Guastalla. Also he spent
about two years in Rome by the Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini. Finally at the end of his life he came
back to Urbino in service of the Duke Francesco Maria II. Very little is known about the studies and
discussions concerning science and technical knowledge carried out at these courts. The paper will
try to throw light on this topic, rereading all Baldis scientific works from this particular point of view.

How Does the Weight of a Body Change along an Inclined Plan? Tartaglia and Del Montes
Answers, between Technical Problems and Theorical Settlement
Fabio Zanin, Liceo ginnasio "G.B. Brocchi" - Bassano del Grappa (VI), Fonte (TV), Italy
The discussion on the variation of the weight of a body along an inclined plan, due to the speed it
goes or to the position it has on the plan itself, held an important place in Physics during 16th
century. It played also a crucial role in arranging the conceptual devices and the experimental data
that made the Scientific Revolution possible.
At that time, at least two different answers to the question: How does the weight of a body change
along an inclined plan? were given: by Tartaglia (Iordani opusculum de ponderositate, 1565,
posthumous), based on the Medieval studies of Jordanus de Nemore, and by Guidubaldus Del Monte
(Mechanicorum liber, 1577), who revised the ancient solution of Pappus of Alexandria (Mathematical
Collections, beginning of IV cent. A.D.), based on the principles of levers.
Tartaglia and Del Monte were involved in the analysis of the same technical problems, especially
those of ballistics. In fact, the former was for a long time military consultant of the Republic of
Venice, while the latter was for a couple of years at war in Hungary against the Turcs. But their
cultural training was very different. Tartaglia was a self-taught scientist, while Del Monte was an
influential professor, who learned mathematics under Commandinos guidance. And finally, Del
Montes solution was well included in his systematic science of mechanics, while Tartaglias one was,
as usual, only a part of his totally unsystematic studies on motion and weight.
In spite of these preconditions, Tartaglia prevailed, as Stevins proof of the impossibility of the
perpetual motion, and Galileis law of acceleration of falling bodies would have shown. Why did it
happen? Maybe Del Monte depended too stricly on his science of mechanics, whose conceptual
framework was that of statics, being any dynamical analysis of motion and weight laid aside. On the
other hand, Tartaglia solution gave more possibilities to develop many lines of research in Physics. In
other words, even if they started from the same technical problems, Tartaglias attitude appeared to
be the right one for a time, in which Science was changing but couldnt be already enclosed in a
systematic theory.

Rediscovering Classics: Humanists, Artists, Techinicians

Pier Daniele Napolitani, Dipartimento di Matematica, Universit di Pisa, Pisa, Italy
The purpose of this paper is to point out the interplay between different cultures in the restoration
of Greek Mathematics. This topic was long time ago addressed by the book "The Italian Renaissance
of mathematics" of. P.L. Rose. Rose, however, considers near only the humanistic aspect of the
problem. The present paper would be a call for a more comprehensive vision.
96

The Euclidean Tradition at the Renaissance Courts: the Case of Federico Commandino
Veronica Gavagna, University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy
In the first decades of the Sixteenth century the editions of the Elements available to the scholars
were essentially the editio princeps, printed in Venice in 1482 by Erhard Ratdolt and based on the
medieval version of Campanus from Novara, and the Venetian edition of 1505, based instead on the
translation of a Greek code, made by the humanist Bartolomeo Zamberti. The medieval recensio
showed additions, changing of definitions or differences in numbering propositions, whereas the
humanist translation, very careful to the linguistic aspect, mercilessly highlighted the very poor
geometrical talent of Zamberti. Numerous editions followed -- among the others the remarkable
editions of Faber Stapulensis (1516), Grynaeus (1533), Fin (1536), Tartaglia (1543), Scheubel (1550),
Peletier (1557), Daypodius (1564), Candalle (1566) but none of them had the features to become a
shared and trustworthy edition of the Elements, the reference point for the European scholars.
Actually, most of the Sixteenth century Elements simply embraced Campanus or Zambertis
approach. This situation completely changed in 1572, when the Commandinos edition appeared.
Federico Commandino (1509-1575), the founder of the so-called Urbino School, lived under
patronage of important Renaissance families, as della Rovere and Farnese which permitted him to
get access to the most valuable libraries, to maintain close contact with humanists circles and
pursue a great programme for the renaissance of mathematics. He published the works to mention
the most important ones -- of Apollonius (1566) , Archimedes (1558), Pappus (posthumous 1588) and
Euclid, both in Latin (1572) and in vernacular (1575). Commandinos edition of the Elements, that
soon became the reference edition up to the XIXth century, combines philological rigour and
mathematical exactness. The Euclidean text, based on Greek sources, is enriched of comments and
addictions (in italic type, clearly distinct from the critical text) based on both classical and
contemporary sources: this edition, actually, represents Commandinos idea of restitutio or reappropriation of Classics in the light of an integrated scientific knowledge. Commandinos edition is
addressed to the past only concerning its faithfulness to the Greek text, but is undoubtedly a
typical renaissance text in outlining a particular vision of mathematical knowledge.

The Archimedean Tradition and the Humanistic Courts of Quattrocento

Paolo d'Alessandro, Universit di Chieti, Pescara, Italy
Archimedes was first rediscovered in the Latin West at the Papal court of Viterbo, when in the XIII
century William of Moerbeke did his translation of the Archimedean corpus. The second important
step was the new translation made by Iacopo da San Cassiano by 1450. The Iacopo's translation was
extensively revised by Regiomontanus and eventually became the basis of the Archimedean revival
of the XVI century.
The aim of this paper is to investigate the role held by the court of Gonzaga in Mantua, of Nicholas V,
of cardinal Bessarione, of Federico Montefeltro in Urbino, in this recovering process.

Between Germany and Great Britain: Renaissance Scientists at Reformed Universities

and Courts
Pietro Daniel Omodeo, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany
A thorough study on scientific production at northern European universities and protestant courts
during the Renaissance is still a desideratum in the history of science and institutions. This papera
contribution to this complex historical issuepresents the results of archival and bibliographical
research on three late-Renaissance mathematicians-physicians who made their lives alternately as
university professors or as courtiers in the German Empire and Great Britain:
97

1. John Craig of Edinburgh (died in 1620), who studied in England and Germany, made a brilliant
career as professor of logic, mathematics and medicine at the University of Frankfurt Oder and later
became a court physician to King James VI of Scotland and I of England;
2. Duncan Liddel of Aberdeen (1561-1613), who studied at Frankfurt Oder and Rostock, entered the
circle of Dudith in Wroclaw, became acquainted with Brahe in Denmark, taught lower and higher
mathematics as well as medicine at Rostock and Helmstedt before he returned to Scotland with his
scientific library and endowed the University of Aberdeen with a chair of mathematics;
3. Magnus Pegel of Rostock (1547-ca. 1618), who studied at Rostock and had international
connections including Brahes Denmark and Keplers Prague. He worked as a professor of
mathematics at Helmstedt and Rostock, and as an engineer and physician in several courts, among
them Wolfenbttel, Prague and Szczecin.
A case study on these scholars permits to highlight institutional conditions of scientific production
during the Renaissance, as well as forms of cosmopolitanism and cultural-transfer in a northern
European protestant environment.

Leonardo on Hydrostatics: a Research Engineering Approach?

Paolo Cavagnero, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
As evidenced by many scholars, hydraulics was one of the main interests of Leonardo da Vinci; his
manuscripts are full of drawings and projects on water, accompanied by a variety of notes, subtle
meditations, and some remarkable considerations.
Leonardo's expertise in this field surely comes, first of all, from the well-established technical
tradition of his time. But the particular approach that he often adopts to study and solve the
problems encountered in his activity as an engineer sometimes led him to revise or innovate some
aspects of this tradition.
This approach, that today reminds us the methods of research engineering, is effectively resumed by
Hunter Rouse in his volume 'Engineering Hydraulics': Practically every problem in engineering
hydraulics involves the prediction by either analytical or experimental methods of one or more
characteristics of flow. There are, in brief, three different bases for such prediction. The first is that of
"engineering experience" gained in the field by each individual engineer. The second is the laboratory
method of studying each specific problem by means of scale models. The third is the process of
theoretical analysis. The most effective solution of almost any problem will be obtained by combining
the best features of all three methods of approach.
Examples of this kind of method are given by Leonardo's personal experiences, laboratory studies
and theoretical analyses on hydrostatics (especially on pressure and buoyancy) that were stimulated
by the necessity of solving specific problems in the field of navigation or in the construction of canals,
banks, reservoirs and scales.

The Way of the Schlick Family towards Silver Mining in Joachimsthal

Michal Novotny, Technical Museum, Prague, Czech Republic
The Count Family of Schlick is seemingly a familiar topic in the mining history of the Czech Lands. The
history of the Familys silver mining and minting of coins (Thaler) in Joachimsthal (Jchymov, Western
Bohemia) has been relatively well processed. While the history of the mining town of Joachimsthal
(Jchymov) starts as late as 1516, the well-known history of the Schlick family can be followed as
early as the late 14th century. However, before the Schlicks became prominent mining
entrepreneurs, they had to go a long way: at its beginning stood a townsman of Eger (Cheb, Western
Bohemia) Hans Schlick, substantiated after 1390.
The proposed contribution will be focused on the development of the economic and social rise of the
Family during the 15th and 16th centuries. Because a beginning of the political career of Kaspar
98

Schlick, the Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, was substantially connected with the town of Eger
(Cheb), particularly the relations of the Schlick Family to this powerfull town will be presented in the
paper. The services to the Emperors changed the property and social status of the Schlick Family and
enabled their rise, which was completed with the foundation of the town of Joachimsthal. This
mining town was a significant cultural and economic centre in the 16th century and became a truly
crossroad of the technological (mining and metallurgy), cultural (Georg Agricola, Johan Mathesius)
and religious (Protestant Reformation) influences of this time period. The proposed contribution
attempts to emphasize the important milestones of the way of the Schlick family towards silver
mining in Joachimsthal.

Arithmetization of Syllogistic
Jana Roztoilov, Mgr. David Pelikn, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czech Republic
The paper investigates the conception of arithmetization of inferences performed by Leibniz.
Namely, it concentrates on the arithmetization of Aristotles syllogistic. The objective is not only to
present the way how Leibniz implements the arithmetization but also to examine the usefulness and
practical applicability of the process.
The authors analyze the Leibnizs arithmetization of syllogistic to illustrate the fact that Leibniz
formed an important turning point in the development of logic, namely, in case of deduction and
logical calculi. Through the arithmetization of syllogistic Leibniz showed that it is possible to use
mathematical procedures in logic as well as in human reasoning at all. His effort in this case is good
example of his overall effort to introduce rigorous methods used in mathematics into other
disciplines. And that effort was an important inspiration for the further development of logic.
This Leibnizs reformatory research program of mathematization of logic inspired a number of
successors who tried to fulfill his proposal. It is the first use of mathematical methods for sake of
inferences. The use of mathematical apparatus in reasoning, however, opened new perspectives in
the construction of logic tools. By his attempt of mathematization of logic Leibniz inspired not only
his direct successors, but indirectly also the later generations of logicians and mathematicians. His
idea was an inspiration for constitution of the algebraization of logic (Boole) which is used in logic
and in mathematics up to now. Due to the algebraization, however, the whole arithmetization has
become outdated.

99

SYMPOSIUM 16

Mathematical Courses in Engineering

Education in the 17th and 18th c.
in the Iberian Peninsula
Organizers
M Rosa Massa Esteve, Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
Antnia Fialho Conde, University of Evora, Evora, Portugal
The idea of combining theory and practice in mathematics was forged in the seventeenth and
eighteenth century as a result of different influences. Several mathematical courses published
through the seventeenth century offered extensive material for teaching pure and mixed
mathematics, such as pure geometry, practical geometry, optics, statics, mechanics, artillery, and
fortification. In the eighteenth century, these textbooks were the fundamental source for
engineering courses. In particular, we would like to focus our analysis on relevant mathematical
courses developed in the Iberian Peninsula by authors such as Luis Serrao Pimentel (1613-1679)
and Manuel de Azevedo Fortes (1660-1749) in Portugal, and Sebastin Fernndez de Medrano (16461705), Jorge Prspero Verboom (1667-1744), Pedro de Lucuce (1692-1779), Toms Cerd (17151791), and Pedro Padilla y Arcos (f.1753) in Spain. Most of these courses were designed for the
training of military officers. References to them appeared in several treatises produced in Spain,
France, or Germany. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the works of Bernard Forest Blidor
(1698-1761) were particularly influential. We aim to determine the central subjects for engineering
education. Two parts are recognized as essential for the training of an engineer: practical geometry
and fortification. Practical geometry consists of trigonometry, logarithms, trigonometric and
logarithm tables, instruments and their application in the field. Fortification consists in describing the
building of defence lines, fortresses, and bastions. However, analysis of the contents of these
treatises raises other questions for discussion related, for example, with the role of pure
mathematics. What was the interpretation or the version of Euclids Elements used in these
textbooks? Does the use of the geometry of Port Royal have any significance? One could also
consider other aspects such as to what extent these mathematical courses spread or appropriated
the new knowledge in that time, like algebra or infinitesimal calculus. In addition, an international
network of mathematical works was assembled to provide a better education for engineers.
The communications on these aspects of mathematical courses will offer new insights into the kind
of knowledge available to engineers in the eighteenth century and in consequence its influence on
the society. The education of engineers gives us an outstanding example of how international
cosmopolitan- knowledge becomes a local culture, the engineering culture, purportedly national in
many cases, as explicitly suggested by the title of the notable textbook by Manuel de Azevedo Fortes
(The Portuguese Engineer).

The Art of Fortifying and the Mathematical Instruments: Tradition and Innovation in the
Training of Military Engineers in the 17th c. in Portugal
Antnia Fialho Conde, Department of History, University of Evora, Evora, Portugal
The beginning of the modern period, confronted by new discoveries and interrogations regarding
scientific knowledge, marks the emergence of new languages. The question of images and scientific
illustrations as copies of reality, of representation of instruments as complements of the written
100

discourse, had been gaining strength since the sixteenth century. The alert given by the Jesuits in
relation to the deceit created by the senses appears within this context, appealing therefore to the
use of mathematical concepts and scientific instruments (such as the telescope) and wagering in the
practical dimension of these same instruments (beyond the symbolic dimension they already had). It
was the Jesuits that gave Mathematics the responsibility to explain/demonstrate the physical world,
countering the Aristotelic primacy of Natural Philosophy; for them, the principle of all sciences
should be as evident and universal as the Euclidian postulates.
One of the strongest examples of the application of mathematical knowledge is situated at the level
of military engineering, which reveals, in its engineers, excellent mathematicians, some of them with
a Jesuit education. Starting from the book Disciplinae Mathematicae traditae anno institutae
societatis Iesu secularie (Louvain, 1639-1640) and from the representation of the mathematical
instruments included in this work by Jan Ciermans (1602-1648), a Jesuit, we shall try to appraise the
influence of this work in the interventions of its author as chief engineer and superintendent of the
fortresses in the South of Portugal, contextualizing both Author and book in the scientific production
of their time. In this work, which illustrates the diversity of mathematical disciplines (mixed and pure)
we shall highlight the chapters dedicated to Fortification and to the Machines of War, as well as the
whole ensemble of illustrations, and we shall look for both continuity and innovation in terms of
military engineering treatises (which call upon mathematical instrumentation) in Portugal in the
seventeenth century.

Contents and Sources of Practical Geometry in Pedro Lucuces Course at the Barcelona
Royal Military Academy of Mathematics
M Rosa Massa Esteve, Antoni Roca-Rosell, Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
The Barcelona Royal Military Academy of Mathematics (1720-1803) represents a singular example
for engineering education in the eighteenth century. In 1739, an Ordinance of the Royal Academy
established a general course of mathematics to train military engineers and artillery officers. This
course was prepared by its director Pedro Lucuce (1692-1779) according to the reports made by the
General Engineer Jorge Prspero de Verboom.
We focus on one subject recognized as essential for the training of an engineer in the eighteenth
century: practical geometry. Since Verboom signalled the sources on which the course of the
Academy should be based, and quoted the Mathematical Course of Bernard Forest Blidor (16981761) for practical geometry, the aim of this communication is to compare the practical instructions
and contents of this part of mixed mathematics in both mathematical courses. This analysis allows us
to know better the knowledge required for engineering education in eighteenth century Spain.

Traveling from the Center to the Periphery: Manuel de Azevedo Fortes and the Renewal of
Portuguese Engineering Education
Maria Paula Pires dos Santos Diogo, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal
The creation of a well-defined professional consciousness relies largely on its corpus of knowledge.
The initiated receive a unique training, which allows them to deal with the theoretical and practical
questions of a specific professional field. Therefore textbooks and schools play a decisive role in
shaping the profile of each profession. From the 16th to the beginning of the 19th century Portugal
was a rich country, where gold and silver, pepper and silk, allowed the ruling classes to linger on an
easy, non-productive existence. It was easier to import than to produce: machines, goods, scholars,
teachers were paid to come to Portugal. The process of creation and sedimentation of a local
intelligentsia was thus delayed, as there wasnt any true local appropriation of knowledge.
There were, however, some exceptions. Manuel de Azevedo Fortes was one of them. Himself an
estrangeirado (European oriented intellectuals), Azevedo Fortes tried to build a strong national
101

community of engineers, using both his personal network of contacts and his personal experience in
several European countries and shaping it to the Portuguese reality. His two volume book O
Engenheiro Portugus (The Portuguese Engineer), published in 1728-29, became the main
engineering textbook for those who studied at the Military Academy and the keystone for building a
local expertise on this area.
In this paper I will analyse the role of Manuel de Azevedo Fortes as one of the builders of the
modern Portuguese engineering community, by focusing on his written work and mainly on the O
Engenheiro Portugus.

Pedro Padilla and his Mathematical Course (1753-1756): Views on Mixed Mathematics in
eighteenth-century Spain
Monica Blanco, Carles Puig-Pla, Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
In 1717 the King Philip V established the Royal Guards Headquarters (Cuartel de Guardias de Corps),
mirroring the French garde du corps du roi. Intended mainly for noblemen, it was an elitist
institution, all its members having the rank of officers and benefitting from huge privileges. Towards
the end of 1750 an Academy of Mathematics (Academia de Matemticas) was created within the
Royal Guards Headquarters, under the direction of Captain Pedro Padilla (1724-1807?). This academy
was ruled by the same regulations as the Military Academy of Mathematics of Barcelona. Attendance
was not mandatory, it was only devised for those interested in getting a deeper mathematical
knowledge. In fact, rather than its real practical use for the Royal Guards, mathematics was studied
as a mark of prestige.
Padilla held the position of Headmaster up to the closure of the Academy of Mathematics in 1760. In
1753 Padilla started publishing his Curso Militar de Mathematicas, sobre partes de esta ciencia, para
uso de la Real Academia establecida en el Cuartel de Guardias de Corps (1753-1756) [Military Course
of Mathematics, about some parts of this science, for the use of the Royal Academy established in
the Military Academy of the Royal Guards]. Of the twenty mathematical treatises that Padilla
originally intended to develop, only five were finally published. Yet, from the preface of his first
volume it is evident that Padilla aimed to show the basic principles of each branch of mathematics,
useful enough for military training, in general, and for engineering training, in particular. Besides,
Padillas approach to the general division of mathematics, elaborated in the preface, is similar to that
of DAlemberts tree of knowledge in the Discours prliminaire of the Encyclopdie (1751), including
of course the division of Mathematics into pure and mixed. Therefore Padillas classification
illustrates the reception and circulation of the ideas of the Encyclopdie in Spain.
The aim of this contribution is to explore the connection between theory and practice in Padillas
mathematical course and to examine this course to understand what Padilla regarded as useful
mathematics for engineers.

The Mathematical Courses of Toms Cerd in eighteenth-century Spain

Joaquim Berenguer, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Toms Cerd was a Jesuit, mathematician, and teacher in Barcelona and Madrid during the late
eighteenth century. Cerd translated English authors into Spanish and was a teacher in a Jesuit
school in Barcelona, where his students were not only from an aristocratic background but also the
citys craftsmen.
Like many other scientists at that time, Cerd was concerned about transmitting both pure and
mixed mathematics. He published two treatises on Arithmetic and Geometry respectively. He aimed
at publishing a whole course which as well as Arithmetic and Geometry, would also include
Differential and Integral Calculus (Calculus of Fluxions), the Application of Algebra to Geometry and
Curves, Treatises on Mechanics, Optics, Astronomy, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics and Pneumatics. Most
102

of Cerds works remained unpublished, although they have been preserved as manuscripts; his main
concern was for linking both applied and higher mathematics.
In addition to being a teacher who helped some craftsmen with their education, Cerd was also
regarded an introducer of new scientific trends from Europe, particularly Newtons viewpoint. In fact
we believe he was one of the first mathematicians who taught Newtons Theory of Astronomy, as
well as bringing the application of Algebra to Geometry and divulging the new Differential Calculus.
We know that the founder members of the Academy of Science some years later to become the
Royal Academy of Natural Sciences and Arts had been Cerds pupils, and we also recognize the
influence of Cerds courses on master builders in Barcelona. But did Cerds Treatise of Fluxions, the
Algebra applied to Geometry, or his works in general in the purest field of mathematics have any
ascendancy on the professional aims of his pupils? The purpose of this communication is to clarify
these influences which we attempt to do by studying the following curricula and practices.

Jorge Juan and the Institutionalisation of Mathematics in Spain along 18th century
Francisco A. Gonzlez Redondo, Facultad de Educacin (UMC), Madrid, Spain
Francisco Gonzlez de Posada, Universidad Politcnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
The outstanding figure of Jorge Juan y Santacilia (1713-1773) emerges in the frame of a preCopernican Spain, intellectually and scientifically auto marginalized in the periphery of a manifestly
post-Newtonian Europe. From the standing point of Juans contribution to the institutionalization of
Mathematics in 18th Century Spain, in this work we provide a detailed account on:
1) The process of mathematisation of the studies undertaken at Cadizs Academia de la Real
Compaa de Caballeros Guardiamarinas -Academy of the Royal Company of Gentlemen
Midshipmen-: Jorge Juans work (the transition from the interest upon the study of the manoeuvres
of the ships, the effects of winds and tempests, to the recourse to mathematically founded scientific
theories). The role played by the Marquees of la Ensenada, Jorge Juan and Louis Godin.
2) The own concept of process of mathematisation along 18th Century: a) the development of new
Mathematics; b) the newly born mathematical formulation of physical conceptions; c) Astronomy; d)
model experiences on the careenage of ships, etc.
3) The most significant scientific text books published by the own Academy of Midshipmen:
Compendio de navegacin (Jorge Juan, 1756) and Curso de Matemticas (Louis Godin, 1758).
4) Juans and Godins direct disciples at Cadizs Asamblea Amistosa y Literaria Academy of
Friendship and Literacy-, the first Spanish scientific Academy. In particular, its most significant
figures: Vicente Tofio and Celestino Mutis.
5) Juans indirect disciples: a) Benito Bails (his presence at and from Madrids Real Academia de
Nobles Artes -Royal Academy of Noble Arts-, and his impressive mathematical legacy, his Elementos
de Matemticas in 11 Volumes published between 1772 and 1783); and Gabriel Ciscar (Director of
Cartagenas Escuela de Guardiamarinas -School of Midshipmen-, who prepared the 2nd edition of
Jorge Juans Examen Martimo -Maritime Examination-, and his presence at the Bureau International
es Poids et Measures after French Revolution, as Member of Spanish Regency during the Cortes de
Cdiz and the Trienio Liberal, etc.).

Bernard Forest de Blidor and the Circulation of Knowledge in Europe during the 18th and
beginning of the 19th c.
Antnia Fialho Conde, Ana Cardoso de Matos, University of Evora, Evora, Portugal
The concern regarding the education of engineers and officials in Portugal had one of its most
significant moments under Count William de Schaumburg-Lippe who, having studied in Genebra,
Leiden and Montepellier came into contact with the teaching methods and treatises that were being
used in these countries most important institutions of military teaching. He deepened this
103

knowledge during his later voyages throughout Europe, greatly facilitated by his understanding of
different languages (German, French, English, Latin, Italian and later Portuguese).
Following his nomination in 1761 as supreme chief and reformer of the Portuguese army, Count de
Lippe created classes in some military regiments. The ensemble of treatises used in these classes was
almost entirely French, and a particular importance was given to the works of Hispano-French
engineer Bernard Forest de Blidor.
The importance acquired by Blidors oeuvre in the teaching of engineering in Portugal determined
the translation of the Nouveau Cours de Mathmatiques, (French edition of 1757), a book that would
be printed in two volumes respectively in 1764 and 1765. This manual, dedicated specially to
teaching, was adopted in Portugal for at least a quarter of a century.
With the reform of 1772, the University of Coimbra established in the Faculty [College?] of
Mathematics, a course in Mathematics, leading to the translation and publication of some other
works, also of French origin, by tienne Bzout and Charles Bossut, whose several editions lasted
until the last quarter of the 19th century. In 1779, a course in mathematics resulting from ngelo
Brunellis the translation of Elementos de Euclides [Euclides Elements] (in Federico Commandinos
version) of 1768 (with several later editions) was taught in the Academia Real da Marinha [Royal
Marine Academy]. The 19th century prolonged the tendency to translate French authors from the
fields of mathematics and engineering, such as Mr. Abb. De La Caille, A.M. Legendre and Lacroix,
while the compendia of Bezout continued to be recommended in the Colgio das Artes [College of
Arts] during the 1830s.
The adoption of foreign works, mostly French, often translated into Portuguese, in the Portuguese
schools of engineering exemplifies the mobility of experts and the spread of technical and scientific
knowledge in the European space, as well as Portugals openness to this same body of knowledge.

Mathematical Course for the Education of the Gentlemen Cadets of the Royal Military
College of Artillery of Segovia
Juan Navarro-Loidi, San Sebastin-Donostia, Spain
The Spanish artillery officers had a good practical training, during the 18th century. They had to fight
in many wars in Europe, Africa and America. However, they had a poor theoretical basis until the last
quarter of the century. Academies opened for the king to educate officers did not work well for
them. The most successful centres for military education, such as the Military Academy of Brussels,
directed by Fernndez de Medrano (1675-1705) or the Military Academy of Mathematics of
Barcelona (1720-1803), were devoted to fortification. Mathematics was an important part of the
curriculum, but they did not include differential and integral calculus, necessary to study Newtonian
physics and its application to ballistics or other fields of the artillery.
When Carlos III became King of Spain (1759), he brought with him from Naples the count Gazzola,
who had been the head of his artillery in Italy. Gazzola organized a Gentlemen Cadet's Military
College of the Royal Artillery of Segovia (1764) and tried to improve the teaching of mathematics.
He appointed as head of the professors of mathematics the Jesuit A. Eximeno. When the Jesuits were
expelled from Spain, he looked for a competent mathematician and he finally appointed for the post
P. Giannini a disciple of Vincenzo Riccati. Giannini wrote for the College of Artillery a Mathematical
Course (1779-1803, 4 v.). In that treatise elementary geometry, trigonometry, conics, arithmetic,
algebra, equations, curves defined by equations, and differential and integral calculus are explained.
The fourth volume is about static, hydrostatics and mechanics. He printed also a practical book
entitled Practices of Geometry and Trigonometry (Segovia, 1784) that was used for a long time in the
Academy of Artillery. Even if this treatise is not so well known as the work of Proust for the Spanish
artillery, the Course of Giannini deserves some consideration as the beginning of the teaching of
Newtonian physics in the Spanish military education.

104

The Mathematics in the Royal Academy of Navy and Trade Affairs of the City of Porto, the
Predecessor of the Polytecnic Academy of Porto
Helder Pinto, Portugal
The Royal Academy of Navy and Trade Affairs of the City of Porto (Academia Real de Marinha e
Comrcio da Cidade do Porto [ARMCCP]), created in 1803 by the Prince Regent D. Joo VI, is the first
institution of higher education in Porto. Although classes of higher education already existed in the
city of Porto (the Nautical Class was created in 1762 and the Sketching and Drawing Class in 1779), it
was only in 1803 that a structured academy with several disciplines and courses was established. As
its name implies, the main objective of ARMCCP was the training of skilled sailors and merchants
since the commercial activity with the north of Europe and with Brazil were of vital importance to the
city. In that way it was necessary to implement a Mathematical Course of three years at all similar to
what was practiced at the Royal Academy of Navy (Academia Real de Marinha) located in Lisbon,
thus beginning the (higher) instruction of Mathematics in the city of Porto breaking the exclusivity
of Coimbra (more theoretical education at the University) and Lisbon (more practical and essentially
military teaching). The existence of this institution was brief thus it was substituted, in 1837, by the
Polytechnic Academy of Porto (Academia Politcnica do Porto [APP]), an important and influent
school of engineering in the Portuguese context intended to form civil engineers of all classes, such
as mining engineers and engineers of bridges and railroads. The ARMCCP, unlike the other existing
academies in Portugal, still had the particularity of being an institution controlled by private initiative
in particular, by the General Company of Alto Douro Viticulture (Companhia Geral de Agricultura
dos Vinhos do Alto Douro) and whose expenses were paid by the own city of Porto.
In this work, it will be presented the curriculum, the professors and others aspects of the
mathematics of the ARMCCP, as well as its transition to the APP.

105

SYMPOSIUM 18

Physical Sciences between Europe and the

USA before WWII
Organizers
Marta Jordi Taltavull, Max Planck Institute for the history of science, Berlin, Germany
Shaul Katzir, Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
This symposium re-visits the question of the existence and extent of differences between American
and European approaches to physical sciences by comparing research of the same fields in the two
continents, the production of knowledge in both places, the transfer of knowledge and travel of
scientists. We concentrate on the first half of the 20th century, marked by the growth in size and
importance of American science, but when Europe was still the centre. Consequently, we often look
at the transfer of knowledge, theoretical as experimental, problems and people from Europe to the
US. Still, the circulation of knowledge was by no means unidirectional, as shown in a few of the talks.
We examine how American scientists employed techniques that originated in Europe and integrated
them into their own agendas. These include theoretical techniques as with celestial and statistical
mechanics, electromagnetism and quantum physics, and experimental methods as in piezoelectricity,
X-ray crystallography, and spectroscopic analysis. We pay special attention to differences in the use
and development of these techniques and in their further reception in Europe. At the same time the
transmission of knowledge and problems was often coupled with other factors that contributed to
the differences between American and European research , e.g. the relationship of the field to
technology or the disciplinary identity of specific research techniques. Another way to explore the
relationships between European and American physical sciences is by looking at the transfer of
embodied skills. These moves include visits of well-known European scientists to the US, whose
analysis here is used to highlight differences between the scientific communities. The American
custom of higher studies in Europe as well as the emigration of European scientists to the US are
further encounters that provide us a glimpse on the differences, as well as the similarities, between
the physical sciences in the two locations and the mechanisms of transmission, and often integration
of methods across the Atlantic.

The American Small Boy who never Grew up: Robert Woods Research on Physical Optics
Marta Jordi Taltavull, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany
American small boys love to invent and make things (). The essence of Robert Williams Wood is
that he is a superendowed American small boy who has never grown up. With these words
William Seabrook began his biography of one of the best-known American physicists in the beginning
of the 20th century: the ingenious and versatile experimenter Robert Williams Wood. But what does
it mean exactly being an American small boy when it comes down to knowledge production?
In order to answer this question, I will analyze Woods research agenda between 1901, when he got
the professorship of experimental physics at Johns Hopkins University, and WWI. I will focus
especially upon his studies of resonance spectra, which were of remarkable significance for the
development of atomic physics and eventually became a challenge for the quantum theory in the
1920s.

106

Wood certainly took advantage of the increasingly good conditions of research in the USA, where the
emphasis in physics was placed on experimental activity. Embodying this American experimental
spirit, Wood used to travel to Europe each summer to set collaborations and to get new insights. In
1910-11 and 1913-14 he made two extended pre-war visits with long stays in London, Paris, and
Berlin. He became so well known there that he was the first American who took part to a Solvay
Conference, where he made direct acquaintance with the new quantum theory. I will draw special
attention upon the way in which Wood, driven by his experimental agenda on resonance spectra and
its relation to atomic constitution, was able to deploy several insights coming from his European
colleagues and from very different contexts, appropriated them and finally integrated them into his
own research project. From this perspective, Wood provides us with a good example of knowledge
production by Americans between the two sides of the Atlantic at the beginning of the century.

A British Physical Corpuscle Travels to American Chemistry. J.J. Thomsons 1923 Trip to
Philadelphia
Jaume Navarro, Universidad del Pas Vasco/ Ikerbasque, San Sebastian, Spain
The discovery of the electron came as an immediate solution to problems in physics at the end of
the nineteenth century. Cathode rays, radioactivity, the Zeeman effect and the conduction of
electricity through gases were the first in a long series of physical phenomena where the electron
first found an explanatory task to perform. Its appropriation by the chemists was a complex process
linked to the very history of chemical atomism and the nature of chemical bonding, as well as the
development of the new discipline of physical chemistry and, eventually, quantum chemistry. The
process has been studied by historians of physics and of chemistry from their respective points of
view, often resulting in different, almost unconnected, stories. In this paper I pay attention to J.J.
Thomsons visit to Philadelphia in 1923. Invited by the Franklin Institute, Thomson was introduced to
the public as one of the founding fathers of physical chemistry, an honour he had never received in
Britain. Although his scientific career had often been in the borders between the territories of
physics and chemistry, he was widely regarded only as a physicist. I suggest exploring the reasons
behind these diverging perceptions of Thomsons role within the phyisico-chemical sciences between
Britain and the US, paying special attention to two specific aspects: the way American chemists
appropriated the electron, and the different institutional settings of physical chemistry of the two
sides of the Atlantic.

A Tale of Two Problems or How US Joined Together What Europe Had Put Asunder
Massimiliano Badino, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany
Vienna, Austria, 1866; Paris, France, 1890; Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1931. These are the stations
of the complex conceptual journey subject of this talk. In 1866 the young Ludwig Boltzmann realized
that, in order to treat a gas as a mechanical system and to apply to it probabilistic methods, he had
to resort to a more general concept than a periodic trajectory. He assumed that the gas molecules
do not simply fly around along closed paths like planets, but tend to visit all allowed states. The
notion of an ergodic trajectory was born. For the first time the treatment of a mechanical system
was separated from the classical ideal of periodicity so popular in celestial mechanics. The statistical
mechanics construed by Boltzmann remained tightly connected with the issue of the existence of
ergodic trajectories, what came to be called the ergodic problem. But celestial mechanics
proceeded as well. In 1890 Henri Poincar turned the periodic trajectory from an ideal into an
effective mathematical tool to attack the venerable three-body problem. In his researches, Poincar
rediscovered formal results that had a bearing on Boltzmanns statistical mechanics, but the two
disciplines remained separated, divided by a fully different understanding of the trajectory.
It was in 1931, that George David Birkhoff reunited these two branches of mechanics under a more
107

general mathematical perspective. Birkhoffs achievement was possible thank to a combination of

two characteristic factors of the American mathematical culture. First, the important tradition of
celestial mechanics as a field of research for mathematicians. Second, the tendency of American
mathematicians to abstract the formal meaning of physical problems . These factors provided the
cultural environment to set an overarching mathematical theory and to overcome the historical
separation between celestial and statistical mechanics.

From Physical Chemistry to Chemical Physics, from Germany to the USA

Jeremiah James, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany
John Servos made clear, some twenty years ago, the pivotal importance of the exchange of students
(and professors) between the United States and Germany in establishing physical chemistry not only
as a distinct discipline in the US in the early 20th century, but also as the countrys leading chemical
discipline. By the early 1920s, the predominance of physical chemistry in America was secure, but the
field itself was in the throes of transition. The traditional problems of the field, revolving around
solution chemistry and reaction equilibria, were losing ground to investigations of structure
(molecular and crystal), spectra, and reaction kinetics. The term chemical physics gained currency
as a means to distinguish these new interests from more traditional aspects of physical chemistry,
and in 1933, the Journal of Chemical Physics was established as a home for these new aspects of
physical chemistry, often shunned by more senior physical chemists. As with the initial
institutionalization of physical chemistry, the roots of this transition and the research practices upon
which it relied lay mainly in the German speaking scientific community. However, they did not
necessarily originate in its institutes for physical chemistry, e.g., x-ray analysis and applications of
wave mechanics to molecular phenomena. Hence the rapid transfer of these practices to the physical
chemistry community in the US (and elsewhere) typically involved crossing simultaneously, or in
rapid succession, both national and disciplinary boundaries. There were at least two routes for such
transfers. Likely the best know was through the activities of junior scholars using NRC fellowships or
similar third-party funding to perform postdoctoral research outside their official field of study, e.g.,
Linus Pauling and Robert Mulliken. However, a less touted but nonetheless well-trafficked route was
through exchanges with a handful of German research centers where this disciplinary transformation
was already underway. The collapse of several of these centers and the emigration of many of their
active scientists, or the marked redirection of their research efforts, during the 1930s would
contribute crucially to the apparent Anglo-American dominance of fields like quantum chemistry and
chemical dynamics in the post-war era. In my talk I will examine both these routes of exchange with
respect to their effects on the development of academic chemistry and the chemical disciplines in
America.

Solving European Problems in the USA: The Infrared Divergence

Alexander Simon Blum, Max Planck Institut fr Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin, Germany
The so-called "infrared divergence problem" - that the probability for emitting a low-energy photon
tends to infinity in quantum radiation theory - lay dormant for 15 years after first appearing in 1922
in the work of Friedrich Hund, even before the advent of quantum mechanics. It was long dismissed
by physicists as a harmless theoretical anomaly, and has consequently been neglected by historians. I
investigate how the problem finally came to be solved in 1937: After the infrared divergence
reappeared almost simultaneously in the work of Werner Heisenberg in Leipzig and of Felix Bloch,
German migr in Stanford, it was the young American Arnold Nordsieck who pushed for its solution.
He first encountered the problem while visiting with Heisenberg's group on a Rockefeller scholarship
and then solved it, upon his return to the USA, together with Bloch. The solution of Bloch and
Nordsiecks solution was, however, not the final word, and its implications were debated in an
ongoing transatlantic dialogue. Wolfgang Pauli in Zurich discovered that the Bloch-Nordsieck solution
108

led to novel anomalous infinities, a difficulty with which Pauli confronted Bloch, when the latter
returned to Europe for a short visit. Bloch, in turn, upon his return to Stanford, addressed these new
difficulties with his Californian research group. The history of the infrared divergence thus provides
an interesting example of how not only the transfer of knowledge played an important role in the
dynamic generated by the scientific interaction between the USA and Europe, but also, and in this
case more importantly, the transfer of problem awareness. It also reveals an interesting back-andforth pattern of theoretical anomalies appearing in Europe and then being systematically studied and
(partially) resolved in the United States, an exchange aided both by post-doctoral scholarships for
study abroad and the ties of migrs to their old home.

Piezoelectric Research between Pure and Applied, Europe and America

Shaul Katzir, Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
American scientists began studying piezoelectricity in their military-related research of WWI. In the
Wars aftermath a few of them continued examining the phenomenon, making the US the centre of
its study. American scientists learnt about the phenomenon and its applications from their European
colleagues, through publications and personal visits. Still their research differed in a few
characteristics from the prior European study of the phenomenon. Most of these differences relate
to the new proximity between physical research and technological development. While this
proximity is often associated with American science, one should be cautious in ascribing the change
in the way piezoelectricity was studied to the move from the Old to the New World. European
scientists, rather than American, first utilized the effect to practical ends. The transformation in the
study of the effect, which includes among others the main phenomena under study (a move from
static to dynamic cases), thus, followed its novel usefulness, rather than its travel across continents.
Yet, historically the American research began with the technological applications, and at least partly
continued due to its further relevance to technology. In other words, while the turn to studies
relevant to technology did not result from the move of the centre of research to the USA, the
American interest in it originated, to a large extent, in its application. Moreover, in the 1920s
American scientists were often more pragmatic in their use of theory and experiment alike, than
there European colleagues. Walter Cadys and Max von Laues theories of the piezoelectric resonator
exemplifies these attitudes. Arguably this pragmatic attitude characterises American versus
European research more than the interest in application.

The Revival of the Larmor-Lorentz ether Theories: Herbert E. Ives Opposition to Relativity
between 1937 and 1953
Roberto Lalli, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Between 1937 and 1953, US highly respected industrial physicist Herbert E. Ives (1882-1953) tried to
challenge the acceptance of Einsteins special relativity theory creating an alternative theory which
empirical consequences were the same than those predicted by SRT. Ives main criticisms were
directed towards those which he considered the paradoxical consequences of the principle of the
constancy of the velocity of light on the concepts of space and time. Consequently, he based his
theory on the real existence of a luminiferous ether and of the absolute simultaneity, explicitly
stating that his research was the continuation of the research programmes of Lorentz and, above all,
Larmor. Ives epistemological opposition to relativity were, hence, based on bodies of knowledge of
the late nineteenth century European physics tradition, which were related to universal concepts, as
space, time, and ether. On the other hand, he linked these elements to national and local knowledge
in two ways: first, explicitly affirming that his theory conformed Bridgmans operationalism; and,
second, implicitly referring to the intuitive concept of reality that was embodied in his daily work as
electro-optical researcher at Bell Laboratories. The presence of these factors makes Ives work highly
109

original and a revealing example of adaptation and translation of unrelated concepts and
methodologies coming from different backgrounds. Even though Ives theory and his criticisms
towards relativity generated some interest in physicists and philosophers of science, there are no
historical studies about them. The aim of this talk is to address this shortcoming with the analysis of
Ives published papers and unpublished letters showing the way in which Ives, on the one hand, was
embodying different cultural traditions and, on the other hand, was referring to universal epistemic
elements that often underlay the criticisms towards the novelties of Einsteins SRT in the first part of
the 20th century.

110

SYMPOSIUM 20

Science and Scandal: Scientific Controversy

in the Public Space
Organizers
Markian Prokopovych, University of Vienna, Wienna, Austria
Katalin Straner, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
The relationship of science and urban space, and the ways in which scientific knowledge and the city
have shaped and influenced each other, have received increasing attention by historians of science in
recent years. While the city as an environment for science production and dissemination has proven
to be a fertile field of study, much of the existing research on the reception and perceptions of
science in the urban context has focused on the study of the re/localization of scientific knowledge
and practices in terms of traditional, institutional places of knowledge: universities, laboratories,
botanical or zoological gardens.
The papers in this symposium will engage with cases that highlight an aspect of the urban turn in
the history of science that has received somewhat less focused attention: cases when science leaves
the institutional boundaries of these places of knowledge. The examination of science as a
controversy, or even scandal, makes it possible to examine the interactions of the scientific
community and urban society due to the heightened reactions on both sides elicited by the different
expectations, perceptions and concerns about the role of science in society. Public space, of course,
is not only and not exclusively urban, but by focusing on specifically urban context the most
interesting, revealing and coherent formulations of the explosive nature of the scientific discovery
and its greater social significance can be found. The session will address the formative effect of the
urban press and its readers on the popularization of science: instead of being perceived as a
stabilizing force, science increasingly becomes a source of danger in the eyes of the public to the
moral, mental and physical health of the city and its inhabitants. On the way from the scientific
institution to the scandal sheets, science as perceived by the popular imagination can easily turn
into a bad influence on traditional morals, or even a physical threat, that could possibly even
destroy an entire city. Through the examination of the reactions of the public to foreign or
dangerous science in various European cities in the long nineteenth century, this session will
engage with the ways scientific debates leave the institutional context and enter the public sphere,
reaching and moving a wide audience.

Monkeys, Magyars and Men of Science: The Carl Vogt Lectures in Pest, 1869
Katalin Straner, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
In December 1869, Carl Vogt gave a series of well publicized and well attended lectures on The
History of Man in Pest. Considered a controversial figure already during his lifetime due to his
engagement with radical scientific and political agendas, Vogts personality and lectures were
expected by various leaders of public opinion to draw a wide audience and cause popular uproar in
the scientific community and the wider public as well. Vilified in the scientific and popular press for
vulgarizing, misusing and corrupting science, Vogts lectures filled the lecture hall with members of a
variety of social and political groups of the population of Pest.
Through the case of the Vogt lectures, the talk will examine the context of public lecturing in the
public sphere, where such events are not limited to the speakers and their audience on specific
occasions in a particular place, but provide cause and inspiration for increased engagement with
111

science over a period of time before and after the actual lecture(s). Individuals/groups that
experienced these events could be convinced, converted, but also disappointed or incensed after
confronted with thoughts and theories often viewed as controversial by a large part of society and in
many cases the scientific community itself well before and after the event due to the influence of the
urban press. The very different concerns expressed by the communiqus of the scientific community
and the articles and caricatures published by the popular press can be taken as a good indicator of
how much effect the urban press had on the popular perspectives of science, and how much these
pervaded the public opinion.

Scandals around Moscow Scientific Exhibitions (second half of the 19th c.)
Galina Krivosheina, S.I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Moscow, Russian
Federation
The end of the 18th19th saw appearance of a new form of traditional fairs and art exhibitions
large-scale exhibitions, presenting national and international developments in trade, industry,
agriculture, science and technology. These exhibitions were held in different cities and usually special
pavilions were constructed for them, e.g. the famous Chrystal Palace for the Great 1851 Exhibition in
London. They were a new event and no wonder caused concern and dismay among population, only
to remember a proverbial Colonel Sibthorp, who before the Great Exhibition frightened Londoners
with awful financial, social, and aesthetic outcomes of the exhibition and advised persons residing
near Hyde Park, where the exhibition was to be held, to keep a sharp lookout after their silver forks
and spoons and servant maids. Great Moscow scientific exhibitions (Ethnographical, 18674
Polytechnical, 1872; Anthropological, 1879), organized by Society of Friends of Natural Sciences,
Anthropology and Ethnography and its leader, professor of zoology of Moscow University Anatoly
Bogdanov, were accompanied by similar scandals. But while Colonel Sibthorp in his struggle against
Prince Alberts project expounded views of ultra-protestants and protectionists, in Russia the
situation was quite reverse: Bogdanov belonged to the right-wing university professors and
criticism of his exhibitions, aimed at popularization of scientific knowledge, was often initiated by
liberal intelligentsia. In the present paper I want to analyze scandals around Moscow scientific
exhibitions, especially the Anthropological one (Bogdanov is considered to be the founder of physical
anthropology in Russia) and to reveal the reasons why in this case liberals had changed places with
conservatives.

Scientists on the Streets: British Association Delegates and the Urban Populace in British
Provincial Towns, 1831-1884
Louise Miskell, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
The great annual congresses, or parliaments of science, of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science ranked among the major events of the scientific calendar in mid and late
nineteenth-century Britain. Held in a different town each year, these were week-long conferences
which provided the Association and its members with their main opportunity to meet and exchange
ideas. But far from being confined to the lecture halls and meeting rooms of the host location, these
annual congresses were major urban events. To the towns in which they were held, they were
eagerly anticipated occasions which brought a large influx of visitors and generated press attention,
commercial opportunity and festivity. Streets were decorated, guidebooks printed and excursions
organised to entice the delegates out into the streets and public spaces of the host town. The
debates and discussions they engaged in also permeated well beyond the confines of the meeting
rooms and were reported to the wider, newspaper-reading public in lengthy reports and special
supplements published by local newspaper editors. There was ample opportunity, through these
means, for the scientific visitors and the wider urban populace to encounter one another during the
112

course of the meeting week.

This paper examines some of these encounters between delegates at British Association meetings
and local people in the host towns. Often only fleetingly recorded in diary accounts and private
correspondence it is nevertheless possible to gauge some of the reactions of visitors and locals to
one another. As well as assessing their responses, this paper also considers the means employed by
local organisers to try to control these encounters, from the role of the press in exhorting good
behaviour to the occasional use of policing and more robust crowd control measures to enforce
order and decorum.

Science, Conflict and the Victorian Urban Cemetery

Paul A. Elliott, University of Derby, Derby, UK
British writers and naturalists from Thomas Gray and Gilbert White to William Wordsworth had long
celebrated the melancholy beauty and richness of churchyards and they continued to be important
green spaces in many towns. Faced with the problems of severe overcrowding and multiple
interments due to population expansion and industrialisation and the belief that this was detrimental
for public health, new commercial and governmental cemeteries were created as part of the
Victorian municipal revolution. Despite ecclesiastical resistance to change, horrified descriptions of
multiple burials and casually discarded human remains shocked society and the improvement of
burial grounds and foundation of new municipal cemeteries became an important objective for
reformers such as John Claudius Loudon and Edwin Chadwick. This paper explores how scientific
ideas were utilised by reformers to reinforce fears concerning public heath and to shape the design
and management of the new commercial and municipal cemeteries and to reinforce messages about
urban improvement and rational recreation. The botanical and arboricultural sciences, for instance,
were invoked to justify the design and planting of garden cemeteries, whilst considerable attention
was given to problems of drainage, geology, soil composition and even meteorological factors. It was
claimed that science demonstrated how trees were essential to facilitate healthy decomposition and
dissipate noxious emanations. As established symbols of death, sacredness, venerable antiquity,
vitality and renewal, trees also embodied and imported the idealised tranquillity of rural burial
grounds, inducing uplifting moral and religious feelings and tempering the stark modernity of
industrialised commercial and municipal cemeteries. Particular kinds of trees and shrubs came to be
favoured for burial grounds for cultural and aesthetic, and scientific reasons, whilst the acceptance of
cremation and subsequent promotion of the woodland burial reinvigorated tree planting within
burial grounds and crematoria just when interment density and rigid grid patterned municipal
schemes had seemed to spell its demise. However, the invocation of scientific ideas to determine the
design of cemeteries became the subject of intense debate involving social reformers, clergy,
politicians, architects, municipal engineers and landscape gardeners who proffered rival planting
schemes. Reformers such as Loudon were attacked for being excessively rationalised, cold and
unfeeling in their attitudes towards death and religious sensibilities.

Tyranny of Compassion? The Moral Economy of Vaccination in Britain, 1867-98

Rob Boddice, Freie Universitaet, Berlin, Germany
Why were the means of enforcing small-pox vaccination on a reluctant population only successfully
implemented in Britain in 1867, given that small pox vaccine had been discovered in 1796? There are
manifold political and institutional explanations, ably discussed in a thoroughgoing historiography,
but the essential moral cause of medical science remains somewhat enigmatic in the two story forms
typically deployed to account for the high-Victorian vaccination controversy. Small-pox vaccination in
Britain in the nineteenth century has been described either as a prototypical triumph of State-driven
public health, or as a tyrannical imposition of the State upon the bodies of the working classes. The
113

historiography concerning anti-vaccination in particular has highlighted the inadequacies of

knowledge and method among the pro-vaccination medical community, and has asserted that
vaccination was an exercise of power that implicitly politicised the body. Yet in between the State
and the body politic(al) is a missing story of moral motive. As an explication of the immediate postDarwinian scientific moral economy the scientific Gefhlskollektiv, in Lorraine Dastons words this
paper will ascribe the public-health initiative to an emerging form of compassion that behoved
innovative forms of moral practice. To approach the history of public health as a history of
compassion helps to make sense of vaccination as an expression of power, and finds a Victorian
justification for the symbolic and physical violence of this mode of care. This power and violence, I
will argue, inhered not in the proto-liberal State, but in medical science itself, for the sake of a
secularised greater good. The widespread hostility to vaccination, especially in large urban centres,
forms the emotional context from which medical science aimed to set itself apart. This was a
humanist compassion, embedded within evolutionary moral theory, and its employment can account
for both the will to enforce, as well as the controversial reception of, compulsory vaccination.

Austrian Wahrmund Affaire and Polish Zimmermann Affaire: Configurations of

scholarly peripheries and cities in the late Habsburg Empire between Cracow and
Innsbruck
Jan Surman, Universitt Wien, Wien, Austria
Between 1907 and 1911, Habsburg Empire experienced two controversies concerning sciencereligion entanglement. In 1907, Ludwig Wahmund criticised the new antimodernist and
antiscientific trends of Catholic science, causing semester-long protests, fights, universities closure,
parliament debates etc.; antagonised in Innsbruck, Wahrmund was relocated to Prague; this
controversy, however, united students from across the monarchy in Wahrmund's defence. In 1910, a
mirror-inverted conflict arose in Cracow, as Kazimierz Zimmermann was appointed professor of
Catholic sociology. This time the protest, although intensive, did not transgress Galician boundaries,
neither brought any substantial changes or discussions.
My talk seeks to understand the difference between protests against Wahrmund and Zimmermann
from a spatial perspective. The Austrian jurist, ignited a conflict not only in a periphery of the
Empire, but also in a city which was decidedly coded as having a Catholic majority, it was thus a
quest of defending him the against urban public as both Wahrmund's supporters and the ministry
claimed. The Polish sociologist was antagonized in a conservative city, thus protests against him
were seen as an excess of a minority. What a majority and minority is, was here clearly neither
statistical nor reliable, but city images inculcated in the public understanding. This perception was
however decisive for both scholars careers and for the discussions over scholarliness in the
Habsburg Monarchy in the next decade. Moreover, the medial coverage of the conflict sheds light on
how Habsburg scientific community functioned at the time and which trans-cultural over-regional
networks were mobilized for similar cases from Tirol and Galicia.

The Paris Commune and the Struggle for Darwinism

Eric M. Johnson, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Darwin's theory of natural selection was infused with political meaning for both naturalists and social
commentators in the late nineteenth century. The industrial revolution and growth of the laissez
faire capitalist state resulted in vast inequalities and a growing population of urban poor. For many in
positions of privilege, Darwins vision of species adapting to an environment in constant flux gave
support to the growing workers movement and threatened the stability of the status quo. These
fears culminated in the Paris Commune, a workers uprising that controlled the French capital from
March to May 1871, beginning just one month after Darwins publication of The Descent of Man.
114

The ensuing urban crisis provoked an international scientific controversy that exposed the political
interpretations of Darwins theory. Opponents of natural selection saw the Commune as a
breakdown in social stability that Darwins theory was chiefly responsible for promoting. In response,
leading advocates were pressured to reject any connection between Darwinian theory and socialist
ideas. What emerged was a politically acceptable Darwinism, one that justified the status quo and
promoted a competitive ethic of individual vs. individual and nation vs. nation with the most "fit"
rising to the top of the hierarchy. In this way, the Paris Commune reveals in microcosm how political
crisis gave rise to scientific interpretations based on ideological rather than empirical grounds.

115

SYMPOSIUM 21

Scientific archives, unpublished

manuscripts in private or public corpuses:
historiographical and methodological
approaches
Organizers
Evelyne Barbin, Laboratoire de Mathmatiques Jean Leray (UMR 6629), France
Ivana Gambaro, Universit di Genova, Genova, Italy
Christian Gerini, Universit du Sud Toulon Var GHDSO (Groupe dHistoire et de Diffusion des
Sciences dOrsay), France
Irne Passeron, Laboratory SYRTE (UMR 3630), France
Norbert Verdier, Universit Paris Sud 11 Orsay, France
GHDSO (Groupe dHistoire et de Diffusion des Sciences dOrsay), France
Many historians of science develop detailed studies of inedited documents (or sets of documents):
letters, unpublished manuscripts (public or private archives), drafts, communications addressed to
academies and learned societies that have just been mentioned in a note of a report, documents
published in full in the internal reports or journals of these societies but never communicated
outside the restricted circle of its members, notebooks of laboratories or notes taken by students,
etc.
The contents of those works enrich or transform our historical knowledge of the disciplines involved
and often modify the historiography itself.
In this symposium it seems interesting to encourage the exchange of experiences between
researchers working individually or in teams on such corpuses.
Will be welcome:
First: the contributions which show how the study of such documents can supplement (or
understand better or even correct) studies based solely on published literature, and can also
complete the biographies and bibliographies of the authors of the original documents, or the
scientists quoted in those papers.
Secondly: the original studies of these texts (contents analysis in scientific and historical
perspectives).Third: the contributions dealing with research programs (individual or collective)
focused on some corpuses of archives or unpublished scientific papers: circumstances of their
rediscovery, purposes of the researchers, forms of communication of the results of those studies
(theses, analysis and editing of texts, online websites dedicated to them, etc.).
Fourth: the description or inventory of such corpuses of archives and all kinds of related information.
For example: what has been preserved, by whom, where and why? These archives are they from a
single source or have they been established through national or international exchanges? Etc.
And finally, of course, all contributions that will show how such researches have contributed to
enrich the historiography and to support the work of historians of science. It will also be interesting
to compare the methodologies used by researchers or research teams. Conferences on these
methodologies will therefore also be welcome.

116

On Some Manuscripts of Louis Poinsot: Contributions to the Understanding of his Work

and his Approach to Mathematics
Jenny Boucard, Institut de mathmatiques de Jussieu, Rez, France
Louis Poinsot (1777-1859), who is rather famous for his work in mechanics and geometry, published
very few articles in algebra and number theory. Those papers contain results directly related to the
Disquisitiones Arithmeticae by Gauss (1801) and Poinsot develops there a special approach to
algebra and number theory, based on what he calls the theory of order. The goal of this talk is to
show how the study of some manuscripts of Poinsot provides additional informations on his research
in both areas, and on this approach to mathematics based on the notion of order. We started our
review of the archives of Poinsot available at the Library of the French Institute in Paris by looking for
a manuscript corresponding to a memoir about the theory of permutations read in 1813 at the
French Acadmie des Sciences but not published. We found this text, which gives an accurate and
original view of the approach of the theory of permutations by Poinsot. But these archives also
contain other documents related to algebra, number theory and theory of order, including research
on topics not appearing in publications of Poinsot and a few pages containing more general thoughts
about mathematics. We will analyze these three types of manuscripts: in each case, we will examine
the issues they raised, explain how we were (or were not) able to determine the context in which
they were produced and we will consider the different contributions of each of these documents to
understand Poinsot's work by comparison to what we knew only of existing publications related to
Poinsot.
About a Manuscript of Emile Borel
Martha Cecilia Bustamante, REHSEIS, Universit Paris 7, Paris, France
In December 1912, the physicist Paul Langevin started at Collge de France a series of lectures
entitled "Difficulties of the theory of radiation. The Collge de France required that courses serve as
the introduction and development of the newest scientific guidelines in France. Langevin therefore
proposed a series of lessons on the new quantum physics. He talked about the thermodynamics of
radiation: the contributions of M. Planck, A. Einstein, P. Ehrenfest and H. Poincare. Important was
how Langevin considered the work developed by D. Hilbert during the summer of 1912 about the
axiomatic theory of thermal radiation. That was the topic addressed by Langevin during the sessions
in December 1912 and January 1913. Langevins public at the Collge consisted, among others, of
members of the Parisian intellectual and scientific elite, to which he belonged, of his collaborators
at the Collge and of students at the Ecole Normale Sprieure and at the Ecole de Physique et
Chimie Industrielle of Paris. His close friend, the mathematician Emile Borel, especially followed the
course of 1912-1913. From Borels participation we still have a recently discovered notebook. It is
around this manuscript that I shall focus the proposed presentation. This manuscript is the only trace
we have of these Langevins lectures. I am preparing the publication of the entire manuscript
provided with all its contextuality. Nevertheless, the nature of the work necessary to give full
meaning to the notebook requires new relevant historical issues and thereby new methodological
tools. These aspects will be developed in detail.
The work around the manuscript shows the relevance of the history of science that has already
incorporated in its epistemological and historical field the study of scientific texts as well as the
"material practices such as note-taking.

117

Discovery of a Manuscript on the History of Astronomy from ca. 1830

Thomas Siegfried Posch, Gnter Bruhofer, Karin Lackner, Isolde Mller, Franz Kerschbaum,
University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
In 2010, a hitherto unknown manuscript on the history of astronomy has been discovered at the
Archive of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Vienna. The original manuscript,
written in German, comprises 819 pages and has been written in the first half of the 19th century,
probably around 1830. The transliteration, which is complete by now, comprises about 220 pages.
The manuscript seems to be one of the earliest compendia on the history of astronomy written in
German. It has never been published in printed form, but obviously was supposed to be published as
a book. The author who did not sign the manuscript is most probably the famous Johann Joseph
von Littrow (17811840), who became professor of astronomy in Vienna in 1819 and published
several essays on the history of science. We will present our arguments for his authorship in our
contribution.
In addition, our presentation has the following aims:
- Demonstrate the significance of the manuscript within the historiography of science
- Discuss the sources which the author of the manuscript used (e.g. Lalande, Delambre, Weidler)
- Introduce the topics covered by the manuscript, which range from the astronomical knowledge of
the ancient civilizations to Newtons celestial mechanics (see below)
- Highlight individual passages which prove the high quality of the manuscript with
respect to linguistic and historiographic criteria
The manuscript consists of the following books and chapters:
Book 1: Astronomy of the Ancients
Chapter 1: India
Chapter 2: The Chaldaeans
Chapter 3: Greek Astronomy
Chapter 4: The Alexandrinian School
Book 2: Astronomy of the Arabs and in Medieval Europe until 1500
Chapter 5: The Arabs
Chapter 6: The Persians
Chapter 7: Medieval Europe
Book 3: Modern Astronomy
Chapter 8: Copernicus and his contemporaries
Chapter 9: Tycho and his contemporaries
Chapter 10: Kepler and his contemporaries
Chapter 11: Newton and his contemporaries
As mentioned above, the manuscript is a part of the Archive of the Department of Astronomy. In
view of this, we shall also give a brief overview of the general content of this archive in our
presentation.

Manuscript 2294 from the Library of Salamanca University

Fatima Romero Vallhonesta, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
The study of unpublished manuscripts can help us to acquire a different perspective on the
development of science. Although many manuscripts about mathematics have been disseminated,
not many have been studied from a historiographical point of view.
One of these manuscripts is the 2294 from the library of Salamanca University, which I intend to
analyze in my talk. Its author is Diego Prez de Mesa (1563-ca.1633) who was born in Ronda (Mlaga)
and studied Arts and Theology in the aforementioned University. He occupied the chair of
mathematics and astronomy in Alcal de Henares University and later the chair of mathematics in
118

Sevilla, probably by invitation from King Felipe II. He wrote interesting works about nautics,
astrology, astronomy and mathematics, some of which may not have been published.
Manuscript 2294 consists of 100 double-sided pages and is titled "Libro y tratado del arismetica y
arte mayor y algunas partes de astrologia y matematicas compuestas por el eroyco y sapentisimo
maestro El Licenciado Diego perez de mesa catedratico desta Real ciudad de Sevilla del ao de 1598".
The first part is devoted to arithmetics and the second to algebra. The latter starts on page 60 and
consists of an introduction and 23 chapters.
In my analysis I will focus on the algebraic part of this manuscript and I will also make reference to
other works from the Iberian Peninsula that are of relevance in the second half of the 16th century.
The purpose of this research is to contribute to the knowledge about the status of algebra, and also
to provide new clues that will increase understanding of the process of global algebraization of
mathematics in Western Europe.

Leibnizs Manuscripts on Perspective

Valrie Debuiche, University of Paris 7-Denis Diderot, Paris, France
In 1677, Leibniz wrote his first essay about geometric characteristic, a new geometry of situation and
space, without magnitudes, figures or quantities. Although it is mathematically and philosophically
central, the geometry of situations is nonetheless not so accurately known, because of the lack of the
editions of it, during Leibnizs life and after it. However, the published texts of the Analysis Situs
between 1676 and 1682, in the French edition and translation of J. Echeverra and M. Parmentier in
1995, reveal that its invention could be connected to Leibnizs discovery of the perspective works of
Pascal and Desargues. The issue is then to determine the nature of the relation between perspective
and geometric characteristic, in order to clarify the true origin of the Leibnizian invention, to define
the nature of that space presented as the object of the new geometry, and to decide wether
perspective is for Leibniz a particular example of a more general science, or a general model for
more particular geometrical specimen.
This last question becomes really problematic when we consider that Leibniz himself wrote some
texts about perspective. This set of six mansucritps conserved at the Leibniz-Archiv in Hannover
(which are almost all in latin and present a compact and crossed out texts with annotated margins
and drawn shapes) is totally unpublished, except for a transcribed paragraph (by J. Echeverra).
However, we suppose they might contain some answers to the previous questions and perhaps even
some other important elements to shed light on Leibnizs general theory of geometry.
Then, my purpose is, first, to develop the reasons why the understanding of the published texts of
the Leibnizs invention of the geometry of situations necessarily requires the reading of the
manuscripts of perspective. Secondly, I will present the relationship between this reading and a
possible new understanding of Leibnizian mathematics as well as of Leibnizian metaphysics, since
geometry and perspective play a central role in the general Leibnizian doctrine. Third, I will conclude
by exposing the theorical and methodological conditions of a possible transcription of these uneasily
readable mansucripts.

The Correspondance of Emile Clapeyron to Gabriel Lam (1833-1835), to Analyze of Social

Networks
Evelyne Barbin, University of Nantes, Nantes, France
Ren Guitart, Universit Paris Diderot, Paris, France
Emile Clapeyron and Gabriel Lam were students of the cole Polytechnique in the same years
1816-1818 and became engineers of the cole des Mines of Paris in 1820. Together, they went to
Saint-Ptersbourg in 1820 to teach in the cole des voies de communications and also to work on
suspension bridges. They came back in Paris ten years later, but the life separated the two friends.
119

While Lam was professor of the cole Polytechnique , Clapeyron arrived in Saint-tienne in
January 1833 as teacher of the cole des mineurs . From January 1833 to May 1835, Clapeyron
wrote regularly to his friend to obtain news about what it happens in the world and to comment
on scientific results or academic facts. The correspondance continued when Clapeyron left SaintEtienne to Arras. The three years of the correspondance is a historically important moment, specially
because it is surrounded by the Vues politiques et pratiques sur les tableaux publics en France, which
is written by them and the Flachat brothers (1832) and the Chemin de fer de Paris Saint-Germain
(1835), written with Stphane Mony and directed by Emile Pereire. Moreover this period is rich of
many scientific results. This correspondance reveals also the tensions between the twins about their
scientific association , which mix theoretical and industrial works but has not the same
institutional impact for each of them.

Reconstructing the Development of Physics in Italy after World War II: the Role of
Correspondences and Archives
Ivana Gambaro, Universit di Genova, Genova, Italy
In the latter part of the 20th century several archival and manuscript collections, oral history
interviews, and other primary sources have been collected at the Department of Physics of the
University La Sapienza in Rome. The richest and most fruitful collection among them is the Archivio
Amaldi which includes documents related to the scientific and didactic activity of Edoardo Amaldi
(1908-1989) and to his commitment to the popularization of science and to civic and social
engagement. The presence of his diaries and of his huge correspondence sheds further light on the
real state of the physical research in Italy after WWII, on the organization of groups of researchers
and on their training.
Other archival materials have been collected thanks to donations by the physicists themselves or
their heirs, giving birth to several Fondi: Mario Ageno (1915-1992), Nicola Cabibbo (1935-2010),
Marcello Conversi (1917-1988), Enrico Persico (1900-1969), Giorgio Salvini (1920- ), Bruno Touschek
(1921-1978) etc., which together represent the main documentary source for the history of 20th
century physics in Italy.
Their description, a classification and the analytical filing of part of the holdings have been
accomplished for scholarly use by the group of researchers at the Department of Physics of the
University La Sapienza in Rome.
In this communication Ill provide some examples which show how these holdings have played a
significant role in the historical reconstruction of the development of physical research in Italy after
the Second World War.

To Write the Biography of a Scientist today: Using Photo Archives

Natalia Knekht, Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology (Technical University), Moscow, Russian
Federation
There is a growth of interest to biography as a historic genre. The space of a scientists activity as a
historic subject is becoming a subject of research of different schools and methods the history of
commonness, gender and social history, historic anthropology or micro-history. Biography
sometimes is provided with a number of photos, which are used as a supplementary material of an
ordinary application to a scientists biography. However, the cognitive potential of photographic
materials opens new perspectives for research. Photography archives must help to a historian to
understand the structure of a scientists biography as possibilities of reading and interpretation are
included implicitly. At the same time this type of interpretation is wider than just historic
explanation. Photos represent reality instantly, providing facts details of lifestyle and interior,
samples of changing fashion fragments which allow a researcher to recover the life history. In this
120

case the conversation is not only about the consequence of external events organized in the linear
story, but about original print of a personality embodied in memory as its existence demonstration.
Memory-history through photographic archives doesnt give us a set of chronographic events, but a
material that provides meeting past and present through perception of a historian interpreter.
Past takes place (becomes alive) in present and this event is called into being by the critical position
of a person who tries to conceive it. Work with archives including photographic ones initially involves
a researchers definite cognitive position. Photography coinciding with the definite form of the world
cognition sets a methodological range: from phenomenological witnessing to deconstructive scheme.
A photo is a direct analogue of the reality fragment and a source of visual information perceived by
an eye. Our eyes can distinguish shapes and recognize them placing the received data in a definite
set of cultural coordinates. The essence of photography is connected with loss and authenticity is
recovered simultaneously every time while reading photos. Any biography aspires to be
represented like a set of photos. The information unexpressed in biography can be represented as a
set of separate photos.

Les recherches de Jai Singh II (1688-1743) sur lastronomie non classique (siddhntas),
daprs des lettres et manuscrits conservs Lisbonne, Goa et Jaipur
Jean Michel Delire, Universit Libre de Bruxelles - Haute Ecole de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium
At the beginning of the XVIIIth century, Jai Singh II, a Rajput king vassal of the great Mughal emperor
Muhammad Shah, was a passionate astronomer. After founding his new capital city, Jaipur, he began
to erect there a large observatory and was charged by Muhammad Shah to build another
observatory in Delhi. These celestial laboratories were aimed at improving the precision of the
observations, in order to compare them with the results of the calculations made with the help of
the algorithms given in the classical Indian astronomical treatises, the siddhntas. Already before
1720, Jai Singh II had been informed about other astronomico-mathematical traditions and had at his
disposal the translations into Sanskrit of the Arabic versions, made by Nar ad-dn at-s, of Euclid's
Elements and Ptolemy's Megal Syntaxis (Almagest in Arabic) under the titles of Rekhagaita et
Siddhntasamr. Around the end of the same decade, thanks to his encounter with Manuel de
Figueiredo, Rector of the Agra Jesuit mission, Jai Singh learned about European astronomy. After
sending the same Jesuit to Lisbon, to find treatises, instruments and informations in order to check
his methods against those of the Portuguese King Joo V's court, Jai Singh wanted to complete his
astronomical staff by a European astronomer. Unhappily, this was achieved only in 1740, three years
before Jai Singh's death. We will follow the eventful moments of Jai Singh's astronomical evolution,
from his initiation to the siddhntas until the arrival of a European astronomer in Jaipur, in various
documents, of which many are still unedited : letters in Latin, Portuguese, French and German;
Persian and Sanskrit manuscripts, that we had the opportunity to consult in Lisbon, in the Goa
archives or in the Library of the Man Singh II Museum of Jaipur.

W.H.F. Talbot (1800-1877) Mathematician: the Handwritten Notebooks, the Drafts and the
Correspondence with the French Mathematician J.D. Gergonne (1771-1859)
Christian Gerini, Universit du Sud Toulon Var GHDSO (Groupe dHistoire et de Diffusion des
Sciences dOrsay), France
During the 1830's the scientist and inventor William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) discovered the
chemical and optical properties of silver iodide and its optical properties under the effect of heat,
which have been essential in the invention and progress of photography.
The British National Library owns many unpublished handwritten notebooks and drafts written by W.
H. F. Talbot throughout his life and that we have read and studied. They contain scientific reasoning,
chemical and mathematical formulas and calculus, etc. dealing with many sciences. In most of them,
121

even in the years when Talbot devoted his work mainly to chemistry and optics, one can see him
here and there solving an equation, giving references to books of mathematics, copying extracts
from Euclids Elements, etc...
He has been interested in mathematics throughout his whole life and he really began his research by
doing mathematics. He published for example when he was 22-23 years old some articles in the first
French Journal of Mathematics: the Annals of Pure and Applied Mathematics of the French
mathematician Joseph Diez Gergonne (1771-1859). In those Talbots papers, one can see he was an
attentive reader of the Annals. And some of those articles were in fact letters he sent to Gergonne
from different towns of Europe (and especially from Italy).
This talk intends to give first a brief description of those Notebooks - which show his precocious
education and his interest in sciences - and of his works in mathematics one can find in those
handwritten papers and drafts.
In a second step, we propose a comprehensive review of the correspondence between Talbot and
Gergonne in order to better understand the texts published in the Annals.
We will end our presentation by giving an idea of the contents of those articles and by showing how
interesting was the principle of the "questions - answers" that Gergonne proposed in his journal to
the international community of mathematicians.

Scientific Archives, Unpublished Manuscripts for New Interpretation of the Scientists

Biography
Elena Zaitseva , Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation
Biographical genre, which is regarded by us as a method, got recognition and is considered essential
for understanding of psychological atmosphere of the epoch, personal aspect of development of the
science. Application of this method allows to study and interpret spheres that did not attract
attention of researchers earlier. This is also important , it allows to overcome limitation of history of
science only by cognitive history, allows to find specific historical mechanisms of connection between
cognitive part and social micro groups, to expose connection between intentions of a specific
researcher and formation of a research program.
W.F.Louguinine (1834-1911), the physical chemistry scientist, is reputed for his research in sphere of
thermochemistry. In Russia his name and scientific achievements are recorded in all encyclopedic
and biographic reference books; abroad in the well-known issue Dictionary of Scientific
Biography.
Having unexpectedly discovered the Louguinines manuscript Memoirs about my life in the Archive
of International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam) and also correspondence with famous French
chemist M.Berthelot (that was not published earlier) in a number of French state and private
archives, having got acquainted in detail with the whole correspondence W.F.Louguinine professor
A.I.Kablukov from the Archives of Russian Academy of Sciences, I have decided to turn to the creative
heritage of this scientist again. The aggregate of these various sources provides new facets of life and
creativity of this outstanding scientist. The manuscript and mentioned correspondence gave us
priceless material on value preferences of Louguinine both in scientific and social life. On their basis
it became possible to define more precisely many earlier mentioned facts and dates in the biography
of our hero and what is not less important to trace back the genesis of the scientists choice of
research object and methods; transformation of his scientific and pedagogic views in the light of
personal contacts with leading representatives of French and Russian scientific schools etc.
In the present work is showed the importance of such sources as memoirs, correspondence for
reconstruction of professional activity of concrete personage.

122

Toward a Complete Biography of Henri Brocard

Pauline Romera-Lebret, Universit de Nantes, Nantes, France
At the end of the XXth century, Henri Brocard took a mean part in the revival of interest in triangle
geometry. Brocards name is known for Brocard points or Brocard angle but only few of his personnal
or professional life has been studied. We propose to present a detailed biography of Henry Brocard
based on inedited documents in one hand and very restricted diffusion documents in another hand.
Our aim is to supplement the few and brief current biographies, especially to point Brocards
multiactivities (mathematical and astronomical research, bibliography, teaching, textbooks writing,
popularization...) which surpass the ones (multiple enough) due to his position of Engineer in the
French Army as a meteorologist.
Our study will be based on the Bibliographic Notice written by Brocard in 1895. It relates in a very
detailed way 30 years of the prolific scientific activity of a non-academic position researcher. His
Legion dHonneur personal file will provide us with administrative documents that had never been
consulted before we do. Finally, the study of inedited letters from his correspondence with Maurice
dOcagne will complete our Henri Brocards portrait.
This research is in line with those we made for two working groups we belong to : Networks of
scientists in the XIXth century (supervised by E. Barbin, Universit de Nantes) and Press and
Periodical (supervised by H. Gispert, GHDSO, Orsay).

Andr Cholesky's Personal Archives and their Exploitation by Historians

Dominique Tournes, Claude Brezinski, University of La Reunion, Sainte-Clotilde, France
The archives recently submitted to the cole Polytechnique by members of his family have renewed
in-depth our knowledge of the life and work of Andr-Louis Cholesky (1875-1918), a French artillery
officer, topographer and mathematician. Manuscripts and notebooks contained in these archives
have clarified the context of geodetic work in which Cholesky conceived his famous algorithm for
solving systems of linear equations. Moreover, letters and manuscripts of partially unpublished
treatises of topography and graphical computation written for the ESTPBI (cole Suprieure des
Travaux Publics, du Btiment et de l'Industrie), a school founded by Lon Eyrolles, are valuable to
better understand the teaching by correspondence offered by this school, and to analyze the
mathematical and scientific training of engineers and technicians in the early 20th century.

Hertzs Mechanics and Schrdingers Equation by Means of Schrdingers Manuscript On

Hertzs Mechanics and Einsteins Theory of Gravitation
Ricardo Lopes Coelho, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
There has been much historical research on Schrdingers 1926 series of papers founding wave
mechanics. The first of these starts with Hamiltons differential equations and the second, generally
considered the foundational one (Jammer 1966, Mehra and Rechenberg 1987), begins with
Hamiltons Principle. Historians of science have understandably looked for routes from Hamilton to
Schrdingers equation. The traditional historical line (Hamilton 1828, 1834-5, Sommerfeld and
Runge 1911, Epstein 1916, Schwarzschild 1916, Einstein 1917, etc.) omits one seminal work: Hertzs
Principles of Mechanics (1894). Even though Heinrich Hertz is mentioned in Schrdingers
foundational paper and some connections between this paper and Hertzs Mechanics can be inferred
from the text itself, many other striking connections only become apparent through an examination
of Schrdingers manuscript On Hertzs Mechanics and Einsteins Theory of Gravitation, tentatively
dating from 1918-19. Mainly by means of this manuscript, a connection between Hertzs mechanics
and Schrdingers foundational paper will be established. A table of translation, enabling the
comparison between the two texts and facilitating further research on the relation between them,
123

will be provided. The significance of Schrdingers manuscripts for his 1926 series of papers has been
pointed out by several historians of science (see Joas and Lehner 2009). Mehra and Rechenberg 1987
presented the most detailed reading of the manuscript referred to above. However, to our
knowledge, the connection between this manuscript and Hertzs Mechanics has never been
addressed. This connection sheds some light on the role of the Hamiltonian optical mechanical
analogy regarding the route to Schrdingers equation (Kragh 1982, Wessels 1983, Mehra and
Rechenberg 1987, Mehra 1987, Moore 1989, Joas and Lehner 2009, among others).

Meteor Archives of the post-Soviet States

Svitlana Volodymyrivna Kolomiyets, Kharkiv National University of Radioelectronics, Kharkiv,
Ukraine
Meteor archives stored in the meteor centers (or by individual scientists) of post-Soviet countries
have great scientific value. They accumulated a powerful layer of meteor knowledge of the 20th
century. During this period the meteor science in the Soviet Union had a significant development in
the result of impetus from the International Geophysical Year program. We say about the knowledge
in Russian. These archive materials, in Russian, have limits in their integration into the world of
science. There is the global problem as concerns integration into the world science all the Russianlanguage meteor knowledge gained in the second half of the 20th century in the Soviet Union. There
are difficulties due to that research results were published in the special collections, such as (e.g.)
"Meteor research," the publication of which was discontinued with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
At the same we know about disintegration of the administrative structure in framework which
meteor science had evolved in the Soviet Union. Now many archives of active meteor centers of the
Soviet Union (and scientists) are dormant, as the active carriers of the knowledge - scientists either
died or have dramatically changed the scope of their activities. A new generation of scientists isnt
knows the whole structure of the scientific tree. There arent available even published sources in full
for the modern scientists, as young scientists simply do not know about them. In this situation the
collections, archives and other ones of individual scientists or research groups can provide a link
between the past and the modern science. A good example is the private library of well-known
meteor researcher V. Fedynsky from Moscow. The study of the Fedynskiy special collections allowed
the Kharkiv modern scientists to understand value of the International Geophysical Year program
1957 in the development of meteor research.

The Kunstkameras Archive: an Attempt of Historical Reconstruction of its Earliest

Collections
Ekaterina Yurievna Basargina, Archive of Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russian
Federation
The Kunskamera, established in St.-Petersburg in 1714 was the first state public museum in Russia
and one of the oldest world museums. After the founding of the Academy of Sciences in 1724, the
Kunstkamera was put under the Academys supervision. The museum possessed unique collections in
the areas of natural history and ethnography. During a century of its history the Kunstkamera went
through a lot of serious changes. In 1747 it suffered great damage from a terrible fire: a great part of
the museum collections was completely destroyed.
In the beginning of the 19th century, as the result of differentiation of scientific knowledge, several
specialized academic museums were established on the basis of the encyclopedic Kunstkamera
collections. New museums inherited some items of once a single collection and started their
independent research work. The Kunskamera may be said to terminate with the creation of new
museums.
The only academic institution which presently is keeping the memory about the Kunstkamera as a
124

whole collection is the Saint Petersburg branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Archive is a depository of manual catalogues of the Kunstkamera and the drawings of its earliest
items, which are the only evidence of the initial period in the history of the Kunstkamera. The
splendid enthomological watercolours by Maria Sibylla Merian, which were part of the Kunst-cabinet
form the collection of global scientific and cultural importance. While the museum accumulated
items from the academic expeditions, the expeditions iconographical materials were added to the
depository of the Archive and now they have great importance for the history and origin of the
museum collection.
Today the Saint Petersburg branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences is working on
goal-oriented identification, registration, record keeping and scientific description of all graphic
materials devoted to the history of the first state museum of Russia. Just as the collections of the
Kunstkamera served a valuable source of scientific research materials on the natural history for
several generations of scientists, so do the unique collections of the Saint Petersburg branch of the
Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences serve the main source of materials for studies of the
Kunstkameras history and heritage.

Finding a Place to Sit

Aleksandra Majstorac-Kobiljski, CECMEC, CNRS/EHESS, Paris, France
Sometime in the early 1970s, if it is to be judged by the newspapers in which the papers were
wrapped, a son of an important Japanese chemical engineer Shimomura Ktaro deposited 25 boxes
of documents in an archive of the University of Dshisha in Kyoto, Japan.
It was a logical choice for the deposition because Shimomura was a graduate, a teacher, and finally
the president of Dshisha. But the "university archive" is a somewhat misleading translation of
where the documents ended up. In fact, the boxes were left in a storeroom of an office called shashi
() which is a short for shashi shiryou sent (). Many corporate entities, such
as a business or a university, has such an office which is mostly a depository of institutional memory
and occasionally produce institutional histories. Yet, the most important difference between a shashi
and an archive is that archives, how ever limited, at least nominally assumes a degree of openness to
the public and service to the historical profession. Shashi, on the other hand, have no such ambitions
and thus often have very limited physical capacity to accommodate researchers. It is often quite
difficult to find a place to sit and place one's notebook. Staff, while very kind, has limited training in
archival techniques. Shashi is usually headed by a senior administrator who distinguished himself in
his service to the corporation and comes to shashi to wait out his last pre-retirement years.
Outsiders, regardless of their academic credentials, have a very delicate position on shashi premises,
between an impostor.
This paper proposes to examine what happens when papers of an important scientist, discovered in
an university sashi, launch a researcher into several years of negotiations over access, conservation,
and digitizing of the Shimomura collection. Why were these documents preserved? How were they
discovered and how preliminary findings can changes the way we think about the history of
technology in Japan at the turn of the 20th century?

Against their own Recollections: Archival Evidence versus Community Folklore in 20th c.
Italian Physics
Giovanni Battimelli, Universit Sapienza, Roma, Italy
Writing history requires relying on different kind of sources, and among them a prominent place is
taken, when dealing with contemporary science, by the historical actors reminiscences and
memories. Historians cannot avoid dealing with these documents, while being aware at the same
time of their relevance as much as of their unreliability, unless checked against independent
125

evidence. The dominant picture of Italian 20th century physics has been up to now largely shaped by
the narration that has been consigned to fellow physicists and to posterity by some of its main
protagonists, and a sort of community folklore has emerged, building up an image of the
development of the discipline in the country that is widely spread and accepted, with its highlights
and its low moments.
In recent times a great effort has been done in Italy to collect, preserve and make available to
researchers personal and institutional archives, providing scholars with a wealth of unpublished
documents. Relying mainly on the physicists personal papers collected at the Physics Department of
the University Sapienza in Rome, I will show how in some relevant instances the evidence gathered
from these sources allows and requires to put under scrutiny the received versions of the story,
raising issues that either had escaped the protagonists perception or were altered and
misrepresented in their later reconstructions.

126

SYMPOSIUM 22

Scientific Cosmopolitanism
Organizers
Eberhard Knobloch,Technische Universitt Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Suzanne Debarbat, Observatoire de Paris, Paris, France
George N. Vlahakis, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece
We wish to propose a session on what we call scientific cosmopolitanism. The proposal grows from a
group of papers that were presented at the Barcelona congress on the movement of scientists and of
scientific knowledge and practices within Europe since the sixteenth century. In Barcelona, the
papers focussed on travels between countries and relatively brief stays abroad. The Athens congress
provides the opportunity for developing a rather different perspective, focussing on scientists who
have chosen to settle away from their own countries, either permanently or for extended periods.
The cases of Tycho Brahe and Kepler, both of whom resided in Prague, are well known. So too are
those of Herschel in England and Burkhardt de Gotha in Paris. And there are many other instances.
The motives that led to such decisions to work abroad might include, among others, congenial living
and working conditions or difficulties of a religious or ideological kind. The purpose of the papers in
this session will be to discuss key examples, with a view to determining the similarities and
differences between them and whether or not the decisions reflected a free choice or pressures that
made expatriation a necessity.

A Place to Live, a Recognition to Attain J. H. de Magellan and his Friends Ribeiro Sanches
and Jean Chevalier
Isabel Maria Coelho de Oliveira Malaquias, Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
A Portuguese characteristic had been, at least since late 13th century, spreading and settling all over
the world in a Diasporas that accompanied religious, political or simply adventurous motivations.
Eighteenth century Portugal faced an absolutist monarchy sharing much of the same character as
Teresinas Austria, Catherines Russia, and Louis XIV to XVI in France. We will focus on three
eighteenth century men with crossed lives mainly after they have moved away from their original
country. They have in common a good scientific visibility in what concerns the places abroad where
they lived, although attaining different fame. J.H. de Magellan (1722-1790) got notoriety in different
matters concerned with chemistry, nautical and physical instruments and in the dissemination and
scientific network through a vast correspondence maintained all along decades after he settled in
London in late 1763. The physician Antnio Ribeiro Sanches (1699-1783), having studied philosophy
in Coimbra, got a degree in medicine in Salamanca, and then, also in Leiden. After Boerhaaves
recommendation he went to Russia where he stayed for almost thirty years, having been physician to
the Army and to Elisabeth Petrovna. Later he moved to Paris where he also became famous, having
written to the Encyclopdie. Jean Chevalier (1722-1801?), known for his astronomical and
meteorological observations, was a Portuguese that at a certain stage in his life also was compelled
to move away from his country land to get Brussels and settle there as the first librarian of the
Imperial and Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences and later as its director. While always missing
Portugal, at last he had to move away from Brussels in the Austria direction after the French
domination.
In this presentation we will give attention to the reasons that led these three personalities to move

127

and settle elsewhere from their motherland, enlightening their distinctive importance in the
scientific cosmopolitanism.
Athanasius Kircher S.I.: A German Jesuits Almost Involuntary Expatriation to Rome
Gerhard F. Strasser, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA USA
Since the posthumous 1684 publication of Kirchers Vita and its recent translations the Jesuits
account of his forced expatriation has been well known and accepted at face value. We learn that
the Jesuits flight from marauding Protestant troops in Germany led to his reassignment to southern
France, where he met Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc in Aix in 1631. A learned man in his own right,
Peiresc was a mycaenas of many scholars and became interested in Kirchers early attempts at
deciphering hieroglyphs. In 1633 Kircher was called back to his homeland to assume the position of
mathematician at the imperial court in Vienna. At this pointKircher reportsPeiresc used his
connections in Rome to have the young scholars assignment changed. After a last visit with Peiresc
in Aix Kircher set out for Germany by boat from Marseilles via Genoawithout the slightest
suspicion that Peiresc was negotiating with Cardinal Barberini for my journey to take the opposite
direction.
During the last decade, a number of publications along with electronic access to his voluminous
correspondence at the Jesuit University in Rome and the edition of Peirescs letters have cast a
different light on this change of Kirchers assignment. Contrary to the Jesuits account of a cordial last
visit to Peiresc, the Frenchman was greatly disappointed by what he considered Kirchers superficial
knowledge of matters hieroglyphical, as he noted in a personal memoir of this visit. It is now clear
that Kircher hastily left his sponsor without even taking along the letters of recommendation Peiresc
had prepared for him for Romehe was that ashamed of his performance and sought salvation in
the mathematical assignment to Vienna. Fate would have it otherwise: After several disastrous boat
trips he ended up in Civitavecchia (instead of Genoa)and made his way to Rome, where he was
most cordially welcomed as Peirescs recommendations had reached Barberini and the Pope by mail.
They wereand this shows the other, calculating side of Peireschighly commendatory as he
nonetheless felt that Kircher was the only person he knew who could solve the riddle of the
hieroglyphs with the help of his studies of Coptic, where he had indeed made some decisive
progress.
Kirchers reassignment to Viennaan escape from the burden of proof, so to speak, from
deciphering the hieroglyphs? His hasty departure from Aix points in that direction although the Jesuit
found research opportunities in Rome so unique that he soon developed his own problematic
reading of these Egyptian symbolsand spent the remaining 36 years of his life there as a reasonably
comfortable expatriot.

Dawn of a New Enlightenment

Peeter Mrsepp, Epi Tohvri, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
The so-called postnonclassical approach to science introduced by Ilya Prigogine has created a fresh
foundation for a culturally holistic world view from the solid basis of natural science. By this
approach we mean the world view that strictly adheres to the unidimensionality of time specified by
Prigogines time operator. This innovation in the methodology of natural science has made it possible
to create a unifying solid foundation for both natural and social science as well as the humanities for
the first time. By bringing the humanities into the picture we create the chance to view the whole
human culture as a united enterprise, perhaps even restoring the spirit of the Enlightenment.
A New Enlightenment is definitely needed in the science scene of today. Here, the goal is to initiate a
turn in science by shifting the basis of scientific research. The idea is changing physics for the
humanities as the focus of academic knowledge. This is an idea advocated by Nicholas Maxwell. The
new Enlightenment has to be overwhelming and will embrace the whole human knowledge.
128

The dawn of the New Enlightenment creates the methodological basis for taking a novel view on an
important period in the Baltic region when Tartu University was re-established in 1802 as the result
of active academic policy of G. Fr. Parrot, a representative of the French Enlightenment who moved
to Livonia in late XVIII-th century. Parrot did not have the methodology of self-organization at his
disposal. His achievements, however, justify the idea that an individual can achieve a lot if he
manages to make reasonable moves in a situation where the environment is open for
implementation of novel ideas. Himself a physicist, Parrot was very keen on promoting most
advanced humanitarian ideas, i.e. concerning a new type of statutes for the newly re-established
university and designing the campus according to the most innovative architectural ideas.

The Role of Expatriates in the Dissemination of Leibnizs Differential Calculus

Charlotte Wahl, Leibniz-Forschungsstelle Hannover der Gttinger Akademie der Wissenschafte,
Hannover, Germany
Through their interaction with the local scientific communities the expatriates Johann Bernoulli
(1667-1748) and Rudolf Christian von Bodenhausen (~1640-1698) played an important role in the
dissemination of the calculus in Holland and Italy, respectively. A more infamous role in the success
story of the calculus before 1700 was played by the Swiss Nicolas Fatio de Duillier (1664-1753), who
in 1699 accused Leibniz of borrowing ideas from Newton. The brachistochrone problem, posed by
Johann Bernoulli in 1696, connects these three figures with each other.
Johann Bernoulli stayed in Groningen for ten years (1695-1705) before finally getting a professorship
in his native city Basel. These years were crucial for his career and the dissemination of the
differential calculus, which were closely connected.
Little is known about the biography of Bodenhausen who had left Germany for Florence. He was
eager to learn the calculus and to spread it among the Galileisten. His letters to Leibniz, in which he
reports in detail the responses to the brachistochrone problem, are full of ironic comments about the
local scientific community.
Fatio de Duillier lived in England most of the time from 1687 to 1700. He became very close to
Newton before their apparent breakup in 1693. When he vindicated Newtons fluxional calculus in
his solution of the brachistochrone problem in 1699, he was not supported by English scientists.
Having had contact to Leibniz, and Huygens too, he could have been an intermediary between the
mathematical communities around Leibniz and Newton. Instead, he ended up in isolation.
An important source for the presentation will be Leibnizs correspondence. The edition of the
correspondence with Bodenhausen has only recently been completed while the publication of the
exchange with Fatio de Duillier is continuing.

Stephen A. Ionides, a Typical Example of Scientific Cosmopolitanism

John Kougeas, Athens, Greece
George N. Vlahakis, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece
Stephen A. Ionides, was an engineer of Greek origin who worked in the United States of America. He
had a deep interest in Astronomy, especially the ancient and medieval astronomical theories. he was
among others the author of several articles in journals including ISIS where he published his work
Caesars' Astronomy' (Astronomicum Caesareum) by Peter Apian, Ingolstadt 1540. He was also a
collector and capable constructor of sundials. He had designed among others a sundial placed in
Cranmer Park at Denver, Colorado, based on a small Chinese antique sundial, which he possessed.
He is more widely known by his book, Stars and Men, written in collaboration with his daughter
Margaret. Ionides is a typical example of what is called Scientific Cosmopolitanism as his family
started from Constantinople in the early 19th century, went to London where it played a central role
in the upper class as patrons of the letters and arts and assisted also greatly the formation of the
129

scientific education in the newly independent Greek state.

Up to now Stephen Ionides contribution to the popularization of astronomy in the pre-WWII period
has remained unknown.
The present paper aims to discuss his work in relevance with the context of scientific
cosmopolitanism and brings to light unknown or forgotten aspects of his life and work. Especially we
are going to discuss the acknowledgment of his work by the international community and the
reasons it remained practically unknown in his homeland.

Remarkable Greeks in Egypt in the 19th and early 20th c. A Case Study
Vasileios Chrysikopoulos, The Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece
The concept of Scientific Cosmopolitanism introduced in the symposium entails, among other
things, notions of time, space and movement. To this, one could add the exchange of information
and the desire for progress.
The present study considers 19th and early 20th century Greeks who left Greece at a young age and
settled in Egypt.
in this respect, this paper presents personalities closely linked with scientific developments in their
field of practice.Thus, Alfieris contributed to the study of insects and was the first to identify the
Egyptian beetle, attributing to it the name Scarabaeus sacer; Dimitsas created a normative
platform for the science of geography. In 1881 he was honored by the International Congress of
Geography for his work Periodeia tes Aigyptou for his systematic approach and accurate
description; Apostolides made a career as a medical doctor and archaeologist. The Gazette Medicale
dOrient featured his major contribution to medicine, a cure for cataract that was translated into
many other languages. Subsequently, he published a two-volume treatise on meningitis that caused
the death of many people in Egypt around 1877; Oikonomopoulos, another medical doctor, like
Neroutsos, left his mark on the progress of knowledge in medical science thanks to his work on
cholera and its treatment. Neroutsos equally set a framework to the newly established science of
archaeology; Pentakis was the first translator to have translated the holy book of Islam, the Koran.
His translation is still a work of reference today; Tsanaklis at the beginning of the 20th century
established the west fertile road in the desert parallel to the road that led from Alexandria to Cairo.
He established a very innovative and expensive enterprise in Egypt called the road of the grapes
using modern technologies for the production of wine. Earlier, other Greeks such as Demetriou had
established themselves in the cotton industry. Moreover, different names were given to different
qualities of their Greek inventors.
On the other hand, in Alexandria, the cosmopolitan city par excellence, the renowned scientific
society Athenaion was founded in 1892, where important scientific discoveries were announced
and where the scientific elite had the opportunity to converse about their latest achievements.
The same holds true for the Institut dEgypt, the headquarters of which unfortunately burned in
the recent uprising in Egypt. Here, legendary debates took place about critical modern theories in the
history of science.
The material of this paper is methodically elaborated and categorized in this context. The results for
the history of science in its different disciplines are impressive and offer the opportunity for some
interesting conclusions.

130

Achilles Papapetrou (1907-1997): A Greek Physicists Journey through Civil War and the
Cold War
Dieter Hoffmann, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany
George N. Vlahakis, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece
The Greek physicist Achilles Papapetrou is today almost forgotten, although he belongs to the top
ten of Greek physicists of the twenty century and he had an unusual life story. Born in North Greece
he was educated as engineer in the Technical University of Athens. In 1934 he moved with a
fellowship to Germany, where wrote a PhD thesis in cristallography with Peter Paul Ewald at the TH
Stuttgart. Later his research interests moved from cristallography to Einsteins theory of relativity
and he was engaged with its studyd as Professor ofPhysics at the National Technical University in
Athens. As a leftist he was soon troubled by Greeks odyssey and tragic in the 1940ies the German
occupation, and Civil War , lost his job and finally he was forced to immigrate in 1946. With the help
of his mentor Ewald he could get fellowships in Dublin and Manchester, before East Germanys
Academy of Sciences offered him a promising job in 1952. There he worked until the erection of
Berlin Wall in 1961, when he moved to Paris. There he could continue his research on gravitational
physics at the CNRS, becoming finally director
of the Institute Poincare. This presentation will give a report of Papapetrous life and work in the
social and the political context of the second half of the twentieth century.

Johann Karl Burckhardt, a German Student from Gotha to Paris

Suzanne Virginie Dbarbat, Simone Dumont, Observatoire de Paris, Paris, France
Burckhardt (Leipzig 1773, Paris 1825) was from 1796 at the Seeberg Observatory then under "le
baron" Franz Xaver von Zach (Pest 1754 - Paris 1832), an important cosmopolitan scientist
reknowned all over Europe. Burkhardt, being clever in maths, Zach wanted him to achieve his studies
in France and in England. He sent him first to Paris, in 1797, to follow Joseph-Jrme Lefranois de
Lalande's (Bourg-en-Bresse 1732 - Paris 1807) courses at the "Collge de France". There Burckhardt
found lodging for several years, performing observations, computations,... Having decided to stay in
France, he became French in 1799 under the first name Jean-Charles, and obtained the position of
"astronome adjoint" at the "Bureau des longitudes" just created (1795). Beside his astronomical
works at the "Collge" he also observed at the "Observatoire de l'Ecole militaire" to participate with
other colaborators of Lalande to his 50 000 catalogue of stars.
In parallel, this incredible scientific worker, translated from German into French, or the opposite,
numerous texts, ephemerides,... He also collaborated with Pierre-Simon Laplace (comte puis marquis
de, Beaumont-en-Auge 1749 - Paris 1827), translating into German the first two volumes of his
"Mcanique cleste" as soon as the proofs were available, helping Alexis Bouvard (Les Contamines
1767 - Paris 1843) to check numerical data for these books. Lalande's catalogue was achieved in 1801
and Burckhardt went, in 1804, to have his lodging at the "Ecole Militaire" observatory. The same year
he entered the "Acadmie des sciences", then included in the "Institut national" and, in 1817, he
replaced Charles-Joseph Messier (Badonvillier 1730 - Paris 1817) as a "membre du Bureau des
longitudes". He lived at the "Ecole MIlitaire", working on different astronomical fields of research, up
to his death in 1825.
Burckhardt, as a German-French astronomer, is an example of those who can be considered as being
an efficient link to make astronomical works from one country better known in another one.

131

Oscar Buneman (1913 - 1993), Pioneer of Computational Plasma Physics

Rita Meyer-Spasche, Max-Plank-Institut fr Plasmaphysik, EURATOM Association, Garching,
Germany
Oskar Bnemann (*1913 in Milan, Italy - 1993 at Stanford, USA) was born to a mercantile family of
Hamburg, Germany. He crossed many borders of states: forced by political circumstances first (WWI,
the Nazis, WWII), and by his own decisions later on. Change to British citizenship in 1943 and change
of name some years later.
He also crossed borders between scientific disciplines: he started as a student of mathematics and
physics in Hamburg, with exams in (applied) mathematics and theoretical physics in Manchester. For
several years he worked as a university lecturer in mathematics at Cambridge U and became a
Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford U later on, heading an Institute for Plasma Research
there. He spent sabbatical years at plasma research institutes in Italy and in Japan.
Like a mathematician he used particle simulation for various different problems of engineering and
physics, extending it and making it more mature that way. But he also changed techniques and
methods of investigation like a physicist when this was required by the problems considered. He was
avant-garde w.r.t. the development and the implementation of algorithms and the usage of
computers (from mechanical desk-top calculators and analog computers to super computers).
Also several of Buneman's students crossed borders of disciplines:
Roger Hockney (19.. - 1999) is known for work in numerical analysis, computational physics and
computer science. John Holdren (*1944) focussed on various problems of science and technology
policy. He served as one of President Clinton's science advisers and is the director of the "Office of
Science and Technology Policy" under President Obama.
Buneman's four children live in four different countries on two continents.

Scientific Cosmopolitanism from a Swiss Perspective: Migration from and to Switzerland

before and after World War II
Erwin Neuenschwander, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there were very few university positions in
Switzerland. Swiss scientists were forced to emigrate if the sparse chairs were occupied. Famous
examples include Johann Bernoulli, who had to go to Groningen before he could, after the death of
his brother Jakob, take over the only chair in mathematics at the university in Basel. The same is true
for Leonhard Euler, who went to Saint Petersburg and Berlin. Saint Petersburg attracted in these
years many other Swiss scientists, for example Jakob Hermann, Daniel Bernoulli, Eduard Regel,
Heinrich Wild, etc. (see Mumenthaler 1996). Other famous Swiss emigrants were Jost Brgi, Jakob
Steiner and from the French speaking part of Switzerland Jean-Andr Deluc, Louis Agassiz, and
Charles-douard Guillaume. The reasons for emigration were in most cases better career
possibilities.
After the mediation period and the creation of the federal state in 1848 the employment
opportunities for scientists started to improve significantly. The former local academies were
successively transformed into the universities of Zurich (1833), Bern (1834), Geneva (1873), Fribourg
(1889), Lausanne (1890) and Neuchtel (1909). With the foundation of the Swiss Polytechnic Institute
(later ETH Zurich) in 1855 ca. 35 new chairs were created immediately. Several of them served as a
springboard for leading young scientists on their way to top positions in Germany. The first chair in
higher mathematics was initially occupied for three years by the Austrian-Swiss mathematician
Joseph Ludwig Raabe. Later followed in short intervals such famous mathematicians as Richard
Dedekind (1858-1862), Elwin Bruno Christoffel (1862-1869), Hermann Amandus Schwarz (18691875), Georg Ferdinand Frobenius (1875-1892), Hermann Minkowski (1896-1902) and the GermanSwiss Arthur Hirsch (1903-1936) from Knigsberg, who remained in Zurich. At the newly created
132

chair of theoretical physics at the University of Zurich one finds a series of four young future Nobel
Prize Winners following each other shortly: Albert Einstein (1909-1911), Peter Debye (1911-1912),
Max von Laue (1912-1914), Erwin Schrdinger (1921-1927). They all used Zurich as a springboard for
a first-rate position in Germany.
After World War I and World War II the situation changed radically. With the breakdown of the
Austro-Hungarian empire and Nazism many well-known scientists fled from Eastern Europe and
Germany to America and some of them also came to Switzerland, for example Leopold Ruzicka,
Tadeusz Reichstein, Vladimir Prelog; Paul Bernays, Hermann Weyl, Heinz Hopf; Walter Heitler,
Wolfgang Pauli, etc. In postwar years it became common practice that Swiss post-docs had to
complete a USA-stay before getting a university position in Switzerland. Several of them remained in
the USA, for example Fritz Zwicky, Felix Bloch and Armand Borel, a fact that has quite often been
discussed under the catch phrase "brain drain". The paper tries to give an overview of scientist
migration to and from Switzerland. However, in reality many of these scientists were really
cosmopolites as Einstein and are difficult to be attributed to a specific country.
For further information see G. Rasche and H.H. Staub, Physik und Physiker an der Universitt Zrich
1833-1948, Vierteljahrsschrift der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zrich 124 (1979), 205-220; R.
Mumenthaler, Im Paradies der Gelehrten. Schweizer Wissenschaftler im Zarenreich (1725-1917),
1996; G. Frei and U. Stammbach, Mathematicians and Mathematics in Zurich, at the University and
the ETH, 2007; E. Neuenschwander, Botanik, "Mathematik", "Physik", etc., in: Historisches Lexikon
der Schweiz (also at: www.hls.ch).

Scientific Cosmopolitanism and Loneliness in the Work of Copernicus, Kepler and Tycho
Brahe: Regressive Routes for the Interpretation of Heavens
Manolis Kartsonakis, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece
The evolution of Astronomy during the 16th and 17th centuries has been inspired by the scientific
cosmopolitanism due to the inspiration of Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe
within the social processes and the scientific evolution that took place in main European cities and
royal courts.
When Copernicus left his frosted homeland and studied for almost several years in the flourishing
Italy it was only fifty years after the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans. The scientific and
philosophical ideas of the Hellenic delegation at the Council of Ferrara/Florence which have spread
were still living in Ferrara where he got his Doctoral Thesis. There, in Italy, he reached the key points
of his idea of changing the central point of Cosmos onto the Sun as part of his study on Hellenistic
texts and the neoplatonism being active at that time.
On the other hand, Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe had lived their lives in completely opposite
ways, one at poor rural areas in Germany and the other one within the royal courtyard in Denmark,
but their contributions for the evolution of Astronomy have been inspired by the cosmopolitanism
that was arisen at the places either they were educated or had worked in central and northern
European territories during that era.
We intend to trace the influence, in various levels, of the social and scientific environment on their
distinguished works and focus on specific incidents of them.

133

SYMPOSIUM 23

Scientific Expeditions: Local Practices and

Cosmopolitan Discourses
Organizers
Marianne Klemun, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Ulrike Spring, Department of Social Sciences, Sogn og Fjordane University College, Norway
The term "scientific expeditions" commonly refers to group travel aiming at the controlled
acquisition and widening of specific knowledges. The expedition is also characterized by a clear
division of work. This way of organizing scientific work has been popular since the 18th century and
has been part of an increased competition among European states in the fields of progress and
knowledge. Furthermore, this expedition form encourages co-operation between different social and
cultural forces. Typical for scientific expeditions is that they serve and inscribe both cosmopolitan
discourses of science and local cultural and ideological practices simultaneously. They aspire to
global-cosmopolitan utopias, in other words, claims to civilisation, while being located within specific
cultural contexts and -- this being the case in the 19th century in particular -- within discourses of
national scientific achievement. We will ask how these mixings manifest themselves in the
expectations, management, legitimation strategies and reception of expeditions. The session will
open up different fields of knowledge with a focus on scientific expeditions as a means of acquiring
insight, but it will also inquire into the intersecting mechanisms and patterns of local and
cosmopolitan constitutions of meaning and their realisations.

From a Chinese Reading Cabinet to the Paris Academy: an eighteenth-century French

Jesuits Translation Concerning some Curious Chinese Craft Knowledge
Huiyi Wu, Universit Paris Diderot-Paris VII, Paris, France / Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane,
Florence, Italy
The French Jesuit mission in China (1685-1773), with an umbilical link to the Royal Academy of
Sciences of Paris, defined itself as an expedition with two objectives, a religious one and a scientific
one: bring China both into Christendom and into the universalistic realm of knowledge that Parisian
savants were building. This paper will focus on one particular method Jesuits used in their
investigation, namely translation, and take as a test case two letters about some curious Chinese
craft knowledge written from Beijing in 1734 and 1736 by Franois-Xavier Dentrecolles (1664-1741).
First, we will address the status of translation as a means of knowledge and the epistemological
questions posed in the process, by comparing the French texts to the Chinese originals that we have
identified. We will see how, in the absence of on-the-spot observation, which a foreign priest was
unable to make, Dentrecolles used various indirect human and intellectual means embedded in the
local context to make sense of Chinese technical language and to convert it into intelligible
information for his correspondents at the Academy of Paris.
More importantly, we will analyze the problem of the credibility of knowledge. Indeed, what makes
these Chinese texts worth translating was that they deal with knowledge unknown in Europe; this
very fact also makes them suspicious to European rationality. They also rest on a theoretical
framework about the nature of things that is incommensurable with European natural philosophy.
We will analyze Dentrecolles rhetoric in favour of openness to such unverified curious or
extraordinary knowledge, which calls upon both the usefulness of the objects in the context of
European expansion, and the margins of uncertainty in European sciences at that time. This paper
134

aims to reflect on the complex schemes of cross-cultural knowledge transmission, which involves a
continuous negotiation about the limit between science and wonder.

Fishermens Knowledge in the Academic Salon How Jean-Andr Peyssonnels Studies of

Marine products at the Coasts of Barbary and Guadeloupe Influenced Debates on the
True Nature of Coral in Eighteenth-Century Europe
Jan Vandersmissen, Universit de Lige, Lige, Belgium
The scientific work of the French explorer, naturalist and physician Jean-Andr Peyssonnel (16941759) is little known. However, in 1726 he sent a series of memoirs to the Royal Academy of Sciences
in Paris that have become key elements of a debate on the true nature of some marine products
like coral. The question was: is it a stony structure, a plant, or an animal life form?
This debate has mobilized bright minds in the whole of Europe. The concepts of the early eighteenth
century, based on knowledge of the Ancients (Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny the Elder) or the
Moderns (Imperato, de Peiresc, Boyle) have evolved through direct observations at sea combined
with chemical experiments carried out in laboratories. Thus, during an expedition at the North
African coast Peyssonnel found that coral flowers were in fact parts of insects housed within a
stony structure. Peyssonnel was the first to demonstrate the animal nature of coral, but the
academic world did not yet share his opinion.
In this contribution we will explore the intellectual tensions between, at one side, a scholar who
travelled around the world, getting influenced by fishermens local knowledge traditions (first in his
native Marseille, then during a royal expedition along the coasts of Barbary, finally on the island of
Guadeloupe), and, at the other side, scientific authorities in Paris and London who evaluated,
approved but also denied new concepts constructed on knowledge gathered through exploration.
These controversies will be described against the background of a discipline in motion. When
Peyssonnels ideas were finally accepted in the 1750s, his work in far away Guadeloupe was about to
be exceeded by research carried out by a new generation of naturalists (Ellis, Solander) who
integrated the knowledge of coral in a broader framework which took as its basis Linnaeuss binomial
classification.
This study is based on an analysis of sources preserved in Paris, London, Aix-en-Provence,
Montpellier, Marseille, Bordeaux, Rouen and Avignon.

The Triangular Relationship between Science, Politics and Culture Expressed by the Idea of
Progress and Implemented through the Expedition to Egypt
Marie Dupond, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Even if the frontispiece of Francis Bacons book, Novum Organum published in 1620 constitutes a
famous evocation of a naval expedition sent to promote science and the acquisition of progress, one
of the most famous and decisive scientific and naval expeditions realised is the Expedition to Egypt
that began from four harbours of Mediterranean sea in the end of may 1798. This expedition gathers
a all world as wrote the French geometer Gaspard Monge (1746-1818) to his wife during his
crossing to Egypt. Sailors from Greece, Turkey, Algeria, Sweden and Netherland, militaries, scientists,
pupils of the young cole polytechnique are led by the young and seducing chief Bonaparte. He is not
only a victorious general armed with his triumphs in Italy few months ago, he is also a distinguished
man of science with his recent election at the first class of the Institut national at Carnots seat in
December 1797. Already in October 1797, a specific association between science and army appears
when Monge, the geometer, and Berthier, the general, present the peace treaty of Campo Formio to
the Directoire in Paris. In Egypt, its not the first time that Monge collaborated with Bonaparte nor
that a military conquest, a political aim and a scientific purpose are associated and mixed. The two
men already experimented this kind of collaboration in Italy during the first military campaign from
135

may 1796 to october 1797, when Monge was member of the Commission des Sciences et des Arts.
The activities of the Commission totally depended on Bonapartes policy of military conquest.
I would develop an historical and lateral perspective on the Expedition to Egypt focusing on their first
experience in Italy and on the elaboration and preparation of the Expedition to Egypt with the study
of the relations between Monge and Bonaparte exploring their correspondence. The issue of my
presentation is to precisely determine the modalities of the collaboration between scientists, military
and political power, the nature of their relations and their goals through the historical study of the
idea of progress. The frame of my research on the idea of progress and on Gaspard Monge is the
study and the edition of his correspondence in the second part of the French Revolution during his
missions for the young republic in Italy and Egypt from 1795 to 1799. The aim of my study is to find
the axis of coherency in the diversity of Monges actions during the French Revolution by
determining the correlations between scientific identity and public action. Monge is not only a
geometer involved in the French Revolution, he portrays a new kind of scientist who extends the
field of his scientific investigation and practice through his involvement and his institutional action.
That leads to examine the conditions of the extension of the geometers sphere of activity and to
define strictly the characteristics of the scientific practice of a mathematician in the 2nd part of 18th
century.

Russian Scientific Expedition in Japan in the Early 19th Century: Achievements in

Ichthyology by the Krusenstern Expedition
Yuko Takigawa, Kagawa University, Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan
Since the late 18th century, the Russian Empire tried to make contact with isolated Japan when they
returned Japanese drifters with missionaries. At that time Japan had closed herself to European
countries except for the Holland. Although the primary purpose of the Russian Expedition was to
establish trade with Japan, scientific investigation in and around Japan was also involved. With such
missions, the first Russian round the world expedition was conducted under the command of Captain
Krusenstern from 1803 to 1806.
Waiting to get a reply from Bakufu (Japan's feudal government), the Russian missionaries had to stay
in Nagasaki, for half a year from 1804 to 1805. This is also where the trading port for the Dutch East
India Company existed, . They were not allowed to act on their own. While there, Langsdorff and
Tilesius, who were both German, became successful in negotiating with the food suppliers, so they
could obtain many kinds of fish, which were made into stuffed specimens. The Russian expedition
failed to establish trade between Japan, but those fish specimens were thus brought to Europe.
However, partly due to the varying nationalities of the natural scientists, not all of these scientific
materials, such as fish specimens and drawings, were stored in the Russian Imperial Cabinet. For this
reason, the scientific materials brought back by the expedition, were scattered. Today, they are
stored in some academic institutions throughout Europe.
In this paper, I would like to discuss the role of the Russian expedition in the progress of science,
especially in the field of ichthyology, and how the expedition contributed the biological classification
process in the 19th century by providing Japanese natural history objects to European countries. I
would also like to evaluate how local knowledge, i.e., Japanese knowledge and information on fish
was integrated in the international progress of ichthyology.

Ethnic Elements on the Expeditions of the Russian Academy of Science of the first half of
the XIXth c.
Tatiana Yurievna Feklova, IHST St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
The first half of XIX-th century for the whole world is the period of formation of the capitalist
relations. At this time the Russian science has came to a new stage of their development. Industry
136

development puts the other purposes and problems before a science. The XVIII-th century was a
century when enormous territories of the Russian empire practically have not been studied. Before
scientists have been put the problems of more purposeful approach to the researches. Expeditions
were an integral part of activity of the Academy promoting its further development and prosperity.
First of all, the expeditions gave the wide opportunities for carrying out the researches in the field of
geography, biology, zoology, ethnography, etc. Secondly, expeditions allowed improving scientific
methods and helped to create the data-base for the development of the science.
Huge territory of the Russian empire it was impossible to study forces 21 academicians who were
registered in staff of Academy of Sciences. Some ceremonies, for example, have been closed for
nonlocal inhabitants. These and other motives induced scientists to address for the help to
representatives of local tribes.
As examples of interaction of local population with the academic expeditions it is possible to result
A.J. Kupfer and E.H. Lenz travel 1829-1830 to Caucasus and I.G. Voznesensky 1839-1849 in Russian
possession in America.
The Academy of Sciences was the organizer of many expeditions. Through employment by a science
there was a latent association of various ethnic groups to the uniform Russian empire. Russian
scientists with the collaboration of the local inhabitants had made the further science progress.

Reception of Latin American Volcanoes and its Related Activities in European Geological
Works (1735 - 1832)
Jose Julio Zerpa Rodriguez, , Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain
Natural Sciences endured, during European Enlightenment, a previously unknown reform and
widening on its scopes and research methods. Geological theories at the time started to be
challenged with a previously unknown intensity: ancient theories on the Genesis and later course of
Earth, reshaped during the Renaissance and Early Baroque periods, were now progressively
confronted with progressively better well contextualized and described geological evidences. New
cartographic measurements, the development of a systematic geological explorations of defined
areas, the recollection of mineralogical specimens, from European and extra European places, as the
establishment of revolutionary chemical process, were a concomitant part. The diffusion of the set of
new geographical systematical descriptions, and physical components of Earth between individuals
and organizations, were allowed, and increased, thanks to the new frequently State or Crown
sponsored, scientific societies, and a melange of associated journals. Making use of information and
data from an array of sources, taking in special consideration some cases from former Spanishs
colonies, new independent republics, volcanic phenomena had a crucial role in Charles Lyells (1797
1875) Principles of Geology (1830 1833) argumentation. Until this moment, there has been was a
progressive European reception, and understatement, of information (geographical, mineralogical,
assorted data) regarding volcanic activity, and its associated phenomena; mainly, from American
Spanish Empire possessions. European mineralogists and early geologists could contrast with this
new wealth of information the lessons on volcanism obtained so far, mainly, from Italy, Iceland and
Central France. It could be considered that the inclusion of Latin American volcanoes in the main
geological works up to 1830, or in encyclopaedic works, followed an exclusive logic that,
progressively, minimized the local practices and geographical descriptions of Latin American miners,
engineers or specialists alike. The purpose of this paper is to take in account the process of
incorporation of new geographical data and the processes associated, making some proposals on
how the chain of knowledge operated.

137

A Quest for Desireable Results: The Habsburg Monarchys Sanitary Mission to the Ottoman
Empire in 1849
Marcel Chahrour, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
After having kept up a costly and inefficient quarantine along the land borders with the Ottoman
Empire for more than a hundred years, the Habsburg Empire was about to change its sanitary policy
around 1850. As trade and other commercial and social communications with the Ottoman Empire
were increasing, the quarantine measures kept up in the harbours of the adriatic and along the
Militrgrenze turned out to be an impediment endangering the Habsburg monarchys position as a
turntable for trade with the Ottoman Empire. In 1849, political leaders decided to send a mission of
physicians to the Ottoman Empire in order to clearify the danger, that diseases suspected to be
endemic there were still posing to the Habsburg monarchy. This medical expedition undertook a
three months journey to Greece, several cities of the Ottoman Empire and Egypt.
The paper argues, that by choosing the ambitious and very liberal minded Carl Ludwig Sigmund as a
reporter, the Austrian Administration made its ambitions clear from the very beginning. While
scientific debates on the merits of quarantine institutions were still not settled in the years before
the departure of the mission, Sigmund had been a harsh critric of quarantine measures for years.
Thus, the sanitary mission became a scientific expedition with results clearly defined well in
advance: Gathering the necessary arguments for a redefinition of Austrian sanitary policy towards a
more liberal system.

Missing Internationalisation: the Schlagintweit Mission to India and High-Asia (1854-1857)

Bernhard Fritscher, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt Mnchen, Munich, Germany
In September 1854, the German geographers and geologists Hermann (1826-1882), Adolph (18291857), and Robert Schlagintweit (1833-1885) set off from Southampton for a three-year mission to
India and High Asia. Their expedition was a British-Prussian joint enterprise, organized and funded by
the Royal Geographical Society, the British East India Company, Alexander von Humboldt (17691859), and Friedrich Wilhelm IV., King of Prussia; i.e., contrary to the majority of 19th century
(national) scientific expeditions, the Schlagintweit mission was an international enterprise.
Consequently, it might be expected to have been an early approach to scientific internationalism;
actually, however, it shows numerous aspects of 19th century scientific nationalism. And this is
particularly due for the heterogeneous reception of the expedition, and the results of the
Schlagintweit brothers: while, on the German side, it has always been highlighted for the multitude
of its geological, botanical, astronomical, ethnographical, etc., results, and also as a striking example
of the practice of Humboldtian science, at the same time it is (until recently) as already deplored
by Humboldt - more or less neglected by the British side.
Nevertheless, it was not alone political nationalism which made this British-Prussian enterprise
incompatible. Rather, it was also a problem of inconsistent (national) styles of science. Actually, the
Schlagintweits implicitly brought a particular German program - i.e., a particular local practice - of
earth sciences to India (characterized, for instance, by an emphasis on visual representations, and
instrumental observations), which they had developed in the Alps, and which now should equally
work in India and the Himalayas. Thus, the paper asks if the contradictory reception of their Indian
expedition might also be interpreted as a failed attempt to internationalize this local practice of
earth sciences.

138

Using Science to Negotiate Local and Global Identities: the Receptions of Austro-Hungarian
Polar Expeditions in 1874 and 1883
Ulrike Spring, Sogn og Fjordane University College, Norway
When in August 1883 an Austro-Hungarian polar expedition came back after more than a year in the
Arctic, the Viennese media celebrated its scientific achievements and underlined the bravery and
audacity of its participants. Despite this praise, the media in general only showed lukewarm interest
and quickly moved on to new topics. This differed widely from the reception the first AustroHungarian Arctic expedition had received on its return in 1874, where thousands of people and
officials prepared a spectacular celebratory reception, accompanied by a huge and long-lasting media
interest.
In both receptions, the media accorded science a significant role, utilizing it to negotiate and affirm
local and global cultural identities. Ideas of patriotic or nationalistic science were placed in a dynamic
relationship with those of global science. There is however a marked shift in the reception discourses
of 1874 and 1883, from an emphasis on science as an articulation of local and national identities to
one of its relevance for humankind. Also in this discourse, polar science moved from being of general
interest to becoming a niche for the specialists.
The paper will discuss the reasons for these differences and trace the importance of changing
contexts within the Austro-Hungarian double monarchy especially concerning the national question
and the relationship between religion and science.

The Business of Scientific Expedition in the 19th c.

Karin Roth, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
The planning and organisation of scientific expeditions was a very complex and extensive business.
Instead of the fact that persons in general did not travel on their own they had assistance of various
political and intellectual parties and companies in the background. But the person who travelled as
the head of an expedition demanded all the attention and achieved sustained success.
Travelling to faraway countries evokes associations connected to an adventure: Through the special
literature reporting about an expedition and through the leader of the expedition personally, in the
way he performed in his function. This individualism is a European attitude, an attitude with which
the discovering of new areas and the contact with indigenous people was shaped.
But in fact there is a huge gap between this romantic and simplifying reception and the long and
detailed organisation before a scientific expedition was started. All this planning and organisation
was part of a cosmopolitan discourse of science. But was this enough to grant the real success of an
expedition? There was no chance to gain it without the help of local cultural and ideological
practices. Manpower was the most important fact to make a contribution to the achievement of the
expedition.
Even in nowadays business you can find this specific structure of a leader on the top of the company
down to the wide level of manpower. This perspective applies very likely to the structure of a
scientific expedition. My intent is to contrast the structure of a start up company concerning the
division of work with the organisation and realisation of a scientific expedition; especially local
practices are my matter of interest.. To show this comparison I will analyse two famous expeditions
in comparison: the expeditions of David Livingston and of Heinrich Barth, who both travelled through
Africa, but in very different ways. The visibility of manpower is rather easy to find concerning the
entire organisation and planning before the expedition was started. As soon as local indigenous
people were regarded, it is far from being seen as one important contribution of a successful
business; it is rather a hidden fact and even more difficult to find the aspect of an individual and
personal manpower.

139

Organising Expeditions to the North American Arctic in the 19th c.: The practice of the
British Navy and its Consequences on the Management of the Ships as Total Institutions
Barbara Bauer, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
In this paper, Erving Goffmans concept of "Total Institutions" is applied to ships of British Naval
expeditions in search of the North-West passage in the 19th century. The paper examines in what
respects Goffmans concept, which covers such diverse institutions as sanatoria, prisons, boarding
schools and convents, is useful for understanding life on a discovery ship.
Navy expeditions had a strict hierarchical organisation and fixed rules regulating every aspect of life
on board. Matters of discipline rested with the commander of the expedition, and much depended
on his personality, commitment and leadership qualities. The organisation of privately funded
expeditions was usually less hierarchical, but of course they also had to take measures to ensure
order and discipline on board.
The paper looks at different aspects of everyday life on the ships, such as daily routine,
accommodation, leisure activities, festivities, discipline and punishments. It examines what these
aspects tell us about the underlying mechanisms of the Total Institution ship as well as addressing
the question why internal regulations usually worked and what the reasons and consequences were
if they did not. On Arctic voyages, the all-encompassing character of the "Total Institution" ship is
particularly pronounced. The participants were arguably more willing to accept grievances because
they saw no chance of survival outside the expedition, and conflicts and quarrels rarely escalated. In
the paper, I will take a closer look at an exception from this rule, the voyage of Sir Edward Belcher
(1852 1854), which, as far as human relations are concerned, was disastrous and provides an
insight into what happened when the regulations of a "Total Institution" were perverted by its
leader.

Anthropological Expeditions to Portuguese Timor: from Biological to Sociocultural

Approach; form National to International Research
Cludia Castelo, Instituto de Investigao Cientfica Tropical, Portugal
This paper intends to analyse the evolution of Anthropological Research in Portuguese Timor
between the post-Second World War and 1975 (Indonesian occupation of Timor) and its 'opening' to
the international scientific community.
In 1953, within the Junta de Investigaes do Ultramar (Portuguese Overseas Research Board) was
created the Misso Antropolgica de Timor (Timor Athropological Mission) that carried out three
field campaigns (1953, 1957 and 1963). Directed by Antnio de Almeida, a physician that was also
Professor of Physical Anthropology, the MAT made observation and register of anthropometric and
physiological data, linguistic inquiries and, residually, ethnographical studies.
The 'cultural turn' in East Timor Anthropological studies only occurred in the mid 60s and coincided
with the 'opening' of that Portuguese colony to the international academic community, namely
through the fieldwork of the French-Portuguese Ethnological Expedition to Timor, headed by Louis
Berthe, and several expeditions carried out by anglophone researchers (e.g., David Hicks, Elizabeth
Traube or Shepard Forman).
Ruy Cinatti (1915-1986), a Portuguese poet, agronomist and ethnologist who lived and worked in
Portuguese Timor as a colonial servant (1946-47; 1951-55) and studied Social Anthropology in the
Oxford University with a JIU's grant (1957-58) played an important role in that process. As a JIU's
researcher, besides doing extensive Ethnological research in Portuguese Timor (1961-62, 1966), he
helped and stimulated foreign scientists and Ph.D. students to get to that territory to do intensive
fieldwork. For the complete understanding of his action on must take into account the nationalistic
caracter of the Estado Novo [Portuguese ditatorship] scientific policy and the surveillance and
constraints it imposed to foreign researchers.
140

Local and Global Contexts of the Archaeological Discovery P. Kozlovs Expedition to

Mongolia and Sichuan (19071909)
Tatiana Yusupova, St. Petersburg Branch, Institute for the History of Science & Technology RAS, St.
Petersburg, Russian Federation
At the turn of the 20th century there was a kind of competition between researchers of the leading
Western states in the investigation of Central Asia. During this period the outstanding archaeological
discoveries were made by German, British, French, Russian, Japanese expeditions in this region.
Solving their personal research problems each of these expeditions at the same time increased the
political influence of their states in Central Asia.
Extraordinary archaeological discovery made by Russian in this period was the excavations in the
ruined ancient town Khara-Khoto in the southern Gobi by the Mongolia and Sichuan Expedition led
by P. Kozlov. The numerous finds from Khara-Khoto allowed to reconstruct the history of the
forgotten Xi-Xia state of the Tanguts that had existed for about 250 years (8921227) on the territory
of the present-day Northern China.
This discovery had an wide reaction of the European scientific community. P. Kozlov was awarded by
London, Italian and Hungarian Geographic Societies, LInstitut de France. In 1925th the German
traveller W. Filchner initiated the publication of Kozlovs book about Khara-Khoto in Berlin. The
translator of this book was another explorer L. Breitfu, eminent Swedish traveller S. Hedin wrote an
introduction to it. The expedition by A. Stein (1914), L. Warner (1923), S. Gedin (1927) continued the
excavation in Khara-Khoto. As for Chinese archaeology, as a science it began to take shape later only
at the turn of 1930th as a result of the penetration of Western ideas. The perception of the discovery
made by Russian Explorer in China depended on international relations between China and Russia
and it varied from sharply negative to positive. Today Chinese scholars actively study archaeological
finds from Khara-Khoto together with Russian, European, Japanese and orean scientists.

Cave Expeditions in the early 20th c.: Social Hierarchy and the Exclusivity of the First Look
Johannes Mattes, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
At the beginning of the 20th century the speleology in Europe went through a radical change: Cave
exploration was institutionalised as private clubs and governmental institutes, which were standing
in a permanent competition. Since the 1870ies cave tourists of the urban civic elite were visiting the
isolated karst regions. Step by step they began to attribute to themselves the name explorer.
Simultaneously they claimed the right to have seen a cave for the first time.
From expeditions of the 18th and 19th century, which consisted of an employer, a guide and carriers,
new research groups were developed. On the principle of division of labour ostensible equal
members were working together for the survey and documentation of caves. How is this change in
the social structure of cave expeditions explainable? Did all expedition members participate in the
interpretation of the subterranean places?
Expedition diaries, exploration reports and photographic glass plates from the archives of the caving
clubs in Vienna, Salzburg and Ebensee (Austria) were used as sources for my research. Some of them
have not yet been examined in a professional historical way. The portrayal of explorers in cave
photographs will be compared with former illustrations on paintings and engravings, furthermore the
participant lists in several exploration reports will be analysed.
The results suggest that the medium of photography and the improved caving equipment lead to an
increased social disciplinary action within the research group. The strict division of labour between
the cave explorers correspond to the social hierarchy of the members.
The foundation of caving clubs and their club officials can be also interpreted as an attempt to
restore the former social hierarchy between employer, guide and carrier. Each penetration in the
subterranean world is connected closely with the acts of naming, interpretation and ritual
141

appropriation of the underground places, which can be seen in the context of naming and owning
of colonial territories during the imperialism period.

Overcoming National Ambitions. Norwegian-Russian Cooperation in Polar Research

Expeditions, 1917-1939
Kari Aga Myklebost, University of Troms, Troms, Norway
Territorial expansionism and increased resource exploitation were common features of Norwegian
and Soviet politics and scientific activity in the Arctic in the interwar period. This led to a chain of
disputes, both over resources and sovereignty in different areas of the Arctic region. Still, there was
room for cooperation inside the field of pure science, and traces of contacts and collaboration can be
found primarily in the distinctive arctic research disciplines, such as polar geophysics and the study of
arctic cultures.
This is especially true of the period from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s, which was characterised
by several attempts on scientific cooperation, in natural sciences as well as cultural research. This
was made possible by the gradual stabilisation of Norwegian-Soviet political relations during the
early 1920s, both on state level and in the Arctic (the Svalbard treaty of 1920; recovery of Norwegian
state representation, in shape of a trade mission in Moscow from 1921; Norwegian de jure
recognition of the Soviet government in 1924; and regulation of seal hunting in the Arctic seas
through several conventions and agreements in 1925 and 1926).
During the same period, the new Soviet regime established a row of institutions, all aimed at the
development and administration of the vast northern areas. An important motive was realisation of
what was perceived as the unused economic potential of the north, i.e. natural resources. Also in
Norway a system of state financed mapping and research in the Arctic regions developed. The
dominant national perspective of these new arctic research and administrative institutions has
spurred historians into characterising the activity as territorial and industrial expansionism; still, we
do find examples of Norwegian-Soviet scientific contacts and cooperation inside the framework of
these institutions. Moreover, international organisations and venues such as the International
Meteorological Organisation and the Second IPY 1932-33 served as contacts points strengthening
transnational polar research.

Bathyscaphes and Big Science: Oceanography and Exploration, 1945-1960

Peder Roberts, Sweden
When the Danish marine biologist Anton Bruun (1900-1961) returned home in 1952 after the highly
successful Galathea expedition, the tradition of exploration that his venture embodied was already
passing into history. During the decade that followed oceanographic exploration became associated
more with international cooperation -- for logistical as much as political reasons -- while the
leadership of the Nordic countries faded as the Cold War became entrenched. This paper pays close
attention to the political as well as the scientific and technical reasons for these shifts. I argue that
the shifting geopolitical landscape of the 1950s shaped the landscape for oceanography in diverse
ways, from framing the possibilities for international cooperation (and competition) to opening new
funding avenues. This went far beyond the sphere of narrowly military activities. Although the
imperative to survey and control the oceans led to increased funding for physical oceanography,
issues such as radioactive waste dumping, food security, and even the basic natural historical interest
in locating new species opened space for marine biologists to benefit. Nor did the Cold Wars
geopolitical impact end with the superpowers: decolonization changed the dynamics of international
cooperation, as did the emergence of new international bodies such as UNESCO. As the 1950s ended
and bathyscaphes even replaced ships as the most 'sexy' vehicles for oceanographic exploration, the

142

change since 1945 was clear even though oceanography remained both practically and rhetorically
linked to exploration.

It had to be us: the Geological Expedition to Goa Made by the Portuguese Board for
Colonial Research in 1960
Teresa Salom Mota, Inter University Center of History of Science and Technology, Braga, Portugal
In 1960, the Portuguese Board for Colonial Research organised a team intended to study the geology
of Goa, a Portuguese colonial possession in India. The team, composed mainly by geologists and
fieldworkers, surveyed Goa under the supervision of Carlos Teixeira, a leading Portuguese geologist.
From Teixeiras notebooks, it is possible to reconstruct the scientific and social routes done by the
team: the pages are filled not only with Goa geological characterization but also with individual and
institutional contacts. Questions related to the colonial empire were particular significant and a
vehicle for nationalist rhetoric for 20th century Portuguese political regimes, namely the First
Republic and the dictatorship known as Estado Novo. Much historical bibliography has been
produced on this subject; however, studies dedicated to the scientific occupation of Portuguese
colonial possessions are rare.
By relaying on a case study, this work aims to analyse and understand the web of scientific and social
relations that allowed the geological team to fulfil its mission in Goa in the context of the Estado
Novo colonial politics. Simultaneously, it shows that the geological survey of Goa was intended as an
evidence of the effective occupation of the territory by the Portuguese State at a time when colonial
possessions in India were under threat. It also sustains that the geological expedition to Goa is a
particularly revealing episode in the construction and affirmation process of a geological community
in Portugal.

143

SYMPOSIUM 24

The Exact Sciences in the Eastern

Mediterranean in the Modern and
Contemporary Ages
Organizers
Maria Teresa Borgato, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
Christine Phili, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
The eastern part of the Mediterranean, for centuries a highly contended borderland area between
the Ottoman Empire and the Christian powers, was home to emigration and exchanges. From the XVI
to XIX centuries important cultural exchanges, which involved the exact sciences and their teaching,
took place here with Italy, the German speaking countries and Russia on one side, and, on the other,
Greece, the Dalmatian cities (Ragusa etc.), the Ionian islands, Crete and the European countries
under the Ottoman Empire.
The cultural exchanges between the East and the West followed in the footsteps of commercial
exchanges at whose centre were to be found the marine republics of Genoa and Venice. The old
universities and academies of Venice and Padua constituted the meeting points for scholars from
Greece, the islands in the Aegean and Adriatic Seas as well as from the Balkans. The Adriatic was host
to many important cultural exchanges drawing, to Padua, such men as Francesco Patrizi of Cherso,
Giuseppe Tartini from Istria and Simone Stratico from Zara. The free city of Ragusa was the birthplace
of Marino Ghetaldi and Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the
Ionian islands (Corfu) housed an important Academy, first French (Charles Dupin was its Secretary),
and successively English. It became a meeting point for scientists who had been forced to leave Italy
during the years of the Restoration period: Francesco Orioli, Giovanni Battista Moratelli, and
Ottaviano Fabrizio Mossotti.
The interest in the Balkans on the part of the great European powers like Russia, Austria, France and
England, brought about new relations with these countries after the Napoleonic period. After
obtaining its independence, Greece created a polytechnic school whose scholars looked to France
and Germany for guidance.
The aim of the symposium is to reconstruct this complex network of relations through the emerging
scientific figures in the mathematical and physical sciences.

Francesco Patrizi, Humanist and Scientist in the Late Renaissance

Alessandra Fiocca, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
The Late Renaissance saw a profound change in the overlapping of competencies among professional
categories: philosophers, engineers and architects, mathematics and astronomy teachers at the
Academies, Universities and Religious Colleges. There are several examples of mathematics teachers
and philosophers engaged in technical fields and, vice-versa, technicians with a scientific and
mathematical background deeply rooted in classical antiquity.
Francesco Patrizi (Cres 1529-Rome 1597), who taught Platonic Philosophy at the Universities of
Ferrara and Rome, is well known for his violent anti-peripatetic debate found in his four-volume work
Discussiones peripateticae. From 1577 to 1592 Patrizi was in Ferrara at the Court of the Este family.
This was his most prolific period intellectually when he developed and completed his project to
renew philosophy by rediscovering the Platonic, neo-Platonic and Hermetic tradition.
144

He is also well known as a collector of Greek manuscripts, now preserved at El Escorial Library, but
there is also a technical profile which was brought to light in 1975 by Danilo Aguzzi Barbagli who
published some of Patrizis as yet unpublished works. Recently, other manuscripts by Patrizi have
been found and published regarding hydraulic matters in Ferrara among these, a work entitled
Dialogo nel quale si tratta delle cause dellatterazione del Po di Ferrara, dellorigine dei fiumi, et altri
accidenti (Dialogue which treats the causes of the silting of Ferraras Po River, the origin of the rivers
and other accidents) which provides some insights into experimental methodology.

Marinus Ghetaldus and Vites ars analytica

Paolo Freguglia, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
Marinus Ghetaldus or Ghetaldi (Marin Getaldic) was born in Dubrovnik (or Ragusa in Dalmatia now
Croatia) in 1568 where he also died in 1637. From 1597 he visited various European countries. In
particular he went to Rome where he attended lectures by Christopher Clavius. Afterwards, he
stayed in England for two years and then he studied at Antwerp with Michel Coignet. He went to
Paris in 1600 where he met Franois Vite and he studied his ars analytica . Ghetaldis works are:
Promotus Archimedes seu de variis corporum generibus gravitate et magnitudine comparatis which
appeared in Rome in 1603 (on the physics of Archimedes), Nonnullae propositiones de parabola,
published in Rome in 1603 (Claviuss influence), Apollonius redivivus seu restituta Apollonii Pergaei
inclinationum geometria and Supplementum Apollonii Galli seu exsuscitata Apollonii Pergaei
tactionum geometriae pars reliqua, both in Venice in 1607 (Vites influence) and a pamphlet
Variorum problematum collectio (1607). Another reconstruction of works of Apollonius was
Apollonius redivivus. Seu Restituta Apollonii Pergaei De inclinationibus geometriae liber secundus
(1613), and De resolutione et de compositione mathematica, libri quinque published in 1630. The
latter book is the object of our analysis and of a comparison between Vite and Ghetaldi concerning
the ars analytica . With regard to Vietes method, it may be said that Viete explains in Isagoge Chap.
I (De Definitione et Partitione Analyseos, et de iis quae juvant Zeteticen) three methodological
phases, namely. Analysis (or Resolutio), Synthesis (or Compositio) and Retica exegetica (numerical or
geometrical interpretations). The latter constitutes the novelty when compared with classical
tradition. Viete only quotes Plato and Theon explicitly. However, a zeteticum is a problem that is an
application of analysis methodus. By means of a philological analysis and historical considerations it
is useful to see how Marino Ghetaldi explicitly explains Vietes methodological phases. According to
Viete, analysis is constituted by zetetics (where we find, for instance, a proportion, quae invenitur
aequalitatis proportiove magnitudinis) and by the poristics, where, subsequently, a new equality is
opened (quae de aequalitate vel proportione ordinate theorematis veritas examinatur).

The Contribution of the Mercantile World to the Spreading of Mathematical Education in

Ioannina during the Period of the Ottoman Occupation
Anastasia Tsigoni, Greece
The spreading of mathematics and the cultivation of mathematical education in the Greek lands
during the Ottoman occupation, has its beginnings in the Schools of Hellenism which were
functioning at Ioannina. The teaching of Mathematics was introduced and gradually established from
the middle of the 17th century in the Schools in Ioannina and about half a century later, in schools of
other occupied Greek cities. The pioneering role of Ioannina in the establishment of the teaching of
Mathematics in the city schools may only be interpreted through a correlation with social
stratification, as this had developed in the city of Ioannina in the 17th century.
The bourgeois merchant class - which began to be formed in the capital city of Epirus from the end of
the 16th century - greatly contributed to the advancement of education in general, and more
particularly to mathematical education. The merchants of Ioannina in the 17th and 18th centuries,
145

either lived and worked mainly in Western Europe, or, they visited the city frequently in the course of
their business. They were, however, in contact with the "ideological climate" of the "enlightened
Europe" and they attempted to transplant the "climate" of European culture into the Greek
intellectual world. For this purpose they established Schools and pursued the rebirth of education
and culture through a change from the clearly moralistic character to more practical levels based on
European prototypes. Their motives, other than their desire to improve the sub standard intellectual
level of the Greek Nation, were also based on the needs of their class. The Europeanized merchant
classes were fully aware of the important contribution of Mathematics to the successful performance
of commercial techniques and, because of this,
they fully supported the teaching and propagation of Mathematics.
Splendid Greek educational institutions were established by merchants through donations of
substantial sums of money. A fundamental requirement for the operation of such Schools was the
teaching of the "Sciences". Mathematics was taught at the "School of Epiphaneios" which was in
operation from 1688, at the "School of Gionmas" which started between 1676 and 1680, at the
"Maroutseios School which was founded in 1740, at the "Kaplaneios School (formerly Maroutseios)
which was operative from 1805, right up to the Eve of The Struggle for Independence.
Great Men of Letters of the Greek Nation such as Methodios Anthrakites, Anastasios
Papavasilopoulos, Vasilopoulos and Cosmas Balanos, Tryfonas Metsovites, Evgenios Voulgaris,
Athanasios Psalidas, taught, compiled notes for their students and translated mathematical works
into Greek.

Boscovich as Mathematician and his Italian Pupils

Luigi Pepe, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
Boscovich was a professor of mathematics in the Collegio Romano for about twenty years, from 1741
to 1760. The list of Boscovichs best Italian pupils, which completes the work, is much longer than the
chronological collocation of the "Elementa Universae Matheseos" in the last years of the Company of
Jesus before its suppression (1773).
Carlo Benvenuti, born in Livorno, had begun his novitiate with the Jesuits in Rome, he then taught in
Fermo and later returned to Rome. He was a highly regarded lecturer but exposed himself to church
censorship with two Latin papers on Newtonian physics (1754) that were clearly influenced by
Boscovichs works. After the suppression of the order he took refuge in Poland, where he kept on
defending the Society and claiming the non-validity of the Papal Bull of suppression in the lands of
the Russian Empire. He died in Warsaw.
Francesco Luino had an eventful life. Born in Luino on Lake Maggiore, he entered the Jesuit College
of Brera where he was a pupil of Giovanni Antonio Lecchi for mathematics, and there he met
Boscovich, who was a teacher in Pavia at that time (1764). In the appendix of Luinos mathematical
work, "Delle progressioni e serie libri due" (Milan, 1767) there are two memoirs by Boscovich, one
about the way to avoid negative logarithms and one about raising to powers of a polynomial series.
Luino taught elementary geometry and physics at the University of Pavia. Luinos "Meditazione
filosofica" came out anonymously in Pavia in 1778 and was condemned by the Church and placed on
the Index. Luino lost the chair, and was substituted by Carlo Barletti, (whose place was then taken by
Alessandro Volta). In 1783 Luino began a journey in Europe which was described in a volume of
"Lettere a diversi amici" (Pavia, 1785).
Luigi Panizzoni played an important role in the reconstruction of the Society of Jesus. After the
canonical suppression of the order he moved to Byelorussia where Catherine II refused to enforce
the papal brief of suppression of the Society (1773). Panizzoni was sent to Parma in 1793, with the
aim of re-establishing the order in the dukedom. In 1800 Panizzoni sent to Pio VII, the newly-elected
Pope, a "Supplica per ottenere lestensione e la dilatazione della Compagnia di Ges fuori dei confini
della Russia".

146

Applied Mathematics in Boscovichs Papers

Maria Giulia Lugaresi, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
The Jesuit, Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich (1711-1787), was Professor of Mathematics in the Roman
College from 1741 to 1760. He wrote many important papers on geometry, physics, optics and
astronomy.
From 1742, Boscovich began to undertake work as consultant on applied mathematics, firstly on
behalf of the Papal State, and then, as his reputation grew, on behalf of the principle Italian courts.
In his first public office, Boscovich was required to give his opinion on the stability of St. Peters dome
in Rome. Many papers on applied mathematics, especially hydraulics, followed this first consultation
on an architectural work. In 1750 he was commissioned to measure the meridian between Rome and
Rimini. Boscovich travelled to the lands of the Papal State with Father Christopher Maire,
cartographer and astronomer. The journey took place between October 1750 and November 1752.
In the same years, Boscovich was asked for his first works on the science of waters: an examination
of the passonate of the Fiumicino harbour (the passonate were made up of wood stakes that were
knocked in the ground to regulate the path of the river), the regulation of the course of the Tiber,
and the access to the Valleys of Comacchio.
The science of waters in the 18th century was a subject that still lacked clear rules, and the figure of
an engineer to deal with the regulation of the rivers did not exist, so mathematicians were called in
as experts in hydraulics. In this field Boscovich displayed all his talent. He wrote reports on the
regulation of some rivers (the Tiber, Po, Adige) and streams, the reclamation of extensive marshlands
(the Pontine marshes in Latium, the lake of Bientina in Tuscany), but his main contributions
concerned the settlement of harbours placed at the river mouth (Fiumicino, Magnavacca, Rimini,
Savona).
From the second half of the 18th century Boscovich addressed his studies to applied mathematics,
astronomy, optics and hydraulics. He collected his work on optics and astronomy in the Opera
pertinentia ad opticam et astronomiam (Bassano, 1785), but was unable to make a collection of all
his papers on hydraulics before he died.
The National Edition of Boscovichs works and correspondence has been promoted by the
Astronomical Observatory of Brera, the National Academy of XL, the Croatian Academy of Sciences
and Arts and the Pontifical Gregorian University and is coordinated by Prof. Edoardo Proverbio
(www.edizionenazionaleboscovich.it). Boscovichs works on hydraulics, edited by Prof. Luigi Pepe and
myself, will be included in the National Edition.

River Hydraulics in the Napoleonic Period: the Role of Simone Stratico

Maria Teresa Borgato, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
Simone Stratico (1733- 1824) was the reference figure for the old Republic of Venice, on all matters
concerning naval construction and practical hydraulics. In the Napoleonic Period he was appointed
important responsibilities in the management of the waterways of the Po Valley: in my speech I will
focus on this scientific and administrative activity. Stratico, born in Zara to a Venetian family of Crete,
completed his higher education in Padua where he began his academic career with a teaching post in
medicine. After a long journey to London and other European countries to gather information on
shipyards and naval colleges, his contributions were decisive in re-launching naval construction
studies in Venice, and he took up the chair in mathematics and naval theory at the University of
Padua. He was charged to examine an important and controversial project for the reconstruction of
the River Brenta.
During the brief democratic period (28th August 1797 16th January 1798) Stratico, who, during the
last years of the Venetian Republic, had shown sympathy for the Jacobin cause, became part of the
government of the city of Padua. Having been banned twice from his chair and the city, as the
147

Austrian and Napoleonic troops alternated in power, he was then called to Milan, the seat of central
government of the Cisalpine Republic (1797), to teach at the University of Pavia and take part in the
Hydraulics Commission charged with the drawing up of a new regulatory plan for rivers. With the
proclamation of the Italian Republic (1802), then the Kingdom of Italy (1805), Stratico was nominated
national expert in hydraulics, so he left university teaching. From 1803-06 he presided over a new
commission (based in Modena), appointed to examine the many serious hydraulic issues in the Po
Valley (the marshlands of the Veronesi Valeys, and those surrounding the town of Bondeno, the
intromission of the Reno into the Po, the drainage of the Polesine, a port at the mouth of the river
for Padan navigation), problems unresolved by the old Italian states, whose vision was often limited
by their regional concerns. The chance to define an overall plan was, at that time, within the grasp of
scientists and administrators, all figures and competences which in the Napoleonic period, had often
been concentrated in a single individual, as was the case of Stratico.
even before the Fall of Constantinople in 1453; a subject that warrants further research.

Simone Stratico and Naval Science in Padua and Venice

Elena Granuzzo, Padua University, Padua, Italy
One of the most interesting and fascinating figures still to investigate and analyze in terms of the vast
fields of interest and cultural and intellectual involvement, is Simone Stratico (Zara, 1733 Milan,
1824).
He began his academic career in 1757 by lecturing in theoretical medicine at Padua University.
Stratico went on a diplomatic mission to London from 1761 to 1764, in order to collect information
on naval colleges and shipyards. On his return he took the chair of mathematics and nautical theory,
previously held by Giovanni Poleni, his teacher, and promoted the introduction of a new school of
shipbuilding in 1765 at the Arsenale. In 1778 Stratico was responsible for teaching experimental
physics, taking Polenis place in the chair of pure and applied mathematics, nautical and
experimental physics, which he held until 1787.
In 1813 he published a Naval Dictionary in three languages: Italian, French, and English, which is still
remembered in the history of naval terminology.
His efforts for the progressive establishment of schools of naval architecture were fundamental. As
early as 1745, the urgent need for a school of nautical theory and naval architecture in Padua had
been stressed. The opening of a school of naval architecture and nautical theory at the Arsenal of
Venice was also decreed (begun in 1777) with a "physical-mathematical course of studies related to
naval architecture" for the last six years, under the guidance of Gianmaria Maffioletti but following
Straticos suggestions.
Straticos commitment to a more modern and efficient mode of teaching is highlighted by his efforts
to equip the University with adequate laboratories and scientific instruments, for which he
personally prepared the models. For example, he provided models of scientific instruments
necessary for his Navigation Theory courses at Pavia University, as demonstrated by seven
watercolor drawings dated 1803.
We can also see the long and detailed list of Models, Equipment and Instruments for a Navigation
School to be opened in Milan, showing his awareness of the importance of having very good
examples of ship models.
The purpose of this work is therefore to:
1. analyze and contextualize Straticos modern teaching and actions
2. see how he moved to establish a chair of nautical theory in Padua and a school of naval
architecture in Venice
3. study in detail how his teaching of nautical theory was structured
4. analyze the instruments adopted: models, drawings, laboratories, etc.
5. establish which areas of naval science were most studied by Stratico
6. understand the modernity of his Naval Dictionary and other nautical works he published.
148

Les Mathmatiques l Acadmie Ionienne

Christine Phili, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Quelques annes aprs l occupation des les ioniennes par les anglais, fut fonde la seconde
Acadmie Ionienne en Mai 1824. Le crateur de la nouvelle Acadmie, l`homme qui a voulu
reconstituer l`Acadmie de Platon tait un noble anglais, excentique certes mais un grand philhellne
galement, Frederic North, 5eme comte de Guilford (1766-1827). C`est lui qui a conu les bases
profondes sur lesquelles l`esprit grec devait se replacer pour revivre et refleurir. Lors le Congrs de
Vienne, en 1815, lord Guilford avait eu des entretiens avec Capodistria sur le systme ducatif des
les ioniennes. Les expriences de Capodistria de 1800 1807 ont grandement facilit le plan du lord.
Quelques annes plus tard, en 1820, Lord Guilford fut nomm chancelier (). Ds 1820, le
reprsent officiel de la couronne britannique sur les questions ducatives, travaillait l`laboratioon
de son rve. L`Acadmie Ionienne, le nouveau berceau des lettres et de sciences, fut crer par
l`Assemble legislative dans l`le de Corfou, en 1823.
L`Acadmie se divisa en quatre facults : Thologie, Droit, Mdecine, Philosophie. Cependant ces
quatre facults ne fonctionnrent pas toutes en mme temps. Ainsi durant l`anne universitaire
1824-1825, seulement deux facults fonctionnaient : celle de Thologie et celle de Philosophie.
C`est Guilford, le crateur gnreux de cette institution qui avait form et nomm les premiers
enseignants. Plusieurs d`entre eux avaient tudi l`tranger, boursiers de Guilford.
En Novembre de 1823 a commenc l`enseignement gnral priv. Les premiers professeurs ont
commenc leur enseignement avec 150 lves. Les cours couvraient tous les domaines du savoir :
grec ancien, latin, anglais, littrature, histoire, rhtorique, mathmatiques, botanique, philosophie et
thologie. Aprs ces cours d initiation, avaient lieu les examens d`entre au cycle prparatoire.
Guilford, Chancelier de l`Universit a fait publier dans la Gazzetta degli Stati Uniti delle Isole Ionie
la proclamation officielle des examens; tous les jeunes gens qui dsirent entrer l`Universit
doivent subir des examens, qui auront lieu Mardi et Samedi de 10 12 le matin, la rsidence du
lord. Lord Guilford a voulu pratiquement transplanter dans l`le l`atmosphre de l`universti
d`Oxford des assistants (tutors) chargs de la prparation des candidats ainsi qu`un examen
l`oxfordien, examen public compltaient le cadre. Plus prcisment le journal officiel, la Gazzetta,
informait que les tudiants du professeur Carandinos ont t examin en arithmtique, cours
prparatoire l`tude de l`algbre la rsidence du lord Guilford Outre lord Guilford, l`auditoire
comprenait le commandant militaire, le prsident du Snat, l`archivque de Corfou et d`autres
personnalits de l`le.
La facult de Philosophie comprenait une grande varit des matires : philosophie, histoire,
mathmatiques. Cette appartenance des mathmatiques la philosophie rsonne le systme
ducatif de l Acadmie platonicienne. Platon, se distinguant des Pythagoriciens qui mettaient sur le
mme plan les mathmatiques et la philosophie, engage l enseignement des mathmatiques dans
une voie diffrente. Les mathmatiques, cest dire l arithmtique, la gomtrie, lastronomie, la
thorie de l harmonie cours quon retrouve sous le nom de quadrivium au moyen-ge- nest quune
science indispensable certes, mais intermdiaire qui conduit lintellect la dialectique. Les
mathmatiques sont des outils ncessaires par lesquelles le penseur peut approcher le concept du
bien. Ainsi la facult au philosophie, par voie danalogie, se rvle conforme la tradition
platonicienne; lenseignement de mathmatiques va rjoindre et renforcer ltude de la philosophie.
Aprs la mort premature de Carandinos la chaire des mathmatiques reste vacante et son lve
brillant Jean Contouris n`enseigne que la trigonomtrie de 1833 1836. Ainsi aprs lui, le profil
mathmatique l`Acadmie se modifia. Dans le discours inaugural pour l`anne (1835-36) prononc
par Gaetano Grassetti professeur de littrature latine et italienne nous trouvons l`ide de propager
les mathmatiques appliques Acadmie; ces cours, pense Grassetti sont utiles la mcanique et la
science nautique
Durant cette mme sance inaugurale Essopios, professeur de grec, dans son discours intitul Sur les
149

progrs de Nations annonce que la chaire des mathmatiques est vacante et que le gouvernement a
invit des professeurs d`Italie pour faire acte de canditature Ottavio Mossoti fut le succeseur de
Carandinos, et il enseigna lanalyse suprieure, la mcanique et lastronomie Acadmie de 1830
1847.

Ottaviano Fabrizio Mossotti from Corfu to Pisa

Iolanda Nagliati, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
Ottaviano Fabrizio Mossotti (1791-1863) was an Italian physicist, astronomer and mathematician,
and professor at the University of Pisa from 1840.
He is well known for his scientific works, but also for his contribution to the unification of Italy as
Major of the Tuscan University Battalion in 1848, Senator of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the
Kingdom of Italy. He was also a leading figure, together with his student and colleague, Enrico Betti,
of the mathematical school in Pisa.
After graduating at Pavia University in 1811 under the supervision of Vincenzo Brunacci, he worked
in the Brera Observatory, but his politically liberal attitude forced him to leave the country, going first
to London and then, from 1827, to Buenos Aires, where he became a topographical engineer and
professor of physics, making an important contribution to the development of scientific structures. In
1835 he tried to come back to Italy, to the Bologna Observatory, but his nomination was impeded by
the Austrian authorities. He choose Corfu, where he began teaching mathematics in 1837, with
Francesco Orioli, as professor of physics. While in Corfu he wrote some interesting papers and
maintained relationships with the Italian scientific community; he was the University representative
at the second Congress of Italian scientists, held in Turin in 1840.
In this communication I will present some documents concerning the passage of Mossotti from Corfu
to Pisa, with particular attention to his role in the reform of the University that took place in that
period, bringing Pisa to a leading role in Italian mathematical research after the unification. New
teachings of applied mathematics, higher analysis and geometry were established in the Faculty of
Sciences to replace the old Collegio degli artisti (College of the artists) where physics and
mathematics were taught following the medieval pattern, and the need of high level teachers
allowed Mossotti to fulfil his desire to come back to his country.

Mathematics in Odessa University in the last third of the XIX century in the international
context
Serguei Sergueevich Demidov, S.I. Vavilov Institut for the History of Science and Technology of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
In this period mathematics in Russia developed within the atmosphere of conflict between the two
principal national schools Petersburgian and Moscovite. The Novorussian University was created in
1865 in Odessa and was also involved in this rivalry but, to a certain extent, it remained independent,
as, for example, in the option of its researches. Many western trends (mathematical logic, foundation
of mathematics etc.) came to Russia through Odessa. The purpose of this paper is to examine the
international relations of Odessian mathematicians in the last third of the XIX century and their
influence on the development of mathematics in Russia.

A Major Greek Contribution to the American War of Independence

Stefanos Geroulanos, Greece
In 1714/15 Jacovos Pylarinos from Cephalonia and Emmanuel Timonis from Chios independently
published, in the Philosophical Transactions of London, two papers in Latin describing variolation, a
method for immunization against smallpox (variola), that was in common use among the Christian
population of Greece. This method was thereafter propagated in England through the famous letters
150

of the British ambassadors wife in Constantinople, Lady Mary Wortley Montague. The book of
Pylarinos, published in Venice in 1715, was then translated into several languages and the method
spread throughout the world.
At the time of the American War of Independence (1775-83) the method was not yet widely known
in North America. Washingtons army had suffered major loses in 1776. Around 1000 were killed in
action, while those dying of disease mostly smallpox- totaled 10,000. While trying to put together
an army with soldiers that had already survived smallpox, Washington heard from his servant that he
had been inocculated against smallpox. Immediately upon arrival in Morristown on 6.1.1777,
Washington wrote to Dr. W. Shippen Jr., who was in charge of the hospitals west of the Hudson
River. Finding the smallpox to be spreading fast, and fearing that no precaution could prevent it from
running through the whole army, I have determined that the troops shall be inoculated. (R. Stark).
Later on he wrote to Governor Trummbull inoculation at Philadelphia and in its neighborhood has
been attended by amazing success The liberation of Philadelphia in the middle of a smallpox
epidemic was only successful due to the inoculation, and this two decades before E. Jenners
discovery of the vaccination method.
The data were published later by R. Stark: Immunization Saves Washingtons Army, and are well
known. However the cross-linking to the Greek contribution and publications in the Philosophical
Transactions of London in 1714/15 are not well known. It shows that the American War of
Independence was, at least in part, successful due to the medical discovery and publications of J.
Pylarinos & E. Timonis. Pylarinos even speaks of the Byzantine immunization method, suggesting that
the method was known.

Meteorology and Climatology in 19th c. Greece

George N. Vlahakis, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece
The study of the weather and the climate was, among others, of great importance for the newly
independent Greek state in the 19th century.
This study aims to discuss the reasons which made the knowledge of the weather and climatic
conditions so important in relation to the formation of the Greek national identity and the scientific
level of such knowledge as it appears in the relevant literature.
For many scientists the climate of Greece was used as proof for the continuity of the presence of
Greece in the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula which dated back to antiquity.
As early as 1841, for example, the physician Constantine Mavrogiannis published a book entitled
Observations on the Climate of Athens.
Several other scientists, among them Georgios Vouris, director of the National Observatory, also
worked for the development of the fields of Meteorology and Climatology in Greece.
Of some importance is also the presentation of a relevant book written (or translated) in Greek by
the Bulgarian physicist Peter Beron, who published it during his stay in Greece in 1851 following the
invitation of the Physiographical Society of Athens which was very prestigious at that time.
We also intend to present and discuss the relevant articles and information published in the popular
journals like Parnassos, Estia, Pandora etc. as an indication of the interest in these sciences as shown
by a wider public.

The End of the University of Smyrna Project and its Repercussion on Greek Educational
Institutions
Theodora Arampatzi, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
The purpose of this paper is to show the end of Constantin Carathodorys project concerning the
University of Smyrna. This institution, unique in the Region of Asia Minor, covered an extensive
spectrum of Pure and Applied Sciences.Had the University operated, it would have consisted of the
151

following schools:School of Natural Science and High Commercial Studies, School of Engineering (for
training engineers of roads and bridges, metallurgists, architects, electricians, and mechanical
engineers), School of Agricultural Studies, and School of Ethnology. The events of 1922 did not allow
the implementation of this project. However, the deeply rooted reactions coming from both the
academic and the political world in Greece that prevented the completion of the University.
From 1917, after he had been elected Prime Minister for the second time, Eleftherios Venizelos, who
had a liberal educational vision and programme in mind, sought to come in contact with
distinguished Greek professors who could contribute to the fulfillment of his intentions.
In 1919, he met Carathodory in Paris, where his primary concern was the organization and
establishment of a new Greek university, in an effort to extend the borders of Hellenism. He suggests
the institution of the University of Ionia based on the expansion of the Greek state and on the
undisputed fact that the Greek world was the mediator between the Slavic and Turk-Arabic world
and the West.
After the Balkan War and World War I, the Greek Army took control of the Ionian coast. The Greek
Government established the Smyrna High Commission to administer the region. The High
Commission under Aristides Stergiadis had a wealth of economic resources which were set at the
disposal of the University for its organization and operation. The contract between the High
Commissioner and Carathodory was signed on October 28th 1920. According to that contract, he
was assigned the Presidency of the University of Smyrna for five years on a monthly payment of
4,000 drachmas. His assignment was validated with a subsequent act of the High Commission.
The original plans provide for the establishment of Schools relevant to the development of the region
as a key point for Greeks overseas, while at the final stage of the construction works the University
was believed to be equal to the greatest European Universities. The language spoken was Greek on
special occasions, Turkish, too, while the use of other languages was not excluded.
Today, the building of the University of Smyrna is a Turkish Girls Secondary School Carathodory's
tragic return to Greece was coupled with the feeling of personal failure, and political turmoil. He
never referred to the dream lost again.

152

SYMPOSIUM 25

The Next Science of Humankind. Myths

and Histories of the Neurosciences
Organizers
Jean Gael Barbara, CNRS, Paris, France
Fabio De Sio, Institut fr Geschichte der Medizin, Uniklinikum Dusseldorf, Germany
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Neurosciences made its appearance only fifty
years ago, in the first issue of the Neurosciences Research Program Bulletin. Like other scientific
revolutions of the XX Century (most notably cybernetics and molecular biology), the Neurosciences
were born as a substantially interdisciplinary and international endeavour, through the cooperation
of scholars of diverse origins (from zoology to computer science, from psychology to biochemistry)
and provenance.
The early historical overviews of the field point at some main features of its development: the
importance of technological advances; the role of simple models (conceptual, physical and animal) in
bridging of gaps between previously unrelated phenomena and perspectives; the intrinsic
interdisciplinary and variously reductionistic nature of the field and, finally, its cultural relevance as
the possible cornerstone of a general unified science to come, a science attacking the ultimate goal
of all science and philosophy how does the mind/brain work!.
To a certain extent, the recent historiography of the neurosciences seems to have taken the bulk of
those claims at face value, in diverging ways and with specific agendas, i.e., in order to substantiate
them, sanctifying the stillborn science, or to disprove or contextualize them, showing how certain
concerns, visions, ways of knowing and doing found their underpinnings at a deeper social, political
or ideological level. With few meaningful exceptions, the present mainstream view of the
neurosciences qua multidisciplinary approach to the mind/brain/behaviour has informed the relative
historiography and philosophy, especially as regards the concern for a feared appropriation of the
question of human nature, behaviour and values.
The papers in this session aim at questioning the neurosciences as a unified approach to the
mind/brain historically, i.e. by contrasting the multi-faceted and diverging histories of the
neurosciences with the myth of THE Neurosciences. A historical gaze on the contingency of the
development and definition of the neurosciences may contribute to the appreciation of the actual
heterogeneity of the field (in terms of practices, systems, rationalities, philosophical claims) and of its
cultural value at large.

Deconstructing the Science of Mind: Interdisciplinary Roots of Neurosciences at the

Example of Gestalt Psychology in the Weimar Academic Culture
Anna Perlina, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany
Nowadays, Neurosciences is a research domain laying at the intersection of a number of disciplines,
including psychology, philosophy, neurobiology, computer science etc. Interdisciplinarity is probably
the most obvious and striking characteristics of this field of research. Against this background, my
contribution explores the roots of Neurosciences and traces them back to the constitution of the
psychological discipline in Germany before World War II. In the Weimar academic culture,
experimental Psychology was nourished not only by philosophical and physiological impact but also
by the then-flourishing natural sciences, particularly physics. I demonstrate that interdisciplinarity
153

was an inherent feature of Psychology, the parent discipline of Neurosciences, as early as in the
1920s. Particular attention is paid to the Gestalt school of psychology that was one of the most
successful and influential psychological schools of the Weimar period. Most importantly, however,
the Gestalt psychologists Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Khler, Kurt Koffka and Kurt Lewin
developed a holistic psychological agenda, which was eclectic in theory and experimental practice. I
take a close look at the work of Kurt Lewin, tracing his concepts and research practices of the 1920s
and 1930s up to its interdisciplinary origins. Eventually, my contribution treats the diversity of the
Science of Mind at the level of its conceptual structure. Focusing upon the example of Lewins
work, I show how interdisciplinary conceptual bricks were integrated into one sophisticated system
of concepts and made instrumental for research on mind and behavior.

Doctrinal Disputations. Brain, the Unicity of Man and the Origin of the Neurosciences
Fabio De Sio, Institut fr Geschichte der Medizin, Uniklinikum Dusseldorf, Germany
Despite their relatively young age, the modern Neurosciences have acquired in the past decades a
central stand in contemporary biomedicine, branching out in innumerable fields (like economics,
aesthetics, religious experience etc.) traditionally considered a reserve of the human sciences. This
was perceived by some as a sort of cultural imperialism, an attempt at reducing the ineffable mystery
of being human to a matter of neuronal connections and membrane potentials. The term
Brainhood was coined to indicate the anthropological figure resulting from the reduction of the
living subject to its brain. By exploring some of the early history (1940s-1960s) of modern
Neuroscience in Great Britain and the USA, this paper aims at sketching a story parallel to that of the
progressive neuralization/naturalization of behaviour. The paper will focus on some early
controversies over the nature and causes of human behaviour, and especially on the question of the
difference between humans and the rest of the animals, paying attention to the gradient of positions
between the outspoken fideistic denial of the brain/self identity (e.g. JC Eccles, D.M. McKay) and the
other extreme, the attempt at building mechanical models of the brain and of behaviour (e.g. J.Z.
Young). Inbetween the extremes lie a series of ideological, epistemological and methodological
stands (as expressed in the interest for the neurological correlates of religious experience or for ESP)
that complicate the monolithic picture of the sciences of the brain, while showing all the
complexities of their cultural descent.

Glimpses of Early Cognitive Neuroscience

Marjorie Lorch, University of London, London, UK
This paper will consider the interdisciplinary meetings of clinicians, experimentalists and
theoreticians investigating the brain mechanisms underlying language which took place in the 1950s1960s. There were a number of interdisciplinary meetings in this period which explored questions
regarding the relation between developments in linguistics and language science to those in
psychology and neurology. These were funded by and located in a number of universities and
foundations, which linked people doing animal experiments and those working with neurological
patients. The intention was to create and facilitate a network of people which converging interest in
shared research questions but employing diverse methodologies. One outcome was the founding of
the Academy of Aphasia which was a closed group made up of equal numbers of clinicians, therapists
and scientists. Another was the establishment of new interdisciplinary research groups including
those within the Veterans Administration Medical Centers in the USA to deal with the growing
groups of patients with neurological disorders, notably the Aphasia Research Group in the Boston. At
the same time several new journals were founded to provide publication outlets for this new
community of research such as Cortex and Neuropsychologia. This period saw the creation of a
diverse community of scholars with a new focus in cognitive neuroscience.

154

Local Currents in Transnational Mediation

Cornelius Borck, University of Luebeck, Luebeck, Germany
The sciences are auto-critical practices that derive some of their productivity from divergent
specializations and local specificities, allowing for ever new approaches and unexpected turns. This
applies particularly to the neurosciences, a declaredly interdisciplinary field from the beginnings.
Building on the historical case study of different lines of electrophysiological research that were
united by the employment of a particular technology, electroencephalography, the paper addresses
the more general question how instruments and media participate at the shaping of research objects
and the generalizations derived thereby. This case study shall then serve as platform from where to
investigate in a comparative fashion how current work in the neurosciences uses the singular of the
brain as a unifying linguistic tool for, de facto, a diversification of research: Under the disguise of the
singularity of the brain, the neurosciences dismantle a supposedly unified entity into a myriad of
experimental objects, research targets, brain states, detection data, observed phenomena, etc.
Finally, the question will be addressed whether internationalization and standardization do not
generate a homogenization or unification of research in the neurosciences but participate at the
rapid turnover of the entire field in an ongoing adaptation to ever new research opportunities under
maintenance of a more and more fictitious entity, the brain.

Of Peripheral Things. Or: de-centring the Brain in the Story of Neuroscience

Max Stadler, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Historiographically speaking, histories of the neurosciences usually, typically, and at times very
programmatically so, are stories of the brain: today, it is the brain (rather than any other old organ)
that will serve to - whatever the case may be - celebrate, castigate, frame, or (at its best) historicize
our own, contemporary condition: a condition that has everything, or at least a lot, to do with the
brain and its science. This at any rate is a notion that would appear quite inescapable for anyone
drawn, in some capacity or another, to the multiplying discourses surrounding this (according to
some) science of the 21st century. And certainly the histories of neuroscience that we tell, or that are
being told, tend to suggest this much, whether your choice is academic or not-so-academic history,
whether you turn to wikipedia or BBC 4: its primarily the central nervous system that will be
featured and, by implication, such grandoise topics as language, memory, mind and human nature.
Indeed, while the genesis of the twentieth-century neurosciences remains a largely uncharted
territory, when it comes to accounting for how we may have arrived here, in a world that so
seemingly is, or will soon be replete with neurosciences profoundly biological vision of human
nature, not unlikely that the answer will be: weve been here before, weve already lived through so
many cultures of the brain or neuro-cultures. You name it: the heretic doctrines of a Descartes or
de La Mettrie; the rise of the double brain in the Victorian era; the spread of biopsychiatry in
Wilhelmine Germany; the origins of the EEG in the interwar period; the stories of lobotomy, of
psychopharmaceuticals or of the confluence of computational machinery and minds in the 1940s and
50s. This paper, by way of highlighting the scientific, social and cultural significance of the peripheral
nervous system in the interwar period, aims to press the point that thinkers of neuroscience might
do well in thinking twice before entangling (the history of) neuroscience too emphatically and
exclusively with the story of the brain, mind, human nature and, indeed, of culture. Such framings,
as I shall argue, all too easily become complicit with the neuro-scientific discourses they profess to
critically engage, reproducing, rather than questioning, the dramatic (or anti-humanistic) categories
prescribed by todays neuro-discourses themselves.

155

Paradigms and Too Soon Ideas in the history of neuroscience

Marek Havlik, Czech Republic
Paper focuses on the philosophy and history of neuroscience. It explores two important paradigms
that ruled the neuroscience for many years and were recently disproved. And paper also explores
thoughts that tried to disprove these paradigms in their own time. These too soon ideas were
immediately disqualified and even ridiculed. Now these ideas are considered as ones of the main
focuses in contemporary neuroscience.
Paper has two parts each for one paradigm. Two pursued paradigms are No new neurons and
Brain is reflexive instrument.
First paradigm is focused on the creation of new neurons in the brain - neurogenesis. Paradigm
thought until 1990 was centrally that no new neurons can be added or created in the mammalian
brain. Contemporary neuroscience now stands against these thoughts and accepts that brain has the
ability to create new neurons. Too soon idea that disagreed with paradigm of no new neurons
was brought by Joseph Altman but his results and theories were ignored under the pressure of
textbooks and academic majority that supported no new neurons paradigm.
Second paradigm is focused on reflexive and responsive powers of the brain. This paradigm held until
the year of 2001. Marcus Raichle discovered the Default mode of brain function, vastly known as
Default mode network or DMN. This idea brings the new paradigm in the field of contemporary
neuroscience and tells that brain is working all the time. Reflexive instrument paradigm thought
that brain and its parts are activated mainly for reacting and responding to the environment. Too
soon idea (1929) that disagreed with reflexive paradigm was brought by Hans Berger inventor of
electroencephalogram. His idea was based on the readings of alpha waves that are present in the
resting state (also as DMN activations). Bergers ideas were also ignored and even ridiculed.

Promissory Materialism and the Limits of the Neurosciences

Brian Casey, National Institutes of Health, Alexandria, VA, USA
At the end of the twentieth century consciousness became a neuroscientific problem. Advances
such as brain imaging technologies have blurred the lines between scientific investigation and
philosophical inquiry. For many observers, cognitive science has raised profound questions about the
nature of the human person, most fundamentally, whether belief in an immaterial, immortal soul is
irrational in the wake of the progress of the neurosciences. Despite winning a Nobel Prize for
elucidating mechanisms of neuronal communication, the Australian neurophysiologist John Carew
Eccles (1903-1997), waged a public battle against what he referred to as Promissory Materialism,
the belief that science would someday explain all there is to know about humanity. Eccles became a
scientist to discredit the notion that the mind is reducible to brain anatomy and physiology, that
mind is another term for what the brain does. Exploiting Karl Poppers revolutionary ideas about
the nature of science, insights he claimed helped guide him through a great scientific debate, Eccles
shocked his colleagues by proposing (with the blessing and assistance of Popper) evolving neoCartesian dualist models of brain/mind interaction that incorporated the religious concept of a soul.
In spite of and, indeed because of the disbelief of modern scientists and philosophers of mind,
Eccles embarked on his mission to defend the notion of the ghost in the machine. Guided by
Popper, Eccles challenged from within neuroscientists materialist presumptions and offered an
understanding of science as open to metaphysical speculation. Eccles and Poppers widelydisparaged work, The Self and Its Brain (1977), helped force a discussion among scientists and
philosophers about the ontology of modern science. This talk seeks to open discussion about the
changing metaphysics of the neuroscience community through analysis of the reaction to Eccles
project and the changing alternative models of the mind proposed by Eccles colleagues and
philosophical opponents.
156

Revelatory Brains and Redemptive Knowledge Towards a Connected History of

Religious and Scientific Imagination in the Neurosciences
Alexandra K. Grieser, University of Groningen (RUG), Groningen, Netherlands
In the history of science, the role of religion has often been confined to theological doctrines and the
Christian church, acting as an exclusive competitor to scientific progress. Seeing both religion and
science as cultural practices which claim to provide reliable knowledge, the relationships between
the two look quite different throughout history. This is particularly true for the notion of a new
leitwissenschaft, the neurosciences, touching upon cultural ideas of human identity in a very longue
dure. If we, firstly, look at the aesthetic components of neuroscientific knowledge such as
metaphors and images, it can be stated that the secularist equation the more science, the less
religion cannot be satisfied. Religious interpretations and practices react and adapt to the scientific
discourse, particularly when we consider modern fragmentary forms of religion and the esoteric and
magic traditions. Secondly, it can be observed that also within the neurosciences religious patterns
play a role: featuring the outlooks of the new knowledge, teleological visions are presented which
blur the line between curative optimization and salvific promises, operating not far from the gnostic
visions in transhumanism. Thirdly, science has certainly become the most important generator of
plausibility structures and interpretive patterns in the current cultural imaginaire, be it for the
understanding of the body, the self, or of nature. On the hybrid field between popularization and
popular culture, the neuroscientific imagery plays a seminal role. On the one hand, the photographs
of the brain in action serve as operational images in an epistemological process; on the other hand
they function as configurations of aesthetic evidence seeing is knowing, so it seems, and the
impression of an immediate approach to the activities of the self has an impact far beyond the
scientific frame. The visual rhetoric of glowing brains, sparks, and beams recalls both enlightenment
ideals of true knowledge and the romantic search for an all-encompassing and reunifying force of
life, then suspected in magnetism or electricity. This romantic principle is very much at work today,
and a revised history of religion and science can help to critically accompany the transfer between
the production of knowledge and the production of world-views we are witnessing today.

157

SYMPOSIUM 26

The Origins of Experimental Philosophy:

Experimental Procedures and Empirical
Methods in early modern Europe
Organizers
Dana Jalobeanu, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Mihaela Madalina Giurgea, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
The origin of experimental philosophy has long been a central problem in the history of early modern
science. In the past decade quite a substantial amount of work has been done in the exploration of
various cognitive, psychological and social aspects of experimentation. Meanwhile, comparatively
little has been done towards a more detailed, contextual and specific study of what might be
described, a bit anachronistically, as the methodology of early modern experimentation, i.e. the ways
in which naturalists, promoters of mixed mathematics, natural philosophers or artisans put
experiments together and reflected (and sometimes discussed) on the capacity of experiments to
extend, refine or test hypotheses, on the limits of experiments and, even more, on the heuristic
power of experimentation. So far, the sustained interest in the role played by experiments in early
modern science has usually centered on evidence- related problems. This line of investigation
favored examination of the experimental results, but neglected the methodology that brought
about the results in the first place. It has also neglected the more creative and exploratory roles that
experiments could and did play in the works of sixteenth and seventeenth century explorers of
nature.
The purpose of our panel is to bring together scholars interested in specific early modern instances of
experimental methodology. We are especially interested in whether one can find specific
methodological considerations on the exploratory and heuristic aspects of experimentation in early
modern period. Our aim is to illustrate and further explore in detail particular instances of the so far
neglected aspects of early modern experimentation. The individual papers will focus on specific
instances of early modern experiments and methodological considerations present in the works of
sixteenth and seventeenth century explorers of the natural world. In this way, we hope to enrich the
current understanding of the ways in which the methodology of experimental practice contributed to
the growth of knowledge.

Experiments in Giovanni Battista Della Porta's Meteorological Treatise De aeris

transmutationibus (1610)
Arianna Borrelli, Wuppertal University, Wuppertal, Germany
Giovanni Battista Della Porta (ca. 15351616) was one of the most popular (and most debated)
figures of late Renaissance Europe and his role in shaping early modern experimental culture can
hardly be ignored, although the reception of his work has not yet been fully explored in the historical
literature. I will discuss the key features of his experimental practices using as an example his treatise
on meteorology De aeris transmutationibus (1610). I will argue that the main characteristic of Della
Porta's experimental study of nature was its humanism, i.e. the fact that natural phenomena were
primarily defined by how they looked, sounded, felt and acted upon those who witnessed them. For
Della Porta, a natural philosopher should pursue his quest of natural secrets by asking: If I were
nature, how would I go about producing this effect?
158

Although this epistemological stance was usually justified by a generic appeal to the theory of
signatures, Della Porta was never really interested in systematically developing such abstract
considerations, but rather devoted his efforts to making his readers acquainted with a large number
of sensual and emotional experiences, explaining them how a philosopher - and possibly also nature could bring them about. In his early works, the descriptions of experiments were still schematic and
somehow bookish, but his style improved with time, making his readers spectators of vivid natural
philosophical creations, as was the case in De aeris transmutationibus. Thus, Della Porta's attention
to impressing the audience was not simply due to histrionic tendencies, as often claimed, but rather
to the conviction of the fundamental role of effect in nature and in experiment. Because of this,
meteorology was for him a highly epistemologically significant discipline, since weather and climate
play a central role in shaping human life in practical, emotional, and spiritual sense.

Exploring Galileo's Method: the Day Earth Stopped Standing Still

Markos Ioannis Polakis, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece
In this paper, I examine the complex methodological and theoretical arguments of Galileo, for the
case of the Copernican paradigm in his work Dialogue concerning the Two chief World Systems. In
short, I argue that the experiments of motion that are described by Galileo in the chapter "Second
Day" are constituted differently in an altogether new conceptual system that is articulated, at the
same time. Thus, Galileo's inquiry cannot be seen as relying on a common empirical core, or on
already set theoretical grounds.
This dialectical relation between theory and experience, is analysed in a series of mental experiments
-or as Feyerabend puts it 'invented experiences'- that enable Galileo to make a compelling case for
the hypothesis of Earth's movement. By disconnecting the concept of motion, from the notion of its
observability, Galileo is able to generalise the concept of relative motion to any motion, thereby
broadening the horizon of the concept so as to encompass the movement of Earth. Yet, this process
presupposes that the reader gradually abandons the Aristotelian conceptual scheme in favour of a
new interpretation of phenomena that is compatible with the Copernican paradigm. Pivotal to this
argument is the acceptance of a new ad hoc influence, namely, the principle of circular inertia. To
that extent, emphasis is given on the fact that the choice between the two chief world systems is
underdetermined by the facts of experience and can only be assured with the aid of an elaborate
rhetorical exposition.
Following Feyerabend's analysis of natural interpretations, the complex argumentation of Galileo is
interpreted as a counter inductive stance against the Aristotelian theory, that presupposes the latter
and at the same time attempts to substitute its latent methodological criteria in order to pose the
question of Earth's movement, under new terms. Thus, it provides us with an entirely different view
on the theory - experience relation in revolutionary periods in science.

The Hunt of Pan: Creative, Heuristic and Therapeutic Role of Experiments in Francis
Bacons Natural Histories
Dana Jalobeanu, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Francis Bacons philosophy of experiment has been often subject to fierce debates, and sometimes
thorough abuse in the writings of historians of philosophy or historians and philosophers of science.
Despite the obvious central role of experiment and experimentation in Bacons writings, it is still not
entirely clear how we would answer today to any of the following questions:
1. What is the relation between Bacons speculative philosophy (i.e. cosmology and theory of matter)
and his performed or imagined experiments?
2. What is the role of experimentation in general (in natural history or in natural philosophy)?
3. Why do natural philosophers have to do experiments at all?
159

Attempts have been made to read Bacon in a purely inductivist manner, as starting with observations
and experiments, establishing some theory-free facts and constructing from them, through some
sort of inductive reasoning, axioms and laws. There were also attempts to read Bacon as a
hypothetico-deductivist: as starting with conjectures and theoretical statements and using
experiments to test, confirm or reject theoretical statements. Yet other attempts tended to picture
Bacon as a proto-Bayesian: as using experiments to amass evidence for a more probable conjecture
and amend his theory accordingly. Last but not least, there are ways of reading Bacon in such a way
that his natural and experimental history was no more than a feeble illustration of his metaphysical
or cosmological theory of matter, or even a rhetorical device for enlisting help in realizing the
societal and communitarian program of Instauratio Magna.
In part, such divergent interpretations originate in the peculiar structure of Bacons description of
experimentation and experimental procedures still the least investigated parts of his works.
For Francis Bacon, the proper objects of philosophy, the principles, fountains, causes and forms of
motions, that is, the appetites and passions of every kind of matter (OFB V 246) are to be
investigated throughout a thoroughly regulated experimental procedure designed by the name
experientia literata. In a characteristic metaphorical fashion, Bacon pictures his experimental
methodology as a way of torturing nature or chaining the god Proteus and hence obliging the multifaceted nature to change shape and reveal its secrets. In Bacons speculative philosophy (Rees 1993,
2007) natural processes are the result of the active powers of the spirits enclosed in the tangible
bodies. Spirits are the most active of bodies (SS I. 98) and it is from spirits and their motions that
the majority of processes proceed. All properties of bodies ultimately arise from the appetites and
desires of pneumatic matter (OFB V 451-2). Experimenting with matter or chaining Proteus means,
in fact, experimenting with spirits, reaching, through experiments, to the sources of motion and
causation that lie at the origin of all physical phenomena.
How is this investigation possible?
For the mechanical philosopher, the bridge between the realm of the visible and the invisible world is
to postulate a fundamental similarity between macroscopic/visible phenomena and what happens at
the microscopic level. Collisions, for example, are relevant from the point of view of the
experimenter because of the postulate stating that in the visible and invisible world, particles or
macroscopic bodies collide in the same way, like billiard balls, for example. Hence, it is relevant to
study the macroscopic collisions and investigate the empirical laws governing this phenomenon. In
Bacons non-mechanical philosophy, however, no such postulate of similarity is at work. There is no
reason to believe that the invisible spirits trapped in bodies act in any way similar with the
macroscopic bodies we can see and experience. What is, then, the relevance of experimentation?
One important point worth noticing is, of course, Bacons materialism. There is no ontological
difference between spirits or pneumatics in general and tangible bodies. They are all material and,
what is even more important, they can be transformed into one another. Such phasetransformations are extremely important in Bacons natural histories and a lot of experiments are
constructed around them. Another important point is that spirits and matter are subject to the
general conservation law stating that the total quantity of matter (tangible and pneumatic) in the
universe is constant. All this, however, is not sufficient to bridge the gap between the observable and
the unobservable, between the visible phenomena and the invisible actions of the spirits.
What is, then, the relevance of Baconian experimentation?
It is my suggestion in this paper to abandon the standard view that Baconian experiments function as
evidence. Instead, by looking into the way experiments were put together, varied and exploited in
Bacons Latin natural histories, I will suggest alternative functions for experimentation in general, and
a more sophisticated relation between theory and experiments.
In this paper I will investigate in depth a number of Baconian experiments with spirits taken
respectively from Historia densi et rari, Historia ventorum, Historia vitae et mortis and Sylva
Sylvarum. I will first show the way they were put together as applications of Bacons own art of
experientia literata, using instruments, instrumental set-ups and a complex methodology of
experimentation. I will then emphasize their theoretical presuppositions and their connection with
160

Bacons matter theory. I will in the end attempt to explain three potential functions of
experimentation that have received little attention so far. Firstly, I will show that experiments can
serve as models for understanding more complex phenomena. Secondly, I will show in what way
experiments can work as classificatory devices in Bacons own cosmological scheme/matter theory.
Thirdly, I will discuss the therapeutic role of experimentation, showing in what ways experiments, by
providing ministrations for the senses, memory and intellect, contribute to a more general program
of medicining the mind.

Experiment and Matter Theory in Francis Bacon's Natural Histories

Doina Cristina Rusu, Romania
Francis Bacon was always seen as one of the most important figures of the Scientific Revolution, and
his claim that nature cannot be known by common experience alone, because of its variety and
subtlety, but the scientist needs the help of an experiment in order to put nature to a trial, was
considered the starting point of the experimental sciences.
The question I ask in this paper is what is the exact function the experiments Bacon presented in
Sylva Sylvarum and in the Latin natural histories? or, more precisely, Is for Bacon the experiment
an impartial instrument for having access to nature or is it just a way of testing hypothesis? Existing
literature on this subject tends to present Bacons method of experimentation as a test which
searches for answers without any previous theory the experiment is just an objective reading of
nature, which will lead to a theory, but only when there will be a sufficient number of instances to
conclude it.
I will try to prove that the results of the experiments Bacon presented in Historia naturalis et
experimentalis and in Sylva Sylvarum are red and presented throughout a clear and detailed theory
of matter, which Bacon had in mind from the beginning of his carrier, and which influenced the
method he established for his experimental activities and writings. The role of experiments is not to
describe the natural phenomena, but to offer an explanation of what governs the activities of it, to
find the general laws taking place at the micro level of the small particles, which are not evident to
senses, but produce all the visible effects. In this sense, the interpretation of the hidden processes of
nature is very influenced by Bacons own conception of matter the appetites and movement of the
pneumatic spirits.

Reconsidering Francis Bacon's Experiments on Specific Gravities

Cesare Pastorino, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
To the Victorian scholars who commented on them, Francis Bacons experiments for the
determination of the specific gravities of substances looked inevitably flawed in their methodology.
Most of all, Bacons apparent disregard for the Archimedean hydrostatic tradition of authors like
della Porta and Ghetaldus was puzzling and disconcerting: Robert Leslie Ellis, in his introduction to
the _Historia densi et rari_, suggested that Bacon was unaware of the hydrostatic method, of the real
problem proposed to Archimedes, and of the idea that specific weights were to be compared by
weighing in air and water.
In this paper, I will advance the suggestion that to fully understand Francis Bacons research program
on specific gravities we should not look at the mathematical Archimedean tradition developed by
early modern natural philosophers like della Porta, Ghetaldus and Harriot. Instead, Bacons methods
and procedures become intelligible if considered in relation to economy and to monetary matters.
For one thing, Francis Bacons experimental techniques were likely modeled on those of goldsmiths
weighing and assaying precious substances. Moreover, it is possible to identify a not well-known but
very significant tradition for the determination of specific gravities without the use of the hydrostatic
principle, in writers dealing with monetary issues like Jean Bodin and Gerard Malynes. Francis
161

Bacons familiarity with these authors makes them a very likely source of inspiration for his research
project.
In general, this case study shows that the historical reconstruction of the origins of early modern
experimentation needs to take into account a wider spectrum of disciplines than natural philosophy
proper, including mechanical arts and practical domains of knowledge production.

Serial Experimentation: the Case of Magnetic Coition in Gilbert's De Magnete

Laura Georgescu, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
This paper claims that, in order to understand Gilberts experimental process in De magnete (1600),
the methodological unit of analysis should be the series of experiments rather than single, isolated
experiments. I argue that a group of experiments is connected into a series if some results are
exported from one experimental setup to another, or from one problem to another. If one
experiment leads to another and so on, then understanding an experiment requires the invocation of
its antecedent. There are, then, two characteristic features of series: (i) connections between
experiments that hold them together, and (ii) the dependency of the (partial or complete) solution to
the overall problem on these connections. That experiments are crucial for Gilbert's scientific
method is no matter of debate. Yet, usually the reconstructions of Gilbert's experimental method
focus on single experiments and isolated results. To illustrate my point about experimental series, I
will investigate how Gilbert formulates his theory of 'coition' (mutual action between the attracting
and attracted bodies). I will show that the conceptual innovation of 'magnetic coition' (De magnete,
Book 2) depends on at least (a) an experimental process that studies the property of attraction by
means of various experiments connected via an instrument (the 'versorium') and (b) the solution
given to the problem of the type of attraction electric bodies exert. Through (a), criterion (i) for serial
experimentation is covered, while (b) meets criterion (ii).

On the Creative Role of Experimentation in Descartes Study of Colours

Mihaela Madalina Giurgea, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Although the nature and evolution of Cartesian physics has been the subject of many debates,
relatively little has been done so far to clarify the details of the way in which Descartes devised,
constructed and used experiments. Even if there are significant studies of the status of hypotheses in
Descartes works (see Blake 1929 and 1960, Garber 2000, Ariew 2011), they pay comparatively little
attention to the process of experimentation as such. Therefore my aim is to bring into
discussion/discus the particular way in which experiments act as problem-solving devices. The
standard story is that, for Descartes, experiments function as illustration and have, therefore, a mere
passive role. My purpose in this paper is to challenge this account. I propose an alternative
interpretation of the role that experiments play in the Cartesian natural philosophy by focusing on
the reconstruction of the techniques of experimentation Descartes seems to have used in the
explanation of colours. I claim that we do not have a hypothetico-deductive structure at work;
experiments do not test predictions. They stand in a much more complex relation with Descartes
physics than usually assumed. Hence, studying the nature, function, structure and application of
Descartes experiments and the associated heuristic of the scientific discovery sheds a new light on
Descartes doctrine, allowing a much less speculative reading of his physics.
Adopting the position stating that Descartes was less a aprioristic about the scientific method than
usually thought (Galison 1984, Buchwald 2008) I will identify, on particular examples, some of the
functions of Cartesian experiments. I will be particularly interested in a number of Cartesian
experiments destined to bridge the gap between the visible and the invisible world of particles of
matter in motion. I will especially concentrate on Descartes study of the halo and the coronas around
the flame from the ninth discourse of Meteorology.
The striking part of Descartes study of colours is the fact that in order to settle the explanation of
162

the phenomena, two methodological strategies are available. One is to manipulate the initial
experimental setting in order to reproduce phenomena. The other is to use analogical reasoning and,
starting from one phenomenal occurrence, to design a new experiment in order to extend the
domain to related phenomena. The modifications of the experimental setting connect apparently
dissimilar physical occurrences, as the halo around stars and coronas around the flame, under the
same domain of investigation. I will show that these strategies allow Descartes to generate a body of
knowledge about the meteorological phenomena by unifying the phenomena that shares a common
explanation.
The same structure can be unearthed, I think, in other experiments of Descartes Meteorology. It is a
structure that demonstrates, I claim, the creative role of experimentation. By modifying the
experimental setting and the field covered by the experiment, the process of experimentation plays a
more productive role in the process of discovery that usually ascribed to Descartes.

Peirce's Appraisal of Petrus Peregrinus' De Magnete

Cassiano Terra Rodrigues, Pontifical Catholic University of So Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Peirce's appraisal of Petrus Peregrinus' "Epistle on the Lodestone" is relatively little known. According
to Peirce, Peregrinus treatise on the lodestone is the very first document to bring a modern
conception of science, in that it presents a link between experimentation and investigation aiming at
the purpose of finding the truth. This, for Peirce, marks the very core of a modern conception of
science - a conception of science not as a body of organized knowledge, deducible from a set of
established premisses, but as an activity single-heartedly pursued with the purpose of discovering
the truth, that is, with the purpose of correcting one's mistakes. Peirce sees in Peregrinus' detailed
account of the polarities and exact methods for determining the poles a procedure of passing from
hypotheses to deduction and induction that he considers characteristically of how modern
experimental science is carried on, so dating its beginning about 250 years back to the 13th century.
This communication aims at presenting Peirces reading of Peregrinus Epistle in the context of
Peirces own concept of science as an activity, problematizing some points in this reading.

163

SYMPOSIUM 28

The Scientific Cosmopolitanism as Traced

by Astronomical Instruments
Organizers
David Valls-Gabaud, CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, Paris, France
Xenophon Moussas, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
The symposium will explore the extent to which astronomical instrumentation was used to establish
a planet-wide community of practitioners who shared the same goals and tools. The international
nature of this initially informal group was not always strong enough to fight nationalistic views. The
symposium aims at establishing which tools were used, across time and space, to promote
international cooperation, in contrast with other techniques or instruments which remained within
closed groups of astronomers. To what extent international cooperation fostered the feeling of a
truly cosmopolitan community before the establishment of formal trans-national entities is the
central question that this symposium aims to address.

Stone Age People Controlling Time and Space: Evidences for Measuring Instruments and
Methods in Earlier Prehistory and the Roots of Mathematics, Astronomy, and Metrology
Michael A. Rappenglck, Adult Education Centre and Observatory Gilching, Gilching, Germany
Millennia before the beginnings of agriculture seminomadic Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers already
were able to measure qualities quantitatively. The living conditions of those days compelled archaic
cultures to develop certain simple but nevertheless fully functional and appropriate tools as well as
procedures for measuring and counting quantities concerning space, especially lengths, but also
areas and volumes as well as time periods. Basically intentional design and standardisation of stone
or bone tools start out on the evolution of metrology. The perception, technical implementation and
aesthetical evaluation of proportion, similarity, and symmetry of objects emerge during the Lower
Palaeolithic (2.6-0.2 Ma BP). Throughout the following Middle Palaeolithic and Upper Palaeolithic
early man more and more shaped materials according to abstract mathematical concepts, which are
inherent in the neurophysiological structure of the human brain, related to natural prototypes. The
reproduction of similar designed objects required a quite high faculty of abstraction and
walkthrough, a certain repertoire of logical-mathematical transformations, manual skills of
implementation, road-tests, optimization techniques, and repeated controlling of shaping. Evidences
for measuring instruments and methods as well as proto-mathematical concepts during Earlier
Prehistory are given by a lot of examples like the preparation of plane surfaces and levelling technics,
the constructions of tents and huts including the adjustment of architectural elements, scaffolding in
caves, the cut of clothing, the making of hunting weapons, the mixing ratios of dye stuffs used for
cave paintings, purposes of orientation in space and time, including elementary map sketches of local
regions and celestial areas, and basic systems of time reckonings. During the Upper Palaeolithic man
constructed geometrical figures like the line segment, the rectangular cross, the isosceles,
equilateral, and right-angled triangle, different kinds of quadrangle (rectangle, square, trapezium,
rhombus), the pentagon and hexagon, the circle, the ellipse, the spiral and the Greek fret, grid and
tessellation (using triangles, lozenges, and hexagons). Moreover 3D figures like cuboids, spheres or
even screws had been known and manufactured. There are hints upon imaging methods, for
example translation, rotation, or projection, the use of templates, scaling procedures, design
164

principles, natural and artificial measuring instruments, for example body parts, the measuring cord
and rod, the plumb bob, a simple protractor, and the use of the shadow stick. During the Upper
Palaeolithic man also applied certain counting methods displayed on rock faces inside and outside of
caves or on mobile stone or bone objects. Archaeological records from Earlier Prehistory make
evident that proto-mathematical knowledge was closely related to early sky watching, navigational
purposes, and time-reckoning. Results of ethnomathematical and ethnoastronomical studies further
substantiate that comparatively simple measuring instruments and methods are well-suited for
perfectly good results satisfying the claims of early man. The talk presents a general view of the
research results in the field.

New Light on Stonehenge from Ancient Greeks

Vance R. Tiede, Astro-Archaeology Surveys, Inc., Guilford, USA
Around 50 BC the Sicilian historian Diodorus described a temple often identified as Stonehenge
Hecateus [c 350 BC] and certain others say that in the region beyond the land of the Celts [Gaul]
there lies in the ocean an island no smaller than Sicily. This island is inhabited by the
Hyperboreans there is also on the island a magnificent sacred precinct of Apollo and a notable
temple adorned with many votive offerings and spherical in shape. They also say how the moon
viewed from this island appears to be but a little distance from the earth the god visits the island
every 19 years, the period in which the return of the stars [astron] to the same place in the heavens
is accomplished; and for this reason the 19-year period is called by the Greeks the year of Meton
(Diodorus Siculus, II).
Archaeologists now regard the 56 Aubrey Holes as having held large posts. But why not 57, a multiple
of the 19-year period of the Metonic cycle?
The cycle says that if there is a full moon on 21 June, the moon again will be full on 21 June 19 years
later, but at a different position on the horizon. If the full moon starts over the Heelstone, for
example, it will slowly slip away each 19 year interval. On the other hand, if you count 19, 18 and 19
years (a total of 56), it will stay completely on the stone throughout many cycles. It would seem that
the architects of Stonehenge had knowledge of both: there are 19 stones in the bluestone horseshoe
and there are 56 holes in the Aubrey circle.
It is not the return of stars alone to the same place in the heavens that is marked by the horizon
alignments at Stonehenge, but rather of the luminous bodies (astron, ), that is sun, moon and
stars. We interpret Diodorus words to mean that Stonehenge records the turning points of the
midsummer sun and midwinter moon with the seasonal zodiac stars, when all these luminous bodies
return to the same place in the Year of the High Moon every 19+18+19 years.
The Roman writer Plutarch (2nd Century AD) provides the evidence to link the number 56 with
eclipses, supported indirectly by the ancient myths of cosmic struggles between light and darkness,
Greek (Typhon vs Zeus) and Egyptian (Set vs Horus and Osiris):
[T]he 56-sided polygon is said to belong to Typhon, as Eudoxus [Greek astronomer c 370 BC] has
reported There are some who give the name Typhon to the shadow of the earth, into which they
believe the moon falls and so suffers eclipse which the sun remedies by instantly shining back upon
the moon when it has escaped the earths shadow (Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 30,44,55).
The movement of the moon has occupied the lives of many, many astronomers, and there are
hundreds of terms to describe it. That the moon undergoes this movement to higher declinations,
higher and higher in the sky, and then becomes lower and lower, has come out of the Stonehenge
study. In certain places, such as southern Ireland, the moon would disappear behind the mountains.
In higher latitudes, it would become circumpolar, never setting the land of the midnight moon, one
could say. The 56-year cycle which controls it was not really understood or mentioned by
astronomers. It is something that has come from the past to us ancient knowledge transferred in a
set of alignments.

165

A Minoan Eclipse Calculator

Minas Tsikritsis, Directorate of Secondary Education, Heraklion, Greece
Efstratios Theodossiou, Vassilios N. Manimanis, Petros Mantarakis, National and Kapodistrian
University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Searching for Minoan artifacts bearing astronomical representations in the Heraklion Archaeological
Museum we came upon a stone die, which had been discovered by a peasant in a field 150 m NW of
the village of Palaikastro of the Sitia province in Crete in 1899. This die was first reported (1900) by
the director of the Museum Stephanos Xanthoudides. 35 years later the British archaeologist Sir
Arthur John Evans expressed the view that the symbols carved on the dies surface are somehow
related to the Sun and the Moon (1935).
In this study, a more detailed discussion and interpretation of the relief symbols and figures, and
especially of the ray-bearing disc on the right-hand side of the die, is presented and analyzed from
an astronomical point of view. Evidence is presented in favor of its use as a die for the construction
of a device that could determine eclipse dates during the Minoan period (c. 15th century BC);
additionally, two more practical uses for it are examined: as a sundial and as an instrument for the
determination of the geographical latitude.

New Aspects of the Antikythera Mechanism: A Complex Astronomical Clock (?) of the 2nd
c. BC, Lunar Motion, Planetary Gear and Archimedes Signature
Xenophon Moussas, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
New discoveries concerning the oldest known computer and astronomical instrument will be
presented. The Antikythera Mechanism is the earliest known complex scientific instrument, the first
computer and the oldest mechanical universe.
Built by Greek scientists, probably between sometime 150 and 100 BC. It is possible that it has been
based on data obtained by Archimedes and his disciples that it seems that they have continued his
philosophical and astronomical work after the death of the great mathematician, who as implied by
our results, was a physicist and astronomer.
We will try to answer important questions such as who made it, and if the mechanism had
forerunners, simpler machines that could perform some of its functions? The instrument, that was
called PINAX or PINAKIDION (table or little table) has several similarities with some advanced
astronomical clocks of middle ages.
Few years ago we discovered that the Lunar trajectory followed in the mechanism to a good
approximation Keplers second law. Of particular importance is the recent discovery that the motion
of the moon, as it is evident by an elliptical link between two eccentric gears gives more precise orbit
than initially thought, probably following three laws of Kepler.
The instrument is a dedicated astronomical complex analog computer that works with carefully
designed (based on mathematical theorems) and manufactured miniaturized gears. The gears
perform appropriate mathematical operations as they move around the axes and shafts. The
movement of the pinion moves indicators that give the position of various heavenly bodies, the Sun,
the Moon and possibly the planets. Some references to the Early Greek Astrophysics will be made.
Finally we will present evidence for planetary gears.

Technical Evolution of Astrolabes through Ages

Flora Vafea, Abet Greek School in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
The invention of the astrolabe and the projection of the celestial sphere onto a plane is attributed to
Hipparchus (2nd c. BC) by Synesius (4th-5th c. AD), although no treatise of Hipparchus exists to
confirm it.
166

Ptolemy in his work Planisphaerium provides the theoretical base for the construction of the
astrolabe. He describes the methods for the construction of the various lines on the astrolabe,
supported by the necessary proofs.
In the treatise on the astrolabe of Joannes Philoponus (6th c. AD) written in Greek, there is a detailed
description of the astrolabe and a series of problems that can be solved using this instrument. The
rim of the disk of the astrolabe coincides with the Tropic of Capricorn. Severus Sebokht (7th c. AD)
writes a similar treatise in the Syriac language; there is an allusion for a disk whose rim coincides with
the Antarctic circle.
Then, the Arabs take the baton of the astrolabe evolution. In the treatises on the use of the astrolabe
written by 'Al b. 'Is, al-Khwrizm (9th c.), al-Sf (10th c.) new elements appear on the astrolabe,
such as the azimuth lines, the shadow, the equal hours, the sine and the lines of the Muslim prayers.
Al-Farghn (9th c.) writes al-Kmil, where he proves theorems on the stereographic projection and
gives detailed description for the construction of astrolabes for the northern and southern celestial
hemisphere.
Al-Brn (973-1048), in his work Comprehension of the possible ways for the construction of the
astrolabe, describes various types of astrolabes and other devices that can be attached to the
astrolabe and give additional information.
Al-Zarqall (11th c.) introduces the universal astrolabe based on the stereographic projection from
the equinoctial points onto the plane of the solsticial colure. The advantage of this projection is that
one image can be used for all the celestial coordinates: equatorial, ecliptic and horizontal. The
universal astrolabe can be used at any latitude, while the classic planispheric astrolabe needs a disk
for the specific latitude we use it.
Al-Ts (12th c.) invents the linear astrolabe, projecting the important points of the planispheric
astrolabe onto the meridian line; thus the astrolabe becomes a stick!
Rojas (16th c.) and De La Hire (17th c.) in Europe present new forms of universal astrolabes, by
modifying the pole of the projection.

Comparison of Astronomical Instruments through the Ages

Panagiotis Papaspirou, Xenophon Moussas, Kostas Karamanos, National and Kapodistrian
University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Observational Astronomy dates since the dawn of scientific thought, with its practices being
conducted since the prehistoric times, and in all civilizations. The object of Observational Astronomy
requires specifically built instruments for the measurement of the orbits and apparent angular
positions of the celestial objects. Initially, these were marks on the horizon, becoming megalithic
constructions, and eventually transformed to portable, miniaturized, and complicated scientific
instruments in the various great civilizations.
We shall conduct a historical survey of astronomical instruments used by dominant figures in the
history of Astronomy, such as the Babylonian and Egyptian priests, the great Greek astronomers, the
Byzantine monks, the great Muslim and Chinese astronomers, and the great European astronomers
such as Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and Galileo Galilei.
We claim that possible cultural interchanges and specific scientific interactions between the
European world, the Byzantine Empire and the Chinese Empire may have been accomplished through
the historical trading artery of the Silk Road.
We shall also investigate in detail the scientific renaissance in Astronomy brought by the introduction
of the telescope and for scientific astronomical purposes. Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler play a
significant role in this development. Their foundational work was greatly influenced by the most
accurate astronomical tables of their time, conducted under the supervision of Tycho Brahe, which
become possible only after the introduction of improved astronomical instruments.
We shall study all the instruments used in the various aforementioned astronomical epochs, e.g. by
167

Hipparchus, Ptolemy, al Farghani, Omar Khayam, the great Chinese astronomers, by Copernicus, by
Tycho Brahe and by Galileo Galilei. We claim that the technology used for the astronomical
instruments of Observational Astronomy, and Astronomy in general, make this discipline a truly
cosmopolitan scientific tradition.

Costa Lobo's coup de foudre in the early Years of Solar Astrophysics International Cooperation
Vitor Bonifcio, Isabel Malaquias, Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
Joo Fernandes, Universidade de Coimbra Largo D. Dinis, Coimbra, Portugal
In the beginning of the 20th century, Portuguese astronomy was firmly anchored on the previous
century: the instruments were outdated and the limited research focused on astrometric pursuits.
Following a trip abroad, the Coimbra University Professor Francisco Miranda da Costa Lobo (18641945) decided to built an up-to-date solar observing facility in the country. A copy of the large
Meudon spectroheliograph was planned as its main instrument. This started, in 1912, a close cooperation between Coimbra and Meudon observatories that survives until today fueled both by
selfish and common interests. Coimbra needed the foreign know-how at a time when
spectroheliographs were rare and international co-operation was scarce. Meudon astronomers
welcomed a twin observing station at a different location and both were aware that a greater
number of facilities increased solar observation coverage and that a more complete data set would
improve the comprehension of solar atmospheric phenomena.
In this paper we review the process that led to the installation of the Coimbra instrument and its
impact both in the Portuguese and international astronomical research. We will also discuss how
Costa Lobo's co-operation network played a key role in the internationalization of Portuguese science
in the first decades of the 20th century.

Instrumental Developments and Acquisitions of the Viennese University Observatory in

the International Context of the 19th c.
Karin Lackner, Isolde Mller, Franz Kerschbaum, Thomas Posch, Institute for Astronomy, Vienna,
Austria
In 1862 Otto von Littrow designed a special spectrographic configuration at the Vienna University.
Due to the innovative mechanism resulting in lower complexity and production costs this instrument
exceeded its predecessors and is still very popular in the international scientific community. We will
discuss the successful Littrow spectrograph as well as a few other instruments that have been
developed at the Vienna University Observatory in the 19th century, but only had a regional
influence and were only in use locally.
The difference between international and local relevance can sometimes be time variable, as we will
demonstrate by the great refracting telescope of the Vienna University Observatory. It was built in
1878 by order of Edmund Weiss, who after a long international study trip decided to entrust the Irish
company Grubb with the construction, and became famous as the worlds largest refracting
telescope of that time. But despite of its dimensions it soon had only local relevance for reasons that
we will discuss in our contribution.

168

From Instruments for Recreation to Objects of Science: The Influence of European

Optical Toys in China (1583-1840)
Yunli Shi, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
Ever since the arrival of Matteo Ricci in China, various optical devices, especially a number of optical
toys, were brought to China as an aid for the Catholic mission in China. Not only did these devices
lead to the rise of the earliest opticians in China, but they also eventually became objects of scientific
studies in the hands of a Chinese mathematician Zheng Fuguang (1780ca.1853), who tried to
establish his own system of optics to penetrate the optical principles behind these devices. This
paper will trace the change of roles of European optical toys in different cultural contexts in China.

169

SYMPOSIUM 29

The scientific culture of medieval Jews:

facts and questions
Organizers
Charles Burnett, University of London, London, UK
Shlomo Sela, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

This symposium will consider what role science played in the culture of the Jews of the Middle Ages
in the Islamic and Western European contexts. It will focus on astronomy: the use of astrolabes and
other astronomical instruments, the texts composed on their manufacture and use, the composition
of astronomical tables, the writing of theoretical works on astronomy and cosmology, and the
application of astronomy to the practice of astrology. The social and religious context of this pursuit
of science will be explored. This symposium arises out of a research project supported by the Arts
and Humanities Research Council and based at the Warburg Institute, London, on 'Astrolabes in
Medieval Jewish Culture' (Researcher: Josefina Rodriguez Arribas).

Hebrew Manuscripts on the Astrolabe: a Preliminary Overview

Josefina Rodriguez Arribas, University of London, London, UK
Ninety per cent of the Hebrew manuscripts that are extant in the world are kept in microfilm format
in the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts (Jerusalem). Among these microfilmed
manuscripts, we have found about one hundred and forty treatises and fragments of treatises
devoted to astrolabes or instruments related to them. These treatises can be divided into three
groups according to their language: Arabic, Judaeo-Arabic, and Hebrew. As is expected in a collection
of this kind, Hebrew is the paramount language and is the language considered in this study.
According to the contents, the Hebrew treatises can be classified into two major groups: those
dealing with the construction of astrolabes and those concerned with the explanation of their use.
The oldest treatises are those written by Abraham ibn Ezra in the years 1146 and 1148; he was
indisputably the scholar who introduced this subject into Hebrew. After him, the tradition on this
instrument has a long history in Hebrew language and culture, for it reaches until the 19th century
and spread throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. The codices, in which these treatises
were copied and kept, display intriguing and fascinating contexts for the instrument: texts on
astronomy, treatises about other instruments (like quadrants or clocks), astronomical tables for the
positions of the planets and the beginnings of the months, horoscopes, treatises on geomancy, texts
on astrology, on philosophy, et cetera. We intend in this paper to track the authors, the translators,
and the copyists of these treatises in order to provide a preliminary overview of the Hebrew tradition
of the astrolabe among Jews between the 12th and 19th centuries.

170

Abraham Bar Hiyyas Megilat ha-Megalleh: An Early Integration of Philosophy, Astrology,

and Theology
Y Tzvi Langermann, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Abraham Bar Hiyya (late eleventhearly twelfth century, mostly in Barcelona and environs) was one
of the first to write highly detailed Hebrew works covering astronomy, astrology, philosophy,
theology, and more. His Megilat ha-Megalleh belongs formally to the genre of apocalyptic literature,
as its main goal is to determine when the messiah will come. However, it is also a writing that
displays philosophical and theological erudition as well as an astrological world history, based on
Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions. The underlying conception of time was particularly resonant in later
Jewish thought, both philosophical and kabbalistic. The talk will focus on some salient issues
discussed by Bar Hiyya and attempt to fit them into the history of science and philosophy.

Abraham Ibn Ezra and the Astrolabe

Shlomo Sela, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Besides a large corpus of biblical exegesis, religious and profane poetry, grammatical and theological
monographs, Abraham Ibn Ezras (ca. 1089ca. 1161) intellectual interests also extended to science.
In this area, his main contribution was the production of a significant scientific corpus of more than
30 treatises whose contents are typical of Ibn Ezra's times: (1) astrology; (2) mathematics; (3)
astronomy; (4) Jewish calendar; (5) translations from Arabic into Hebrew; and (6) the astrolabe. A
typical phenomenon in Ibn Ezras literary career is that he usually wrote at least two different
recensions of each individual treatise. His works on the astrolabe are not exception: Abraham Ibn
Ezra composed three different Hebrew versions of a treatise, which he entitled Sefer Keli haNehoshet (Book of the Instrument of Brass) and designed to describe the physical configuration of
the astrolabe and teach its astronomical and astrological uses. What is more, Ibn Ezra wrote, with the
aid of a disciple, a Latin version of the Astrolabe Book as well. The main aim of this presentation is to
describe these four treatises, paying attention to some bibliographical and terminological features,
scientific contents, questions of authorship, as well as the connections between these four works and
Ibn Ezras scientific corpus.

Abraham Ibn Ezras Latin-Reading Pupils

Charles Burnett, University of London, London, UK
This talk will look at the Latin texts of Abraham Ibn Ezra, written on his dictation, or in his entourage,
or immediately derivative from his Hebrew texts. These will include the Latin version of the Sefer haMiddot, a Liber de nativitatibus, the Pisan Tables and Liber qui dicitur abrahismus and the Liber de
astrolabio. Who were these texts written for? How were they composed?

Asturlb and Yantrarja: Two Parallel Traditions of the Astrolabe in India

Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
The large corpus of scientific manuscripts in Arabic and Persian existing in Indian collections testify
that India, though situated on the periphery of the Islamic world, avidly followed the scientific
developments in the Islamic world, including the science of the astrolabe.
The astrolabe may have been introduced into India by Al-Brn in the first quarter of the eleventh
century. Definite information is available from the second half of the fourteenth century, when
Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq initiated the production of astrolabes at Delhi and sponsored the
171

composition of manuals on the astrolabe in Persian as well as in Sanskrit. Since then the study,
production and use of the astrolabe ran in two parallel traditions.
Muslim astronomers in India studied the Arabic/Persian works on the astrolabe and produced
astrolabes with legends in Arabic/Persian; these are classified today as Indo-Persian astrolabes.
Hindu and Jain astronomers, on the other hand, produced their own manuals in Sanskrit. The first
Sanskrit manual was composed in 1370 by Mahendra Sri, who praised the astrolabe as yantra-rja,
king of instruments. In the subsequent centuries there appeared more than a dozen manuals in
Sanskrit. The composition of Sanskrit manuals was naturally accompanied by the production of
Sanskrit astrolabes. Today, there exist nearly 175 Indo-Persian astrolabes and some 90 Sanskrit
astrolabes.
The present paper will discuss the main features of these two types of astrolabes and dwell on the
makers, patrons and their milieu.

Mathematical Elements in the Jewish Calendar

Ilana Wartenberg, University College London, London, UK
The lunar Jewish calendar is an intricate scheme that brings together astronomical veracity, religious
constraints and arithmetical patterns. Over a millennium ago, it converged to a fixed system, no
longer depending on lunar sighting in order to determine the beginning of the month.
In my talk, I shall focus on mathematical elements, some of astronomical nature, which I have
encountered during my present research on calendrical Hebrew medieval treatises from the 12th
century. For example, one finds geometrical components in the Ptolemaic models describing the
lunar and solar motions in Abraham Bar Hiyyas Sefer ha-Ibbur (Book of Intercalation), written in
France around 1123. There, and in other texts, one frequently encounters the usage of the
arithmetical operation casting out 7s (also 19s and other numbers), a key element in a calendar
based on a 7-day week and 19-year cycle.
These mathematical components are usually presented in a concise, ready-to use format. Unlike
purely mathematical or astronomical tracts, which go into lengthy theoretical discussions of the
themes at hand, calendrical texts tend to be of a more practical nature. The authors of calendar
books, often writing both calendrical and scientific tracts, do not seem to be expecting the readers to
immerse themselves in the underlying mathematical principle, or even to be able to understand pure
mathematics. I shall attempt to prove this point by juxtaposing corresponding materials from
calendrical and mathematical books.
My analysis attempts to shed some light on larger, still not properly answered, questions: what is the
precise role of the queen of the sciences in medieval Jewish society? Can one discern a bifurcation of
medieval Hebrew mathematics between applied mathematics and pure mathematics, similarly
to the medieval mathematical Arabic tradition?

172

SYMPOSIUM 30

The Tools of Research and the Craft of

History: On the Interaction between
Historians, Their Tools, and the Creators of
Those Tools
Organizers
Birute Railiene, Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, Vilnius, Lithuania
Stephen P. Weldon, University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA
This symposium is meant to explore the research culture of historians of science, technology, and
medicine (STM), paying close attention to both the open repositories and tools of research that are
available, the curators and creators of those repositories and tools, and the differential access to
them. The standard model of research throughout most of the twentieth century centres on research
libraries and institutional archives as sites for scholarly work, physical locations where researchers
must come in order to find the information that they need. With the increasing development and use
of digital resources, scholarly work habits are changing radically. One popular model for the
distribution of both research tools and repository content is open access, in which both research
sources as well as research tools are disseminated in digital form free to all. Another model relies on
proprietary, and often costly, subscription-based services that maintain local site-based control over
resources as long as the local sites can afford them. In contrast with the traditional place-based
model, the digital information revolution has both advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of
this symposium is to assess some of the ramifications for scholars in this digital revolution.

Facts as a Research Instrumentality on the Natural and Historical Studies

Juozas Algimantas Krikstopaitis, Lithuanian Research Institute of Culture, Vilnius, Lithuania
In the usually way scientists have the notion fact in hand, particularly those who concern
themselves with the correctness of theoretical interpretations. This is because expanding horizons of
understanding, the investigations into the meaning of facts disclose additional nuances for strong
point in their content. The author of this article relying on his own research seeks to determine the
differences in the content of notions between the direction of natural and humanitarian sciences,
and focus attention to facts as research instrumentality on the subject studies. A fact as a
consensually articulate unit of a narrative contains a complex configuration of its elements (datum).
It reveals a particular role of time dimension in historical research where relation of the subjectivity
and objectivity always remain undefined.

173

Institutionalisation of an Open Access a New Possibility for Research. A Survey of

Perception and Demand
Birute Railiene, Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, Vilnius, Lithuania
In the research culture the shift from manuscript to printed sources is followed by the shift to virtual
information, which in the XXI age becomes open. For researchers open access brings increased
visibility, usage and impact for their work; provide an excellent means for researchers to improve
their online presence in the scholarly communication surrounding. Since researchers are the
producers of the content, they are the main part in the open access facility. But researchers also are
the users of the open access sources, so they are first to be satisfied.
Open repositories increase impact and usage of institutes research, providing new contacts and
research partnerships for authors. Free and open source software is used to set up the repositories
and institutions benefit from free technical support for installation and use. There is low installation
and maintenance costs, repositories are quick to set up and gain benefits. And repositories provide
usage statistics showing global interest and value of institutional research) (EIFL OA: open
access: http://www.eifl.net/faq/eifl-oa/open-access).
The option of open access is still conditioned by perception and demand (the technical side is out of
issue in this survey), not the least is the field of research. In the paper the developing initiatives and
institutionalisation of open access will be presented, giving the attention to the field of research of
respondents in three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The correlation with the preferences
of the forms of scholarly communication will be presented; also the comparison of informal and
formal channels of scholarly communication in the surrounding of internet will be attempted.
The conclusions of the survey will include merits and demerits of the open access in the research
performance, the data will serve for the future shaping the perception and purifying the demand of
open access data.

Traditional Archives and the Economics of Open Access

Joseph Anderson, USA
On the one hand information wants to be expensive. [. . .] On the other hand, information wants to
be free. This statement, usually attributed to Steven Brand, represents the paradox facing
traditional archives that are working to digitize analog collections and make them available online.
Open access is often applied to born-digital data sets and papers, but increasingly traditional
repositories are digitally reformatting their collections and putting them on the Web for a variety of
reasons, including access, preservation, and funder expectations. This paper describes the significant
costs and varying benefits of digital reformatting, as well as the rethinking of long-standing policies
and procedures that it requires. A comparison between physical archives and their digital
counterparts in terms of both usage of the repositories and the costs of maintaining them will be
considered and explored in this paper. The speaker is director of the American Institute of Physics
Niels Bohr Library and Archives, which is currently in the process of digitizing its photo collection, oral
history transcripts, and selected manuscript collections. The speakers extensive experience working
through these materials and developing digital access to physical materials in one of the worlds
major scientific archive collections yields many insights into the actual experience of moving to an
online resource and publishing that information.

174

New Perspectives on Classification and Methodology in History of Sciences: Theoretical

and Technological Bases for the Construction of Adequate Search Instruments
Ana Maria Alfonso-Goldfarb, Mrcia H.M. Ferraz, Silvia Waisse, Pontificia Universidade Catolica de
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Global information presents a series of problems to researchers in the history of science. Particularly
within the context of the so-called digital revolution, the amount of resources increases by the day,
whereas we lack proper theoretical and methodological tools to filter and organize them. Thus, in
spite of abundance, the scholarly task risks becoming less effective and productive.
The lack of an adequate classification for the sources needed in research makes this already difficult
situation even more complex. The traditional division of the sciences into the modern areas leads to
severe distortions and anachronism. Full fields ok knowledge predating modernity cannot find a
place in the available classifications and not rarely are thrown in a limbo of pre, proto or
pseudo sciences.
CESIMA, our center of research in history of science, at Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo,
Brazil, has been facing acutely this challenge within the context of its digital library of sources for the
history of science, medicine and technology. For this reason and under the sponsorship of the
Brazilian agency for science and technology, it is currently developing a project aiming at the
construction of theoretical tools underlying possible systems of classification of sources for the
history of science. This project is carried out by an interdisciplinary team including historians of
science, bibliographers, and specialists in information science and information technology, besides a
scope of international collaboration within the context of project World History of Science Online.
The overall aim of this project is to supply a theoretical tool to ground classification of the sources for
the history of science by means of a thorough analysis of historical trees of knowledge up the present
day, while organizing the categories according to modern classifications of the sciences.

The Culture of Research in History of Science as Seen through the Transformations of the
Isis Bibliography in the 20th and 21st c.
Stephen P. Weldon, University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA
This paper will explore the changes in what one might call the culture of research in the history of
sciencehow it is that researchers gain access to the resources that they need to work with and how
they operate with those materials. To understand this, one must pay attention to the nature and role
of reference materials and bibliographical resources over the 20th century. The specific focus of the
paper will be on the effect that the digital revolution has had on the production, dissemination, and
use of bibliographical materials in the history of science. One of the ongoing questions that needs to
be addressed is how physical location and institutional support have changed over the past century
during the period in which the Isis bibliography has been published and how that has affected the
culture of research. The speaker is the current editor of the Isis Bibliography of the History of Science
and will explore this topic by looking closely at the Isis Bibliography as it changed and transformed
over the previous century, in terms of how it is compiled, its institutional support, its publications,
and the various forms in which the bibliographical data is indexed and classified. This information will
be used to assess how access to research has changed and is likely to change over the course of the
next decades.

175

Understanding Shared Common Knowledge Exploring the Intersections between

Context, Records and Data in the History of Science
Gavan McCarthy, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
Australia has track record of projects and programs relating to the history and archives of Australian
science that commenced with initiatives from the Australian Academy of Science in the 1960s. The
University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre (2007- ) has continued to develop public
knowledge services to support this area and this is best exemplified in its web resource,
the Encyclopedia of Australian Science. Recent studies on the informatics of public knowledge spaces
has revealed that by conceptualising the complexity of human endeavour (i.e. history) in terms of
three separate but systematically interconnected layers (i.e. context, records and data) it is possible
to create new humanities and social science research methodologies that transcend existing
limitations. The advent of mass digitisation and data extraction technologies combined with global
accessibility challenges traditional paradigms of scholarship its print-based technological heritage.
This paper presents a summary the lessons learned in the 25 years that the author has been working
in this field.

176

SYMPOSIUM 31

Transnational Economic Science after

World War II
Organizers
Till Dppe, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Tiago Mata, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
It is difficult to over emphasize the international prestige and authority of the institutions of the
United States of America in the wake of World War II. Among the most successful exports of the era
were the USA model of the research University and the content and methods of its sciences. Looking
at the social sciences and notably economics, this movement has been labeled an Americanization
(e.g. Coats 1996). Recently, historians of science have revisited the subject of the cultural authority of
US science to argue that its formula for success lay in its transnational character (see for instance,
Wang 2010). In this symposium, we examine the influence of American economics in relation to its
transnational elements, notably in its domestication of European migrant scientists and in the
formation of a public discourse fit to travel across national boundaries.
European migrant scientists brought with them a plurality of epistemic cultures, in parts in
contradiction with the social, political and religious conditions of the institutions of science in the US.
In order to domesticate these cultures, a new form of what Robert Merton called universalism of
science had to be reconstructed. We observe the emergence of new technical standards appropriate
for this task in what has been called the mathematization of economics. These transformations in
the practices of economists were complemented by a new order in public discourse about the
economy. A crucial ally in the formation of a discourse fit to travel across national boundaries was
the publishing industry that together with American academics and journalists honed international
textbooks offering a canonical representation of knowledge, as well as magazines and newsprint
contributing to the image of the scientific community as a model for democratic society.

Rational Choice Theory and its Development: between Psychological Measurement and
Mathematical Formalism
Catherine Sophia Herfeld, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany
Since the second half of the 20th century, rational choice theory (RCT) has gained extraordinary
prominence in economics and records a history of powerful applications across the social sciences.
Disunity however exists among defenders and opponents alike with respect to its nature, status and
role in actual practice. This disunity has given rise to fundamental disagreements about the theorys
epistemic potentials and limitations and has fueled charges against the economics profession of
imperializing the social sciences. I develop a narrative that contributes to an explanation for this
disunity and partly alleviates the accusations of economics imperialism. By tracing the historical
emergence of RCT in American economics from the 1940s to the 1970s, I argue that its development
was fundamentally shaped by different disciplinary orientations and by the prevalence of diverging
epistemic interests. On the one hand, RCT was developed to serve as a theory of individual decisionmaking in the behavioral sciences and as a contribution to a representational theory of
measurement. This proved to be especially of interest for the development of scientific psychology
and the project of operationalizing individual values. On the other hand, RCT was developed into a
behavioral foundation within the formal-logical construct of general equilibrium theory in
177

mathematical economics. Given its different manifestations, it appears fruitful to understand RCT as
a highly flexible set of problem-solving tools used for fundamentally distinct purposes, rather than in
terms of a unified theory of individual behavior. Contrary to alternative narratives that proclaim
economics imperialism, I furthermore argue that the history of RCT reveals a rational choice
imperialism that has had an impact on the economics profession comparable to its effects on other
social scientific disciplines. In order to support the argument, my analysis is largely placed within the
context of Jacob Marschaks theoretical contributions to RCT and his professional biography.

The Coming Out of the Cowles Commission: Contextualizing the Transnational Origins of
post-war Economic Science
Till Dppe, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
During the 1950s and 1960s, the Cowles Commission of Research informed most of the advances
that had been made in economic theory and in reconstructing the canon of economic knowledge.
Cowles researcher came to represent new technical standards that stabilized the disciplinary
boundaries of U.S. economics. The coming out of this community occurred at a conference held in
June 1949 under the lead of Tjalling Koopmans, titled Activity Analysis of Production and Allocation.
In this article, we provide a thorough historical contextualization of this event.
We begin by situating the Cowles Commission in the U.S. institutions of post-war science in-between
National Laboratories, particularly the RAND Corporation, and what would become the supreme
discipline of Cold War science mathematics particularly from Princeton and Chicago. Although the
conference created the conditions under which the economic discipline will integrate, only weak
connections existed between the participants and the profession of economics. Situating the Cowles
Commission in-between academia and governmental laboratories, we argue that the distinction
between the pure and the applied that flourished during the early Cold War years had its root in
a specific national U.S. context of the late 1940s.
Though nationally specific, the Cowles Commission domesticated various and in part contradictory
intellectual cultures to such extent that it became a model for a transnational identity of economic
science. Such was made possible, we argue, by a young generation of technically versed scholars,
many of them European migrants, seeking for career opportunities, and very willing to leave
controversial elements of science a thing of the past. The conference stands for a new intellectual
culture in economic science that is based on shared standards of techniques un-interrogated by
conflicting notions regarding the meaning of science.

The Polemical Construction of an American Style of Scientific Policy Analysis

Gerald William Thomas, Imperial College London, London, UK
There is no doubt that deeply formalized approaches to economic, social, and political sciences had
important roots in the United States. However, these approaches shared intellectual and institutional
space in that country with alternative methods of analyzing the phenomena these sciences study,
and alternative bases for policy advice. Although proponents of formalized approaches were critical
of shortcomings in non-formalized approaches, on the whole their co-existence was more-or-less
peaceful in the 1955-1965 period this paper examines.
The identification of these particular approaches as peculiarly scientific and American in
character, and as in-line with a generalized agenda of American liberalism, has become a staple of
recent historiography of science and economic thought. In some ways, this historiography has served
to offer important contextualization to intellectual developments treated in practitioner histories in
overly internalist ways. But it is important to realize that this particular analytical tactic has its own
roots in polemics used in the history under study.

178

This paper will show how particular groups of pundits in the period in question had a strong stake in
portraying these sciences as unified, overly scientistic, yet uniquely powerful. Their polemics were
themselves influential because they portrayed the American proponents of these approaches, and
institutionally related policy analysts as ignorant of notions relating to the intellectual and political
function and limits of formalized styles of analysis, which were, in fact, widely accepted, including by
the theorists and policy analysts they were attacking. This paper revisits some of the polemical
battles of this period particularly between British physicist Patrick Blackett and American
economist Charles Hitch, and his RAND Corporation colleague, systems analyst Albert Wohlstetter
and highlights some of their key features.

Modernism and Vanguardism: Fortune Magazines first 30 years

Tiago Mata, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
In the ninth year of publication of TIME magazine, publisher Henry Luce began plans to create a
business magazine. It was the Spring of 1929. When FORTUNE saw its first issue the Great Depression
was in its first quarter. FORTUNE survived the dire times by chronicling the collapse of American
business. Staffed by poets and playwrights and later social scientists, FORTUNE was exquisitely
written and illustrated and designed. Its influence has been long lasting, and prompted the creation
around the globe of multiple imitations. The conventional answer to the question of what makes
FORTUNE distinctive points to its exquisite production values, it was an article of luxury. In this paper
I rehearse a different explanation. I examine the first 30 years of FORTUNE to tease out from its
pages a combination of aesthetic and political sensitivity that was critical and vanguardist and shaped
by its staffs travels in Europe and notably Paris. More importantly, I will argue that FORTUNE
developed new ways of learning. Its peculiar combination of staff and reporting practices (in two
separate waves in the 1930s and 1940s) gave new form to historical approaches to the study of social
life. In the mid-1950s, FORTUNE was narrowly reoriented into a celebration of American business
and way of life, but it did so drawing from a repertoire of knowledge and communicative practices
that were modernist and transnational in outlook.

179

SYMPOSIUM 32

Women in the Laboratory from the early

Modern Times to the 20th c.
Organizers
Annette Lykknes, Board Member of the Women's Commission of the DHST/IUHPS
Brigitte Van Tiggelen, Board Member of the Commission for the History of Modern Chemistry of the
DHST/IUHPS
The laboratory is one of the fundamental spaces for teaching and research in science and technology.
Being a space of knowledge transfer and development, it is not only modelled by physical settings,
materials and the uses of instruments, but also by disciplinary traditions, social hierarchies and
divisions of labour. The exclusive presence of men in laboratories compared to other science spaces
like the salon, the field or the home shaped the science practiced in that space as well. What
happened when women entered the laboratory space?
Gendered practices in e.g. radioactivity and genetics laboratories have already been subject to indepth analyses, and more studies from these and especially from other fields and other time periods
are needed/encouraged in order to shed light on the many facets of womens presence in
laboratories. Through comparative and contextual approaches we want to explore the laboratory
space from a gender perspective, in the timespan that runs from early modern times to the 20th
century. How did women conform to local laboratory cultures and how did their presence in turn
reshape these cultures?
We are interested in studying laboratories which attracted a large number of female researchers as
well as individual women working in laboratory environments dominated by men. Questions we
would like to discuss in the session include: What characterized the laboratories which attracted
many women? What roles did the women play in the laboratories? How did these roles affect the
credibility of women in exchanges and discussions in the scientific community? To which extent and
in what ways were these gendered practices disseminated from one place to another? And what did
the presence of women in the laboratory add to the practice of science?

The Female co-Workers of Marie Curie

Natalie Pigeard, CNRS/Muse Curie, Paris, France
Marie Curie directed a research laboratory for 28 years. This study does not aim at investigating the
specifics of the scientific work and organisation of this famous laboratory, but intends to show how it
was actually a reflection of its time. Indeed this famous laboratory mirrors the evolution of science
education in France and is shaped by the (social? cultural? intellectual?) movement(s) at work in the
French society of the early twentieth century.
Between 1906 and 1934, forty-five women worked under the guidance of Marie Curie. In fact, the
high number of female co-workers has often been noted, it has been considered to be an exception,
and the result of deliberate choice. Of course, these women did not choose this workplace by
accident. They knew its director was a woman like them. She was the laureate of one, and after
1911, two Nobel Prizes. She was leading a well-equipped laboratory with an important radioactive
source. But how did Marie Curie selected her collaborators among the many applications she
received? Was her choice influenced by gender?
Analyzing the female population, my aim is to show how prosopographical research on these women
180

can shed light on several questions : where did these women come from, what were their social and
geographic origins, did they occupy any specific cultural or technical area inside Curie's lab, what
future did they have after the laboratory? The strong presence of women in this laboratory has often
been highlighted, but as the results of our investigation will show, this presence can be explained
contextually.

Chemistry at Home: Rosa Sensat and Chemistry Dissemination between Housewives in the
early 20th c.
Josep M. Fernndez-Novell, Carme Zaragoza Domnech, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Women throughout history have spent much of their time taking care of children, preparing food and
doing other household chores. In all these activities could be found a lot of science and a lot of
chemistry to be precise. Knowledge of this science was an improvement in the performance of these
tasks. The history and diffusion of science often comes from the characters that have devoted their
lives to the education of society. Four women have won the Nobel Prize in the field of chemistry:
Marie Curie (1911), Irne Joliot-Curie (1935), Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1964) and, Ada E. Yonath
(2009). But, too often, society forget other women who have contributed significantly to the
promotion and teaching of chemistry. This article wants to make a small tribute to one of these
women that marked an era in Barcelona and also in Spain in the early twentieth century: Rosa Sensat
Ferrer.
In the early twentieth century in which practically the relationship between women and science did
not exist, Rosa Sensat worked hard to that women could understand the chemical facts and
phenomena that take place at home, in their kitchens, how to clean some stains, the chemical
composition of the most important foods, etc. For this reason, she wrote an influential textbook
called: "Science at home, Les cincies en la vida de la llar", which included explanations of chemistry
that any housewife could need. By doing so, Rosa Sensat took active part in the dissemination of
theories and pedagogical practices aimed at developing the whole person, based on respect and
freedom for the personality of women and, particularly, in the diffusion of chemistry between
housewives with no knowledge in science. This article is focused on Rosa Sensat, women and the
history of chemistry during the first part of twentieth century.

The Wife as Risk-taker and Conceptual Thinker: Ida Noddack-Tacke and Nuclear Fission
Annette Lykknes, Brigitte Van Tiggelen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology,
Trondheim, Norway
When the German chemical engineer Ida Tacke in 1926 married the chemist Walter Noddack, she
resigned from paid work and took up joint research with her husband. The couple specialized in the
study of the abundance and chemical properties of missing elements and was acknowledged
internationally for their discovery of element 75, which they named rhenium. In a recent publication,
we have shown that Ida and Walter Noddack pursued research both jointly and independently and
that each of them had their own areas of expertise and responsibility in joint projects.
One of the papers which have granted Ida Noddack fame independently of her husband, was her
proposal of nuclear fission. In her paper entitled ber das Element 93 in 1934 Ida Noddack
criticized Enrico Fermis statement that transuranium elements were formed after neutron
bombardment of uranium. Instead she suggested that heavy nuclei, after being bombarded, could
break down into large fragments of already known elements. Hence, all elements of the Periodic
Table should be eliminated before any claims of discovery of new ones could be made. Ida made her
proposal as an expert on the properties of the missing elements, not as a nuclear scientist. Probably
for this reason mainly, her proposal was never acknowledged by the contemporary scientific
community.
181

In this paper, we will argue that the case of the fission proposal was part of a deliberate strategy of
the Noddack couples work unit: Archival material suggests that the work put forward by Ida in 1934,
was not, in fact, Idas individual research; rather it was conducted in collaboration with her husband
Walter, in the frame of their ongoing research agenda. Walter, who had the larger capital of
credibility, and who was also the bread-winner, was eager to make their collaboration productive,
slowly but surely, while Ida took bigger risks in their research, unhesitant about investing in more
hazardous paths and undertakings. This risk-taking behavior, which Ida exhibited in the nuclear
fission proposal, reverses the usually roles allotted by gender; the man as the risk taker and the
woman taking safer bets. It also reverses another gender assumption that the man is the conceptual
thinker and the woman the experimental or observational enabler.

Lise Meitner versus Ida Noddack: Human and Scientific Aspects in the Controversy about
Nuclear Fission
Barbara Villone, Maria Teresa Sosso, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Torino, Italy
In this contribution we focus on the role played by Lise Meitner and Ida Noddack in the controversy
about nuclear fission.
As it is known, Ida Noddack was the first to suppose the nuclear fission mechanism in her 1934 paper
contesting Fermis published result on claimed discovery of transuranics, whereas Lise Meitner
towards the end of 1938 gave theoretical account of the experimental results of Hahn and
Strassmann showing nuclear fission .
In the period 1934-1939, there was a lot of discussions about the issue transuranics vs. nuclear
fission involving Noddack, Hahn, Meitner , Strassmann, and others, as Fermis group.
In particular, we examine the dispute between Ida Noddack and the team formed by Hahn and
Meitner, which left several historical written traces, which we will analyse in detail. A particolar focus
is given to the 1939 Noddack s debate paper, and its consequences, published in die
Naturwissenschaften about the nuclear fission discovery by Hahn and Strassmann.
We find out that in this context, the physicist Meitner and the chemist Noddack were strongly
influenced by their different scientific background; furthermore we notice also some unexpected
personal attitude about living both this opposition and the change of involved scientific pradigm.
We analyze common and different characteristics of Meitner and Noddack, taking into account the
cultural and scientific historical background.
Conclusively, we will also comment some tardive aspects of the controversy in the seventies
regarding Strassmann, Hahn and Noddack.

Gender, Science and the State: British Government Research Laboratories from World War
II to the 1960s
Sally Margaret Horrocks, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
During the late 1940s and early 1950s there was a dramatic expansion of the state research system in
the UK, particularly in the number and size of defence research establishments. Despite the widely
held belief that there was a shortage of scientific manpower (sic) and repeated anxiety regarding the
difficulties of obtaining enough suitable staff, very few women were recruited to work in these
laboratories. This was particularly true in the scientific officer class which was the primary route to
high status careers and positions of seniority. The majority of women employed were in the
subordinate grades of what was a highly bureaucratised and strongly gendered system of
recruitment and promotion. My paper will explore the nature and extent of womens recruitment
into these laboratories and consider how those women who were employed experienced and
negotiated the gendered spaces in which they found themselves. I will pay particular attention to the
attitudes of male colleagues to women that shaped the pervasive (and sometimes hostile) masculine
182

workplace culture and the strategies that women adopted to make a place for themselves within
this. My sources will include oral history interviews recently collected by the National Life Stories
project, An Oral History of British Science as well as a range of archival and moving image evidence.

Hit and Run: Women Scientists in Salamanca University in the late Franco Period
Tamar Groves, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
Under the Franco regime women were marginalized from higher education and only from the mid
1960s we witness a significant growth in the number of female university graduates. Recent research
on women scientists in that period point to the fact that they were mainly concentrated in the
capital, Madrid, and assumed secondary roles in laboratory. In this paper I wish to explore the
integration of women researchers in the faculty of medicine of the University of Salamanca. The
faculty of medicine in Salamanca is one of the oldest in the country and the university, although
famous, is located in a remote rural province. It thus provides the opportunity to observe the
integration of women in an especially traditional setup. The laboratories were clearly dominated by
men and very few women managed to finish their doctoral degrees and continue with their research.
Using the official annual reports of the faculty as well as oral history I explore the struggle of these
women to find their place in the faculty of medicine. I try to pin point the local, national and
international factors that assisted and hindered their struggle.

Better Living through Biochemistry - Margaret Keys, Biochemistry, and the Mediterranean
Diet
Sarah Whitney Tracy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA
This study examines the role of Margaret Keys, who together with her husband physiologist and
epidemiologist Ancel Keys, were early champions of the Mediterranean diet. Margaret Keys did much
of the blood biochemistry for the 7 Countries Study (a pioneering epidemiological study of diet and
heart health among 12,000 people in seven different countries), which showed the superiority of the
Mediterranean diet in preserving cardiovascular status. Trained as a biochemist, Margaret Keys
accompanied her husband, while he organized the 7 Countries Study, running preliminary blood
work and demonstrating the methods to be used in the field in different countries. While abroad, she
and her husband redefined the nature of the biochemistry laboratory, transporting their equipment
to rural areas and transforming small villages into data-generating sites for an international study of
the dietary origins of heart disease. Back home in the United States, Margaret Keys also used her
status as a biochemist and mother to turn her kitchen into a laboratory, testing healthy recipes based
on the Mediterranean diet on her family before she released them to the public through the 1959
internationally bestselling cookbook EAT WELL AND STAY WELL. This paper uses newspaper
reportage, scientific journals, and archival sources that include Margaret Keys' diaries, to characterize
the multiple laboratory contexts in which she worked; examine the reception of her scientific work
within epidemiology; and illustrate the multiple ways in which she used her gender to promote her
scientific and culinary accomplishments across the globe. The research is part of a larger biographical
project on Ancel and Margaret Keys.

Being Female is not a Requirement

Claudia Wassmann, Max-Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
A one hundred percent female laboratory, unthinkable a hundred years ago, now exists in the
stronghold of scientific research, at the heart of the Max-Planck Society in Germany. This might look
like a fantastic victory of womens fight for equality in the academic world, but is it? The nature of
the laboratory will give reason to pause. It may come as no surprise to hear that the lab is the Child
183

Studies Lab of the Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology at the Max-Planck
Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
Some gender prejudices seem to confirm themselves by female and male choices of work. Even
though being a woman is not a requirement for being recruited, as Jana Jurkat, who organizes the
work in the lab, is cited in the public press, men seem to have no interest in this research. They
simply dont apply.
In psychology women now form the majority of graduate students. In 2005, 72 percent of PhDs in
psychology were women. (APA's Center for Psychology Workforce Analysis and Research) At the
beginning of the twentieth century few women were part of the psychological laboratory. Was
psychology dominated by their absence? At the turn of the twenty first century, women form the
largest group in psychological laboratories. Is psychology dominated by their presence?
The first laboratory for experimental psychology was created at the University of Leipzig in the
nineteenth century, by Wilhelm Wundt had one female doctoral student. At Leipzig too, in the 1910s,
the laboratory for experimental pedagogy was created by pedagogues interested in psychology and
familiar to Wundts laboratory. Women and girls were present, but in what kinds of roles? And in
which kind of topics were they interested? At the turn of the twentieth century, we find here the
above mentioned all-female laboratory in the Department of Developmental and Comparative
Psychology. Leipzig thus represents a privileged venue in order to investigate the development and
contributions of women in psychological laboratories from the beginning to the end of the twentieth
century in synchronic and diachronic perspective.

184

SCIENTIFIC SESSIONS

185

Scientific Session 1
Ctesibius Siege Machine. Affinities and Divergences between it and the Sambuca by Damis
of Colophon
Maurizio Gatto, Max Plank Institut for the History of Science, Berlin
In his now lost (Memorabilia), Ctesibius, a famous engineer who flourished in
Alexandria around 250s B.C., must also have dealt with a siege machine among many other engines:
a large swinging tube by means of which soldiers could assault the walls of a besieged town without
taking the risk of using ladders. Thats what is to be read in a passage of the , a
short treatise about siege engines written by Athenaeus Mechanicus probably in the second half of
the 1st century B.C. Athenaeus doesnt say clearly whether Ctesibius himself invented it or just wrote
about it. He adds however some remarks about the so called Ctesibius machine but unfortunately
they are short and largely incomplete, and thus unable to allow a satisfying reconstruction of the
machine. Very similar in some respects to Ctesibius machine is the Sambuca by Damis of Colophon,
which has been described by Biton, probably a contemporaneous of Ctesibius, in his work
(Construction of war engines and artillery). Its
not clear whether Ctesibius in his Memorabilia and consequently also Athenaeus in his treatise
meant to discuss just Damis Sambuca or another engine similar to it. However, if we except some
points in which the two engines happen to diverge significantly, they seem to be on the whole very
similar to each other. Since Bitons description of the Sambuca by Damis is by far longer and more
detailed than Athenaeus description of Ctesibius machine, the first account turns actually to be very
important also to understand the second engine. A good comprehension of the structure and of the
use of Ctesibius machine can be therefore achieved only through a philologically approached
interpretation of both passages and a contrastive analysis between them.

Color in ancient Philosophy

Vasiliki Papari, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Colors is a topic with which many philosophers have dealed with in the ancient world. They often
tried to combine the emergence of the colors with the theories of vision. The Presocratics, who were
natural philosophers, tried to explain the origin of the world and also the origin of the colors; their
works are not delivered to us today in full, we obtain individual fragments, quotes and information
about their work from the secondary literature and other writings of ancient authors. The presocratic
philosophers as well as their 186ontextual have connected the phenomenon of seeing with the origin
and the declaration of the phenomenon of color, so there are often in their teaching no precise
theories of the origin of the colors, but it is presented only in the context of the statement of vision
and its function.According to Pythagoras seeing is an activity that occurs when a type of radiation
comes from the eyes. Parmenides of Elea argued that many objects and their shape and color, are
just an appearance and not a reality . This view of the unrealistic representation of the objects takes
later Plato; Aristotle on the other hand denies the illusory nature of the phenomena and takes an
empirical and realistic explanation of all phenomena. Empedocles and Democritus deal more
intensively with the phenomenon of colors and their emergence and have developed important
theories about the colors. Following will be given a small presentation of the color theories of
philosophers of antiquity, such as the Presocratics, Plato and Aristotle, and also a comparison of their
various theories, but also their mutual influence, their reception and influence in the natural
sciences.

186

Georg Bartisch and his Augendienst

Lilla Vekerdy, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, USA
The paper introduces and analyses the life and work of a 16th century eye surgeon, Georg Bartisch
(1535-ca. 1607). The analysis is primarily based on Bartischs 1583 main work, Ophthalmodouleia,
das ist Augendienst (The Service of the Eyes). Other resources include Julius Hirschbergs History of
Ophthalmology and numerous scholarly articles from the RLIN, PubMed, and OCLC/WorldCat
databases.
Georg Bartisch is known by two extant works: one on kidney stones and the other on eye diseases.
The latter is titled Ophthalmodouleia, das ist Augendienst (The Service of the Eyes). The
Augendienst is remarkable in its size, details, and illustrations in the early literature of
ophthalmology. The large folio volume covers 616 pages and is profusely illustrated with images of
eye diseases, treatments, surgical instruments, and scenes of eye surgery.
The work was repeatedly considered the first medical book in the German vernacular language but
this statement is erroneous. However, the Augendienst is the first significant German-language
monograph in this particular field of medicine, in ophthalmology. And it is important that the work is
a non-Latin text, because it shows that its author did not belong to the contemporary medical
establishment but to the less erudite group of surgeons and barber surgeons. The paper will argue
about this distinction and how it determined Bartischs life. It will also emphasize the professional
achievements of the Augendienst and of its author.
The second part of the paper will highlight advances of eye surgery from the numerous examples
described and illustrated in the Augendienst. However, it will also point out other, less advanced
features of the book that lined up with certain aspects of 16th century medicine, like the humoral
theory and astrological considerations. These aspects were often regarded as plain superstition by
later secondary literature, but recent scholarly analysis looks at them as contemporary trends in the
medical literature of 1500s, that should be scrutinized as representatives of their age.
Georg Bartisch and his Ophthalmodouleia played a significant role in the development of 16th
century ophthalmology. While many aspects of the book clearly refer to an early understanding of
medical and surgical problems others had lasting impact in the field of ophthalmology and especially
ophthalmic surgery.

From Hellenism to Sunn Revival: Cultural Frames, Theological Motives, and Perspective
Shift in Dealing with Complexity
Constantin Canavas, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany
The conceptual development of devices on the basis of mechanics, hydraulics and pneumatics from
the Hellenistic times through the Late Antiquity up to the period of dominance of Islamic states has
been commonly considered as a history of continuous tradition, appropriation, and, eventually,
innovation moments. The representation of this history by modern scholarship generally focuses on
specific contributors and/or considers the affiliation inside a certain epistemological frame
articulated by means of technical terms like automata, ingenious devices, or the historical reference
to the qualifier 187ontextua machines. This terminology, however, focuses upon a heterogeneous
spectre of culturally determined concepts and modern misunderstandings.
The present study argues that the common epistemic denominator of the major treatises produced
by authors like Philon of Byzantium (ca. 200 BCE), Heron of Alexandria (presumably 1st century CE),
the brothers Ban Ms (9th century CE) or al-azar (12th-13th century CE) is the focus on complexity.
This treatment of complexity, however, is conducted in various periods under different cultural and,
hence, different epistemological conditions, and has goals, which are specific for each historical
frame. This results to different forms of perspective shifting in treating complexity. Heron treats
complexity as a methodological and narrative instrument in order to challenge peripatetic
187

metaphysics and to trace the limits of 188ontextualizing natural philosophy by means of

technological devices. For the brothers Ban Ms the description of complexity becomes a mode of
challenging the limits of articulating a cosmology of the created being by demonstrating the function
of 188ontextua machines (hiyal) in the context of theological narratives and political disputes in
the court of the Abbasid caliph. Finally, for al-azar the complexity is inherent to the real world of
construction with its practical pitfalls. Besides, the frame of his production is 188ontextualizi by the
explicit goal of his devices to impress the real or hypothetical spectator, i.e. the visitor of the local
ruler. Thus, these devices are conceived as a contribution to the representation strategies within a
politically fragmented Islamic world inspired by the sunn revival, which was induced during the
Seljuk dominion (11th-12th cent. CE).
Of particular interest for our focus is the treatise on Pneumatics by Philon of Byzantium. Since the
extent Arabic and Latin manuscripts of the treatise were most probably produced after the diffusion
of Ban Mss and al- azars treatises on the Ingenious Devices (Hyial), the various compilations
reflect the different ways of treating complexity by elaborating concepts and devices on the field of
pneumatics and hydraulics in the late 13th c. CE, i.e. after the Mongolian raids which lead to the
breaking down of the Abbasid caliphate.

Mathematics Education for Merchants: the Choice of Contents in Juan de Icars Practical
Arithmetic (1549)
Elena Ausejo, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
Juan de Icar (b. 1522 or 1523), the most important calligrapher during the Spanish Renaissance, was
also the author of a purely mathematical book, Book titled practical arithmetic very useful for anyone
willing to be trained in reckoning (1549). This rare book is a mercantile arithmetic conceived for
educational purposes, an essential book to learn the mathematical skills and the teaching thereof in
Spain, in the mid-sixteenth century. As a matter of fact, Icars Practical Arithmetic was the last nonalgebraic arithmetic published in Spain.
The book was printed in folio, which suggests a work to be read, assimilated, consulted, and
preserved, more a teachers book or a work to be kept by students under private tuition than a
handbook for students attending a school. Actually, Icar warned of the impossibility to learn and
understand mathematics without a good teacher.
The book is high-quality printed, really beautifully illustrated, and has plenty of examples, but most
remarkable is Icars educational vocation, both in structure and contents. The detailed explanations,
the order of subjects, the combination of theory and practice, and the choice of contents
depending on the audience he intends to reach, together with his precise references to Pellos and
Ortega, show his solid education in mercantile arithmetic and the originality of his Practical
Arithmetic as far as a practical arithmetic can be original.
This paper presents Icars choice of contents and discusses his use of fractions in order to learn to
directly multiply any combination of units without reducing before and after operating, actually the
main difficulty of mercantile arithmetic before the adoption of decimalized systems of measurement.

History of Brahmaguptas Mathematics and their Transmission to Arab Countries

Rabindra Kumar Bhattacharyya, Calcutta University, Calcutta, India
The history of the passage of extraordinarily brilliant and fundamental mathematical discoveries of
ancient Indian mathematician Brahmagupta (598-665 A.D.) from India to Arab and then to Europe,
through centuries, has been vividly described. This article endeavours to appreciate Brahmaguptas
position as an original, creative mathematician in the perspective of world mathematics. This paper
primarily concentrates on the history of mathematics of Brahmagupta and their transmission to Arab
countries.The methodology adopted comprises a composite structure: history and mathematics.
188

Brahmaguptas original contributions contained in two illustrious treatises composed in Sanskrit

verses: Brahmasphutasiddhanta and Khandakhadyaka are discussed. Brahmaguptas original method
of solving an indeterminate quadratic equation in two variables has been presented in some details.
The details of the Indian and Arab scholars and others involved in the intellectual scientificmathematical knowledge transmission processes, the roles played by the then rulers of Indian and
Arab countries in this type of transmission operations, the socio-political situations in these countries
have been vividly presented. It has been concluded that Brahmaguptas mathematics is now part of
shared heritage of the humankind.

The Physicalization of Mathematics at Jesuit Colleges following the Ratio Studiorum (1599)
Albrecht Heeffer, Ghent, Belgium
The physico-mathematics that emerged at the beginning of the seventeenth century entailed the
quantitative analysis of the physical nature with optics, meteorology and hydrostatics as its main
subjects. Recently a new view on this approach to natural philosophy is emerging. Rather than
considering 189ontex-mathematics as the mathematization of natural philosophy, John Schuster (1)
has characterized it as the physicalization of mathematics, in particular the mixed mathematics. Such
transformation of mixed mathematics was a process in which 189ontex-mathematics became
liberated from Aristotelian constraints. Peter Dear (2) has shown how this new approach to natural
philosophy was strongly influenced by Jesuit writings and experimental practices. Representatives of
the tradition, such as Mydorge, Descartes, Mersenne and Cassini were educated at Jesuit colleges
while others, such as Fabri, Grimaldi and Scheiner were Jesuits themselves. While these well known
names benefited from a strong emphasis on the mathematical sciences in their education at these
colleges, such prominence of mathematics has not always been the case. It is only after the reform of
the Jesuit education system at the end of the sixteenth century that mathematics acquired a special
status. The Ratio Studiorum required the teaching of mathematics at all Jesuit colleges from 1599.
Still, it took several decades before a dedicated chair of mathematics was established at the French
colleges. In this paper we will look at some witness accounts on Jesuit mathematics education in
which the mixed sciences, engineering and technology became important in tools teaching mixed but
also pure mathematics. We argue that the 189ontex-mathematical research program benefitted
from the specific approach of mathematics education taken at Jesuit colleges at the beginning of the
seventeenth century.

The Problem of Emptiness and Movement in the Condemnation of Aristotles Cosmology

during the XIIIth c.
Ana Maria Carmen Minecan, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
This paper intends to deal with several aspects of the change that occurred in the Medieval Neo
Platonic conception of the cosmos after the re-discovery and translation of Aristotles texts in the
XIIIth century. To show them we will analyse two basic concepts of Aristotles physic system that
appear in the largest condemnations from the Middle Ages that we know about today, Etienne
Tempiers Syllabus from year 1277: the absence of emptiness and the eternity of movement.
In opposition to the Christianized Neo-Platonism the unknown texts of Aristotle presented a full and
complete world in which the affirmation of the 189ontex and the eternity of movement were of
capital importance. According to Aristotle, if emptiness existed matter could be limited by it and
emptiness itself could be limited by matter, and therefore nothing would be able to put an end to
this chain. Also, the eternal movement of the first sphere is passed on by contact to the lower
spheres and the sub-lunar world, since action in distance is not possible in Aristotles physics. If there
was emptiness in any part of the system mechanical transmission would stop, herby ending the
movement in the universe as a whole. But the Holy Texts talk about a world created literally from
189

nothing, a fact which made them state that, before our world existed, there was emptiness and that
the worlds movement began with the creation. On the other hand, not giving God the possibility of
producing a empty space was to restrict Gods free action. And to sustain the temporality of
movement was to question Gods creation ex nihilo.
The importance of the study of the Medieval condemnations of Aristotles Physics by the history of
science can be summarized in three main moments. First, Aristotle gave the Latin intellectuals a
rational background which clearly defined the methods and goals of science. This helped give way to
an empirical attitude that gave scientific interest to the causes of natural phenomena. Second, the
condemnation of physical principles made it possible to question Aristotles statements. Aristotle
was object of prohibition and a cause of heresy, which made it possible for his oeuvre to be
190ontextual and reinterpreted. And paradoxically, the pious obligation of reacting before the ideas
which were dangerous to faith was what drew the authors curiosity towards all those phenomena
which Aristotles physics did not explain.

Metamathematical Contents in Mathematical Texts by the New Algebraical and

Geometrical Traditions Founders in the Ixth-Xith c.
Ben Miled Marouane, Ecole nationale dIngnieurs de Tunis, Tunis, Tynisia
Well present some examples of new traditions in Arabic mathematics, as they were thought by their
founders, according to their metamathematical writings, specially in the prefaces of their books.
Well compare these new traditions with the Greek and the classical ones opening the door to an
alternative periodization of the mathematical thoughts.
Well study some of the texts of al-Khawarizmi and Thabit ibn Qurra concerning the algebra as a
Theory of the equations and its foundations; of al-Mahani, al-Khazin and al-Ahwazi concerning the
algebraic theory of irrationality; of al-Karaji and al-Samawal concerning polynomial algebra and its
foundations; of al-Khayyam concerning the geometrical algebra; of al-Quhi and Ibn al-Haytham
concerning geometry ...

Human nature and understanding in Initia doctrinae Physicae. A contextualizing analysis

Sandra Constanta Dragomir, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Phillipp Melanchthon is considered to be by the scholars who have undertaken the study of both his
theological but also his philosophical works a rationalist of a Neo-Platonic type who presents his
philosophy as a means for justifying his theology. Gnther Frank reads Sachiko Kusukawas
interpretation as an attempt to identify the infusion of Lutheranism in Melanchthons philosophical
works. He denies that Melanchthons Initiae doctrinae physicae is an Aristotelian physics adapted
to Lutheran doctrinary principles and tries to argue that whereas Luther rebukes every usefulness of
natural philosophy for the human effort to gain certitude, Melanchthon admits the innate ideas that
God had put into the human mind and the law that God had given man to guide himself by.
Considering Franks arguments as a starting point, I will try to shed some light on the problem of
certainty and knowledge-claims that the individual may assume within the reformed religion.
Identifying the main means of human knowledge-be it trough revelation or just the capacity to grasp
the attributes of God by comprehending the world-order- an inquiry in the Wittenbergers physics
might clearify recent philosophical and historical claims regarding the extent of Melanchthon s
tolerance of new natural philosophy in the age of Reformation. My claim is that it is not only an
attitude of tolerance but an acceptance and support to a certain degree. Also it might change the
generally accepted view that Melanchthons natural philosophy is deeply Neo-platonic in character.
Because of the ideological context of which a physics like that of Melanchthons might also be a
product of, the particular structure and subjects he is treating in his treatise can also hint at the way
Melanchthon considers that a right understanding of nature should be considered.
190

The rejection of metaphysics which characterizes both Luther and Melanchthons creed is replaced
by the latters presentation of the concept of God in his Initiae. It seems that God can be known
trough nature, as he reveals himself not only spiritually, for the chosen ones, but physically, as well,
to all human beings, damned or saved.

Notes on the King Alfonso the Tenths Scientific Translator Team

Montse Diaz-Fajardo, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Astrological synthesis was a genre cultivated among the astrologers of the Islamic east, and, in
general, this kind of treatises was called Introduction to Astrology, including Abu Mashars (787886) Great Introduction (ed. R. Lemay), and Small Introduction (ed. And trans. Ch. Burnett, K.
Yamamoto, and M. Yano), the introduction of al-Qabisi (second half of the tenth century) (ed. And
trans. Ch. Burnett, K. Yamamoto, and M. Yano), the introduction by Kushyar ibn Labban (ca. at the
end of the tenth century, and at the beginning of the eleventh century) (ed., trans., and commentary
by M. Yano), and the treatise of al-Biruni (976-1052) (trans. Ramsay Wright).
Ibn Abi-l-Rijals (fl. Qayrawan, ca. 965-1050) Kitab al-Bari fi ahkan al-nujum (Book of what stands in
astrology) is an example of the interest in collecting all that is needed for the astrological craft.
Nevertheless, as for Ibn Abi-l-Rijal, his book introduced knew knowledge to the Islamic west. The
Kitab al-Bari is categorized within the history of science as one of the best-sellers at his time. It is
preserved in a great number of Arabic manuscripts, and in addition, Ibn Abi-l-Rijals book was
translated into several European languages.
The Libro complido en los uidizios de las estrellas (ed. G. Hilty) is the Castilian translation of the Kitab
al-Bari, and was made possible with the sponsorship of the King Alfonso the tenth (reigned, 1252-84).
The study presented in this conference will focus on the comparative analysis between the Arabic
text of the Kitab al-Bari (the Chapter on Prorogation) and its Castilian translation. The interpretation
of the differences may offer a clearer view over some points, and especially: the system of work used
by the translator team under the service of the King Alfonso the tenth, the features of the Castilian
translation and the contribution of the translator team to the standardization of technical terms in
the scientific circles in Spain in the thirteenth century.

Olbers Paradox: a Cornerstone of Scientific Cosmopolitanism

Fotini Argiana, Spiros Cotsakis, University of the Aegean, Greece
Olbers paradox, the question why the night sky is dark, surfaces amongst the first conscious human
thoughts. The simple perception of the darkness of the night sky taken under the scrutiny of science
and philosophy has led to a magnificent complex of truly interesting but involved themes that have
created a sensation in distinct periods in the history of science. Today various issues still remain
unresolved about this question, which meanwhile has become a riddle for some, a true paradox for
others. The dark night sky riddle is one of the central cosmological questions, and reveals the
different aspects of our current understanding of the laws that rule the Universe, still
incomprehensible.
Olbers paradox cannot be usefully classified purely as a complex issue in a specialized subdiscipline
of cosmology, mathematics, physics or philosophy. By its nature, it is a multitasked, interdisciplinary
project that unites scientists and thinkers until today. We introduce it as a paradigm of scientific
cosmopolitanism as a result of careful elaboration of its many facets. Since the beginning, when the
primitive man wondered about the reason of the dark night sky, many scientific or philosophical
systems, thoughtful men, and great scientific figures tried to comprehend it and offer a resolution,
contributing thus a smaller or larger reason to the puzzle, but the paradox remained.

191

In this work we propose an historical approach to the paradox of Olbers through questions such as:
Who was the first to state the paradox clearly? How did different philosophical-scientific systems
formulate the paradox? Why it is that in some specific historical periods the question of the night sky
seemed a pointless one? Why this puzzle did not come to light still earlier, when the facts were
down in the hands of the philosophers of antiquity?
Our approach reveals the hidden ways an apparently childish-naive but unexpectedly complex
observation has been approached throughout the history of science by different cultures and
different philosophical systems, shedding new light to the cultures themselves. We connect standard
issues of Olbers paradox to current interesting ideas in cosmology, and we find the curious fact that
the substance and shape of this fundamental question has been carefully modified, partly by
evolution and partly by design, leading also to new and important alignments with important
changes in our perception of the world.

The Constructor Metaphor in Darwins Reflections

Ricardo Noguera-Solano, UNAM, Ciudad Universitaria Mxico, D.F, Mexico
In The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, published in 1868, Darwin used the
architect metaphor to clarify the subordinate role of variation in his theory of adaptive change by
natural selection. In this paper, I will argue that Darwin used this metaphor to respond to two
significant metaphysical issues: the interactions between accidental variation and progressive organic
design; and theological questions regarding free will, predestination and the origin of evil. To explore
these areas, I will trace the origin of the metaphor in Darwins letters and writing.

The first 19th century the Linnaeans Botanical Papers Regarding the Cracow-Czstochowa
Upland, Poland
Ewa Kaczmarzyk, Czestochowa Museum, Czstochowa, Poland
This article reviews the first 19th century botanical papers with the system of Linnaeus in the CracowCzstochowa Upland. 19th century papers from this region, based on the system of Linnaeus, were
initiated by W. Besser, who in his work Primitiae Florae Galiciae (1809), mentioned the number of
the rare species of plants from the surroundings of Ojcw. Among them there are 24 species new to
science, for example Betula oycoviensis Bess. Next mentions about the flora of the CracowCzstochowa Upland appear at M. Szuberts publication Discription of the Kingdom of Polands
forest trees and bushes (1827), devoted to the forests of the Kingdom of Poland, in J. Wagas work
entitled Flora Polonica Phanerogama (1847, 1848) and in A Report from a Journey of Naturalist to
Ojcw in 1854 (Waga et al. 1855, 1857). A. Wilicki, S. Lowenhard in his article Walk all over Olkuski
District, under the Scientic, Farm and Industrial-Factory reasons (1856), clearly associated with
travel of naturalist to Ojcw in 1854, mentioned 60 species of vascular plants from the northern part
and 29 species from the southern part of Cracow-Czstochowa Upland. F. Berdau in his work Flora
Cracoviensis (1859) is giving a large number of plants and describes above 200 species of plants
from Ojcw Valley. Controversial material about flora of the disussed area provided by J. Sapalski
(1862). His work contains a list of vascular plants found, among others, in Prdnik Valley, Ojcw and
Zoty Potok.

192

Scientific Session 2
Three Hundred Fathoms Under the Sea: Barbosa du Bocage and the Search for Marine Life
at High Depths (1864-1874)
Daniel Gamito Marques, Interuniversity Centre for the History of Science and Technology, Lisbon,
Portugal
This paper focuses on the discussions concerning the existence of marine life at high depths that
arose as a result of the discovery of the sponge Hyalonema lusitanicum by the Portuguese zoologist
Barbosa du Bocage (1823-1907). In 1864, Bocage published the discovery of a new species of the
Hyalonema genus near the Portuguese coast, which used to appear in local fishermens nets. This
finding surprised renowned zoologists such as J. E. Gray and C. G. Ehrenberg because Hyalonema had
been reported to live only along the Japanese coast while the Portuguese species appeared to live at
great depths. Although evidence had already been accumulating on the existence of living organisms
at such depths, the scientific community still considered that harsh conditions would be unbearable
to most, if not all, organisms living at more than three hundred fathoms, in accordance with Edward
Forbes Azoic Theory. The ensuing controversy around Bocages claims was only settled in 1868,
when Perceval Wright travelled to Portugal in order to collect samples from the ocean bottom. His
research not only confirmed the presence of Hyalonema on the Portuguese coast, but also showed
that much more complex animals could also be found in the benthic zone. Further investigations in
1870 by W. S. Kent confirmed these results, supporting the findings of W. B. Carpenters and Wyville
Thomsons famous oceanographic expeditions. The discovery of Hyalonema lusitanicum shows how
the establishment of a network of collaborators by Bocage together with his awareness of current
scientific debates in the international arena were essential in the making of an important discovery,
which contributed to stimulate oceanographic research and provided a new understanding of marine
ecosystems at high depths.

Berthollets Revolutionary Course of Chemistry at the Ecole Normale of the year III.
Pedagogical Experience and Scientific Innovation
Pere Grap, Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
At the end of the eighteenth century the French Revolution unchained drastic changes in education
at all levels in France. The revolutionary courses for the nitre extraction inaugurated a teaching
methodology that was implemented in some new educational establishments such as the cole
Polytechnique and the cole Normale. The latter was not successful in achieving its pedagogical aims
in spite of the great luminaries of its teaching staff such as Laplace, Berthollet, Hay, Monge and
Daubenton. However, Berthollets chemistry lectures became the public forum where his seminal
ideas of a new theory of chemical change founded in a new conception of the chemical affinity were
first explained.
This presentation is going to explore Berthollets chemistry course in its educational context, both as
a pedagogical experience and as a part of the scientific creation scenery of his chemical affinities.
This chemistry course was a course intended for training school teachers and in this sense some
issues need to be considered. The appropriateness of the course content, the teaching pathway
followed by Berthollet, the missing topics, the didactic guidelines and Berthollets teaching
performance.

193

The chemistry in Ionian Academy

Efthymios P. Bokaris, Stamatis Avlonitis, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
The Ionian Academy was founded in 1817 in Corfu (Greece) by Lord Guilford, during the British rule,
and opened in 1824 until 1864. It was the first University in the Greek-speaking world. In the
beginning of the Ionian Academy comprised the following schools: Theology, Law, Medicine and
Philosophy (which divided in two sections, Science and Philosophy). Later the School of Science
renamed as School of Natural Science and included the Chemical Philosophy. The establishment of
schools based on social and professional objectives. In 1837 the schools comprised by the Academy
were: Literature, Philosophy, Theology, Law and Engineering. In 1841 the School of Pharmacy was
established and in 1845 the main schools were: Medical-Surgical, Pharmaceutical and Obstetrics.
The curriculum of the Medical Faculty of the Academy including the course "Practical and Theoretical
Chemistry" which was taught by Athanasios Politis until the closing of the Academy. A. Politis took
the title of professor of chemistry for the first time at a Greek speaking University.
Athanasios Politis was born in Lefkada in 1790. He completed his undergraduate studies in Corfu and
then studied medicine at the University of Pavia in Italy. At 1816, having completed his medical
studies he went to Paris to study chemistry at the University of Sorbonne with financial support from
Guilford, who intended to give him the chair of Chemistry in the Ionian Akademy. In 1824 he
appointed Professor of Chemistry of the Ionian Academy, position that he hold until his death in
1864; besides his teaching work he founded a chemical laboratory by the financial support of Ioannis
Kapodistrias, the later governor of the free Greek state.
The main work of A. Politis was an epitome of courses in chemistry at the Academy, which was
published in Corfu in 1847 entitled "Elements of Chemistry. Several issues that Politis deals in his
chemistry were borrowed from JJ Berzelius work: 'Lehrbuch der Chemie"published in 1825. Until
then, in 1802, were translated into Greek the book of A. Fourcroy, Chemical Philosophy by
Athanasios Iliadis, in 1801 Brissons work Elements or Physicochemical Principles by the monk
Demetrious-Daniel Philippides (1755-1832) and in 1808 Adets Lecons Elementaires de Chimie, a l
usage des Lycees by Koumas. In this paper is explored Politis work on chemistry in the frames of the
shaped Greek didactic tradition (which is oriented to Newtonian Chemistry) and the theoretical
variations caused in the Newtonian tradition by the work of J.J. Berzelius.

The Importance of the Introduction of L.V. Brugnatelli s Pharmacopea Generale by

Dionyssios Pyrros to the Greek-speaking Regions in the beginning of the 19th c.
Ioanna G. Stavrou, Efthymios P. Bokaris, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
Dionyssios Pyrros is one of the most representative personalities of Modern Greek Enlightenment for
his erudition, his translations and his extensive medical and educational work. He could be
considered as a very distinct case of Greek scholars who dealt with the making of scientific tools.
In the beginning of the 19th century Dionyssios Pyrros translated L.V.Brugnatellis work
`Pharmacopea Generale' under the title Pharmacopeia General, in the preface of which he
mentions: I also added many other chymical preparations, all extracted from the most modern and
wise European doctors. The first publication of Pharmacopeia took place in 1818 and was followed
by the second in 1837. Pharmacopea Generale was published in 1802 in Pavia. Its writer was a
professor in the University of Pavia and the translator to Italian of Lavoisiers Methode, where he
supported a more naturalistic rather than a theoretical approach.
With the above work Pyrros introduces to the Greek region a pharmacopeia in which basic
improvements are included in regard to pharmaceutical preparations and which is experiment based
and is adapted to the main medical and chemical theories of that time. In other words, he introduced
in the Greek-speaking region the Pharmacopeia which in the European region had already gained its
academic recognition and had established the social status of the profession of pharmacist along
194

with its theoretical autonomy from Chymiki, in the concept of which pharmacopeia had
contributed.
The introduction of L.V.Brugnatellis Pharmacopea Generale coincides with the predominance
among the Greek intellectuals of that era in relation to Chymiki- of th e the Newtonian tradition,
which is characterized mostly by its naturalistic approaches similar to Brugnatellis. In conlusion, it is
of great historical interest in the course of pharmacopoeias academic and professional recognition
to study in depth the productive work of Pyrros, the classifications that are theoretically attempted
along with the nomenclature and the instruments used always in relation to the tradition of
pharmacopeia in the Greek-speaking regions and the situation of pharmacopeia in Europe.

The Mathematical Work of Dimitrios Govdelas and its Influence on the Education of the
Greek-speaking Regions in the meta-Byzantine Era
Georgios Baralis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
During the post byzantine years at the Greek-speaking regions-based on the teaching textbooks of
that time- the role of Mathematics is limited mostly to the revival of ancient greek Mathematics and
to the identification of solutions for everydays problems. However, in the beginning of the 18th
century along with the renaissance of scientific and philosophical thinking, the role of Sciences,
especially Mathematics evolves and the basis for the beginning of mathematical education of
Hellenism is formed. During the first decades of that century efforts were made to translate and
publish manuscripts and other scientific textbooks, which would have been able to cover the
educational needs of that time. This process was initiated from scholars mostly members of the
church, who studied at universities of Western Europe and tried to introduce their fellow
countrymen to the ideas of scientific rationalism and the new natural philosophy using novel
scientific and teaching books.
Dimitrios Govdelas (1780, Raphani Thessalia 1831, Iasio Moldavia), is known for his mathematical
work and his teaching activity at Iasio of Moldavia. He is an excellent example of the Greek scholars
efforts of that time aiming to further develop and spread the mathematical thinking of the enslaved
Hellenism. In particular, two of his mathematical books written in archaic language -here presented
and analyzed- intend to further develop the basic mathematical education. In their introduction the
ancient Greek mathematicians are mentioned and emphasis is given to the importance of
Mathematics in ancient Greece. In addition, the necessity of introducing new Mathematics, such as
Algebra and Infinitesimal Calculus is justified. The evolution of the mathematical concept is
presented in a didactic fashion from antiquity till that era.

University as Technological Knowledge Disseminator in Estonia

Vahur Mgi, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallin, Estonia
The Chair of Agricultural Engineering and Architecture was established at the University of Tartu in
1802. Among other specialties the Engineering Class included the Professorship of Military Science,
which additionally to military disciplines was responsible for the programmes in mechanics,
hydraulics, architecture and construction. The Chair of Theoretical and Experimental Physics
provided a general physics course to medical students, whereas Rector of the University Georg
Friedrich Parrot delivered lectures on electricity, magnetism and galvanism in special subject courses.
Parrot was also the founder of the first Physics Laboratory in Tartu, whose articles were mainly
dedicated to application-related issues: e.g. lighting of rooms, construction of ship masts and
preparation of gunpowder. In 1830 the University started offering popular science lectures with a
view to spreading technological knowledge among the townspeople. The first lecturer was Johann
Schmalz, Professor of Agriculture and Technology. He initiated and facilitated the establishment of
the Association of Handicraftsmen in Tartu. The exhibitions arranged by the Association traditionally
195

displayed the sophisticated equipment prepared at the experimental workshops of the university
side by side with various metal, pottery and glass objects made by ordinary handcrafters. Professor
of Technology Georg Brunner, known as a good friend and supporter of the peasantry, provided
expertise in woodworking procedures. Among other diligent dispersers of knowledge mention should
be made of Physics Professor Friedrich Kmtz and Technology Professor Georg Petzholdt. The major
research areas of the first-mentioned included heat phenomena, air and thunder, whereas the latter
specialised in agro chemistry, metals engineering and agricultural implements. The task of
introducing the basic facts of chemistry to the townsfolk was undertaken by Carl Goebel, while
essential issues involved with chemical technology were presented by Gustav Tammann. The series
of lectures delivered by Professor Goebel may be conditionally characterised as technical chemistry
primarily dealing with a variety of problems pertaining to metals and their uses as well as electricity,
air, water, etc. As lectures were accompanied by experiments they always attracted large audiences.
Technical chemistry was afterwards included in the official curriculum of the university. Goebel's
activities regarding dissemination of chemical knowledge were carried on by Carl Schmidt. He
renovated the University Chemistry Cabinet and started specialised courses in physics and
mathematics. In the course of a professional visit to England he was impressed by the smoothly
running collaborative relations between local chemical scientists and industrial chemists. Following
the English model, Schmidt announced after his return to Tartu that his laboratory would likewise be
open to industry, agriculture and commerce. In his research Schmidt focused on the study of seamud, clays and turf. His further interests included oil shale outcrops encountered in Northern
Estonia. The first chemical analyses for Estonian oil shale were performed in Tartu by Georg
Petzholdt and Alexander Schamarin. Members of the Schmidt school were among other things
concerned with the use of superphosphate in husbandry. He also called attention to the obolid
phosphorite as a possible local raw material for processing phosphate fertilizers. This was the starting
point for a thorough investigation of the Estonian phosphorites. The results of the lime marl studies
conducted in his laboratory led to the establishment of cement industry in Kunda (1872). The popular
science lectures held by Schmidt over the 30-plus year period covered practically all the issues that
were then considered to belong under technical chemistry and acquiring general knowledge in those
areas proved advantageous for everybody a handcrafter, a builder, a townsman, a farmer. The
lectures at the University oriented to the broad public were eventually attended by several thousand
people. At that time it was an exceptional opportunity for common people to extend their horizons.

Two Hydraulic Machines for Schnbrunn Palace 1780-1782

Alice Reininger, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Vienna, Austria
On June 1st 1779 at 6 oclock in the morning the official commissioners from the Royal Office for
Minting and Mining met together in the work shack of Wolfgang von Kempelen not far from the Mint
office in Vienna. They were there to examine the fire and steam machines which he had developed.
Unfortunately the presentation of these machines did not run as smoothly as either the
commissioners or von Kempelen had hoped for. Kempelen did not allow this to discourage him and
continued to work on further developing the machines.
In 1780 81 following the plans of the court architect Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg,
the huge Neptune fountain was erected in the Schnbrunn Palace gardens. However it was soon
discovered that the amount of water available was not enough to fill the basins of this enormous
fountain, or provide for the great spectacle of cascading water that was envisioned. The whole
design and layout in the palace gardens required a massive amount of water which could not under
present circumstances be realised. A variety of different steps had been taken in previous centuries
to try and address this problem. Wolfgang von Kempelen then made his suggestion to the Empress
Maria Theresa that they build both his newly developed steam hydraulic machines into the water
basins in order to pump enough pressure into the water to provide the necessary water spectacle.
Maria Theresa gave her approval and on 16th August 1780, personally handed over the resolution for
196

the establishing of both machines. One year later both machines were set in operation at an
enormous financial cost.
Unfortunately the plans for these two machines in Schnbrunn Palace gardens no longer exist. There
are however documents pertaining to their placement there in the files of the Royal Court Office and
State Archives in Vienna, together with newspaper reports from this period in time.
In 1793 the court architect Hetzendorf von Hohenberg inspected the ageing machines and gave his
judgement about their continuing existence...

Traveling Inventors. Practical Knowledge in European Centres of Power

Marius Buning, European University Institute, Netherlands
This paper shall deal with the role that early modern inventor privileges played in the diffusion of
knowledge among European centres of power. Inventor privileges were the precursors of what we
nowadays call patents; they were exclusive rights to exploit new technologies for a limited number of
years. One of the differences between privileges and patents was, however, that privileges were
much more limited in geographical scope. One could, for instance, obtain a privilege for an invention
in the Dutch Republic that had already been reduced to practice in Scotland. As a consequence
thereof, inventors wandered around Europe to secure as many privileges as possible. It was along
these trails that they also carried along a stock-in-trade knowledge.
But although invention privileges are widely recognized as boosters in the dissemination of
knowledge in early modern Europe, we still know relatively little about the way in which this process
exactly functioned in practice. For that reason I shall focus the attention on the situation at the turn
the turn of the seventeenth century (particularly in France, Germany, Italy, England, and the Dutch
Republic). Following a number of inventors and inventions, I shall investigate how exactly knowledge
was shared among European States. Can one maybe discern certain trends or patterns? Was there a
uniform system of law in this regard? What was the exact role of cultural brokers in this process?
Were there particular alliances among different States? Getting a clearer understanding of these
type of issues can help us, not only to better understand the role and position of the early modern
inventor, but also to understand how knowledge became a commodity in the course of the early
modern period.

19th century Translations of European Mathematical Textbooks into eastern

Mediterranean Vernaculars: Cosmopolitanism versus Colonialism
Gregg De Young, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo, Egypt
The 19th century saw the publication of several classical Arabic mathematical treatises in the Islamic
world. The same period also witnessed publication of Arabic (and Turkish) translations of European
mathematical textbooks. It initially appears that the mathematical landscape is becoming more
cosmopolitan in eastern Mediterranean regions, with new approaches being added to the existing
traditional classics. This appearance is somewhat misleading. These "cosmopolitan" trends must be
matched against both the colonialist aims of the translators and the nationalistic ambitions
motivating their political supporters. I shall illustrate this tension using two translations of European
mathematical textbooks: the translation of John Bonnycastles Elements of Geometry into Turkish
(Cairo, 1825) and the Arabic translation of John Playfairs textbook, Elements of Geometry (Beirut,
1857).
Bonnycastles treatise was translated and published under the aegis of Muhammed Ali, Ottoman
governor of Egypt, for use in his new scientific and mathematical schools. These schools, he hoped,
would train modern engineers and military technicians to help resist military initiatives of European
powers and to strengthen his position vis--vis the Ottoman Sultan. Playfairs treatise was translated
by Protestant missionaries in Ottoman Syria who used modern science and mathematics to attract
197

students into the mission schools where they could be proselytized. They also hoped to create an
educated elite class that could lead the transformation of Ottoman society into something akin to
middle-class American or European society. In these examples, the translators did not introduce
modern mathematics as an effort toward cosmopolitanism, but as a tool to move students away
from traditional mathematics and the social ideals it represented. In the long run, these translations
may have contributed to a kind of cosmopolitanism, both mathematically and culturally. But this
cosmopolitanism was not necessarily the result intended either by the original translators or their
employers.

The Unsolved Equation: Mathematics at the University of Athens during the 19th c.
Maria Terdimou, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece
At the University of Athens (founded 1836), we see the first efforts towards the systematic teaching
of Mathematics at higher level, within the limited space of the newly formed Greek state - limited as
regards both land area and intellectual development.
Throughout the 19th century, Mathematics and Natural Sciences were taught under the umbrella of
the School of Philosophy, in the corresponding Departments, until the definitive separation of the
School of Physics and Mathematics in 1904. This event naturally led to many difficulties with finding
the appropriate teaching staff for the Departments and developing the subjects taught.
In this paper we will examine the history of Mathematics teaching at the University of Athens in the
hundred years following the Greek revolution, until the first decades of the 20th century. More
specifically, we will first investigate the course contents. We will study contemporary mathematical
textbooks and seek the sources used by their authors - mostly professors at the University - and the
wider influences to which the latter were subjected, mainly from the science of the European
countries in which they themselves had studied. These authors include K. Negris, G. Vouris, N.
Nikolaides, S. Kyparissos and V. Lakon. We will then go on to examine the interest in studying in the
Department of Mathematics evinced by high-school students and others. Finally, by the end of our
study we hope to have provided a historically acceptable solution to the equation of our title although some of the mathematicians discussed here would have disputed it, since it is not been
arrived at using their favourite instruments, the rule and compass.

Pattern, Compass and Map: Standardization of the Cartographic Representation in early

modern Iberian World
Antonio Snchez, Centro Interuniversitrio de Histria da Cincia e da Tecnologia, Portugal
The aim of this paper is to show how it was carried out the grand project of systematisation and
standardization of cartographic representation about the New World in early modern Iberian world,
especially during the sixteenth century. Through the inner workings of the Casa de la India,
Almacenes de Guinea, Minas e Indias and the Casa de la Contratacin, this paper highlights how the
Hispanic monarchy and its conqueror slogan 'Plus Ultra' and the Portuguese monarchy tried to
surround the Atlantic and the Indian worlds first, and control new worlds after by means of nautical
charts, an essential instrument for the maintenance of the empire. This process was made possible
by the establishment in Lisbon and Seville of institutions related to cosmography and navigation and
the creation of the Portuguese Padro Real and the Spanish Padrn Real in the first years of sixteenth
century. The author analyzes the cartographic production developed in these institutions, especially
the Padrn Real. The Padrn was one the main cartographic issues in sixteenth-century Spain, and,
probably, the most important one, but also one of the most evident examples of standardization of
the early modern Europe. This master and royal sea-chart summarizes the attempt to solve two
major problems of Early Modern cartography: representing a three-dimensional body -the globe- on
a flat surface and try to provide a definitive picture of a constantly changing geography.
198

A Contribution of the Replication Method to some Controversial Experiments

of the XVIIth c.
Pierre Lauginie, University Paris-Sud, Orsay, France
Armand Le Noxac, Universit Paris-Sud, GHDSO, Orsay,France
Mohamed Bendaoud, USTHB, Algiers, Algeria
We consider the contribution of the replication method to an insight into some controversial
experiments of the XVIIth century, the reality of which had been strongly questioned specially by A.
Koyr in the mid-XXth century, claiming they were clearly impossible:
an experiment, otherwise known as the Passe-vins, reported by Galileo in his Two new Sciences
(First Day): a complete exchange between water and wine through two superimposed vessels.
a famous experiment by Pascal about the relative heights of water and wine in later so-called
Torricelli tubes. According to Roberval, the opponents, poor demi-savants, were astounded by
the result of the experiment.
the inclined plane experiment reported by Galileo in Two new Sciences (Third day).
The Passe-vins and Pascal experiments have been successfully replicated in Orsay while the
inclined plane one was done in Algiers. It cannot be proved that any of those experiments was
actually performed at the time, but we demonstrate they were quite feasible in the context of the
time.
The replication method is expected to bring new light on historical experiments by reconstructing
them, as far as possible in full respect of the available reports and of the context of the time:
specially, retrieving new information and facts missing from the documents having survived, such as
lost knacks. Two points will be particularly emphasized:
both in the inclined plane and the Pascal experiments, a positive answer to the question of their
feasibility at the time has been obtained only through a strict respect of the very wording of the
original texts. Galileo tells us he used a water clock (not other clock systems such as small bells
distributed along the way), thus one had to do so. For Pascal, taking account of very accurate details
related to the density and quality of the wine, together with the temperature of the air (in Winter
1647) was crucial for the success of the replication.
discussing the Passe-vins experiment shows how strongly the problematics of the time differed
from our modern ones which escaped Koyr and remnants of Aristotelianism will be evidenced in
this passage of Galileos Discorsi.
In conclusion, strict respect of the texts and immersing ourselves in the problematics of the time
were key points for the success of our replications.

Sevillian Science and the first Scientific Revolution

Manuel Castillo, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
The contribution that Seville made to the science of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it's
advantageous location which served as a bridge to link it to other European expertise, and of course
the important part it played in the discovery of America is indeed an extensive and ambitious theme
which could not only be covered in a small sized book, but could just as easily fill a much larger one
of a more precise and detailed nature.
Space constraints have obviously influenced my approach to the theme, meaning that I have
ultimately had to be selective in the areas that I have discussed. Some points have had to be omitted
or only lightly touched upon and so I have therefore decided to limit myself exclusively to the
sciences which in sixteenth and seventeenth century Seville had repercussions outside the boundary
of its city walls, and to the work of certain sevillians who helped to diffuse modern science
throughout Europe and America and dissimilating the knowledge uncovered in the various scientific
fields. I use the plural here because the various scientific studies which through the gateway of
199

Seville flooded onto the doorstep of the rest of Europe were indeed many. However choosing to be
selective I will concentrate specifically upon the fields which were more notably connected to the
America, for example; Natural History, Medicine, Mining and Metallurgy.

From Local Student Groups to Information Networks of Scientific Corporations. Scientific

Socialization in 19th and 20th c. Germany
Arne Schirrmacher, Humboldt Universitt zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
While students and socialization in student institutions have been considered by social, political,
gender and cultural history since long, in the history of science the questions about scientific
socialization and learning of epistemic forms of acting that determine practices and research cultures
of scientists still need to be addressed. In my talk I will report on a current research project on
German mathematical and scientific student clubs and corporations that shall demonstrate on the
basis of a broad range of sources which role scientific student groups played for production and
culture of science from the middle of the 19th century until their dissolution in the years after 1933.
A particular feature of the is development was its emergence from informal local groups that step by
step became organized in national and even international networks of clubs and corporations, which
exchanged reports on university conditions and curricula and facilitated student mobility. The two
main structure in Germany were two associations, the Arnstdter Verband mathematischer und
naturwissenschaftlicher Vereine since 1868 and the Deutschen Wissenschafter Verband since 1910.
In addition also less formal student working groups need to be considered, which started in the yeas
before World War I and fully flourished in Weimar Germany. What aims, programs and ideologies
were coupled with these agencies of scientific socialization and what impact did they have on
science?

Commensalism in the Emergence of Ecology

Brice Poreau, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
Commensalism is a concept developed particularly in the second part of the nineteeth century, by
Pierre-Joseph Van Beneden (1809-1894), a Belgian zoologist. It is an association between two species
where one gets an advantage of the relationship (food for example) whereas the other one is
neutral. Van Beneden classified three associations : mutualism, parasitism and commensalism. This
concept, for the biologists of the end of the nineteeth century, and the beginning of the twentieth
century is really interesting in order to try to explain the idea of Evolution, for example with Maurice
Caullery (1868-1958) or Etienne Rabaud (1868-1956). Nevertheless, in this paper, we want to unveil
another side of commensalism : it is the link between commensalism defined in zoology in the 1860's
and the emergence of ecology few decades later.
Our thesis is that commensalism is also part of the emergence of ecology as a science, in the 1920's
1930's. In fact, commensalism wil be studied not only in zoology, but also in botany, and in
entomology : all parts of ecology. However, ecology is commonly considered as interactions between
species and their environment. What about interactions between species ? Is it part of the science
called ecology? How can commensalism be considered as a part of ecology ? Examples in biology, but
also examples in microbiology (with contemporary models as the one of Miura) will be provided in
order to put forward a new and genuine facet of ecology.

200

Scientific Session 3
Between Local Practices and Global Knowledge: Public Initiatives in the Development of
Agricultural Science in Russia, XIX - 1920s
Olga Y Elina, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
State patronage and modernizing role of the central government have been considered crucial for
the formation of science in Russia. This paper argues that the development of Russian agricultural
science had predominantly local and non-governmental sources of support.
Although private patronage was historically the first to promote agricultural research in Russia,
towards the end of the 19th century it was being rapidly eclipsed by new kinds of sponsorship
coming from community administrations and learned societies. It was customary for the enlighted
Russian gentry and intelligentsia to participate in various learned and agricultural societies, from the
Imperial Free Economic Society to local province and district ones. Among their other functions,
these societies provided the main forum for presenting and discussing the achievements of
international agricultural science as well as local seasonal experiments conducted by members on
their private estates. Soon the societies started taking the initiative offering subsides in support of
private research projects, putting forward research proposals and encouraging members to partake
in them. Furthermore, most initiatives on setting up agricultural experimental stations at the end of
the 19th century were undertaken on behalf of small provincial agricultural societies, supported by
institutions of local self-government, or zemstvos.
During the last two decades of the Russian Empire, zemstvos became leaders in the modernization of
Russian agriculture. Establishing regional experiment stations they provided models for the
subsequent governmental activity in this field. In the case of supporting agricultural research, and
institutionalizing the new discipline of scientific plant breeding, the Russian public led the state,
rather than the reverse.

Wallace and Darwin on Man : a Limitation of Natural Selection ?

Thomas Robert, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
By publishing "On the Origin of Species" in 1859, Darwins aim was to present a strong
argumentation in favour of evolutionism. In order to convince a mainly anti-evolutionist scientific
world, Darwin unified his different theories of evolution around a simple principle, i.e. natural
selection, according to the hypothetico-deductive ideal of Victorian science. Such a caricature of his
thought forced Darwin to correct and explained his theory in the numerous editions of "On the
Origin of Species", delaying the publication of his theory of the evolution of man and allowing the
development of theories based on natural selection but contradicting the conviction of the English
naturalist, such as Spencers social Darwinism and Galtons eugenics. When Wallace, the codiscoverer of natural selection, started to doubt the efficiency of natural selection with respect to
human evolution, Darwin had to intervene and present his most complete work: "The Descent of
Man", published in 1871. Surprisingly, in this book, Darwin used Wallaces idea of a detachment from
natural selection, permitting the accomplishment of human culture. In this presentation, I propose to
analyse Wallaces influence on what has to be recognised as a turn in Darwins theory, the
deselection of natural selection. I will prove that Darwin proposes, thanks to Wallaces double
influence, a theory, which is perfectly contradictory to the application of natural selection to human
society by his contemporaries, such as Spencer and Galton, and which contradicts any attempt to
naturalize human culture.

201

From Myth to Natural History. Civilization and Knowledge of Nuovo Mondo in Naples
between Natural Philosphy and Geology
Maria Toscano, Universit di Napoli 'L'Orientale', Napoli, Italy
Carmela Petti, Universit degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy
In Naples there was the only other colony of Licean Academy founded by Federico Cesi in Rome.
Thats why Naples was one of the first place in Italy, for instance, to posse the Passiflora, a botanic
specimen coming from Nuovo Mondo, important for its morphologic characters as well as for the
Christological symbology attributed to it. The exemplar reached the Gulf in the first years of XVII
century to be studied by the friars Maurizio di Gregorio and Donato dEremita. The Passiflora and a
large number of other specimens (animals, stones, ethnographic objects) were the result of a long
and difficult expedition organized by the Accademia dei Lincei itself with the precise scope to
investigate nature, art and life of the newly discovered country. The principal promoter of this
enterprise was the linceo Johannes Faber who was a good friend of Donato dEremita and as well as
correspondent of Ferrante Imperato. So in the XVII century while collection of information inside
Europe was principally based on the circulation of objects and memories along a definite network of
scholars, to collect information outside Europe, intellectuals find themselves constricted to send
learned, or in most cases less learned, people coming from Europe to explore New World.
In XVIII century, diffusion of Vicos cyclical concept of history of mankind implicated the possibility of
the existence of different stages of civilization. The simple and scarcely organized life of American
aboriginals populations was considered a means to investigate the very first moments of the history
of the world. Thats why in those years the interest for Extraeuropean countries started to be
prevalently ethnographic and, in a way, anthropological. Giuseppe Saverio Poli, Neapolitan scientist
internal member of the Royal Society, acquired also a certain number of ethnographic specimens
coming from Pacific islands, directly by Cook and Joseph Banks.
Around the thirties of XIX century we assisted at the most important changing in the study of
Extraeuropean countries, both in terms of subjects to be interested, now more specialized, in and in
terms of attitude toward natives. Neapolitan scientists corresponded with many people living in
North and South America without any European intermediaries, their interlocutors were local high
profiled scholars working at scientific institutions as.

Gaston Tissandier and the Greek Translation of his Work "Les Martyrs de la science"
Polyxeni Giannakopoulou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens/National Technical
University of Athens, Athens, Greece
This paper explores the ways Gaston Tissandiers Les Martyrs de la Science reached the Greek
audience in the late 19th century. Tissandier, the French well known popuparizer of science, was
chemist, meteorologist, aviator and editor, born in 1843. He managed to escape Paris by balloon in
September 1870 and first partially solved the problem of steering balloons; his balloon, in 1883,
propelled by a screw, and steered by a rudder of unvarnished silk, attained a speed of nine miles an
hour. Tissandier founded and edited the scientific magazine La Nature and wrote several books.
In 1879 Gaston Tissandier published Les Martyrs de la science, where he discussed the founders of
the sciences such as Pascal, Descartes, Bacon and a number of others. The publication was
immediately picked up by The Popular Science Monthly and discussed extensively in 1880. That same
year, a Greek literary woman, Eliza Soutsou, translated the entire work into Greek. Her translation
appeared in Estia, a widely circulated journal of the second half of the 19th century, and in a series of
volumes from June 1880 to June 1881. Soutsou came from a famous family of Athens; her brother
was mayor of the city from May 1879 to September 1887. She was highly educated and spoke several
languages, and also translated literary works.

202

Based on Eliza Soutsous case, I argue that Greek middle-class women of the nineteenth century tried
to learn about the prominent figures of the time and their role within the scientific community. They
translated articles on the lives of scientists and on scientific achievements and communicated these
ideas, transmitting scientific knowledge from Europe and all over the world. Transmission of
knowledge became a powerful weapon that allowed them to keep in touch with scientific
developments of their time, although they didnt have access in the Greek University until the late of
the century (1890). Thereby, science became for them a way to escape the narrow confines of family
life and to declare their presence in public space.

Scientific Cosmopolitanism and Geography in the Habsburg Empire during the 19th c.
Petra Svatek, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
This paper looks at the degree of cosmopolitan orientation of geography as a field of knowledge
across the different scientific disciplines and social strata in the Austrian part of the Habsburg
monarchy in the 19th century. With this premise in mind, it aims to explore the thesis that the extent
of cosmopolitan attitudes in geography often varied markedly and was primarily dependent on the
interests of individual persons and institutions.
In the 19th century, geography was a subject tackled not only by geographers, but also by geologists,
botanists, zoologists, historians, physicians, theologians, aristocrats, politicians and the military. For
example, research undertaken so far shows that above all geographers of the universities of Vienna,
Graz and Innsbruck most of whom belonged to the bourgeoisie tended to engage in locally
themed and historically oriented geographic research, which hardly extended beyond the territory of
the Habsburg monarchy in this period.
Conversely, a more cosmopolitan view of geography can be identified among members of various
Imperial and Royal institutions as well as among aristocrats, whose manifold expeditions to Africa,
Asia and Latin America had triggered intensive studies of other cultures (religions, languages and
customs) and landscapes. Yet large-scale, officially funded research expeditions also harboured
national interests, as they were aimed much less at exploring virgin territory than at striving to add to
the imperial collections in Vienna.
By contrast, members of the clergy hardly engaged in any form of cosmopolitan geography over the
19th century. Rather, they were mainly concerned with the biblical geography of the Holy Land or
tried to Europeanise foreign cultures through missionary work.

Studying Science, Mathematics and Technology with Models of Ancient Mechanisms

Yanis Bitsakis, Constantine Skordoulis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens,
Greece
This paper reports results from the implementation of a research project funded by national
resources (Herakleitos, project number 70/3/11011) titled: Pedagogical aspects of the history of
the Antikythera Mechanism.
The first part of our project involves the study of the history of the various attempts to construct an
accurate model of the mechanism. We start by examining the first model designed by Theophanides,
then we proceed to the model of De Solla Price drawn after the gamma-ray examination of the
remnants of the mechanism, then to the model of Allan Bromley, who used linear tomography with
Michael Wright to examine parts of the mechanism, and finally we study the research model of
Michael Wright revising crucial features of older models. In all models, the number of teeth, and
examination of the way the gears meshed, show that the gear ratios can be associated with
astronomical and calendrical parameters and allow a description of how the device must have
functioned.

203

Our research focuses on the interplay between historical hypotheses and experimental findings in
model construction, thus highlighting important aspects of the nature of science. Issues concerning
the relations between science and technology and of scientific and technological heritage will also be
discussed.
The second part of our research involves the design of a teaching activity which introduces students
of the Greek Middle School (Gymnasium) to the function of the mechanism and especially the
function of the gear systems.
During this activity the students is expected to develop an understanding of the concepts of Speed,
Force and Rotational Force (Torque) related to their Science course and an understanding of how
simple machines work related to their Technology course.
The Students perform measurements using various gears in various combinations tabulating their
results. Specifically they study how changing gear numbers and ratios change speed and direction.
Also by attaching various weights to the gears they study torque (rotational force).
At the end of this activity the students will be able to explain gear ratios, the relationship between
torque and speed, or force and speed and the purpose of each of the different mechanisms and will
develop skills related to measurement, unit conversion and reading diagrams.
In the last phase of the activity, the students enter a project where they are asked to design a system
of gears to simulate the motion of the sun and the moon in an ideal circular orbit, constructing their
own model of a mechanism.

A New Historical Approach to the Study of Ancient Waterways of the European Part of
Russia
Vera Aleksandrovna Shirokova, Vasily M. Chesnov, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian
Federation
The ancient waterways constitute a special type of spatial object of cultural and natural heritage. In
ancient Russia, the main lines of communication were laid on the rivers and lakes. Their role in this
capacity has been predetermined by geological and geographical structure of the European part of
the country. In the 17th - 19th centuries this commonly known route from the Vikings to the
Greeks was reconstructed in three major water systems. The development of these water
highways was due both to the activities of European hydraulic engineers, and the expansion of
trade with European countries.
In this situation, the waterway has played a role in forming the core of the structure and formation of
the entire hierarchy of cultural and historical systems. Consideration of cultural monuments and
hydraulic engineering as part of an integrated natural-human system is uniquely required to reorient
the traditional historical-scientific approaches.
The main vector of the research was redirected to a multidimensional examination of the history of
the waterway as a unifying principle for the development of the whole region. The correct study of
culture and hydraulic engineering monuments required to carry out in parallel the historical,
geographical, hydrological and ecological research. A special place in the area of waterway occupied
by cultural and historical landscapes - complete historical, cultural and natural formation located in a
particular zone with certain natural homogeneous properties due to the long interaction between
man and landscape during their coherent development. With this approach intellectual and cultural
values forming a sort of an information block are considerate as independent components of the
landscape. Genesis, size and nature of the operation of these landscapes is mainly determined by
socio-economic part of the structure, including the economic and mental activities of man.
The North Dvina, Mariinsky and Vyshnevolocky lake and river systems, connected by man-made
channels, with the extant monuments of hydraulic engineering present typical examples of such
cultural and historical areas. During the 2005-2012 period, researchers of the Moscow University and
Russian Academy of Sciences expedition completed the study according to the declared method.

204

The proposed method of mapping of various natural objects on the old and modern (including Earth
remote sensing data) maps made possible to identify the retrospective nature of the situation, to
restore the history of the system.
This work was supported by RFBR grant - project number 09-05-00041

Adolf Erman and his Part in Developmant of Russian Oriental Studies

Kateryna Gamaliia, Ukraine
Adolf Erman (1854-1937), professor of Berlin University, director of Egyptian museum in Berlin,
member of Prussian Academy of Sciences, the prominent egyptologist and lexicographer, founded
the Berlin school of egyptology. Under his leadership this school issued the Ancient Egyptian
dictionary in 5 volumes with 7 supplements. A. Erman is the author of Modern Egyptian Grammar
(1880) and seria works on Ancient Egyptian language, history of Egyptian culture and religion, and
also several popular-scientific books on the life in Ancient Egypt. Adolf Erman was one of the first the
Ancient World investigators, which began make use of the principle of historian method.
The classical works of A. Erman and his school started the modern egyptology, had an influence on
the development of this branch of science in different countries, including Rusia. From A. Erman
studied the well-known Russian orientalist, academician of Sanct-Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Boris Turayev (1868-1920), which created the seria of works on the history of Egypt, among them
History of Ancient East in 2 volumes (1936), and continued tradition to collect the objects of
Egyptian art which was begun by Kutuzovs descendant Vladimir Golenishchev (1856-1947).
Nowadays this collection is exibited in Egyptian department of Pushkin museum in Moskow. At A.
Erman worked on probation the pupils of B. Turayev: Vladimir Vikentyev (1882-1960), which after
the Civil war leaved Russia for Egypt and became the professor of Cairo University; Vasiliy Struve
(1889-1965), the outstanding Russian egyptologist and assiriologist, the author of more than 400
works on the history and linguistics of Ancient World, including the fundamental History of Ancient
East (1941), director of the Institute of Ethnography in Leningrad, academician of USSR Academy of
Sciences, founder of Russian school of Ancient East historians.

LOrient Express, vecteur du cosmopolitisme technologique et culturel europen

Blanche El Gammal, CHST, Paris, France
Le train Paris-Vienne-Constantinople, lanc en 1882 par Georges Nagelmaekers, est devenu un
mythe europen dans le cinma et la littrature par la socit luxueuse et cosmopolite qui la
frquent. Mais par la diversit des problmes technologiques quil a d rencontrer, il est devenu
une synthse de la technologie europenne et un puissant vecteur de dveloppement conomique
et dindustrialisation du SE europen.

Youth Conferences for Science, Technology and Education as Practical Aspect of Historical
and Scientific Researches
Alla S. Lytvynko, Lilia P. Ponomarenko, G.M.Dobrov Center for Scientific and Technological Potential
and Science History Studies NAS of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine
The current change of ideas, knowledge and technology is so fast that finding ways to coordinate of
cascade growing knowledge and human ability to learn creatively becomes urgent. Today one of the
important tasks of education is training specialists, who can live and work in a technological world, to
determine the most relevant areas of science, technology and industry, creatively and
unconventionally solve scientific and technical issues. One of the effective ways which effectively
solve these problems is to use the science history studies in the preparation of students. It can
205

improve the quality of fundamental disciplines teaching cycle that form the basis of lifelong
education.
Science history studies courses allow the students see the object of their researches through the
disclosure of science past and logic of its development in the context of world cultural heritage. It
forms a conscious understanding and humanistic attitude to the processes and phenomena in the
world and responsible for them practice; realizes the need to address global civilization problems;
creates interest in the professional sphere and improves the level and depth of professional skills.
Studying the history of any discipline in its social context creates a new ideological synthesis of
natural-scientific, technical and humanitarian culture. Organization and conduction of conferences
for the history of science, technology and education development is extremely important for
emphasizing the applied aspect of historical researches and promotes understanding the role of
science, technology and education for prevent global world problems.
Our ten years experiences of organization and conducting scientific and practical conference "History
of Science, Technology and Education" (2002 - 2012) show that the discussion about fundamental
ideas and theories of natural sciences and historical aspects of the physical and mathematical
sciences and technology development in the world and Ukraine promotes quality of physical
education at the Technical University, search and support of talented students, changing of
knowledge and obtaining research skills in the first independent scientific work.

Elisabeth Kara-Michailova
Ganka Kamisheva, Institute of Solid State Physics - BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria
The fortune of Professor Elisabeth Kara-Michailova is to be researcher with dreams and personal
achievements. She is the first woman physicist elected in the Sofia University. Elisabeth KaraMichailova finished foundation of the University department of nuclear physics during the first half
of 20th century. Good experimental physicist with long experience from Vienna Radium Institute, she
organised three laboratories on radioactivity, station for cosmic particles, and nuclear reactor in
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in the second half of 20th century.

The Cousin Ignored

Csar Lorenzano, Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, Argentina
On November 11, 1938, the front page of Il Corriere della Sera announced that the Council of
Ministers had enacted laws on race protection: mixed marriages were forbidden, Jews were defined,
they were banned from State, para-State and public-interest positions. The policies of the Mussolini
regime toward Italians of Jewish ascent had radically changed. The ruling had crucial consequences
for research in life sciences. Giuseppe Levi, who held the chair of Anatomy in the University of Torino
and was an indefatigable teacher of researchers was sacked and confined to Calabria. He had four
outstanding disciples. Three of them Rita Levi Montalcini, Salvatore Luria and Renato Dulbecoemigrated to the US and eventually received the Nobel prize. I shall focus my paper on his fourth
disciple: Eugenia Sacerdote de Lustig. She came to Argentina in 1939: her diploma had been torn by
the fascist regime six month after the enactment of the racist laws. She was a cousin of Rita Levi
Montalcinis, they had attended the Classical Licaeum together, in order to enter the School of
Medicine. They were two of the five women admitted among 500 students. They graduated in 1932
as Doctor in Medicine and Surgery. Both cousins passed their final exams suma cum laude.
She stated in an interview: Anti Jewish laws of Italian fascism forced us to emigrate. Montalcini,
Dulbecco and Luria fled to the US, where they later received their Nobel prize. I came to Argentina,
where I lacked the means to fully develop my line of research in vitro culture of living tissue, where I
did not receive the Nobel Prize.

206

Her whole life was devoted to scientific research and spent in the laboratory, as an exile by military
regimes, in isolation: as a Jew, a foreigner and a woman.
We shall describe its main features and its context. In so doing, we shall also refer briefly to its
contacts with other lives, also spent in laboratories and in exile: her cousins, Rita Levi Montalcini and
Hertha Meyers.
After spending a couple of years in Brazil, Eugenia Sacerdote de Lustig worked ad-honorem in the
chair of Histology of the School of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires. Later on she was hired
and received a salary from the surplus of the test-tube budget. In 1945, the government headed by J.
D. Pern fired Dr. Houssay --who would receive the Nobel Prize for Medicine two years later-. This
led the head teacher of Histology and his entire staff to give in their resignation.
At that point, Sacerdote de Lustig was invited to work at ngel Roffo Institute of Oncology and
moved her laboratory of cell culture there. This would be her home for the years to come, almost
until her demise.
In the 50s she was asked to work in the Department of Virology of Malbrn Institute to study viruses
in cell cultures and refine the technique to diagnose viral illnesses in in-vitro living cells. When the
head of the department, Dr Armando Parodi, moved to Uruguay in 1956, she took over the direction.
At that time, there was a polio epidemic and she had to diagnose the cases brought to her. She
received a grant from the PHO (Pan-American Health Organisation) to study the polio virus in the US
and Canada and the results of the newly discovered Salk vaccine on monkeys. Back in Argentina, she
tested the Salk vaccine on humans --probably for the first time. She tried it on herself and her
children and after that on patients in the Roffo Institute. Her work proved crucial to control the
epidemic.
A labour conflict plus the dismissal of the Director and several researchers of Malbrn Institute led
her to tender her resignation, as did Cesar Milstein who was pursuing a very original line of research.
Our researcher returns to her laboratory at Instituto Roffo on a full time basis.
In 1957 her medical degree was certified, after close to 20 years since she lodged the request. Times
had changed. Risieri Frondizi was the new dean of the University of Buenos Aires. His purpose was to
turn the University into a top level institution and he certified Sacerdotes degree after she obtained
a chair as head teacher at the School of Exact and Natural Sciences in the University of Buenos Aires.
She used to teach there and carry out her research at Instituto Roffo, where her university students
carried out their practice. Following the request of Dr. Houssay she joined the recently founded
National Institute of Science and Technology (CONICET).
In 1966, the dictatorship of General Ongana took over the University, fired the whole faculty of the
School of Exact Sciences, beating authorities and professors within the premises. Yet again, Eugenia
Sacerdote de Lustig lost her job and found refuge at Instituto Roffo where she continued with her
research as a member of CONICET, focusing on genetics, experimental oncology and Alzheimers
disease.
She retired in 1986 but kept doing honorary work at Roffo Institute, training local and international
grantees, directing and sharing her knowledge and expertise with doctoral candidates and
technicians.
When she turned 101, the country honoured her with the Bicentenary Prize, awarded to highly
distinguished personalities. She had received over twenty national awards and acknowledgements.
She died a few days later.
Notwithstanding that, she is scarcely known outside the country, where full acknowledgement of her
work came fairly late.
International sources make no mention of her. Her cousin, Rita Levi Montalcini, her colleagues and
friends, Salvador Luria and Renato Dulbecco do not remember her in their autobiographies.
The purpose of this article is to reinstate the memory of her personality and contribution, honouring
a woman fully devoted to research, someone who made a remarkable contribution to the
development of science in Argentina and focused on a line of research tissue cultureinitiated with
her doctoral dissertation in 1936 which proved to be a crucial tool to face the challenges posed by
biological sciences.
207

Global Pressure, Local Opposition. Tendencies toward a Human Academic Environment

Gustaaf Cornelis, Vrije Universiteit, Brussel, Belgium
It is common knowledge: Web of Science dominates the academic world. A comparison with Credit
Rating Agencies like Moodys hold: they seem to forget their arbitrary rankings strongly influence
individual lives. I will show that the pressure to publish in ISI-ranked journals (1) makes the academic
work environment unfriendly, therefore unhealthy and can lead to burnouts, (2) shapes scientific
research methodologically and (3) determines its content. Recent cosmological research offers
relevant case studies to illustrate this. I will focus on the Hubble Space Telescope project and the
Mitra-Hawking controversy regarding black holes.
It all comes to two phenomena: (a) mainstream science and (b) managerism. (a) People want to be
part of the mainstream, because it implies success (more respect, greater income). The Mathew
effect plays a key role here. (b) National governments link research funding to scientific output. The
academic authorities rank their faculties according to the amount of ISI-papers, weighed by the
respective impact factors.
Were all in for the money, the governments hold. On the work floor, people think differently. They
get stressed and their scientific output flattens. It is my belief that universities should promote
humanism, instead of serving pure economic production.
In Flanders (Belgium), following Norway, a local alternative ranking for research output is available
(Flemish Academic Bibliographical File). It lessens the pressure on the humanities. The global ISImonopoly is broken by the acceptance of local publications and a valuation of monographs. Scientific
books are weighed four times more than ISI-papers, given that they hold a GPRC-label (Guaranteed
Peer Reviewed Content). It is a first step to make the academic world more human.

Culturing Expertise: Canadian Medical Laboratory Workers, 1950-1975

Peter L. Twohig, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada
Medical laboratory workers are the third largest health profession in Canada. The vast majority of
them, roughly eighty percent, are women. The social history of their work at the bench provides
fascinating insight into the negotiation of expertise, the social organization of health care work and
the relationships among these workers and clinicians, scientists, and other health care workers.
Medical laboratory workers emerged as a distinctive occupational group in a period of rapid change
in Canadian health care, a period that encompassed shifting scientific knowledge, the introduction of
new technologies, bureaucratic and administrative restructuring, the expansion of hospitals and
public health infrastructure. Medical laboratory workers carefully negotiated their role in the period
after 1950, balancing a portrait of professionalism that was based on education, experience and
expertise. This paper will provide a social history of medical laboratory workers from 1950 to 1975,
the period in which Canadian medicare was formed. The paper draws upon administrative and
clinical records and provides insight into the contested nature of health care work. Such a
perspective reveals how ideas of expertise have been subjected to competing, and sometimes
contradictory, pressures. Finally, paying attention to the daily work of laboratory technologists
reveals the malleable nature of their expertise that was highly dependent upon context long after
the creation of supposedly national, or even international, standards.

208

Teaching Biology by Storytelling

Evangelia Mavrikaki, Nausica Kapsala, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Storytelling has been a powerful way to communicate knowledge throughout time. Long before
writing was invented storytelling was the primary way to pass knowledge from one generation to
another. Today, storytelling remains a compelling teaching practice as stories are part of what we are
as human beings. The use of storytelling in the classroom helps to attract students attention and
implicate even the most indifferent of them to the learning process. Moreover, storytelling proves to
be very useful in the case of ideas that cannot be easily introduced through live experience as it
allows students to experience the context of the story. Stories humanize the teaching topic, bring it
to life, make it approachable to the students and allow them to use besides their logical thinking also
their feelings in order to learn, as stories cultivate the imagination and inspiration of the students.
The stories that can be used in the classroom can be experienced stories, mythical stories, or stories
coming from the history of science. Using the history of science to teach science it serves multi
purposes, as the students learn how knowledge itself has been produced, and take the intellectual
steps that scientists did in order to reach that knowledge. That way, students are engaged in the
process of discovery for themselves. In our research we used the story of how the structure of the
double helix of DNA was discovered by J. Watson and F. Crick in order to teach the structure of DNA.
For our purpose we used the story, worksheets, conversation and the original script (translated into
Greek) of the article that was published by J. Watson and F. Crick and used students texts in order to
evaluate the process.

209

Scientific Session 4
From Medieval Castille to Newtonian England: Theories of Matter and Space
Hernn Javier Matzkevich, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Any cultural production, after being put into the world by its creator, starts a long path which many
times makes it separate from its original purpose and intentions. There are many authors that would
today be surprised of the different interpretations and analyses their oeuvre would suffer.
In this line, this paper will present the theses related to matter and space that were developed by the
Cabbalists in Medieval Castille. It would not be exact to present texts such as Moses ben Shem Tovs
Sefer haZohar as having scientific pretensions, even though its pages contain a series of theories
about matter and space. These texts were not scientific and did not try it at all. Nevertheless, with
the passing of time and the expulsion of the Jews from the kingdoms of Castille and Aragon in 1492,
the Wests scientific and philosophic elite showed a growing fascination with them, which can be
observed in figures of the Renaissance such as Pico della Mirandola and Robert Fludd.
During the 16th century there was a great increase of Orientalism in general and Hebraism in
particular based on the idea that deepening their knowledge of the ancient texts they would be able
to know more about the natural world. This fashion continued through the 17th century with a great
amount of translations from Hebrew into Latin. Among the translated texts were those of the
Medieval Cabbalists from the Iberian Peninsula. These were the first part of a chain of sacred
knowledge capable of unraveling all sciences mistakes. Authors as Henry Mores, Frances Mercury
van Helmont, Christian Knorr von Rosenroth, Anne Conway and Leibniz himself did not read these
texts as a result of archeological interest. On the contrary, these thinkers interpreted the works of
medieval figures such as Moses of Leon and Azriel of Girona or later ones such as Israel Sarug and
Abraham Cohen of Herrera according to the intellectual debates of their time. Ideas which are
important to modern science such as the indefinite infinitude of space o the substantial unity of
bodies were, though not directly taken, defined with arguments taken directly from those medieval
texts.

For the Love of the Land Wildlife Conservation in Reborn Poland

Diana Eurydyka Maciga, Jagiellonian Univerity Intitute of Botany, Krakw, Poland
Divided between three neighbouring European powers, in 1795 Poland disappeared from the map of
Europe. In this exceptionally difficult time the Polish nation discovered a new source of the nation's
identity, as important as history, culture and religion - the native land and its wildlife. Due to the
partitioners' divergent policies and the predominant absence of any conservation strategy, private
initiatives came to the fore. Among them were: protection and inventory of natural monuments,
designating first nature reserves, launching legal protection of certain species for scientific reasons (a
pioneering act on a global scale) and introducing wildlife conservation to university syllabuses.
In spite of the turmoils of the First World War, efforts were commenced to merge the three former
concepts of environment management into one coherent system. Right after Poland regained
independence in 1918, the issues of wildlife conservation started to be included in legal documents
pertaining to all aspects of life. Accepted as a new scientific discipline, wildlife conservation
flourished. The first academic textbook was published, an arduous and difficult international
programme for the European Bison reintroduction was launched and many nature reserves were
designated. The dramatic fight to save the Tatra Mountains from encroaching devastation and
declare it as the Tatra National Park proved to be essential in shaping the circles of Polish
conservationists in the interwar period. Ustawa o Ochronie Przyrody (The Nature Protection Act),
210

introduced in 1934 as one of the most comprehensive and innovative in contemporary Europe, was
the crowning achievement of the unremitting effort of the most eminent scientists and activists, such
as Professor Wadysaw Szafer, Professor Jan Gwalbert Pawlikowski and Professor Stanisaw
Sokoowski.
Unification of the lands that had been separated for more than a century into one political entity was
an overwhelming challenge. The immediate actions taken in the field of wildlife conservation, viewed
as a thing of marginal significance compared to other problems of national importance, clearly
demonstrate the exceptional determination of Polish naturalists, for whom the protection of natural
heritage was synonymous to patriotism understood as the deep love for their native land.

Images of Darwin in Portugal: a Historical-iconographic Study of the 19th and 20th c.

Pedro Ricardo Fonseca, Ana Leonor Pereira, Joo Rui Pita, Universidade de Coimbra, Guarda,
Portugal
The presentation consists of a historical-iconographic study of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) in
Portugal during the 19th and 20th centuries. The reception of darwinism in Portugal began shortly
after the publication of On the origin of species ... (1859). During the second half of the 19th century
and throughout the 20th century, Charles Darwins biological theory would have a profound
influence upon Portuguese Science and Culture. During this period, several Portuguese authors,
related to many different fields of knowledge, published articles on Charles Darwin and his theory.
Indeed, even before his death in 1882, the British naturalist was already praised as one of the most
important scientists in history by a considerable number of Portuguese authors. These texts were
frequently accompanied with images (photographs and portrayals) of Charles Darwin and even of
certain objects (e. g. the H. M. S. Beagle) and themes (e. g. the supposed descent of man from the
monkey) associated with the British naturalist and his biological theory. But images of Charles
Darwin are also to be found in many other types of Portuguese publications of the 19th and 20th
centuries, such as: scientific papers, newspaper articles, cartoons, encyclopaedia entries and school
textbooks. Which types of publication included most images? Who were the authors of the texts?
Which images were reproduced? How did the authors or publishers obtain the images? Were there
any original Portuguese portrayals or drawings? The inventory and analyses of all the images we
were able to locate has provided us with answers to these and many other questions concerning the
iconographical representation of Charles Darwin in Portugal, and, thus, provided us with new
information on the reception and history of darwinism in this country.

Portugal and the 20th c. Darwinian Celebrations

Ana Leonor Pereira, Pedro Ricardo Fonseca, Joo Rui Pita, Universidade de Coimbra, Guarda,
Portugal
The presentation addresses the 20th century darwinian celebrations with respect to Portugal. First,
we explore the events (e. g. scientific meetings, tributes, conferences) that took place in Portugal
during the following years: 1909 (the first centennial of Charles Darwins birth and the 50th
anniversary of the first publication of On the origin of species ...); 1959 (the first centennial of the
first publication of On the origin of species ... and 150th anniversary of Charles Darwins birth); and
1982 (the first centennial of Charles Darwins death). Who organized the events? Who participated in
them? Where did they take place? These are some of the questions that we will seek to answer. In
addition, we also evaluate the significance of the participation (or non-participation) of Portuguese
dignitaries in important events that were held in other countries, with special reference to the
presence of three Portuguese scientists in the celebrations held at Cambridge (England) in 1909. We
then present an overview of the works that were published in the Portuguese press in relation to
each one of the celebrations listed above. Finally, we introduce some concluding remarks on the
211

major trends that accompanied the three 20th century darwinian celebrations in Portugal: the
concern with the anthropological consequences of darwinism and the debate on the true founder of
evolutionary thought (Lamarck or Darwin) in 1909; the apprehension towards social darwinism and
other ideological extrapolations of the theory in 1959; and the discussions, that took place within the
wider context of the sociobiology debate, regarding the validity and evolutionary significance of
some of darwinisms key-features (e. g. natural selection, gradualism, adaptation) in 1982. The
presentation is preceded by brief assessment of the Portuguese scientific communitys reaction to
Charles Darwins death in April 1882.

Romanes: after Darwin, a New Way of Thinking

Peter Zeller, Universit degli Studi di Foggia, Bari, Italy
As known, during his life Darwin passed from an almost literal trust in the Bible to a more and more
marked agnosticism, on which his last considerations on our monkey brain and on its irrational need
to believe let us glimpse a further pessimism. In his student George John Romanes, 39 years younger,
the conflict between science and religion takes very dramatic tones passing from the meditation
not merely of death, but of annihilationliness in A Candid Examination of Theism to the form of
faith appearing in the last part of his life, which remains doubtful and anyway dedicated to an
unknown god. Here, however, we are not interested in deciding about Romanes personal story,
but rather about the making clear in him of the epochal conflict running through the lives of these
Victorian scientists and, above all, the acquisitions of no return before which this new worldview
based on chance and necessity put them. In his last unfinished work, the Thoughts on Religion, a
radical revision of previous ways of thinking is well explained, starting from the fact that the two
areas of interest (metaphysical and scientific) cannot be mixed but doing undue hybridizations.
Paleys ancient argument, with which also Darwin dealt, is thus taken again to make a complete and
rational dismantling of it. Through the image of a bay structure, Romanes demonstrates how any
present apparent finalism can be brought back to simple and mere science notions. Finally,
evolutionism did not only conduct the natural world to a tautology that can be explained by itself but
it also revealed not previously perceived dimensions inside as the endless suffering of animals. We
do not know which was the last thought of Romanes about the unknown god, but certainly, as it
coherently appears during his whole thinking, this last cause (existing or not) cannot in any case be
deduced from a dispassionate analysis of the natural world nor ethically supposed. In the transition
toward the adult thinking of the contemporaneity the abandonment of an anthropological point of
view, the renunciation of the project certainties, the consciousness of the suffering marking life, as it
is made of Tooth and Claves, impose.

The Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra and the Reception of Darwin in Portugal
during the 19th c. and early 20th c.
Joo Rui Pita, Pedro Ricardo Fonseca, Ana Leonor Pereira, Universidade de Coimbra, Guarda,
Portugal
The presentation aims at providing a comprehensive view on the role played by some of the most
influential botanists of the University of Coimbra in the reception of Charles Darwins biological
theory in Portugal during the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century. The
reception of darwinism in Portugal began with Jlio Henriques (1834-1924). The celebrated
Portuguese botanist, who was director of the Botanical Garden for several decades, initiated the
consistent defence of Darwins biological theory in Portugal, in 1865, with his academic thesis As
espcies so mudveis? (Are species modifiable?), presented at the Faculty of Philosophy of the
University of Coimbra. The following year, he presented a dissertation entitled Antiguidade do
Homem (Antiquity of Man), in which he applied the theory of evolution by natural selection to the
human species. Lus Carrisso (1886-1937), a disciple of Jlio Henriques, and his successor as Full
212

Professor of Botany at the University of Coimbra and as director of the Botanical Garden, pursued his
masters pioneering efforts in some of his early writings. For example, his 1910 handwritten degree
thesis on heredity, presented at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Coimbra, albeit
reflecting the period commonly known as the eclipse of Darwinism, presents a lucid understanding
of Charles Darwins biological theory and of the difficulties natural selection was facing at the time,
concluding with a remark on the necessity of an interdisciplinary approach to evolution. It was under
Lus Carrissos directorship of the Botanical Garden that two other Portuguese botanists started to
gain notability: Aurlio Quintanilha (1892-1987) and Ablio Fernandes (1906-1994). Charles Darwins
biological theory had a strong influence upon the original scientific works carried out by the two
botanists. Indeed, thanks to their specialization in genetics and cytology, both Aurlio Quintanilha
and Ablio Fernandes would tackle many issues related to evolution in innovative ways in Portugal.
They would also engage in debates on biological matters with much interest to evolutionism and
darwinism in the course of the 20th century.

The Reception of Th. Dobzhanskys Evolutionary Concept in the USSR

Mikhail Borisovich Konashev, St. Petersburg Branch Institute of the History of Science and
Technology, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Dobzhansky was the founder of original genetic and evolutionary school. Originally this school
consisted of his young colleagues of the department of genetics of the Leningrad state university.
Then in the period of restoration of genetics in the USSR many young biologists there were members
of this school which became correspondence school since the beginning of 1930s.
In December, 1927 as grant-aided student of Rockefeller foundation Dobzhansky has gone to T. H.
Morgan's laboratory in the USA. In 1931 Dobzhansky has refused to get the position in Genetic
laboratory of AS of the USSR offered to him by N. I. Vavilov. This decision has changed cardinally his
fate as he has became so called nevosvrashentsem (non-returnee), and a road to come back to
homeland has been closed for ever.
Nevertheless while it was possible, Dobzhansky supported connections with colleagues on the native
land. The first (1937) and the second (1942) editions Dobzhanskys world famous book Genetics and
the Origins of Species have been ordered and have arrived to the largest Soviet scientific and public
libraries. During the period of T. D. Lysenkos domination in soviet biology Dobzhanskys articles with
critic of Lysenkoism have been placed in spetskhran, but their influence on the soviet biologists only
increased.
Dobzhansky has made much for restoration of genetics in the USSR and the propagation of the
synthetic theory of evolution. In the end of 1960th in the review of a number of books on genetics
published after a long break in the USSR Dobzhansky with great pleasure marked the revival of
genetics.
On the eve of Dobzhanskys 70-anniversary several soviet biologists including B. L. Astaurov, D. K.
Beljaev, J. J. Kerkis and N. P. Dubinin have congratulated him. However no one even brief note
devoted to this event has been published in the Soviet scientific periodical press.
More all Dobzhansky dreamed of the translation of his main monographers into Russian, but during
Soviet times it was simply impossible. His Genetics and the Origin of Species was translated into
Russian and published only in 2010. Earlier, in 2002 his correspondence with Yuri A. Philipchenko,
Nikolai I. Vavilov and Vladimir I. Vernadsky was published. But nevertheless both Dobzhanskys name
and his evolutionary ideas were well-known for scientific youth.
Dobzhanskys name went down for ever in the history of a Russian and world science, and the proof
of this is a lot of articles in Russian devoted to 100-anniversary of his birth. Besides two conferences
devoted Th. Dobzhansky and his scientific evolutionary heritage were held (in 1990 and in 2010).

213

Creative Darwinism as Part of a Totalitarian Ideological Framework, and the Restructuring

of Life Sciences in Czechoslovakia 1948-1959
Tomas Hermann, Institute for Contemporary History of the Academy of Science of Czech Republic,
Prague, Czech Republic
The paper will focus on interpretation of the so-called creative Darwinism, Lysenkoism, and
Michurinian biology, on the example of their reception in Czechoslovakia in the period of 1948
1959. This problem is to be carried out a) on a theoretical level, whereby these theories are viewed
as specific parts of a totalitarian ideological structure of dialectical materialism during the Stalinist
period; b) on a practical level, whereby these theories are seen as instruments of an internal shift
within the power structures in life sciences, i.e. their functions in the major scientific institutions and
main proponents of biology in Czechoslovakia.

Marxist Theory of Evolution in Czechoslovakia as a Case of 'Anti-synthesis'. Vladimr J.A.

Novk and the Principle of Sociogenesis
Petr Hampl, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
The paper deals with the history of czechoslovak post-war biology and its reception of the synthetic
evolutionary theory on the example of czech evolutionary biologist Vladimr J.A. Novk (1919-1997),
considering especially his works and career in the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. It
focuses on the marxist attitude to the synthetic evolutionary theory in eastern Europe
Czechoslovakia between the 60s 80s with Novk as one of the local leading persons in the field of
evolutionary theory. The presentation is divided into three sections where there are presented 1)
Novk's marxist attitudes, 2) his main works regarding evolutionary biology, in particular his own
'synthetic' evolutionary theory called sociogenesis developed in the 60s as an alternative theory to
the prevailing theories of evolution in the western countries. Sociogenesis is shown as considering
the evolutionary process as socialist evolution toward communism with lysenkist and lamarckian
background and forming an explicit opposition to the theory of sociobiology and also works by R.
Dawkins, thus representing an eastern version of synthetic evolutionary theory. 3) Novk
scientificaly active with political support and his own institute within Czechoslovak Academy of
Sciences as organizator of many meetings, workshops and conferences focusing on the question of
the evolutionary theory, its political and ideological consequences. His conferences were visited by
researches from all over the world regardless the country of origin who were at that time opposing
the prevailing western synthetic theory, thus forming a kind of a body of 'anti-synthetic' researchers.

The Case of Botanists in Lithuania during the Lysenkoism Period

Aurika Rickiene, Nature Reserach Centre, Lithuania
In the Soviet Union cosmopolitanism meant a rejection of Soviet values. In biology this
phenomenon reveals itself as lysenkoism the core of which was the pseudo theory of Trofim
Lysenko based on rejection of the concept of genetics. On July 31 August 7, 1948, the authorities of
V. I. Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the Soviet Union announced that lysenkoism would
be used as the only correct theory in the Soviet Union. Criticism of T. Lysenko was denounced as a
support of bourgeois. After World War II (WWII), Lithuania lost its statehood and became one of
the republics of the Soviet Union. All spheres of society changed under the Soviet rule. Following the
directives of the Moscow session, studies and research of biology and botany were placed under the
umbrella of T. Lysenkos requirements in Lithuania. Botany research that was developed before WWII
in Lithuania and that met the requirements of Soviet science strategy was integrated into Soviet
research programs. Special groups of Communist party members were organized at Vilnius
University, higher schools and institutes to supervise that the studies and research correspond the
214

Soviet ideology. During the lysenkoism period five botanists that had matured in Vytautas Magnus
University before WWII Kazys Brundza, Jonas Dagys, Antanas Minkeviius, Marija Natkeviait and
Povilas Snarskis were engaged in botanical research and studies in Vilnius University, Institute of
Biology of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and other schools of education. During the years
19441960 they had experienced Soviet disfavor and different challenges. All of them were criticized
at different meetings and got the warnings. Immediately after the Moscow session in 1948, plant
physiologist J. Dagys was removed from the position of the Head of the Department of Plant
Anatomy and Plant Physiology. Scientific degree obtained in 1942 was not conferred on geneticist M.
Natkeviait by soviet science authorities. P. Snarskis was obliged to establish a special Department
in Vilnius University with the purpose to propagate new theory of T. Lysenko. Although all of them
were under Soviet disgrace, they were the only professional scientists in the field of botany; thus,
they continued working and were research guides to the majority of botanists, and Lysenkos
theoretical concepts have not been widely developed in Lithuania.

Compulsory Isolation of Leprosy in So Paulo: Science, Press and Politics

Guilherme Gorgulho Braz, University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil
In the first decades of the Twentieth Century, the State of So Paulo, Brazil, was the scenery of an
endemic of leprosy which spread with the migration from Europe and other regions of the country,
forcing local government to establish a public health policy. The compulsory confinement in asylums
and colonies of all whom manifested the disease started in 1933 and ended in 1967. The austerity of
So Paulo model of prophylaxis, in the most populous and important State of the country, was a
special case in the history of combating this disease in Brazil. The strategy contributed to the
reinforcement of the medieval stigma of "leprosy" represented in the pages of the newspapers of
So Paulo, reflecting the prevailing view at that time. This research found that the news showed a
positive situation of isolated patients, reporting issues mainly in favor of the state policy, and among
the science community there were few dissenting voices. Both attitudes played an important role in
supporting the health policy. As a result, the isolationist policy persevered for nearly four decades in
the State, even though the compulsory confinement policy had not been recommended in an
international conference in Japan in 1958, and the Brazilian government had decreed its end in 1962.
This study has also included the analysis of the science journal Revista Brasileira de Leprologia and
found a late 1966 manifestation of physicists about the inefficiency of the policy of compulsory
isolation, which stimulated the underreporting of new cases due to fear of deprivation in leper
colonies. This paper addresses this historical approach on the part of the persecution of lepers, who
were deprived of social contact within establishments similar to prisons or concentration camps.
Preliminary conclusion shows that the government of So Paulo could only maintain its compulsory
policy with the fundamental support of the press and the scientists.

Social Representations of Folk Healers in Mass Media: the Case of Father Gymnasius
Rea Kakampoura, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
George Katsadoros, University of the Aegean, Greece
Traditional societies used herbs and empirical healing practices and/or rituals of magical and
religious origin to cope with illness and disease. Folk healers were held in high regard as the only
ones capable of curing bodily and mental ailments, thus maintaining social stability. Nowadays, in the
era of medical science and high specialization, as established in western societies, what do people
think about folk healers and their practices?
In this article we aim to examine social, political and cultural perceptions of folk healers. We will
investigate the case of an illiterate monk, Father Gymnasius, who, at the end of 19th and the
beginning of 20th c., was supposed to cure illness by using herbs. Father Gymnasius gained much
215

fame during the 1930s. His remedies, which today can be found also on the Internet, were published
36 years after his death (Father Gymnasius, 369 Monk Recipes, 1975).
The first part of the paper focuses on the social and political implications of the monks actions, as
represented in newspapers of his time, whereas the second part deals with modern notions of folk
medicine and its practitioners as revealed through the acceptance or rejection of the monks
remedies by current Internet users.

The Goals and Role of the Rockefeller Foundation Public Health Programs in Central and
Eastern Europe between the two World Wars
Sona Strbanova, Michal imnek, Academy of Science of Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
The Rockefeller Foundation (RF) established in 1913 was the first US based philanthropic
organization focusing on funding public health activities not only in the United States, but also
worldwide. Between the two World Wars, one of the priorities for the RF became building State
Institutes of Public Health in Central and Eastern Europe designed to provide public health services
and administration linked up with research and education. The public health projects of the RF in
Europe can be characterized by the following features:
1) The State Institutes of Public Health were planned as part of a general scheme of creating a
standardized global international network of top public health institutions with well trained
personnel guided by the RF and its International Health Board.
2) The public health projects made use of the American experience and were designed with the aid
of American advisors, nevertheless these always worked hand in hand with the local government
agencies and specialists; therefore the crucial component of the project in each country was
advanced training of the local experts.
3) The projects focused on the specific problems, needs and requirements of the individual countries
and respected their degree of the cultural, scientific and social advancement.
4) Public health was understood very broadly in terms of a discipline based preferably on science and
education, therefore the activities of the RF also targeted some special areas of basic biological and
biomedical (e.g. bacteriological, genetic, biochemical) research.
Czechoslovakia was the first Central European country where this model was applied in the years
1920-1939, followed by Poland, Hungary and partially Yugoslavia. In these countries, the RF projects
created conditions for disease prevention and effective fighting epidemics, providing education,
grants and scholarships. They also acted as models of advanced international scholarly cooperation
and practical philanthropy, and vehicle of democratic ideas. From the RF public health projects came
the impetus for establishing the League of Nations Health Organization, forerunner of the WHO.
The paper will focus on the comparative aspects of the RF activities and show some differences in
implementation of the public health projects resulting from the political, social and scientific
unevenness of the individual countries.

The Role of Novosibirsk Scientific Center in the Revival of Genetics in the Soviet Union in
the Thaw years (19571964)
Sergey Viktorovich Shalimov, St. Petersburg Branch of Institute for the History of Science and
Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
The history of genetics in the USSR is important and at the same time it is an insufficiently studied
question. As it is known, in 1948 the science about heredity has been defeated at the notorious
VASKhNIL session and by the beginning of the Khrushchevs Thaw it was still in a difficult position.
In these circumstances, the establishment of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences
(1957) offered a unique opportunity for a revival of the disgraced science within its institutional
framework.
216

The establishment and subsequent development of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics at the
Novosibirsk Scientific Center was of a paramount importance for the advancement of research in
genetics. It was an important precondition for overcoming the Lysenkoism. It provided an
institutional base for the second wave of geneticists, who had been following Vavilov approach.
Among them were Nikolai P. Dubinin, Julius Y. Kerkis, Peter K. Shkvarnikov, Zoe S. Nikoro. A number
of substantial practical results were achieved within these years; they were accepted by the
academic community and were acknowledged by the Soviet government.
The advancement of genetics in the new scientific center was inhibited by a number of factors.
Certainly, political and ideological context played the most negative role. There were also serious
problems with technical equipment and with recruitment of personnel. However, on the whole, the
establishment of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences was an important stimulus for
the revival of genetics in the Soviet Union, and the principled stance taken by the founders of the
Siberian Branch proved to be one of the main factors that ensured its success.
[The research was supported by the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation, the project 12-3301295.]

The Type of Religiosity as a Factor Influencing the Acceptance or Rejection of Scientific

Theories: the Case of Evolution
Kyriacos Athanasiou, Katakos Efstratios, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens,
Greece
Penelope Papadopoulou, University of Western Macedonia, Greece
Jelena Stanissavljevic, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Our present contribution is a resume of a series of our studies by which we make an effort to explore
the factors that are related to the acceptance of evolutionary theory among Greek and other various
countries perspective and active educators using the conceptual ecology for biological evolution as a
theoretical lens. Our central question refers to the role of the type of religiosity of a certain
population in making their willingness for acceptance or rejection of evolution in the school
environment.
The Theory of Evolution (ET) is considered as concept - threshold that needs to be passed before
someone can develop his/her understanding (Kinchin 2010) of a broader perspective of natural
phenomena and of the nature of science. Most educational research has shown that the result of the
teaching of ET is not positive in different parts of the world. Moreover research shows that the
acceptance of the ET is restricted and the knowledge is limited and controversial among school
science students and teachers. Large percentages of science teachersclose to a majority in many
samplesreject ET and support the teaching of antievolutionary ideas in schools (Nehm & Schonfeld,
2007). Thus evolution remains a problematic subject for many science teachers.
We make the hypothesis that the type of qualitative characteristics of the religion a nation or
population group holds, is an essential factor in determining the level of acceptance of evolution, and
their readiness to make changes in their believes, as well.
More specifically, we advocate that the student and teacher populations that come from countries
with a Greek-Orthodox background are more ready to find ways on how to reconcile their religious
believes with the acceptance of evolution. In that matter, they remind the very one Theodosius
Dobzhansky, the father of Neo-Darwinism, who according to his students Ayala and Krimpas, was a
Christian Greek-Orthodox but at the same time put the foundations of Neo-Darwinism. Dobzhansky
described his religious beliefs: "It is wrong to hold creation and evolution as mutually exclusive
alternatives. I am a creationist and an evolutionist. Evolution is God's, or Nature's, method of
Creation". We suggest a further discussion within the presentation on his Russian origin and some of
the characters of the Eastern-Orthodox theology.

217

Wounds Treatment ... Between the Cosmopolitan Need and the Cultural Influence
Tarek Adnan Ahmad, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt
Wounds were always an every day and every where suffer for all living creatures along the history.
Their treatment differed among types. Although, small work-daily scratches never attracted the
attention, more serious bleeding wounds required the care of trained candidates. Their universal aim
was to clean those wounds, gather their borders, and cover them from further contaminants.
However, sometimes those wounds were infected and developed into chronic ulcers, that
complicated the treatment to an extent. Those patients usually required more precise care from
professional physicians. It is well known that the treatment of infection mainly requires the reduction
of the microbial burden at the site of infection, and enhancing the patients immune state. Although
those needs were universal among all worlds nations, their practice remarkably differed.
Many medicinal preparations were used to cure wounds. Obviously the most primitive cultures,
imitated the animals behavior to treat their wounds and this practice continued in isolated societies.
The philosophy of selecting those preparations developed with nations, to be influenced on one hand
by the religious orientation of the Old Testament that introduced the philosophy of similarity.
Therefore, implementing the use of natural products that treats the plants wounds like myrrh and
frankincense in the treatment of the human wounds. On the other hand in Greece, the philosophy of
contrast emerged and subsequently introduced the use of heavy metals poisons to treat wounds
infections, that were considered to be poisons. This philosophy propagated later on to China and
Egypt. The care of the host resistance as well was an issue of concern along the history, but the
practice was usually influenced by the religious and social back-ground of the culture. The physician
cared to boost the host immune system on the basis of patients health care, nutrition, stresstherapy, rejoicing the patients, spiritual therapy, psycho-therapy, and social relieve.

218

Scientific Session 5
Lewis Wolpert: The Unnatural Nature of Science Book Review
Constantina Stefanidou, Constantine Scordoulis, National and Kapodistrian University of
Athens, Athens, Greece
The central topic in Lewis Wolpert Book The Unnatural Nature of Science is to reveal how
unnatural science is, giving high evidence about the factors that make scientific mode of thought
so special and usually so counter-intuitive. According to Wolpert, this is the key concept in order that
lay people and scientists surpass a bunch of misunderstandings related to science. To establish the so
called unnaturalness of the nature of science Wolpert gives great emphasis to the distinction
between science and technology. For technology is much older than science and it originates from a
very different mode of thought than science. The above mentioned distinction is crucial in order to
trace the origins of science.
In the present paper we aim at shedding light to the specific chapter of Wolperts Book Thaless Leap:
West and East, in which Wolpert argues that science, contrary to technology or religion, originated
only once in history, in ancient Greece. He maintains that this is due to the peculiarity of its nature.
As Wolpert argues, never before had ideas about the nature of the world been independent from
mankind. It was with the ancient Greeks that man and nature are for the first time not perceived
inextricably linked and mere curiosity, free from serious religious constrains, about the world arises.
Thales of Miletos was the first to establish mathematics as science, putting forward a number of
basic propositions. Of course Babylonians and Egyptians made use of arithmetic procedures for their
practical needs, but it was their neighbors, Greeks, that transformed the empirical knowledge into an
ordered abstract system. For, although Aristotles science was wrong, it was in the specific place and
time that the basis of a system for explaining the world based on postulates and logical deduction
was established. In this sense, ancient Greece has been the right place both for the mental leap,
from practical knowledge to science, and for the geographical leap, from East to West as well.

History of Fuzzy Modeling

Angel Garrido, Piedad Yuste, UNED, Alcorcon, Madrid, Spain
Fuzzy Modeling is many times used to transform the knowledge of an expert into a mathematical
model. The emphasis is on constructing a fuzzy expert system that replaces the human expert. Also
as a tool that can assist human observers in the difficult task of transforming their observations into a
mathematical model. In many fields of science, human observers have provided linguistic
descriptions and explanations of various systems. However, to study these phenomena, there is a
need to construct a suitable mathematical model, a process that usually requires a very subtle
mathematical understanding. Fuzzy modeling is a many more direct and natural approach for
transforming the linguistic description into such model.
A fuzzy model represents the real system in a form that corresponds closely to the way humans
perceive it. Thus, the model is easily understandable, and each parameter has a readily perceivable
meaning. The model can be easily altered to incorporate new phenomena, and if its behavior is
different than expected.

219

Formation of Space-based Remote Sensing: the Political and Military Motives

Vasily Mikhailovich Chesnov, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
Remote sensing from space is to explore surfaces and atmospheres of the planets by space vehicles,
in different frequency bands of electromagnetic radiation. In particular, the results of Earth
observation are used to study the natural resources, weather problems and for other purposes. By
"other purposes" usually refers to various aspects of military applications. This is the area of
application of Earth observation space systems played a crucial role in the development of space
remote sensing as an independent scientific and technical branches of knowledge.
By the mid-50s of the 20th century it became obvious that it is possible to create an artificial earth
satellite to photograph the surface of the purpose of exploring and return the exposed film. In
February 1958 the U.S. adopted a program Corona. In August 1960, was delivered to Earth the first
film. As a result, hundreds of thousands of images were received. The true purpose of the program
were not announced. The first Soviet remote sensing spacecraft was also equipped with
photographic equipment. The materials were delivered to Earth in the descent capsule. In the Soviet
Union and in the United States military authorities have initiated a first space remote sensing of the
Earth.
4th October 1957 launched in the Soviet Union Sputnik inaugurated the era of the study of the solar
system planets and, in particular, of the Earth by space remote sensing methods. Despite the
absence of special scientific instruments, spacecraft transmitter demonstrated the possibility of radio
sounding of the atmosphere and ionosphere of the Earth. The political motives of the space race
between the USSR and the USA contributed to the intensive development of remote sensing studies:
it was necessary to obtain first images of the dark side of the Moon, of Venus' surface, detailed
images of the Martian "canals". Each of these achievements have helped to strengthen the political
profile of the system.

Four Biographies in the History of Industrial Solar Desalination. A Century of Pioneers (XIXXX)
Nelson Escudero Arellano, Centro de Investigacin para la Historia de la Tcnica "Francesc Santpon i
Roca", Barcelona, Spain
A consideration of industrial technology and culture provides a valuable approach to Charles Wilson,
the inventor of the plant at Las Salinas (Chile), constructed in 1872, a man who left few traces of his
work. We have some knowledge of this engineer, who was a pioneer in sustainability technology,
thanks to the interest of Josiah Harding (1846 - 1919), Maria Telkes (1900 - 1991), and Julio
Hirschmann (dates unknown, XX c.).
Charles Wilson seems to have been born in Stockholm, Sweden. He lived in Brooklyn and pursued his
professional career working in Chile and Peru, where he eventually died. Josiah Harding was born in
New Zealand and studied at Crewe, England, from where he moved to the Atacama desert, living and
working in Chile and dying in Cochabamba, Bolivia. While the lives of these engineers marked the
beginning of the accelerated process of globalization of the world economy, those who later
recognized their work also formed part of broader movements: Maria Telkes, who was born and died
in Budapest, Hungary, but spent her entire career in the United States at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) as well as at several universities and private companies; and Julio Hirschmann,
the only person who circulated information about the plant to enjoy a stable situation, who lived,
worked and died in Chile, but who nevertheless should be considered for his ability to mobilize and
integrate his research into international networks.
The biographies of these four researchers are necessary in order to understand the process of
construction, operation and closure of the plant at Las Salinas in the Atacama desert, about which

220

little background is known. Taken together, all this information is likely to provide a living example of
the industrial culture and the use of solar energy at that time, from a trans-generational perspective.
This information has been mainly obtained from an intensive analysis of archives using electronic
resources. In the case of the engineers Julio Hirschmann and Josiah Harding, we have been able to
use primary sources, incorporating information from their descendants or former collaborators and
conducting informal interviews.
The technological choices in the process of technological evolution discussed by George Basalla
indicate that, among other factors, cultural influences constitute a vital element for understanding
the intermittent duration of object). Basalla issued an invitation to explore the technological
developments by observing the process of disposal of artefacts, a phenomenon that cannot be
separated from the action of techno-institutional complexes described by Hughes and Unruh.
This study provides information about the field of energy and addresses what has hitherto been an
area of little interest to the history of the technology, in which the uses of solar energy technology
have rarely been described or analyzed.

Radium Economies in early Twentieth Century U.S.

Maria Rentetzi, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
This paper takes us to the first half of the twentieth century and traces the failure of the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration to protect society from radium-based products and control the medical
marketplace. Since the beginning of the century powerful industries had saturated foods, bodies, and
ecosystems with radium with little regulation. Although both the federal government and the
industry knew from early on that radium disrupted human tissues and could have fatal effects on
human health, radium-based products continued to be produced and widely marketed to consumers.
In this paper I explore how corporate structures dominated the medical and non medical
marketplaces and eliminated the control of academic scientists. I show how scientific findings were
manipulated to delay regulation and how technology and the production of radioactive artifacts
fooled consumers.

Confronting the Unexpected: The Treatment of Anomalous Phenomena in Scientific

Research
Martin Vondrek, Libor Benda, Marek Havlk, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Roztoky u Prahy,
Czech Republic
The paper aims to show how the scientific community reacts to an unexpected or anomalous event.
For this purpose three events that occurred in science during the last fifty years will be considered.
Marcus Raichle in 2001 presented his concept of the Default Mode Network, claiming that the brain
has a default function, which is mainly present through specific activations of certain brain regions.
At the time of its introduction, this concept was seen as very controversial and was initially rejected.
At present, the Default Mode Network is considered by many thinkers as a new paradigm in the field
of neuroscience.
Joseph Weber was the first researcher seriously attempting to detect gravitational waves, a
phenomenon predicted by the general theory of relativity. Drawing on the results of his
measurements, he claimed in 1969 to have detected high fluxes of gravitational waves that greatly
exceeded the values predicted by the theory. His claims led to a several-year controversy, which
exposed some crucial issues of the methodology of scientific research.
Recent high energy physics experiment OPERA showed anomalous results when a beam of neutrinos
seemed to move at speed greater than the speed of light. Currently, an extensive discussion is going
on about the nature of the measurement itself and the validity of its results. Focusing on these
examples, the paper analyzes the behavior of the scientific community in a situation where the
221

scientists encounter anomalous phenomenon. The features described in the paper include the
scientific communitys attitude towards the issues concerning the validity of observation and
measurement, the accuracy of theoretical assumptions, and generally, unpredicted developments in
scientific research. Provided analysis illuminates the nature of scientists coping with anomalous
phenomena and clarifies the very nature of a discovery in science, namely in physics and
neuroscience.

Mathematical Models between Art and Reality

Nicla Palladino, Frattamaggiore (NA), Italy
Historical research on approaches to the teaching of Geometry is an activity full of curious paradoxes
and startling evidence, that run through a process of transformation from the works in which the
Descriptive geometry was coded- Gaspard Monge, Geometrie Descriptive, 1794 to the affirmation
of the analytical methods - Gaston Darboux, Geomtrie Analytique, 1917. In the second half of the
nineteenth century, mathematicians usually used mathematical models of surfaces, initially
produced by artisans and then by methods for mass production. The models were made in different
materials: brass, plaster, cardboard, wire or natural fiber, wood and strips of wood, celluloid, metal
foils; they were used in a lot of fields of mathematics: descriptive and analytic geometry, topology,
optical geometry, theory of functions, ... Using the plastic models was useful for enhancing
intuitive aspects of Mathematics and Geometry, as is well described in the book Anschauliche
Geometrie by D. Hilbert and S. Cohn-Vossen. In this paper, I want to document the history of the
mathematical models of surfaces used for didactics of pure and applied High Mathematics and as
art pieces. I want here also to underline several important links that put in correspondence
conception and construction of models with scholars, cultural institutes, specific views of research
and didactical studies in mathematical sciences and with the world of the figurative arts furthermore.
At the same time the singular beauty of form and colour which the models possessed, aroused
admiration and attraction.

Anomalies and the Crisis of the Bohr-Sommerfeld Atomic Theory

Helge Kragh, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
The crisis in the old quantum theory that in the summer of 1925 led to the new Gttingen quantum
mechanics is a classical case in both history and philosophy of science. Why did physicists believe
that the existing quantum theory of the atom had come to a dead end and that further progress
within the framework of the Bohr-Sommerfeld theory was futile? In this paper I reconsider the
problem from the perspective of the empirical as well as conceptual problems that the theory faced.
To appreciate the status of the theory in the spring of 1925 one has to take into consideration not
only its difficulties but also its successes. Moreover, one has to extend and differentiate the list of
anomalies beyond the classical ones, in particular the helium problem and the anomalous Zeeman
effect. An anomaly is not just an anomaly. Nor is a confirmation just a confirmation, witness that
some of the successes of the old quantum theory (such as the fine structure of the hydrogen
spectrum) turned out to be spurious. I shall base my discussion on a longer list which shows that
while some anomalies were taken very seriously, others were practically ignored, and others again
were only recognized as anomalies post facto. Why? I also intend to relate my account to some
philosophical views of theory change, including Kuhns and Lakatos, and try to evaluate the
importance of more conceptual objections against mechanical models of the atom. Finally, I shall
address the question of how widespread the feeling of crisis was in the physics community (for
example, it is doubtful if Bohr perceived the situation as a real crisis, or the change to quantum
mechanics as a radical break). The talk will in part be based on a new book of mine, Niels Bohr and

222

the Quantum Atom (Oxford University Press, 2012), which covers the development of Bohrs atomic
model from 1912 to 1925.

New Phase in History of the Weber - Fechner Law

Yulia Petrovna Chukova, Krasnopresnenskiy Ecological Fund, Moscow, Russian Federation
The German physiologist E.G. Weber studied a differential threshold of sensation by human sense
organs (vision, audition, touch) and has formulated the rule of Weber (1834). Physicist G.T.Fechner
has integrated the ration obtained by Weber and has deduced the logarithmic dependence of
sensation on stimulus. It was published in book Elemente der Psychophysics (1860). Church and
some scientists were against. The debate in the 19th century was finished by Fechners victory, and
the Weber-Fechner law becomes the basic law for 5 sense organs. Centenary of Fechners book was
celebrated in Chicago (USA) in Sept. 1960. The main lecturer was S.S. Stevens, director of
Psychological Lab of Harvard University. His report in adapted form was published in the journal
Science (1961) with title To honor Fechner and repeal his law with the subheading A power
function, not a log function, describes the operating characteristics of a sensory system.
However it was not possible to cancel the logarithmic law. What was possible? Fechner has been
separate from Weber. So the separate Fechner law has appeared, which one was called in the
publications a dubious, shady, notorious and so-called law. A word law was taken in an inverted
commas. It was possible to put at the same level the Weber-Fechner law, power function of Stevens
and linear dependence. Thus this branch of science has appeared a field for voluntarism: each
experimenter approximated his outcomes by any function.
Now the end to this voluntarism comes due to successes of thermodynamics of irreversible
processes in systems under electromagnetic radiation. W. Wien, lord Rayleigh, Max Planck, A.
Einstein, S. Bose were the forerunners of this theory. The Nobel prize winner, Russian theoretical
physicist L. Landau was initiator (founder) of new branch (thermodynamics of non-equilibrium
radiation). Subsequent development of this branch of science has received in activities of M.A.
Weinstein, P.T. Landsberg and Yu.P. Chukova. They have shown, that efficiency of conversion of
electromagnetic radiation energy in the Wien region is logarithmic dependence on absorbed energy.
It means that the Weber-Fechner law is experimental conformation of fundamental law of
thermodynamics. The Weber-Fechner law can not be repealed, as the energy conservation law can
not be repealed.

The Past and the Future of Psychology: Students' Conceptions

Shulamith Kreitler, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
The objective was to examine whether the views of psychology students about the history of
psychology are related to their conceptions about the goals of psychology at present. The issue is of
importance for the shaping of the curriculm about the history of psychology. The participants were
160 psychology students in two academic institutions, in the 3rd to 7th years of study. A
questionnaire administered anonimously was used for examining the views about the past of
psychology and its goals at present. Views about the past focused on two issues: the decline of
behaviorism and the rise of cognitive psychology; the decline of psychoanalysis and the rise of clinical
and medical psychology. The views about the present focused on the following issues: should
psychology as a science apply exclusively empirical methodology or should it allow also other "softer"
methods; should psychology focus on describing the facts or try also to contribute to the welfare of
humanity. The results showed correlations between the views of the past and the goals for the
present. Major findings were that views of the past as involving aggressive combats between the
contrasting disciplines were related to extremist attitudes about the goals of psychology, viz. purely

223

empirical and exclusively factual. The findings indicate that the models used in constructing and
teaching the history of a science have implications in regard to the present and future of the science.

Did Ideological, Religious and Nationalistic Factors Contribute to Make postwar France a
Rough Place for Cybernetic Modelling?
Ronan Le Roux, Universit Paris 1 Panthon-Sorbonne, Paris, France
As research on the circulation of knowledge and concepts has become a leading topic, the historian
of science is confronted with the task of identifying the conditions that improve or worsen the
transfer of ideas from one context to another.
Growing studies in the history of Cybernetics have documented detailed occurrences of
interdisciplinary exchange between technological, mathematical, biological and social and human
sciences fields.
But since they have focused mainly on the fruitful context of the anglo-saxon WWII effort, it remains
to understand what exactly happens in less favorable circumstances. Thus, France after the
"Libration" turned out to be a kind of "no man's land" for cybernetic modelling, at least in practice
whatever the representation shared by the general public.
It has been noticed that the French Communist Party took public position, following more or less the
official advice of Moscow and dealing with the Soviet doctrinal shifts.
But, while the ideological factor is not the sole factor of reception, it is also hard to assess how
effective it can weight on the concrete process of circulation.
I enlarge the question to religious and nationalistic factors pertaining to, respectively, internal
attempts to reform the attitude of the Vatican towards Science, and the painful patriotism of the
French after the Occupation.
I argue that neither ideological, religious or nationalistic factors have been univocal operators in the
general process. On the contrary, as a hard-to-define object, Cybernetics has splitted opinions in the
corresponding networks.

224

Scientific Session 6
The History of Ideas "the optical disc as a "unique" carrier of information in the systems
management"
Elena Yu. Koltachykhina, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
In 1977 on the World Electrotechnical Congress in Moscow Ukrainian researcher M.V. Gorshkov and
V.V. Petrov in the report "The optical disc as a "unique" carrier of information in the systems
management" discussed the basic requirements to "unique" carrier of information for its use in the
foreign storage devices of large control systems, computer complexes, systems of collection and
processing of information in the presence of large flows of information, computer middle and small
productivity, systems of data preparation and for exchange of data between computers with equal
and different performance.
So, in the report was considered the cost of storing information, capacity, access time, density
recording of information, speed data, overwriting the information and the possibility of using
"unique" carrier of information in simple and complex devices, the possibility of replication. They
have determined that the cost of storing information on the "unique" carrier of information should
be less than the cost of storing information on paper, capacity not less than capacity of modern
carrier of information, access time to the information not less than 0,1 sec, the average density
recording of information should be 26*100000 bit/mm2. M.V. Gorshkov and V.V. Petrov
emphasized that "unique" carrier of information must take the form of a disk with a diameter of not
more than 200 ... 400 mm to ensure minimum access time.
In the report also was defined the value of using "unique" carrier of information in external devices:
this will sharply increase the volume of stored data, coordinate and essentially raise the reliability of
accepting and transferring data, simplify the structure of control system.

The Movement of Hunan Students Studying Abroad in Japan and the Progress of Chinese
Ordnance Technology in the early 20th c.
Hui Yang Zhao, Wang Shu, Liu Yan, National University of Defence Technology, Changsha (Hu Nan
province), China
The background of Studying-abroad movement in Japan: In the 17th-19th century, the Japanese
shoguns and Chinese Qing government coincided with the implementation of a "closed door" policy,
resulting in the two countries move towards a recession. After the 19th century, with the Spread of
Western forces, the gunboats of Western powers forced the two countries to make a historical
choice. In 1840, the gunfire of the Opium War blew open Chinese door, and representatives of the
Qing Dynasty officials, such as Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan, proposed a Learning Merits from the Foreign
to Conquer the Foreign" policy and adopted the Westernization New Deal that aimed to advocate
learning the advanced Western military technology so as to resist foreign aggression. In 1868, Japan's
Meiji Restoration occurred. The Japan's shoguns put forward a slogan " follow the example of
European and American current system, and begun to step onto the world stage by sparing no
efforts to learn from the modern Western civilization. Chinese people have always been looking
down upon Japan ; however, in 1894, China was defeated by Japan in the Jiawu Naval Battle, which
made the Chinese ruling and opposition parties had a strong reflection that the best way to survive
and strengthen itself is to indirectly intake modern Western civilization from Japan.
The history of Japanese studying abroad in China started in the 7th century AD. For the first time,
China sent 13 students to Japan in 1896 (Guangxu 11, Meiji 29). Since then, the Qing government
sent a lot more students to Japan to study engineering every year. The Qing government hoped that
the Chinese students can indirectly bring the advanced Western science and technology back to
225

China, so as to strengthen national powers as soon as possible. When studying in Japan, the Chinese
students were anxious to accept new ideas and new knowledge. After returning they actively
participated in the field of politics, economics, and , defense industry, as well as cultural education
and other various social activities. They made an important contribution to the social changes, and
the progress of economic, scientific and technological developments in China.
The Profiles and features of Hunans studying-abroad movement to Japan: The development of the
late Qing Dynastys studying-abroad movement to Japan is extremely uneven among Chinas
provinces. Most of the students came from the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei,
Guangdong, Chili , etc. This is due to not only the unbalanced development of the provinces in
politics, economy and culture, but also the geographical and anthropogenic factors.
Hunan began to send students to studying abroad in Japan with official fees in the late Qing dynasty
Guangxu XinChou (1901). Those students were the best from each College, township, and country of
China. The students were divided into three types: the official charges students, state-funded
students, and self-financed students. According to what they studied in Japan, they belong to one of
the following categories: accelerated pedagogical classes, accelerated police classes, quick Hosei
classes and regular classes.
Based on the record of the member of Hunan students studying abroad in Japan, this paper will
study statistically about the basic situation of Human students studying in Japan, Hunans policy of
dispatching students to Japan, funding programs and students learning situation in Japan, and clarify
the basic characteristics of Chinese students studying abroad movement.
The contribution and significance of Hunan students studying in Japan for the development of
Chinas weapons technology: After returning to China, the representatives of Hunan Province
students studying abroad in Japan, such as Lee Chenggan (1888-1959), Li Daichen (1891 -1959),
devoted themselves to the Chinese Ordnance industry. They took great efforts to overcome many
difficulties, such as the military environmental threats, financial trouble, Ordnance Technology
backwardness, and the shortage of talents. In addition, they made scientific planning for the
development of ordnance industry through the establishment of National Defense Design
Committee, and managed the comprehensive construction of ordnance industry by installing the
Department of War Industries. Their efforts resulted in the rapid development of Chinese ordnance
industry in a short period of time.
Conclusions: In the early 20th century, Chinese young students studying in Japan accepted western
science and technology education. In the period of studing in Japan, they disseminated western
science and technology and made it popular. Japan became the intermediary and bridge connecting
Eastern and western science and culture. When Human students studying in Japan returned to china,
they not only made a significant contribution to the construction and development of the national
defense enterprises, the development of ordnance technology and the military-technical education,
but also accelerated the historical process of China's military modernization.

Computing Machines in Greece, 1920-1980

Alexandra Lekka, Constantine Skordoulis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens,
Greece
This paper presents aspects on the history of computing machines in Greece as a result of a study
initiated in the frame of the European project Hephaestus, a joint venture by the University of
Athens and the Hellenic Research Foundation.
Linked with the literature on early European computing history, the paper attempts a contextual
focus on the Hellenic case as a paradigm of a national project in a country of the so-called periphery,
raising issues on European computing machines history, on europeaness itself and on relations with
the United States before and after the second world war.
The study stands as a lens on how the implication of computing machines influenced, shaped or
modified national strategies and infrastructure concerning the organization of labour and the politics
226

of state towards public service, banking, insurance, industrial development and education, through,
at first, artifact appropriation, and, secondly, through the perceptions and shared ideas
accompanying the adoption of technology.

History of Russian Computer Science

Yakov Fet, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
Unfortunately, the history of Computer Science in Russia (USSR), due to some specific reasons, was
almost unknown in the West till the recent time. During several past years, the author of this report
has designed, edited, and published a series of books on the Russian history:
1. Essays on the History of Computer Science in Russia / Novosibirsk, 1998. 664 pp.
2. Kolmogorov and Cybernetics / Novosibirsk, 2001. 159 pp.
3. Aleksey Andreevich Lyapunov / Novosibirsk, 2001. 524 pp.
4. Leonid Vitalevich Kantorovich: a Man and a Scientist. Vol. 1 / Novosibirsk, 2002. 544 pp.
5. History of Computer Science in Russia: the Scientists and Their Schools / Moscow, 2003. 488
pp.
6. Leonid Vitalevich Kantorovich: A Man and a Scientist. Vol. 2 / Novosibirsk, 2004. 614 pp.
7. From the History of Cybernetics / Novosibirsk, 2006. 301 pp.
8. Aksel Ivanovich Berg / Moscow, 2007. 518 pp.
9. Ya.I. Fet. Novels on Cybernetics / Novosibirsk, 2007. 178 pp.
10. Aleksey Andreevich Lyapunov. 100th Anniversary of the Birth / Novosibirsk, 2011. 587 pp.
Our books contain a collection of authentic essays, reminiscences, interviews and other historical
documents amassed by the author. We will narrate here different events, as well as biographical
sketches of famous Russian scientists from the early times of the history of Russian (Soviet)
Computer Science.
Naturally, our books are printed in Russian. However, the author has published a booklet containing
brief descriptions of all mentioned books. In this booklet, each description presents (in English) the
Summary, the Foreword, and the Contents of corresponding book. During our Session, these
booklets will be given handout to the interested participants.

Ontologies and Semantic Web: New Topics of Research for Historians of Science and
Technology
Olivier Bruneau, University of Lorraine, Nancy, France
S. Laub, G. Chambon, J.M. Kowalski, Cline Brie, University of Brest, France
M. Guedj, Manuel Bchthold, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
F. Laroche, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, Nantes, France
J.L. Kerouanton, S. Tirard, University of Nantes, Nantes, France
S. Walter, P. Couchet, University of Lorraine, Lorraine, France
S. Garlatti, I. Kanellos, Jean-Marie Gilliot, Issam Reba, Telecom-Bretagne, France
"The main purpose of the Semantic Web is driving the evolution of the current Web by enabling
users to find, share, combine information more easily."
Related to a FP7 European research work (2008-2010), French historians of science and technology
shown the interest to publish HST resources on-line to develop pedagogical tools concerning Inquiry
Based Science Teaching (IBST). Furthermore, several French labs in HST and in computer science
(named SemanticHST group) decided to work together about knowledge models/ontologies and
emerging methods based on digital humanities.
From examples in energy history, Poincar's correspondence and archives and shipbuilding history,
our communication will examine the interest to develop:

227

- research into Semantic Web technologies to increase access to knowledge in history of science and
technology based on digital libraries
- ontology based methods in order to extract new knowledge for comparative history
- crowdsourcing that allows to create new relationship with primary sources and to change the way
to work with them.
In conclusion, we will show that ontologies for HST results in epistemological questions to be taken
into account in order to discuss what are the limits of these ICT based methods.

Two German Philosophers of Mathematics, two Epistemological Traditions: Frege and

Weyl on the Method of Abstraction
Demetra Christopoulou, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
This paper aims to contrast two aspects of the issue of abstraction principles according to the
accounts offered by the German philosophers Gottlob Frege and Hermann Weyl respectively.
German epistemology of mathematics appears to have developed with relation to two distinct
philosophical traditions. On the one hand, Frege is the leader of the analytic tradition in philosophy
and epistemology of mathematics particularly. He defended the view that arithmetic is reduced to
logic (Logicism) so he insisted on the analytic status of arithmetical truths, although he retained
Kants account of geometrical truths as synthetic a priori. Besides, Logical positivism endorsed basic
claims of Fregean Logicism as well as philosophy of language and brought it under its own philosophy
of sciences. On the other hand, Weyl follows a different tradition in what concerns mathematical
knowledge. He has strong commitments to transcendental idealism and Husserls approach to
mathematics. The paper focuses its attention on the procedure of abstraction and attempts to detect
the main differences between Frege and Weyls accounts that indicate the relative characteristics of
two different philosophical traditions in epistemology.

D. Pikionis and A. Konstandinidis: the Introduction of Modern Architecture and Modern

Building Technology in Greece and the Criterion of "Greekness"
Emmanouil Stylianos Skoufoglou, National Technical University of Athens
Architectural modernism has had a considerable influence in Greece since the 20's. During the
interwar period several vanguard architects were attracted by contemporary architectural trends,
mainly by Bauhaus and Le Corbusier, and have applied modern principles in their work, which has
sometimes been remarkable. The most important nodes of this process have been the program of
new school buildings launched by Venizelos' liberal government in 1929 and the 4th International
Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM) held partly in Athens in 1933, in which Le Corbusier himself
took actively place. However, the modernist theoretical framework, originally fundamentally
internationalist, has undergone a mutation while imported in Greece. The dominant version of Greek
modernism has been of nationalist and localist nature, having posed greekness as its ultimate
criterion of validity. Greek vanguard architects have striven to found their work on the popular
architecture, the cultural traditions or/and the special features of the Greek landscape. This is
obvious in the writings of the most prominent architect theorists: Dimitris Pikionis before the Second
World War, and Aris Konstantinidis after it.
The demand of greekness has been common not only among architects, but also and probably
mainly among artists and poets of the so-called 30's generation. On the other hand, the modern
architectural idiom has been the third consecutive one to be grounded on a supposed Greek cultural
superiority. In the past this had also been the argument for introducing neoclassicism and later the
Byzantium centric eclecticism of Aristoteles Zahos. This ideological environment, closely connected
to the struggle of the Greek state to consolidate a national identity, has deprived the Greek version

228

of modernism of the daring utopianism that it has had in Europe. Despite some exceptions, the
mainstream of Greek modern architectural theory has been basically conservative.

To Bridge the Gap between the Two Cultures: a Social Pre-History of the Strong Program in
the Sociology of Knowledge
Libor Benda, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Pilsen, Czech Republic
The aim of the paper is to explore the social, cultural and political conditions that contributed to the
development of the strong program in the sociology of knowledge, the first research program in the
tradition of the sociology of scientific knowledge. While the emergence of the strong program in the
1970s is commonly interpreted only internally as the result of a certain synthesis of philosophical and
sociological studies of science, influenced especially by T. S. Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions, extra-theoretical factors that played a role in the formation of this approach are largely
ignored and excluded from the overall picture.
In the paper I want to focus my attention on these external causes of the development of the strong
program, and mainly on the role of the group of the British scientists, who in the late 1930s began to
point out the need to bridge the gap between what C. P. Snow later defined in his famous 1959 Rede
lecture as the two cultures. Special attention in this regard will be paid to the biologist C. H.
Waddington, who in 1966 founded the Science Studies Unit at the University of Edinburgh, where the
strong program has been subsequently developed by scientifically trained D. Bloor and B. Barnes,
and to the radio astronomer D. O. Edge, the first director of the Unit. On the basis of the provided
analysis, I want to argue for the claim that to fully understand the strong program, it is necessary to
view it not just as an independent research program, but as a result of a broader scientific endeavor
to resolve the two cultures problem.
Since the strong program is still often condemned as a postmodern attack on the authority of
science, I also want to draw attention to its scientific roots to argue that, far from being an attack
against science, it represents a most ambitious attempt of scientists themselves to scientifically
analyze the relationship between scientific and other forms of knowledge, and between science and
society.

Museums for the History of Science and Technology of the USSR on the Background of
European Museology
Marina Shleeva, Institute for the History of Science and Technology RAN, Moscow, Russian
Federation
The idea of creating a museum of science and technology history was widely spread among the
scientific and museum elite in the Soviet Union during the second half of the nineteen twentieths
and the first half of nineteen thirtieths. At least a dozen of proposals on this subject is known. These
proposals were offered by the non-governmental organizations and government agencies such as the
Committee for the Knowledge History of the Academy of Sciences and the Association of Engineers
of the USSR. Cities across the country including Kharkov, Sverdlovsk, Moscow and Leningrad
attempted to create such museums. Preparatory work included familiarization with the museum
creation experience in Western Europe. In 1920-1930 famous physicist A. F. Ioffe was negotiating
with Oscar von Miller his involvement in the creation in the Soviet Union of the museum similar to
the German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology. For various reasons, including
economical and political motives, neither of these projects was completed.

229

Relativit, determinatio et parallaxe, sur le traitement cartsien de trois controverses

scientifiques
Vincent Jullien, Universit de Nantes, Nantes, France
Trois sujets de philosophie naturelle, fort controverss lpoque o Descartes labore sa physique
(incluant son systme du Monde) sont particulirement prsents dans les Principes de la Philosophie
de Descartes, le principe de relativit des mouvements des corps matriels, la nature que lon
nommera plus tard vectorielle de la grandeur qui caractrise ltat de mouvement dun corps et que
Descartes contribue constituer par la notion de determinatio et lobjection parallactique contre
lhliocentrisme. J'examine comment lactualit du dbat scientifique permet de comprendre
largumentation cartsienne en insistant sur le caractre polmique de ce trait. On peut notamment
relever que les thories galilennes psent dun grand poids dans la modification des conceptions
cartsiennes du mouvement et que les arguments, alors les plus rcents, avancs en astronomie
soutiennent la mise au point du systme du monde cartsien. Il sagit de mettre lhistoire des
sciences au service dune meilleure intelligence de la somme philosophique cartsienne.

Transfer of an Inquiry Primary Science Teaching Module from Greece to Finland: Teaching
a Control of Variables Strategy
Anna Spyrtou, A. Zoupidis, D. Pnevmatikos, P. Kariotoglou, University of Western Macedonia,
Florina, Greece
J. Lavonen, V. Meisalo, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
The aim of this presentation is to analyze the transfer of an inquiry science teaching module from
Greece to Finland; especially how it supported the primary students learning of Control of Variables
Strategy (CVS). Selected cases of floating/sinking phenomena for promoting students understanding
of the CVS are part of this module. The term CVS is used in order to characterize the design of an
experiment in which variables are changed in certain specified ways in order to probe the effect of a
particular variable on the behavior of the system (Boudreaux, 2008).
Two Local Working Groups (LWG) comprising science education researchers and teachers were
formed. The Greek participants (LWG1) designed, organized one pilot and two classroom enactments
of the module (Authors, 2008) and furthermore evaluated the implementation of the design ideas as
well as the emergent learning outcomes. During those enactments, members of the Finnish group
(LWG2) participated in a peer review study visit that offered observational information and feedback
on its transfer to Finland. From the collaboration between the two LWGs, a revised and adapted
module on floating/sinking phenomena was produced in order to make it appropriate for being
implemented in the Finnish educational setting.
Two research tasks were used in order to ascertain students difficulties related to CVS. The tasks
include two main groups of assignments (i) those in which students make experiments in order to
test if a variable affects the phenomenon or not, and (ii) those in which they draw conclusions if a
particular variable affects the phenomenon or not. Sixty two fifth graders have participated in the
study, both in the two countries. In this presentation we discuss results providing insights into how
the students of both countries are thinking, in this domain.

230

List of Speakers
Ahmad Tarek Adnan, Tarekadnan@yahoo.com
Amir Sulfikar, sulfikar@ntu.edu.sg
Anastasiou Magdalini, anastasiou@astro.auth.gr
Anderson Joseph, stephenpweldon@gmail.com
Arampatzi Theodora, plata@otenet.gr
Arellano Nelson Escudero, nelson.alejandro.arellano@estudiant.upc.edu
Arend Jan, jan.arend@lrz.uni-muenchen.de
Argiana Fotini, fargiana@icsd.aegean.gr
Armitage Kevin C., armitakc@muohio.edu
Athanasiou Kyriacos, kathanas@ecd.uoa.gr
Ausejo Elena, ichs@unizar.es
Aysal Cin, aysal@bilkent.edu.tr
Badino Massimiliano, mbadino@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Bala Arun, ariab@nus.edu.sg
Baralis Georgios, gmparalis@primedu.uoa.gr
Barbin Evelyne, evelyne.barbin@wanadoo.fr
Basargina Ekaterina Yurievna, akhos@mail.ru
Battimelli Giovanni, giovanni.battimelli@roma1.infn.it
Bauer Barbara, barbara.bauer@wu.ac.at
Bazzul Jesse T., jbazzul@gmail.com
Bellis Delphine, delphine.bellis@gmail.com
Bellver Jos, josepbellver@gmail.com
Ben Miled Marouane, marouane.benmiled@gmail.com
Benda Libor, libor.benda@gmail.com
Beregoi Natalia Yevgenievna, beregoi@mail.ru
Berenguer Joaquim, jberenguer90@gmail.com
Besser Bruno P., bruno.besser@oeaw.ac.at
Bevacqua Francesco, francesco.bevacqua@bottegascientifica.it
Bhattacharyya Rabindra Kumar, rabindrakb@yahoo.com
Bilek Martin, martin.bilek@uhk.cz
Bissell Christopher, c.c.bissell@open.ac.uk
Bitsakis Yanis, bitsakis@gmail.com
Blanco Monica, monica.blanco@upc.edu
Blum Alexander Simon, ablum@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Boddice Rob, boddice@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Bognon-Kss Ccilia, cecilia.bognon@gmail.com
Bokaris Efthymios P., ebokaris@cc.uoi.gr
Bonifcio Vitor, vitor.bonifacio@ua.pt
Borck Cornelius, borck@imgwf.uni-luebeck.de
Borgato Maria Teresa, bor@unife.it
Borrelli Arianna, ari@drwutzke.de
Boucard Jenny, jenny.boucard@gmail.com
Bracco Christian, cbracco@unice.fr
Braz Guilherme Gorgulho, guilherme.gorgulho@gmail.com
Bruneau Olivier, bruneauolive@free.fr
Buning Marius, marius.buning@eui.eu
Burnett Charles, Charles.Burnett@sas.ac.uk
Bussotti Paolo, paolo.bussotti@alice.it
231

Bustamante Martha Cecilia, mcbusta@paris7.jussieu.fr

Buyse Filip Adolf , filip.buyse1@telenet.be
Canals Enric Prez, enperez@ub.edu
Canavas Constantin, constantin.canavas@haw-hamburg.de
Capecchi Danilo, danilo.capecchi@uniroma1.it
Casey Brian, brianpcasey@aya.yale.edu
Castelo Cludia, claucastelo@hotmail.com
Castillo Manuel, mcmartos@us.es
Cavagnero Paolo, paolo.cavagnero@polito.it
Cavalcanti Juliana Manzoni, jujumanzoni@yahoo.com.br
Caye Pierre, caye.pierre@wanadoo.fr
Ceyhan Cemil Ozan, coceyhan@gmail.com
Chahrour Marcel, marcel.chahrour@gmx.at
Chemla Karine Carole, chemla@univ-paris-diderot.fr
Chesnov Vasily Mikhailovich, vmtsches61@gmail.com
Chorlay Renaud, renaud.chorlay@paris.iufm.fr
Christopoulou Demetra, chrdemet@yahoo.gr
Chrysikopoulos Vasileios, vaschrys1@hotmail.com
Chukova Yulia Petrovna, y.chukova@mtu-net.ru
Cioci Vincenzo, vincenzocioci@libero.it
Cirino Sergio, sergiocirino99@yahoo.com
Cohen Yves, yvecohen@free.fr
Conde Antnia Fialho, mconde@uevora.pt
Cornelis Gustaaf, gccornel@vub.ac.be
Cucic Dragoljub Aleksandar, dragoljub.cucic@gmail.com
D'Alessandro Paolo, pdajsc@gmail.com
De Sio Fabio, fabiodesio@gmail.com
De Winter Hanne Laure, hanne.dewinter@icag.kuleuven.be
De Young Gregg, gdeyoung@aucegypt.edu
Dbarbat Suzanne Virginie, Suzanne.Debarbat@obspm.fr
Debuiche Valrie, debuiche.valerie@gmail.com
Delire Jean Michel, jmdelire@ulb.ac.be
Demidov Serguei Sergueevich, serd42@mail.ru
Dhombres Jean, Jean.Dhombres@damesme.cnrs.fr
Di Marco Silvia, sdmarco@fc.ul.pt
Diagre Denis, denis.diagre@br.fgov.be
Diaz-Fajardo Montse, mdiazfajardo@ub.edu
Diogo Maria Paula Pires dos Santos, mpdiogo@netcabo.pt
Dobre Mihnea, mihneadobre@yahoo.com
Dos Santos Roberto Eustaaquio, ro1234ro@gmail.com
Dragomir Sandra Constanta, szamszy@yahoo.de
Ducheyne Steffen, steffen.ducheyne@vub.ac.be
Dufaud Grgory, gregorydufaud@gmail.com
Dupond Marie, dupondmarie@me.com
Duppe Till till.dueppe@hu-berlin.de
Durnova Helena, helena.durnova@mail.muni.cz
El Gammal Blanche, blanche.elgammal@hotmail.fr
Elina Olga Y, olgaelina@mail.ru
Elliott Paul A., p.elliott@derby.ac.uk
Erkal Namk, namik.erkal@gmail.com
Etter Anne-Julie, annejuetter@hotmail.com
Faria Cludia, cbfaria@ie.ul.pt
232

Fedotova Anastasia A., f.anastasia.spb@gmail.com

Feklova Tatiana Yurievna, Telauan@rambler.ru
Fernndez-Novell Josep M., jmfernandeznovell@ub.edu
Fet Yakov Ilich, fet@ssd.sscc.ru
Figueiroa Silvia Fernanda, figueiroa@ige.unicamp.br
Fiocca Alessandra, fio@unife.it
Fonseca Pedro Ricardo, pedrorgfonseca@gmail.com
Franckowiak Remi, remi.franckowiak@univ-lille1.fr
Frank Martin, martin.frank82@gmx.de
Freguglia Paolo, paolo.freguglia@technet.it
Fritscher Bernhard, B.Fritscher@lrz.uni-muenchen.de
Gamaliia Kateryna, ntatsiy@yahoo.com
Gambaro Ivana, ivana.gambaro@unige.it
Garrido Angel, agarrido@mat.uned.es
Gatto Maurizio, mzgatto@googlemail.com
Gavagna Veronica, vgavagna@unisa.it
Gentile Maria, maria.gentile4@unibo.it
Georgescu Laura, mailgeorgescu.laura@gmail.com
Gerini Christian, gerini@univ-tln.fr
Geroulanos Stefanos, geroulanos@ocsc.gr
Giannakopoulou Polyxeni, giannakp@mail.ntua.gr
Giannetto Enrico, enrico.giannetto@unibg.it
Giannini Giulia, giulia.giannini@gmail.com
Giraud Yann, yann.giraud@u-cergy.fr
Giurgea Mihaela Madalina, madalinagiurgea@gmail.com
Godfroy Anne-Sophie, asgodfroy@univ-paris1.fr
Gonzlez Redondo Francisco A., faglezr@edu.ucm.es
Grg Erdmann, erdmann.goerg@googlemail.com
Gouarn Isabelle, isabelle_gouarne@hotmail.com
Gouzevitch Dmitri, dgouzevit@yahoo.fr
Granuzzo Elena, elena.gr@libero.it
Grap Pere, pgrapi@gmail.com
Grieser Alexandra K., a.k.grieser@rug.nl
Groves Tamar, tamargroves@usal.es
Guevara-Casanova Iolanda, iolanda.guevara@upc.edu
Haddad Thoms Santoro, thaddad@usp.br
Hadrava Petr, had@sunstel.asu.cas.cz
Hadravova Alena, hadravova@usd.cas.cz
Hakkarainen Jussi-Pekka, jussipekka.hakkarainen@gmail.com
Hakosalo Heini Eliisa, heini.hakosalo@oulu.fi
Halleux Robert, chst@ulg.ac.be
Hammerl Christa, christa.hammerl@zamg.ac.at
Hampl Petr, p.hampl@email.cz
Havlik Marek, mshavlik@kfi.zcu.cz
Heeffer Albrecht, albrecht.heeffer@ugent.be
Heilen Stephan, stheilen@uos.de
Heizer Alda, aldaheizer@jbrj.gov.br
Herfeld Catherine Sophia, c.herfeld@gmx.de
Hermann Tomas, hermannt@centrum.cz
Hoffmann Dieter, dh@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Horrocks Sally Margaret, smh4@le.ac.uk
Hutchins Barnaby, barnaby.hutchins@ugent.be
233

Iacobescu Gabriela Eugenia, gabrielaiacobescu@yahoo.com

Ito Kenji, ito_kenji@soken.ac.jp
Ivanov Boris I., b.i.ivanov@mail.ru
Jalobeanu Dana, dana.jalobeanu@celfis.ro
James Jeremiah, aikijjames@hotmail.com
Janac Jiri, jira.janac@gmail.com
Johnson Eric M., moebius@interchange.ubc.ca
Jones Alexander, alexander.jones@nyu.edu
Jordi Taltavull Marta, martajordit@gmail.com
Jullien Vincent, vincent-jullien@wanadoo.fr
Junova Mackova Adela, mackovija@volny.cz
Juznic Stanislav Joze, juznic@hotmail.com
Kaczmarzyk Ewa, kaczmarzykewa@poczta.onet.pl
Kakampoura Rea, rkakamp@primedu.uoa.gr
Kallinen Maija, Maija.Kallinen@oulu.fi
Kamcevski Danko, dkamcevski@gmail.com
Kamisheva Ganka, gkamish@issp.bas.bg
Kapsala Nausica, nkapsala@gmail.com
Kartsonakis Manolis, mankar@sch.gr
Katakos Efstratios, stratisk@yahoo.com.gr
Katsiampoura Gianna, katsiampoura@gmail.com
Katzir Shaul, katzir@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Knekht Natalia, nata_knecht@mtu-net.ru
Kocandrle Radim, rkocandr@kfi.zcu.cz
Kochiras Hylarie, kochiras@gmail.com
Kolchinsky Eduard I., ekolchinsky@yandex.ru
Kolomiyets Svitlana Volodymyrivna, s.kolomiyets@gmail.com
Koltachykhina Elena Yu., elenakolt@gmail.com
Koltachykhina Oksana Yu., oksana.koltachykhina@gmail.com
Konashev Mikhail Borisovich, mbkonashev@mail.ru
Kosolosky Laszlo, laszlo.kosolosky@ugent.be
Kostov Alexandre, kostov_al@yahoo.com
Koutalis Vangelis, v_koutalis@yahoo.gr
Kragh Helge, helge.kragh@ivs.au.dk
Krasikova Elena Igorevna, eikrasikova@gmail.com
Kreitler Shulamith, krit@netvision.net.il
Kremer Richard L., richard.kremer@dartmouth.edu
Krige John, john.krige@hts.gatech.edu
Krikstopaitis Juozas Algimantas, krikstop@ktl.mii.lt
Krivosheina Galina, krivosheina@gmail.com
Krzeptowska-Moszkowicz Izabela, krzeptow@poczta.onet.pl
Kvasz Ladislav, kvasz@fmph.uniba.sk
Lackner Karin, veleda@gmx.at
Lalli Roberto, rolalli@mit.edu
Langermann Y Tzvi, tlangermann@hotmail.com
Lauginie Pierre, pierre.lauginie@u-psud.fr
Le Roux Ronan, ronan.le.roux@gmail.com
Lekka, Alexandra, lekkaalexandra@gmail.com
Lippitsch Max E., max.lippitsch@uni-graz.at
Lopes Coelho Ricardo, rlc@fc.ul.pt
Lorch Marjorie, m.lorch@bbk.ac.uk
Lorenzano Csar, clorenzano@gmail.com
234

Loskutova Marina, mvlosk@yandex.ru

Lugaresi Maria Giulia, lgrmgl@unife.it
Lykknes Annette, Annette.Lykknes@chem.ntnu.no
Lytvynko Alla S., litvinko@ukr.net
Maciga Diana Eurydyka, diana.maciaga@gmail.com
Macuglia Daniele, macuglia@uchicago.edu
Mgi Vahur, vmagi@lib.ttu.ee
Maia Maria Elisa, elisamaia@gmail.com
Majstorac-Kobiljski Aleksandra, amkaero@gmail.com
Makrypoulias Christos, G. christos_makrypoulias@yahoo.gr
Malaquias Isabel Maria Coelho de Oliveira, imalaquias@ua.pt
Marques Daniel Gamito, daniel.gamito.marques@gmail.com
Martelli Matteo, martel75@libero.it
Martin Marco, martin.mar@tiscali.it
Martinovic' Ivica, ivica@ifzg.hr
Martyknov Darina, darinamartykanova@yahoo.es
Massa Esteve M Rosa, m.rosa.massa@upc.edu
Mata Tiago, tjfm2@cam.ac.uk
Mattes Johannes, johannes.mattes@univie.ac.at
Matzkevich Hernn Javier, hermatzke@hotmail.com
Maurines Laurence, laurence.maurines@u-psud.fr
Mavrikaki Evangelia, emavrikaki@primedu.uoa.gr
Mayrargue Arnaud, arnaud.mayrargue@univ-paris-diderot.fr
McCarthy Gavan, gavanjm@gmail.com
McCloughlin Thomas, John mccloughlin@mac.com
Mendes Fabihana Souza, fabihanamendes@gmail.com
Merianos Gerasimos, gmerianos@eie.gr
Meyer-Spasche Rita, meyer-spasche@ipp.mpg.de
Minecan Ana Maria Carmen, manecan@hotmail.com
Miskell Louise, l.miskell@swansea.ac.uk
Mohr Barbara, barbara.mohr@mfn-berlin.de
Mota Teresa Salom, salome.teresa@gmail.com
Moussas Xenophon, xmoussas@phys.uoa.gr
Mozaffari Seyyed Mohammad, mozaffari@riaam.ac.ir
Mueller-Wille Staffan, smuellerwille@gmail.com
Mrsepp Peeter, peeter.muursepp@tseba.ttu.ee
Myklebost Kari Aga, kari.myklebost@uit.no
Nagliati Iolanda, ngllnd@unife.it
Napolitani Pier Daniele, pierdaniele@gmail.com
Navarro Jaume, jn242@cam.ac.uk
Navarro-Loidi Juan, jnavarrolo@euskalnet.net
Nenci Elio, elio.nenci@unimi.it
Neuenschwander Erwin, neuenschwander@math.uzh.ch
Nikolaidis Efthymios, efnicol@eie.gr
Nikoli, Aleksandar S., ans@chem.bg.ac.rs;
Stojiljkov Bratislav, Bratislav.Stojiljkovic@tesla-museum.org
Nishiyama Takashi, tnishiya@brockport.edu
Noguera-Solano Ricardo, rns@ciencias.unam.mx
Novotny Michal, michal.novotny@ntm.cz
Oldfield Jonathan, jonathan.oldfield@glasgow.ac.uk
Oliveira Benedito Tadeu, beneditoo@uaigiga.com.br
Omodeo Pietro Daniel, pdomodeo@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
235

Palladino Nicla, nicla_palladino@libero.it

Papadopoulos Georgios, gpapad@med.uoa.gr
Papadopoulou Penelope, papadopoulou@uowm.gr
Papari Vasiliki, vasilikipapari@yahoo.de
Paparou Flora, florap@otenet.gr
Papaspirou Panagiotis, p.papaspirou973@gmail.com
Parada Jaime, jparadah@hotmail.com
Pastorino Cesare, cesare.pastorino@gmail.com
Paul Thierry, paul@math.polytechnique.fr
Pelletier Arnaud, arnplt@yahoo.fr
Pepe Luigi, pep@unife.it
Peres Isabel Marilia, mariliaperes@ciberprof.com
Perez Liliane, liliane.perez@wanadoo.fr
Perlina Anna, aperlina@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Petkovic Tomislav, tomislav.petkovic@fer.hr
Petrovic Aleksandar Z., petralist@gmail.com
Petti Carmela, petti@unina.it
Phili Christine, xfili@math.ntua.gr
Pigeard Natalie, natalie.pigeard@curie.fr
Pinto Helder, hbmpinto1981@gmail.com
Pisano Raffaele, pisanoraffaele@iol.it
Polakis Markos Ioannis, mpolakis8@gmail.com
Poreau Brice, bbpcharles@hotmail.com
Posch Thomas Siegfried, thomas.posch@univie.ac.at
Provijn Dagmar, dagmar.provijn@ugent.be
Provost Jean-Pierre, provost@unice.fr
Railiene Birute, b.railiene@gmail.com
Rappenglck Michael A., mr@infis.org
Reininger Alice, alice.reininger@chello.at
Rentetzi Maria, mrentetz@vt.edu
Rey Anne-Lise, annelise.rey@free.fr
Richard Hlne, hbs.richard@gmail.com
Rickiene Aurika, aurika.rickiene@botanika.lt
Robert Thomas, robertt4@etu.unige.ch
Roberts Peder, pwrobert@kth.se
Rodriguez Arribas Josefina, rodriguezarribas@gmail.com
Romera-Lebret Pauline, pauline.lebret@gmail.com
Romero Vallhonesta Fatima, fatima.romerovallhonesta@gmail.com
Rossi Arcangelo, rossi@le.infn.it
Roth Karin, a9500747@unet.univie.ac.at
Roztoilov Jana, j.roztocilova@seznam.cz
Ruda Svetlana, svetlana.ruda@yahoo.com
Rusu Doina Cristina, dc.rusu@yahoo.com
Sakorrafou Sandy, ssakorrafou@gmail.com
Salvia Stefano, stefano.salvia@tiscali.it
Samokish Anna, V. tomasina84@mail.ru
Snchez Antonio, antosanmar@gmail.com
Santoni Anna, a.santoni@sns.it
Saraceno Marco, marco-saraceno@libero.it
Saraiva Luis, mmff5@ptmat.fc.ul.pt
Sarma Sreeramula Rajeswara, sr@sarma.de
Saveleva Diana Nikolaevna, dnsaveljeva@mail.ru
236

Schaefer Dagmar, dagmar.schaefer@manchester.ac.uk

Schirrmacher Arne, Arne.Schirrmacher@geschichte.hu-berlin.de
Schmid Anne-Franoise, afschmid@free.fr
Seebacher Felicitas, fsee@aon.at
Sekerk Ji, jsekerak@mzm.cz
Sekyrkova Milada, msekyr@seznam.cz
Sela Shlomo, shelomo.sela@gmail.com
Serra Isabel Maria, isabelserra@netcabo.pt
Shalimov Sergey Viktorovich, sshal85@mail.ru
Shaw Denis James Barrington, D.J.B.Shaw@bham.ac.uk
Shcheglov Dmitriy A., Shcheglov@yandex.ru
Shi Yunli, ylshi@ustc.edu.cn
Shineha Ryuma, shineha_ryuma@soken.ac.jp
Shirokova Vera Aleksandrovna, vmtsches@mail.ru
Shleeva Marina, shleeva.marina@yandex.ru
Sigrist Ren, sigrist.rene@bluewin.ch
Skordoulis Constantine, kostas4skordoulis@gmail.com
Skoufoglou Emmanouil Stylianos, manosskouf@yahoo.gr
Smagina Galina Ivanovna, galsmagina@yandex.ru
Sobolev Vladimir Semyonovich, vsobolev.kostroma@yandex.ru
Sokolova Irina Borisovna, i_sokolova@bk.ru
Spelda Daniel, spelda@kfi.zcu.cz
Spring Ulrike, ulrike.spring@hisf.no
Spyrtou Anna, aspirtou@uowm.gr
Stadler Max, max.stadler@wiss.gess.ethz.ch
Stanissavljevic Jelena, jelena.stanisavljevic@bio.bg.ac.rs
Stavrou Ioanna G., ioannastx@yahoo.gr
Steele John, john_steele@brown.edu
Stefanidou Constantina, sconstant@primedu.uoa.gr
Stella Marco, marco.stella@email.cz
Stoiljkovic Dragoslav M., dragos@uns.ac.rs
Straner Katalin, katalin.straner@gmail.com
Strasser Gerhard F., gfs1@psu.edu
Strbanova Sona, sonast2@gmail.com
Surman Jan, jan.surman@univie.ac.at
Svatek Petra, petra.svatek@univie.ac.at
Takigawa Yuko, sakanafriend@yahoo.co.jp
Terdimou Maria, maria1979@her.forthnet.gr
Terra Rodrigues Cassiano, ctrodrigues@pucsp.br
Thebaud-Sorger Marie, thebaud.sorger@gmail.com
Thomann Johannes, johannes.thomann@uzh.ch
Thomas Gerald William, g.thomas@imperial.ac.uk
Thomaz Manuel Fernandes, t957@ua.pt
Tiede Vance R., vance.tiede@aya.yale.edu
Tihon Anne, anne.tihon@uclouvain.be
Torero-Ibad Alexandra, a.torero@gmail.com
Toscano Maria, maria_toscano@libero.it
Tournes Dominique, dominique.tournes@univ-reunion.fr
Tracy Sarah Whitney, swtracy@ou.edu
Truffa Giancarlo, truffag@alice.it
Tsigoni Anastasia, Ana_tsigoni@hotmail.com
Tsikritsis Minas, mtsikritsis@gmail.com
237

Turchetti Simone, simone.turchetti@manchester.ac.uk

Twohig Peter L., Peter.Twohig@smu.ca
Vafea Flora, fkvafea@gmail.com
Valeriani Simona, s.valeriani@lse.ac.uk
Vampoulis Epaminondas, vampoulis@edlit.auth.gr
Vandersmissen Jan, jan.vandersmissen@ulg.ac.be
Vekerdy Lilla, vekerdyl@si.edu
Vetrovcova Marie, marie.benediktova@gmail.com
Villone Barbara, villone@to.infn.it
Vlahakis George N., gvlahakis@yahoo.com
Vogt Annette, vogt@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Vondrek Martin, marvondr@kfi.zcu.cz
Wahl Charlotte, charlotte.wahl@gwlb.de
Waisse Silvia, dr.silvia.waisse@gmail.com
Wartenberg Ilana, i.wartenberg@ucl.ac.uk
Wassmann Claudia, wassmann@mpib-berlin.mpg.de
Weldon Stephen P., spweldon@ou.edu
Wojcik Andrzej J., awojcik@ihnpan.waw.pl
Wolfe Charles, ctwolfe1@gmail.com
Wu Huiyi, whyesit@gmail.com
Xu Xiaodong, xiaodongcuhk@gmail.com
Yusupova Tatiana, ti-yusupova@mail.ru
Zaitseva Elena, baumzai@mail.ru
Zakharova Larissa, larisazakharova@gmail.com
Zanin Fabio, fabio.zanin@unipd.it
Zeller Peter, p.zeller@unifg.it
Zerpa Rodriguez Jose Julio, jjzerrod@gmail.com
Zhao hui yang, wuwei_7512@163.com

238

239

240

241

242

243