Abstracts of the History of Science Society 2004 Austin Meeting 18 ...

In the late 1960s, computer scientists Edward Feigenbaum and Bruce Buchanan and geneticist Joshua Lederberg led Stanford
University’s DENDRAL (Dendritic Algorithm) project, an effort to develop heuristic computer programs capable of emulating the
decision-making process through which chemists infer the structures of complex organic molecules from mass spectrographic analysis
data. As an exemplar of expert systems, DENDRAL is remembered primarily for its contributions to the field of artificial intelligence,
but as the embodiment of a formal attempt to model and automate problem-solving behavior it also provides the means to investigate
how scientists’ hypothesis-formation practices and computer technology have shaped one another. An examination of DENDRAL also
illuminates the unique nature of the changes computers brought to laboratory practice; like many later computer systems, DENDRAL
effectively automated creative processes, thus setting it apart from other instruments—e.g. electron microscopes and ultracentrifuges—
regarded as agents of epistemological change. Finally, because DENDRAL’s proponents explicitly incorporated into their system’s
design conventions they derived from then prevalent discourses of history and philosophy of science, exploring DENDRAL provides
a singular opportunity to help elucidate the impact of the professional study of science on science itself.
Lynn K. Nyhart, University of Wisconsin, Madison (lknyhart@wisc.edu)
Saturday, 20-Nov-04, 3:30 - 5:30 PM - Texas Ballroom VI
Bringing Natural History to Life: “Practical” Natural History, Museums, and Zoos in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Germany
In this paper, I examine a German movement in the 1860s and 1870s to reform and enliven natural history. Articulated most clearly
by the self-described “practical naturalist” Philipp Leopold Martin (1815-1886) in his multi-volume Praxis der Naturgeschichte (1869-1882),
this movement sought to liberate natural history from the deadening science of systematics, simultaneously restoring life to the subject
and giving it a broader appeal. In opposing systematics, Martin was pushing for something bigger than an alternative theoretical perspective:
he sought to play down the significance of theory overall and elevate the role of praxis in natural history, to enhance the status
of those who cultivated the “practical” aspects of natural history, such as taxidermic preparation, museum display, and caring for
living animals. Reformed natural history would thus take natural history out of the hands of the professors and place it in those of “the
people.” An examination of this reform movement offers a new perspective on the history of natural history practice that views both
museums and zoos as vehicles for a common reform end.
Naomi Oreskes, University of California, San Diego (noreskes@ucsd.edu)
Saturday, 20-Nov-04, 9:00 - 11:45 AM - Texas Ballroom III
Secrecy and Sea-floor Spreading
The Mertonian belief that science must operate under conditions of free and open communication has been refuted by our knowledge
of Soviet and American science in the Cold War. Yet the question remains how scientists negotiated the competing demands of security
and revelation, and what effects these maneuvers may have had on their science. This paper examines these questions through the
lens of one of the major developments of 20th century earth science, the theory of sea-floor spreading. Harry Hess’s concept of seafloor
spreading was critical to the development of the theory of plate tectonics, which in the late 1960s became the unifying theory of
modern earth science—the first generally accepted global tectonic theory in the history of science. Hess’s ideas were inspired and supported
to a considerable degree by new information about the sea floor, acquired by American earth scientists working under Navy
sponsorship, but the Navy did not collect bathymetric data for their relevance to tectonic theories; it collected them for their relevance
to navigation and the accurate launching of inter-continental ballistic missile, Because of this relevance, Navy bathymetric data were
routinely classified. Did this matter? Hess thought so, and repeatedly strove to convince the Navy to release classified data on the
ocean floor, arguing that critical work was being stymied. This paper examines the impact of secrecy on the development of scientific
knowledge about the Earth in the mid 1950s and ‘60s, and suggests that the general climate of secrecy if not the particulars of security
protocols—did indeed impede the dissemination, contextualization, and interpretation of critical data. A great deal was learned
about the oceans as a result of Navy sponsorship of oceanographic research, but that sponsorship was not without its costs, both
human and epistemic.
Hanna Östholm, Dept for History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University (hanna.ostholm@idehist.uu.se)
Saturday, 20-Nov-04, 1:30 - 3:10 PM - Hill Country A
The “Idea of the University”: The Impact of the Berlin University on Scandinavia and Sweden in Early 19th Century
Kant, Schelling, Fichte, Schleiermacher and Humboldt were the major theorists on higher education, and also read by Swedish intellectuals
of their time. Their influence on the debate on higher education seems unquestionable, but early references to them are surprisingly
scarce. However, there was an ongoing discussion during early 19th century about the purpose and structure of the university, concerning
the proper disciplines, the organization and relation of the faculties as well as the universities’ location and relation to society –
all of which both Swedish and German authors touched upon. During this time the Berlin University had been recently founded, as had
the universities of Christiania (Oslo), Norway and Helsinki, Finland. A major inquiry of the Swedish education was published in 1828,
and will be discussed both in European and Nordic context.
Laura Otis, Hofstra University (otis@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de)
Friday, 19-Nov-04, 1:30 - 3:10 PM - Hill Country D