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

student, B. D. Nagchaudhari to work with Lawrence so that he would come back and construct a cyclotron for Saha’s laboratory in
Calcutta. It was decided to build a 38” (5 MeV) cyclotron and the 50-ton magnet arrived safely in India in 1942. However, the work on
the cyclotron came to a halt in 1944 when Japanese torpedoes sank the ship carrying high vacuum pumps. There were efforts to fabricate
the pumps locally in the laboratory workshop with small grants from the colonial government. The cyclotron did not function properly,
and work was slow during the period of political turmoil leading to Indian independence in 1947, when Nagchaudhari went back
to Berkeley and this time successfully shipped the pumps. It was only in 1959 that people in the laboratory got the cyclotron working.
It produced its first effective external beam in 1965. This paper will explore the reasons for this delay. It will also provide an overview
of industrial support in a colonial situation towards handling research at the frontier.
Tiberiu Marcel Popa, University of Pittsburgh (tmpst26@pitt.edu)
Friday, 19-Nov-04, 1:30 - 3:10 PM - Big Bend A, B, & C
Metaphysical Implications of Aristotle’s Chemistry
This paper aims to examine a significant point of convergence between Aristotle’s science, metaphysics, and natural philosophy, and
focuses on a particular aspect of his treatment of powers or dispositions. My main claim is that Aristotle’s so-called chemical treatise,
‘Meteorology’ IV, is meant to cast light on the connection between two types of dispositional properties that are dominant in his biology
(material dispositions like fragility and solubility, and capacities to perform specific functions – such as the capacity of a healthy eye
to see or the capacity of flesh to function as a medium for touch). The connection between these two orders of dispositions, as revealed
in ‘Meteorology’ IV, appears to be centered on two applications of the distinction (in ‘De Anima’ II. 5) between different levels of
potentiality and actuality. These applications of the ‘De Anima’ model form an important contribution to Aristotle’s theory of potentiality
(as put forth in his ‘Metaphysics’) and seem to foreshadow contemporary theories of dispositions. Most importantly, however,
these two orders of capacities point firmly to the way in which Aristotle’s chemistry is supposed to be relevant to his zoological treatises.
Nicholas Popper, Princeton University (npopper@Princeton.edu)
Friday, 19-Nov-04, 9:00 - 11:45 AM - Texas Ballroom VI
Abraham, Planter of Mathematics: Making Mathematics Orthodox in Early Modern England
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, scholars debated the theological orthodoxy of mathematical practice and natural magic. Some
defended these practices by claiming that they required only the acceptable manipulation of natural causes. But others sought to legitimate
such activities by constructing genealogies highlighting their orthodox origins. My talk will show how two early modern English
observers, Gabriel Harvey and Walter Ralegh, created histories supporting the licitness of mathematical practices. Both had been
attacked by opponents who depicted their knowledge and use of mathematics as heretical and dangerous. Both responded by constructing
detailed lineages for these practices, extending far back through antiquity. Their genealogies displayed the licit origins of these arts,
and showed that the inventors used mathematics and natural magic as forms of proper worship. The propriety of natural magic and
mathematical practice, then, was proven by revealing the creation and transmission of such learning in historical individuals and communities.
Theodore M. Porter, University of Califorina, Los Angeles (tporter@history.ucla.edu)
Friday, 19-Nov-04, 3:30 - 5:30 PM - Texas Ballroom V
The Cultivated Scientist: Fashioning a Self for a New Age of Science
Scientific naturalism in late Victorian Britain is now commonly understood as an ideology for the new professional scientist. Along with
this effort to establish a new basis for a scientific career, however, naturalists such as Huxley talked of a “new Reformation,” in which
science would assume many functions hitherto identified with Christianity or with a classical literary education. Victorian “men of science”
did not generally think that this role could be filled by armies of specialists whose background and training were narrowly technical.
They were pursuing something much grander than enhanced career possibilities for professional scientists. The coming scientific
society would require men of liberal education. But how could science provide this? “Scientific method,” signifying both a mode of
inquiry and a morality of truth-seeking, was valued as a solution to this dilemma, a rationale for specialized knowledge that need not be
narrowing. Perhaps the greatest cultural problem for science in the late nineteenth century was to explain how the scientist could be
cultivated and wise.
Maria M. Portuondo, The Johns Hopkins University (mportuondo@sprynet.com)
Saturday, 20-Nov-04, 3:30 - 5:30 PM - Hill Country C
Mapmakers at Work: Constructing a Map of the New World
During the 16th century Spanish royal cosmographers resorted to descriptive narratives and maps to depict the geography of the New
World. This presentation explores the epistemological and methodological facets of their geographical works by focusing on the practices
associated with constructing a map of the New World. The practice of translating textual descriptions into maps is illustrated
through the work of royal cosmographer, Juan López de Velasco (c. 1530-1598).