Listing of Sessions and Abstracts of Papers - History of Science ...

Gamow did not hesitate to use quantum mechanics as a tool for social differentiation marked by the
militant values of student culture. They did not take for granted either the transparency or the utility of
the new theory as they made concerted efforts to draw "the attention of the cultural world" to their
pursuits while also changing the research agendas of physics. Aiming to best their "bourgeois" adversaries
in the race for the next "breakthrough on the physics front," they sought out novel collaborations
with experimentalists, and forged a culture of theory dynamically engaged with the concerns of Stalinist
culture.
Hall, Nancy
E-mail Address: nhall@wam.umd.edu
Sir Ronald Fisher and Randomized Experimental Design
Today randomization is used routinely in many experimental situations; the randomized trial has
become the gold standard in many disciplines. But until the 1920's the preferred method was one of
systematic design: the researcher arranged the experimental treatments in a way that in her judgment
would give the most reliable results. Sir Ronald A. Fisher changed the course of experimentation and
statistics and his principles of randomized experimental design are now basic to scientific experiment.
Fisher began advocating randomization in 1925. Then in 1930 in Scotland the Lanarkshire Milk Experiment
was conducted, by the Department of Health, to investigate the advantage of giving extra milk, raw
or pasteurized, to school children. But the experiment, involving 20,000 children, was poorly designed
and ineptly carried out. Sheer size was no substitute for lack of randomization. After the supposed
results were announced, Fisher and his good friend "Student" (of Student's t-test) and several others
discussed possible ways to salvage the situation, but the Lanarkshire Milk Experiment was a source of
community controversy for several years.
Hanson,Betsy
E-mail Address:
Harden, Victoria
E-mail Address: victoria.harden@nih.gov
Academic Assignments that Train Historians for Public History Careers
How can a professor who has spent an entire career in academia prepare students for careers in public
history? This paper will suggest strategies for assignments in lieu of--or in addition to--the traditional
term paper. Utilizing the traditional content of a course, professors can ask students to demonstrate
mastery via activities that build public history skills. This presentation will include handouts.
Harman, Oren
E-mail Address: harman@harvard.fas.edu
C.D. Darlington and the Anglo-American Response to the Lysenko Affair
This paper considers the role of outspoken British cytogeneticist and evolutionist Cyril Dean
Darlington in the reaction of the Anglo-American scientific community to the events in the Soviet Union
surrounding what became known as the Lysenko affair. In a highly charged, and uncertain political
atmosphere, Western geneticists devised an explicit strategy of response designed to buttress the battle
of geneticists in Russia against Lysenko's onslaught. This meant divorcing Lysenko's rise from politics
and responding to his claims on a purely scientific level. Darlington rejected this approach and launched
a full-scale assault on the Soviet subordination of science to politics and ideology, in complete diver-