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

approachable by a class of society which had not before been encouraged to participate in science. By
meeting the needs of many different groups, the SDUK expanded from being simply a publishing
committee into one of the most well-known and well-utilized resources for members of the broader
public who wished to contribute to or learn about science.
Kipnis, Nahum
E-mail Address: nahumk_99@yahoo.com
Unappreciated Discoveries: How to Deal with Them?
Discoveries that were not properly appreciated at their time create historiographical difficulties. An
example in question is the discovery of magnetization by electricity. In 1752, B. Franklin, having read
that lightning reversed polarity of naval compasses, tried to imitate this phenomenon by a discharge of a
Leyden jar through a sewing needle. Between 1752 and 1784, this experiment had been successfully
reproduced by a number of scientists who magnetized and demagnetized steel needles and sometimes
inverted their polarity. Two explanations were offered. According to F. U. T. Aepinus, electricity was
merely a facilitator, with magnetization done by terrestrial magnetism. J. C. Wilcke suggested, however,
that both terrestrial magnetism and electricity played a role, and in cases of lightning or needles placed
in the direction west-east, electricity prevailed. This debate was not settled at the time, and soon the
advance of galvanic electricity diverted scientists to experiments of different kinds . The matter was
revived by H. C. Oersted in 1828. He claimed to have provided the first icity and magnetism, invalidating
a similar conclusion by Wilcke on the ground that magnetization in the eighteenth-century experiments
occurred along the current, while according to Oersted’s law, it had to be perpendicular to current.
The implication was that the effect observed by Franklin and others was spurious. In fact, it was real, but
it could not been explained by Oersted’s law. Since Oersted’s statement has never been challenged, the
following question arises: if proving a connection between electricity and magnetism was a discovery,
who should get credit for it? The paper offers suggestions on dealing with such a problem.
Kirchhoff, Jochen
E-mail Address: Jochen.Kirchhoff@lrz.uni-muenchen.de
Redirecting research: experiences from the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft in the
1920s
The experience of specialized officials in Prussian higher education laid the foundations for peer
review as a means of research management in the 1920’s. What was the significance of this organizational
innovation? Its genesis is the story of the science funding body called the Notgemeinschaft der
deutschen Wissenschaft (Emergency Association in Aid of German Science), founded in 1920, and
developing into the famous Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in 1930. Covering a broad range
of disciplines from the natural sciences to the humanities, tradition guaranteed freedom of research
when turning in an application, and quality control by expert committees of fellow scientists secured a
standard of excellence. In this way, self-governance of research was built into the funding organization,
and this has always been cited as its most important feature. However, I will argue that the
Notgemeinschaft did not in fact solidify its position because of the scientific successes processed
through its single-researcher system. Peer review could also intervene at an early stage in research, i.e.,
in research conceptualization. The Notgemeinschaft actually established itself by assembling large
research ventures and brokering these big projects with peer review committee members. Examples
include the famous "Meteor" expedition to map deep-sea currents in the Atlantic and large-scale population
studies under the heading of "race science." The organization of teamwork in the Notgemeinschaft
reflects the growing need for cooperation, larger instruments and coordination in scientific research
during the 1920's, at a time when the Notgemeinschaft had to reconcile its new management solutions