2000 HSS/PSA Program 1 - History of Science Society

HSS Abstracts
For example, the 1930s mathematical models of the macro-economy were
developed as an aid to understand Keynes‚ new theory and as an instrument to
demonstrate how it differed from the older “classical” theories. In another
type of practise, these thought experiments used models along with simulation
techniques with the aim of mimicking economic observations or certain generic
characteristics of such observations. The 1930s simulation of business cycle
data and of certain characteristics cycle lengths begins this usage, which reappears
again in the 1980s. This paper examines how these changes in the
form of reasoning with thought experiments occurred, how they were received
in the profession, and how they became embedded as an acceptable style and
form of argument to become standard in the post 1950s period.
Iwan␣ R. Morus Queen’s University, Belfast
Mastering the Invisible:
Technologies of the Unseen at the Mid-Victorian Exhibition
Mid-Victorian exhibitions were places where science and showmanship crossed
paths. Audiences thronged there to witness the latest technological and
philosophical marvels. By the 1860s, the Royal Polytechnic Institution on
London’s Regent Street had a long history as an exhibition space. It was firmly
established in Londoners’ eyes as one of the metropolis’ premier sites for the
witnessing of wonders. In the early 1860s, Professor Pepper, the Institution’s
resident lecturer, mounted a spectacular new exhibit: he showed a ghost on stage.
Pepper’s Ghost challenged the audience to match his ingenuity. What was on
show as much as anything else was the skill and scientific knowledge Pepper
could marshal to fool his audience into seeing what wasn’t there. Pepper and
others used the Ghost—and the space the Polytechnic provided them—to try to
establish themselves as authorities on the possibilities and limitations of science.
Focussing on the Royal Polytechnic Institution, this paper looks at this episode
and other examples as instances of the ways in which ingenious displays of the
invisible, the impossible or the intangible could be used in efforts to establish
new claims to cultural authority by new groups and new kinds of individuals in
the mid-Victorian period. It shows how mastery over technologies that appeared
to contest Victorian perceptions of the boundary between real and unreal could
be used to challenge received wisdom and bolster alternative claims to expertise.
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David␣ P.␣ D. Munns Johns Hopkins University
Becoming Astronomy: Why Cosmic Noise became Radio Astronomy
Too many disciplinary stories emphasize the novel creation of new fields of
scientific inquiry. But for the post-1945 sciences I argue for the increasing