2000 HSS/PSA Program 1 - History of Science Society

HSS Abstracts
John␣ P. Swann U. S. Food and Drug Administration
Institutionalizing Regulatory Science and Research in the FDA
The pursuit of science and research at FDA developed as a function of the
agency’s core mission to protect consumer health, an endeavor certainly shaped
by many developments beyond the agency’s direct control. Thus, among the
factors that have influenced the development of science in the FDA in the past
one hundred years are legal mandates, requirements of public health disasters,
changing philosophies of regulation in the executive branch, the demands of a
beguiling and sophisticated marketplace, and the unique interests of regulated
entities. The assorted internal reorganizations wrought by these external stimuli
have in turn had an impact on the practice of science. The scientific requirements
of the agency’s mission also necessitated collaborative work with outside
individuals and institutions, such as the development of methods of analysis
under the auspices of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Taking
into account some of these influences, this paper will discuss the development
of science and research as a recognized function of the FDA’s field offices and
headquarters, where different regulatory responsibilities affected the way science
and research evolved. Case studies that focus on specific laboratories, offices,
and regulatory events from different eras will be used to illustrate the process
and extent to which science became institutionalized in FDA.
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Scott␣ D. Tanona Indiana University
Bohr’s Correspondence Principle:
Deducing Atomic Structure from Spectral Phenomena
Niels Bohr’s correspondence principle played an important role in the
development of the quantum theory and was of utmost importance to Bohr’s
early thought. Although others working on the quantum theory questioned the
status and role of the correspondence principle, Bohr insisted that it was actually
a principle of the quantum theory and not just a heuristic device. In this talk, I
will argue that Bohr elevated correspondence to a principle of the quantum
theory because of its importance in the general methodology he was using.
Partly in response to public and private criticism of the principle by others,
especially Sommerfeld, Bohr strengthened his position on its status, declaring
it to be part of an overall method and claiming its superiority over other methods
available. Bohr’s early justification for the correspondence principle had been
that it was ‘suggested’ by certain similarities between the predictions of atomic
spectra made by classical physics and the new quantum theory. But the principle
went beyond these asymptotic similarities. Rather, Bohr eventually made clear,
it declared a direct connection between the frequencies of light in an atomic
spectrum and certain classical motions in the atom. This connection justified