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Forum on History of Physics
Fall 1997 Newsletter
History of Physics Newsletter Volume VII, No. 1, Fall 1997
[Note: The Web edition of this Newsletter contains additional
information about Dibner Institute Fellows and a supplement to the reports.
The additions are found in a special section labeled Web Supplement, at
the end of the Newsletter.]
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| Forum Chair Invites Involvement |
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The American Physical Society has been very welcoming to historians
of physics and to the history of physics. I recall being at an initial
organizing session in 1980 with Steve Brush, Martin Klein, the Goldhabers
and others. Since its beginnings as a Division and now a Forum of the APS,
the History of Physics has continually attracted about 6% of the total
APS membership. I have served the Division and Forum as an officer of our
Executive Committee for eight of our eighteen years and I have been happy
to do so. I would be happy to see a wider spectrum of our members share
in the experience of helping the APS Forum on History of Physics. I welcome
suggestions or invitations from each and all members of our Forum. Specifically,
if you would like to serve on a sub-committee of our Forum in future, or
to suggest name(s) of others, please contact me (sgillmor@wesleyan.edu)
or our Chair-Elect Roger Stuewer (rstuewer@physics.spa.umn.edu).
When I was a candidate for election to our Executive Committee, I wrote
that our Forum is a place for historians and physicists to interact. Our
sessions at national meetings allow presentations of the history of "internal"
developments in the history of physics as well as the examination of "external"
or cultural conditions affecting and affected by physics in the broader
society. This academic year we are sponsoring three sessions in the Spring
of 1998, one at the March meeting and two at the April meeting, which are
described briefly below.
I might be forgiven for looking forward to 1999, when the APS celebrates
its centennial. In that year there will be no April meeting, but a grand
Centennial Celebration in Atlanta, March 20-26. The Forum on History of
Physics is involved now with some of the activities for 1999: Dudley Herschbach,
Roger Stuewer and Bert Schwarzschild are working with Steve Brush and others
on projects and events for the Centennial. It is not too early to contact
our Forum if your Division or Section is planning for a historically related
topic or session for 1999. We can possibly help in suggesting speakers
or topics. In addition, the APS will distribute a Centennial Speakers Booklet
in the Spring of 1998 with a list of speakers willing to give colloquia
or talks, and this booklet is being prepared with some assistance from
our Forum.
C. Stewart Gillmor, Forum Chair
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| From the Editor |
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This is my first issue as editor of the History of Physics Newsletter.
Thanks are in order to the many people who so generously help with each
issue. My predecessor, Bill Blanpied, did fine work with the Newsletter
for three years. He has been very helpful in providing information for
this issue. The officers and membership of the Forum on History of Physics
extend grateful appreciation to him for his long and devoted service.
We have a special treat in this issue with the front page cartoon of
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Steve Benson. Benson, of the Arizona
Republic, is a close personal friend who has generously and graciously
shared his talents with the Forum and the Newsletter. Our sincere
thanks to him for his contribution.
It is my hope that the Newsletter can be both interesting and
useful to Forum members. Please send me your suggestions and your news
items (evenson@byu.edu, Department
of Physics, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, 801 378-6078). We
publish but twice a year, so some materials may not fit our publication
schedule, but we will try to put timely notices on the APS Forum on History
of Physics Web page when they don't match our February and October publication
schedule.
Bill Evenson, Editor
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The History of Physics Newsletter is published by the Forum on
History of Physics of the American Physical Society. It is distributed
free to all members of the Forum. Others who wish to receive it should
make a donation to the Forum of $5 per year (+$3 additional for air mail).
Each volume consists of six issues. Editor: William E. Evenson, Department
of Physics, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, (evenson@byu.edu)
801 378-6078.
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| FORUM NEWS |
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Forum Officers
C. Stewart Gillmor,
Department of History, Wesleyan University
(sgillmor@wesleyan.edu), became
Chair in April 1997 at the end of Gordon Baym's term.
Roger H. Stuewer,
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota (rstuewer@physics.spa.umn.edu),
was elected Chair-Elect and will succeed as Chair in April 1998.
Allan
D. Franklin, Department of Physics, University of Colorado (Allan.Franklin@colorado.edu),
was elected Vice-Chair and will succeed as Chair-Elect in April 1998.
Dudley Herschbach, Department of Chemistry, Harvard University
(herschbach@chemistry.harvard.edu),
and Abner E. Shimony, Department of Physics, Boston University (shimony@buphy.bu.edu),
were elected to three-year terms on the Executive Committee.
The remaining
members of the Executive Committee are:
Peggy A. Kidwell, Smithsonian
Institution (maho146@sivm.si.edu),
and K. C. Wali, Department of Physics, Syracuse University (wali@suhep.physyr.edu),
whose terms expire April 1998; and Ruth H. Howes, Department of
Physics and Astronomy, Ball State University (00rhhowes@bsuvc.bsu.edu),
and Bertram Schwarzschild, Physics Today (bschwarz@aip.org),
whose terms expire April 1999.
Albert Wattenberg, Department of Physics, University of Illinois
(a-wattenberg@uiuc.edu) continues
to serve as Forum Councillor until December 1997, after which Gloria
Lubkin, Physics Today (gbl2@aip.org),
will represent the Forum on the APS Council until 2002.
David Cassidy, Natural Science Program, Hofstra University (dcassidy@pppmail.nyser.net),
continues to serve as Secretary-Treasurer; and Spencer R. Weart,
Director of the AIP Center for History of Physics (sweart@aip.org),
continues to serve as Ex Officio member of the Executive Committee.
Many thanks to Gordon A. Baym, Department of Physics, University
of Illinois (gbaym@uiuc.edu), for his
good work as Chair 1996-97 and his continued help as Past Chair this year.
Forum
Committees
For 1997-98,
the Standing Committees of the Forum are:
- Program Committee: Allan Franklin (chair), Stew Gillmor,
Ruth Howes
- Nominating Committee: Virginia Trimble (chair), Joseph
I. Budnick (APS), Peggy Kidwell, Gloria Lubkin, Roger Stuewer
- Fellowship Committee: Gordon Baym (chair), Lawrence Badash,
K. C. Wali
- Publications Committee
: Bill Evenson (chair), Spencer
Weart
- Membership Committee: David Cassidy (chair), Abner Shimony
Ad Hoc Committees and Representatives are:
- APS Centennial Liaison: Dudley Herschbach (chair), Bert
Schwarzschild, Roger Stuewer
- CAM Liaison: George Trigg
- APS March Meeting Sorting Committee Representative: Stewart
Gillmor
Executive Committee
The annual meeting of the Executive Committee was held on April 20,
1997, in conjunction with the Washington, DC joint APS-AAPT annual meeting.
It was chaired by Gordon Baym, who paid tribute to deceased Chair-Elect
Stanley Goldberg. He thanked the committee for their work during
the year, especially in the face of additional burdens due to Goldberg's
tragic death. Bill Evenson, who chaired a session at the APS meeting
the day before, had offered a remembrance of Goldberg in his opening remarks
during the session.
Judy Franz, APS Executive Officer, thanked the Forum for its
sponsorship of a reception at the Smithsonian in celebration of the 100th
anniversary of the discovery of the electron. She reported a proposed change
in the April meeting for next year: There are to be more plenary sessions,
which will be given in the morning, and fewer contributed sessions, which
will be in the afternoon, but there will be the same number of contributed
papers. She requested that we send a representative to the APS planning
session in September, and that we recommend speakers who could speak on
the history of physics during the plenary sessions. <
Barrie Ripin, Associate Executive Officer and Editor of APS News,
called upon FHP to contribute articles and "history tidbits"
for the APS News. These will be of increasing interest as the Centennial
approaches. He also requested that someone provide historical perspective
on the current employment situation in physics. How does the current unemployment
of physicists compare with other periods in the recent and distant past?
Finally, Dr. Ripin suggested that the Forum consider instituting an award
or prize. Since we do not have the required funds for a permanent prize,
this might be a "distinguished lectureship" for which the Forum
would provide travel funds for a speaker to deliver a distinguished lecture.
The committee agreed to maintain the current Newsletter publication
of two hard-copy issues per year. David Cassidy reported that the
Web site has proven useful in informing our members, but that the information
is often dated because of insufficient notice. He encouraged others to
submit items for the site.
Forum Councillor Al Wattenberg reported that the APS is moving
in a major way into electronic publishing. While this may reduce costs,
it poses potential problems for the historical preservation of information.
There seems to be no medium in which to store information that is as permanent
as printed copy. APS is also pursuing plans for joint Mexican-American-Canadian
collaboration. It was suggested that we attempt to identify historians
of physics in the other nations with whom we might collaborate on Forum
activities. It was also suggested that the physical societies in all three
nations might form a joint Forum on History of Physics, as has been done
in Europe. Since Wattenberg will be stepping down as Forum Councillor at
the end of 1997, Baym expressed the gratitude of the Forum to Al for his
outstanding service to both the Forum and APS and presented him with a
certificate of appreciation.
Dr. Sherry Preische reported on plans for the APS Centenary [see
below under APS and AIP News].
The committee warmly thanked Gordon Baym for his outstanding
work as Chair.
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| Focused Sessions Planned for 1998 |
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The Forum on History of Physics will sponsor three invited symposia
at APS meetings during 1998. At the March Meeting in Los Angeles, a session
has been organized on "The History of Critical Phenomena,"
with talks by Professors Anneke Sengers, Michael Fisher, and Pierre Hohenberg.
At the April Meeting in Columbus, Ohio, a session has been arranged
on "Science and Its Critics," with talks by Professors
Kurt Gottfried of Cornell (physics), Ullica Segerstrale of Illinois Institute
of Technology (social sciences), and George Levine of Rutgers (English).
Also at the April Meeting, a session is planned on "The Teaching
of Physics a Century Ago," co-sponsored by the History and Philosophy
of Physics Committee of the AAPT. Speakers for this symposium will include
Kathryn Olesko, Georgetown, "Fin de Siecle Physics Pedagogy in Europe,"
John Michel, Minneapolis, "The Teaching of Physics in the US,"
Stewart Gillmor, Wesleyan, "The Teaching of Physics at US Women's
Colleges," and a fourth speaker to be announced.
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| APS & AIP NEWS |
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APS Centennial
The following report was prepared with the
help of Sherrie Preische
and Spencer Weart
The American Physical Society is planning a wide variety of events and
services for its Centennial in 1999, including a gala meeting in Atlanta
featuring exhibits, Nobel Prize winners, visitors from foreign physical
societies, special speakers and books to commemorate the occasion. The
materials produced will have broad value for spreading information about
the history of physics during the past century.
A list will be made available of 200 or more excellent speakers willing
to give colloquia to celebrate the Centennial during the fall of 1998 and
the Centennial year 1999. The list is being developed following the suggestions
of APS units. The talks will emphasize the historical, social, cultural,
and political impacts of physics, and will be general interest talks, not
focused on the speaker's current research, each with an introduction setting
their topic in the context of 20th century physics. A Centennial
Speakers Book listing candidate speakers and topics will be distributed
to all physics departments and other interested institutions during the
spring of 1998. It will also be available on the Web. APS hopes that all
physics departments will include one or more Centennial talks in their
regular colloquium series.
To aid those who wish to give talks or otherwise share historical information,
a CD-ROM containing pictures of important 20th century physicists is being
developed. This CD-ROM will be distributed to all the speakers on the Centennial
Speakers Book list and will also be available for sale.
Reaching out still more broadly to the public and students, a 27-foot
wall chart is being produced to present a timeline of the history of physics
since the 1890s. The chart will emphasize the role of physics in technology
and culture. Five themes will run through the chart: exploring the large
(galaxies, stars, and spacetime); exploring the mid-size (the human to
global scale); exploring the small (atoms, quarks, and quanta); making
technology (techniques and devices); exploring the living world (biomolecules
and medicine). Funding will be sought so that the wall chart can be distributed
free of charge to high schools and physics departments around the country.
A version of the wall chart will be put on the World-Wide Web, but the
extent of this project is still being defined.
A special issue of Reviews of Modern Physics, guest-edited by Ben Bederson,
will provide a review of 20th century physics. A "coffee-table"
picture book on the same topic, aimed at a wide general audience, is being
produced as a joint effort between APS and AIP.
Those with questions or wishing to contribute suggestions should contact
Sherrie Preische at the American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse,
College Park, MD 20740; 301-209-3255, e-mail preische@aps.org.
Fiftieth Anniversary of Physics Today: Essay Contest and Humor
Request
Physics Today, has announced an essay contest, "Can You
Write Physics Tomorrow?" in celebration of the magazine's 50th
anniversary in 1998. This is an invitation to write an imagined "Search
and Discovery" story about a future discovery, advance in physics,
or new technology. The magazine is also soliciting short humorous items
about physics or physicists suitable for publication. Details of both solicitations
are available in the October issue of Physics Today or from the
Physics Today editorial office.
Electronic Archive on Contributions of
20th Century Women
to Physics
FHP has become a co-sponsor with the Committee on the Status of Women
in Physics (CSWP) of a project which is compiling an electronic archive
on the contributions of 20th century women to physics. This
archive is accessible via an interactive, multimedia Web site. It is presently
under construction and is functioning more as an information gathering
rather than information disseminating site. It is functioning mainly for
the physics community with a view to receiving comments, criticisms, and
further data. FHP members are encouraged to look at it and, possibly, add
information using the citation and comment fill-in forms. Its URL is http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~cwp.
For example, viewers can see and learn about: Inge Lehmann, discoverer
of the solid inner core of the earth, Kathleen Lonsdale, who, interalia,
showed that the benzene molecule is a planar hexagon and measured its inter-atomic
distances, and Marietta Blau, who pioneered the use of nuclear emulsions
to study elementary particle physics for a decade before Cecil Powell began
to work with them.
Physics & Society
Newsletter
The July 1997 issue of the newsletter of the Forum on Physics and Society
contains three articles based on the theme "Women in Physics: Past,
Present, Future." The articles are "Personal Memories of Chien-Shiung
Wu" by N. Benczer-Koller, "Women in Physics in Canada" by
Jolanta B. Lagowski and Janis McKenna, and "Points of Derailment:
The Making of a Female Physicist" by D. Elizabeth Pugel. These articles
are available in the Web edition of Physics & Society, including
an expanded version of the last two articles, at http://physics.wm.edu/~sher/newsletter.cfm.
Center for History of Physics
Grants-in-aid for history of modern physics and allied sciences (Astronomy,
Geophysics, etc.). The Center for History of Physics of the American
Institute of Physics has a program of grants-in-aid for research in the
history of modern physics and allied sciences (such as astronomy, geophysics,
and optics) and their social interactions. Grants can be up to $2500 each.
They can be used only to reimburse direct expenses connected with the work.
Preference will be given to those who need part of the funds for travel
and subsistence to use the resources of the Center's Niels Bohr Library
in College Park, Maryland (easily accessible from Washington, DC), or to
microfilm papers or to tape-record oral history interviews with a copy
deposited in the Library. Applicants should either be working toward a
graduate degree in the history of science (in which case they should include
a letter of reference from their thesis adviser), or show a record of publication
in the field. To apply, send a vitae plus a letter of no more than two
pages describing your research project, and including a brief budget showing
the expenses for which support is requested. Send to Spencer Weart, Center
for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics, One Physics Ellipse,
College Park, MD 20740, tel. (301) 209-3174, fax (301) 209-0882, e-mail
sweart@aip.org. Deadlines for receipt
of applications are June 30 and December 31 of each year.
Supplement Issued to the Niels Bohr Library's Guide to Archival
Collections. A 1993-1996 supplement will be issued to update the
AIP's Guide to the Archival Collections in the Niels Bohr Library at
the American Institute of Physics. Published in 1995, the Guide
described the Library's rich and varied collections of unpublished materials
relating to history of modern physics and allied sciences, and has proved
to be a valuable resource for historians of science and other researchers.
The Library has acquired substantial new archival materials and oral
history interviews since the Guide was prepared. We are now completing
a printed supplement which will include all source material acquired between
January 1993 and December 1996. The Supplement 1993-1996 to the Guide
to the Archival Collections in the Niels Bohr Library is organized
in the same format as before, with chapters describing manuscript materials,
microfilm, oral history interviews, manuscript biographies, institutional
histories, audio-visual materials, finding aids from other repositories,
and finally a detailed index to the over 200 entries. The supplement will
be available by December 1997 and a copy will be sent at no cost
to everyone whom Center records show purchased a Guide, thanks to
funding provided by the Friends of the Center for History of Physics. Those
who received a Guide as a gift are invited to contact the Center
for a copy of the supplement.
Catalog records for all collections in the supplement will also be available
and searchable online early next year after they are uploaded to the Research
Library Information Network (RLIN) database, and also through the Library's
own Online Public Access Catalog, currently searchable through inquiry
to the staff and soon to be mounted on the World-Wide Web. With scholars
increasingly turning to the internet for such information, it is possible
that this supplement is the last that will need to be issued in print.
The original Guide (now bundled with the Supplement) can
be purchased through the American Institute of Physics, Order Department,
P.O. Box 20, Williston, VT 05495-0020; phone: 800 809-2247. The hardcover
version is $135.00 and the softcover $75.00. (The Supplement is
softcover only.)
Associate Director of AIP Center for History of Physics Retires.
Joan Warnow-Blewett, a key staff member of the American Institute of Physics
Center for History of Physics for 32 years, retired on 1 August 1997. She
joined AIP in 1965 as Librarian of the Niels Bohr Library; in 1974 she
was promoted to Associate Director of the Center. She continues working
at AIP on a part-time basis as Archivist Emeritus, advising Center staff,
and Project Director of the grant-funded AIP Study of Multi-Institutional
Collaborations. Her other duties have been taken over by R. Joseph Anderson,
who has been promoted to Assistant Director of the Center. On completion
of the collaborations study in 1998 Joan will go into retirement full-time.
For further remarks see this fall's AIP History of Physics Newsletter,
posted on its Web site:
http://www.aip.org/history/web-news.html.
New Science History Exhibits on World-Wide Web.
- Discovery of the Electron exhibit on the World-Wide Web: 1997
is the centennial of the experiments that led J. J. Thomson to announce
the discovery of the first fundamental subatomic particle. The history
of this famous advance can be reviewed on a new Web site prepared by the
Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics. A text
based on recent historical studies is accompanied by photographs, animated
diagrams, quotes and a clip of Thomson's voice. Science teachers and students
in particular should profit from viewing the site. Point your browser to
http://www.aip.org/history/electron.
- Online Einstein museum: The Center for History of Physics also
offers a large Web site giving a guided tour through the life of Albert
Einstein. Numerous pictures along with quotes and voice clips illustrate
an authoritative text by historians. The viewer can click on menu items
dealing with Einstein's formative years, his revolutionary works such as
relativity ("A great storm broke loose in my head"), his world
fame (with period cartoons), the nuclear age (showing Einstein's letter
to President Roosevelt about atomic bombs) and many other subjects. This
major exhibit is organized with an index of topics and features, a chronology
of basic facts, and links to much additional information on the Web about
Einstein's life and science. Point your browser to http://www.aip.org/history/einstein.
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| NOTES |
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Passing of Prominent Figures in Physics
Knowing that we will miss some important contributors to physics, we
nevertheless note the passing of the following physicists. Historians of
physics may yet need to ensure that the papers of some of these people
are collected and preserved.
- Friedrich Hund died in March at the age of 101. Members of the National
Academy of Sciences who died during this past year include H. H. Barschall,
Norris Bradbury, Robert Dicke, J. Luttinger, Edward Purcell, Robert Serber,
and C. S. Wu in physics and Lyman Spitzer and Martin Schwarzschild in astronomy.
Request for Historical Tidbits
FHP requests historical tidbits, factoids,
paragraphs, or short articles
that would be suitable for APS News or similar publications. Tidbits
that would be appropriate for the APS Centennial Year are especially desired.
Send or email items to the Newsletter editor (Bill Evenson, evenson@byu.edu,
Department of Physics, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602).
Request for Speakers
As Stew Gillmor, Forum Chair, mentioned
above, we are soliciting suggestions
and volunteers for speakers on historical topics who would be available
and appropriate during the APS Centennial Year (1999). Please suggest either
speakers or topics or both. Speakers may be asked to address local, regional,
or national audiences. Send suggestions to C. Stewart Gillmor, Department
of History, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459 (sgillmor@wesleyan.edu).
Web Links
Numerous useful World-Wide Web links are
available at the AIP Center
for History of Physics Web site. Go to http://www.aip.org/history
and follow the links to other sites. NASA History: News and Notes,
which regularly includes lists of upcoming meetings and publications with
some connection to aerospace history, is available on the Web at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/p
ao/History/nltrc.cfm.
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| Announcements and News |
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Directory of Historians of Physics
A Directory of Historians of Physics, compiled by Stephen G.
Brush and Martha E. Keyes, has been issued by the Committee on the History
and Philosophy of Science at the University of Maryland, College Park,
MD 20742. It lists address, research interests, and a recent publication
for more than 400 physicists and historians. The Directory is available
on the World-Wide Web at http://carnap.umd.edu:90/chps/chps.cfm
or http://www.aip.org/history.
For those unable to obtain it this way, it may be requested by email from
Michele Abadia Dalmau at hp26@umail.umd.edu;
or paper copies may be ordered for $6 each, including postage (write to
her at the above address, enclosing check payable to the University of
Maryland); for further information phone 301 405-5691 or fax 301 405-5690.
Commemorative Meeting on Madame
Curie
Dr. Stanislaw Gross and Dr. Henry Moss are organizing a commemorative
meeting on Madame Curie to be held at the New York Academy of Sciences
in October 1998. Additional information is available from Henry Moss (hmoss@nyas.org,
212 838-0230, ext. 410).
History of Science Society 1997
Meeting
The History of Science Society 1997 meeting will be held November 6-9
at the Hyatt Regency in La Jolla, CA. Registration information and forms
as well as the meeting program are available on the Web at http://weber.u.
washington.edu/~hssexec/annual/hss_meetings_hss.cfm
or from the History of Science Society Executive Office, Keith R. Benson,
Executive Secretary, University of Washington, Box 351330, Seattle, WA
98195-1330, 206 543-9366, fax 206 685-9544.
HOPOS '98
The Second International History of Philosophy of Science Conference
will be held March 12-15, 1998, at Notre Dame. It will feature a keynote
address by Ernan McMullin and a plenary address by Thomas Nickles. The
HOPOS Web site has further information: http://scistud.umkc.edu/hopos/index.html.
The Seven Pines Symposium
The Seven Pines Symposium is dedicated to bringing historians, philosophers,
and physicists together in a collaborative effort to probe and clarify
significant foundational issues in the history and philosophy of physics,
as they have arisen in the past and continue to challenge our understanding
today. The symposium takes its name from Seven Pines Lodge, located near
Lewis, Wisconsin, which was built in 1903 as a trout-fishing camp and since
1978 has been on the National Register of Historic Sites.
The first Seven Pines Symposium was held from May 14-18, 1997, on the
subject, "Historical Perspectives and Philosophical Problems in the
Unification of Physics." Twenty-nine historians, philosophers, and
physicists were invited to participate in it. Each day four speakers set
the stage for discussion by addressing major episodes in unification from
the 17th to the 20th centuries. Alan E. Shapiro (Minnesota)
and Niccoló Guicciardini (Bologna) spoke on "Short-range forces
from Newton to Laplace"; Jed Z. Buchwald (MIT) and Xiang Chen (California
Lutheran) spoke on "Optics and Electromagnetism"; Ana Isabel
Simoes (Lisbon) and Andrea I. Woody (Chicago) spoke on "Quantum Chemistry";
and Don Howard (Notre Dame) and Karel V. Kuchar (Utah) spoke on "Quantum
Gravity." Summarizing and synthesizing talks followed by John D. North
(Groningen), Helge Kragh (Aarhus), Allan D. Franklin (Colorado), and Margaret
C. Morrison (Toronto). Unlike the typical conference, twice as much time
was devoted to discussions following the talks than to the talks themselves,
and long mid-day breaks permitted small groups to assemble at will. As
preparation for the talks and discussions, the speakers selected appropriate
reading materials, which were distributed in advance to all participants.
Lee Gohlike, the owner of Seven Pines Lodge and the founder of the Seven
Pines Symposium, has had a life-long interest in the history and philosophy
of physics and has pursued graduate studies in this field at the Universities
of Minnesota and Chicago. To plan the symposia, which will be held annually,
he established an advisory board consisting of Roger H. Stuewer (Minnesota),
Chair, Jed Z. Buchwald (MIT), John Earman (Pittsburgh), Geoffrey Hellman
(Minnesota), Erwin N. Hiebert (Harvard), Don Howard (Notre Dame), and Alan
E. Shapiro (Minnesota). Also participating in the first Seven Pines Symposium
were Diana Barkan (Caltech), Gordon Belot (Pittsburgh), Cathryn L. Carson
(Berkeley), Arthur Fine (Northwestern), Michael Friedman (Indiana), John
S. Rigden (American Institute of Physics), Silvan S. Schweber (Brandeis),
Ido Yavetz (Tel Aviv), and graduate students Alberto Martinez (Minnesota),
Goran Prstic (Minnesota), Babak Razzaghe-Ashrafi (MIT), and Steven Weinstein
(Northwestern).
The second Seven Pines Symposium will be held from May 13-17, 1998,
on the subject, "Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on the
Interplay of Physics and Mathematics."
Dibner Institute Awards
The Dibner Institute is an international center for advanced research
in the history of science and technology, established in Massachusetts
in 1992. It includes the Burndy Library as its scholarly library resource
and enjoys the participation in its programs of faculty members and students
of consortium-member institutions including the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, as host institution, Boston University, Brandeis University
and Harvard University.
Fellows Programs 1998-1999
.
The Dibner Institute for the History
of Science and Technology invites applications to its two fellowship programs
for 1998-1999: the Senior Fellows program and the new Post-Doctoral Fellows
program. The Dibner Institute expects to have fifteen Senior Fellows each
term and up to five Post-Doctoral Fellows each year. Candidates for Senior
Fellowships should have advanced degrees in appropriate fields and offer
evidence of substantial scholarly accomplishment and professional experience.
Scholars may apply to the Senior Resident Fellows Program for the Fall
(Term 1), the Spring (Term 2), or both. Scholars may apply to the Visiting
Fellows Program for less than a full term but in any case, for at least
two consecutive months. Post-Doctoral Fellowships are awarded to outstanding
young scholars of diverse countries of origin who have obtained the Ph.D.
or equivalent within the previous five years. Post-Doctoral Fellowships
run for one year, from September 1 through August 31, and may be extended
for a second and final year at the discretion of the Dibner Institute.
All Dibner Fellows are expected to reside in the Boston area during
the terms of their grants, to participate in the activities of the Dibner
Institute community and to present their current work at appropriate occasions
during their fellowship appointments. Fellowships provide office space,
support facilities and full privileges at the Burndy Library and at the
libraries of consortium universities. Fellows will have access to the entire
spectrum of activities that take place at the Dibner Institute, where they
will be able to collaborate in an atmosphere of collegiality and find the
resources and appropriate settings to carry on their work.
Funds are available for housing, living expenses and return travel costs.
Estimates of costs, as well as the average stipend for 1997-1998, are provided
with the application forms. The deadline for receipt of applications for
1997-1998 is December 31, 1997. Fellowship recipients will be announced
in March, 1998. Please send requests for further information and for application
forms directly to: Trudy Kontoff, Program Coordinator, Dibner Institute
for the History of Science and Technology, Dibner Building, MIT E56-100,
38 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, telephone: 617. 253.6989,
fax: 617. 253.9858, email: dibner@mit.edu.
Dibner Institute Names Resident, Visiting , Postdoctoral and Graduate
Student Fellows for 1997-1998.
The Dibner Institute has appointed 18
Resident, seven Visiting, seven Postdoctoral, and eight Graduate Student
Fellows for 1997-98. A listing of these fellows and their projects is available
in the Web edition of this Newsletter. Go to http://aps.org/FHP/index.html
and follow the links.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Information about National Endowment for
the Humanities fellowships
and grants programs can be found on the Web at http://www.neh.fed.us.
Fellowships application deadline is May 1, 1998. Other deadlines vary.
National Science Foundation
Information about National Science Foundation programs is available
on the Web at http://www.nsf.gov. Of possible
interest to historians of physics will be the Science and Technology
Studies (STS) program and the Societal Dimensions of Science, Engineering,
and Technology (SDSET) program. Both these programs are administered
in the Division of Social, Behavioral and Economic Research. STS supports
historical, philosophical, and social research about the character and
development of science and technology, the nature of theory and evidence
in various fields, and the social and intellectual construction of science
and technology. SDSET focuses on ethics and values studies and research
on theories and methods in science and engineering.
Pollock Award of the Dudley Observatory
The Herbert C. Pollock Award is given annually in support of a research
project in the history of astronomy or astrophysics. The top award is $10,000,
with secondary Dudley/Pollock Awards in lesser amounts. Application deadline
is early December. Information is available on the Web at http://www.rpi.edu/~waitsc/Dudley.cfm.
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