{"title":"Film Review Revenge of the Nerds","authors":"Coreen McGuire, Joseph D. Martin","doi":"10.1007/s00016-023-00304-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00016-023-00304-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":727,"journal":{"name":"Physics in Perspective","volume":"25 3","pages":"169 - 172"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135273428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Joseph D. Martin, Robert L. Naylor, Richard Staley
{"title":"Secret Science","authors":"Joseph D. Martin, Robert L. Naylor, Richard Staley","doi":"10.1007/s00016-023-00303-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00016-023-00303-4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":727,"journal":{"name":"Physics in Perspective","volume":"25 3","pages":"83 - 84"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135482328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"JASON in Europe: Contestation and the Physicists’ Dilemma about the Vietnam War","authors":"Gerardo Ienna, Simone Turchetti","doi":"10.1007/s00016-023-00302-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00016-023-00302-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This article examines the contestation that in the summer of 1972 disrupted workshops in Western Europe featuring renowned physicists affiliated to the top-secret JASON advisory group. Set up by the US Department of Defense research division, JASON was responsible for outlining new bombing strategies in the context of the Vietnam War. Some of the physicists involved in the protest had contributed instead to the International War Crimes (Russell) Tribunal, gathering evidence in Indochina on the allegedly genocidal character of the US bombing. In reconstructing the history of the contestation, this article contends that the conflict was an opportunity for advertising diverging political stances in the rebellious atmosphere of early 1970s, as much as to convey competing views about the physicists’ influence on global affairs. In particular, while JASON members boasted that their advisory roles stifled bellicose approaches, the protesters recalled the merits of independent inquiry and advocacy “from below” the elitist sphere of government advice, describing these as a better way to advance principles of global social justice.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":727,"journal":{"name":"Physics in Perspective","volume":"25 3","pages":"85 - 105"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00016-023-00302-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135482335","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Calculating and Mapping the Disposition of Future Heavens: Ferdinand Verbiest’s Weather Forecasting and Its Termination During the Qing Court (1669–1680)","authors":"Weixing Niu, Yejing Ge, Haohao Zhu","doi":"10.1007/s00016-023-00301-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00016-023-00301-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>After the resurgence of Jesuit astronomy in 1669, the Flemish Jesuit missionary Ferdinand Verbiest (1623–1688) became the de facto head of the Astronomical Bureau in Qing China. Following the actions of the Italian priest Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) and of the German astronomer Johann Adam Schall von Bell (1591–1666), Verbiest mainly focused on weather forecasting to substitute Chinese traditional astrology with European natural astrology (how planetary motions affected the weather, disease, and agriculture), thereby disseminating his religious beliefs via Western mathematical science. Meanwhile, a series of strategies were mobilized to boost the credibility of this craft, including claiming its technical superiority based on actual celestial positions and calculations, masking the uncertainties with “approximate agreement” (the widening of the acceptable range), and dedicating mathematical instruments for a deep understanding. However, due to sudden political changes and Emperor Kangxi’s (1654–1722) criticism, Verbiest was forced to compromise on the public astrological discourse. Eventually, as the very speculative nature of his craft became apparent, the authorities declared the end of natural astrology and the full restoration of Chinese astrology. Verbiest’s story broadens the current picture of the calendrical and astrological reforms led by Jesuit scientists in China and provides a wider framework to analyze the global spread of Jesuit science and belief.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":727,"journal":{"name":"Physics in Perspective","volume":"25 3","pages":"137 - 168"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136071897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Before and After the Fall: Geography of Soviet and Post-Soviet Physics Surveyed via Leading Journals","authors":"Ivan Sterligov","doi":"10.1007/s00016-023-00298-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00016-023-00298-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Using a dataset of corresponding addresses in the <i>Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics</i> (<i>JETP</i>) and <i>JETP Letters</i> (<i>JETPL</i>), which were the leading venues for Soviet physics, we perform a large-scale survey of the spatial geography of Soviet and post-Soviet physics during the period 1975–2015, capturing the changing roles of different republics and cities within the USSR, post-Soviet states, and countries that were never part of the Soviet Union. We also pay attention to the role of Russian-speaking emigrants. Such a detailed and data-driven geography, based on two leading cross-physics publications, serves as a novel addition to the fields of the history of physics and Soviet/post-Soviet science and geopolitics.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":727,"journal":{"name":"Physics in Perspective","volume":"25 1-2","pages":"41 - 75"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4978591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Between Old and New Interpretations of Life: Animal Electricity at the First Congress of Italian Scientists","authors":"Roberto Mantovani","doi":"10.1007/s00016-023-00296-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00016-023-00296-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In 1839, collaborating with physicist Luigi Pacinotti, the Italian physician and historian of medicine Francesco Puccinotti announced a successful measurement of the existence of electrovital currents in live warm- and cold-blooded animals. To perform this measurement, they used the astatic galvanometer developed by Leopoldo Nobili. The experimental demonstrations took place in Pisa on the morning of October 13, 1839 as part of the First Congress of Italian Scientists. The experiment had been carefully prepared and tested ahead of the Congress in June and July of the same year. Two congressional commissions, composed respectively of doctors and physicists, discussed the results of the experiments and disclosed conflicting views. The physicists diplomatically expressed doubt, saying that the current measured might have been similar, although weaker, to that found in already dead animals and therefore could be traced to physicochemical processes. A debate developed at the Congress and continued afterwards. This significant episode helped keep the question of animal electricity open in Italy, stimulating the development of new electrophysiological studies in the following decade.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":727,"journal":{"name":"Physics in Perspective","volume":"25 1-2","pages":"3 - 40"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00016-023-00296-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4408546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Robert L. Naylor, Joseph D. Martin, Richard Staley
{"title":"Vital Physics","authors":"Robert L. Naylor, Joseph D. Martin, Richard Staley","doi":"10.1007/s00016-023-00297-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00016-023-00297-z","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":727,"journal":{"name":"Physics in Perspective","volume":"25 1-2","pages":"1 - 2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4827997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Joseph D. Martin, Robert L. Naylor, Richard Staley
{"title":"Small Physics","authors":"Joseph D. Martin, Robert L. Naylor, Richard Staley","doi":"10.1007/s00016-022-00295-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00016-022-00295-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":727,"journal":{"name":"Physics in Perspective","volume":"24 4","pages":"179 - 180"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4680559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Laboratory Life Instead of Nuclear Weapons: A New Perspective on the German Uranium Club","authors":"Christian Forstner","doi":"10.1007/s00016-022-00294-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00016-022-00294-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Why did German physicists not build an atomic bomb during the Second World War? This question has long been controversial. This essay provides a new perspective through a focus on the everyday practice of the physicists in their laboratories. The study of everyday research work has long been obscured by the question of the bomb. To this end, the research of the Viennese group in the German <i>Uranverein</i>, or “Uranium Club,” will be analyzed in detail. What breaks and continuities were there in everyday laboratory practice? Were the physicists able to acquire new resources? Did they at least come close to the scale of Big Science or did their research remain tied to the academic laboratory?</p></div>","PeriodicalId":727,"journal":{"name":"Physics in Perspective","volume":"24 4","pages":"181 - 207"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00016-022-00294-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4757388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"(Mis)Translating Entropy?: Camille Flammarion and the Multiple Theologies of the Death of the Universe","authors":"Nadya D. Kelly","doi":"10.1007/s00016-022-00293-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00016-022-00293-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>By the 1860s, the tendency of matter toward increasing chaos—or entropy—had become a fundamental tenet of the new science of thermodynamics. But in Victorian Britain, the ramifications of this second law of thermodynamics for a Christian conception of a progressive universe remained subject to heated ideological debate. Historians of thermodynamics have held up French astronomer Camille Flammarion’s popular science fiction as comprehensive evidence that this entropic–theological debate was widespread across disciplines, media, and cultures. I show that Flammarion’s argument has been misrepresented. Not only did Flammarion not employ entropic heat-death metaphors at all—instead evoking a hot apocalypse—but he interpreted entropy through a distinctive theology, at odds with that of British scientists. A study of Flammarion’s theology, concept of entropy, and novels exhibits how investigating influential popular works can dismantle assumptions about the geographic and religious scope of the entropic–theological debate.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":727,"journal":{"name":"Physics in Perspective","volume":"24 4","pages":"208 - 222"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00016-022-00293-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4890284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}