Ad Valvas 1999-2000 - pagina 595

AD VALVAS 25 MEI 2000

PAGINA 15

INFORMATIE VAN AFDELING ALGEMENE VORMING (FACULTY OF THE EXACT SCIENCES)

Conference The changing image of the sciences' On Thursday June 15th and Friday June 16th , 2000 a conference will be held in the 'Auditorium' of the Main Building of the Vrije Universiteit on 'The Changing Image of the Sciences', organized by the Afdeling Algemene Vorming (Faculty of the Exact Sciences). The theme In The Netherlands and elsewhere there is much interest and debate on the image of the sciences. In recent years the laci< of interest by youth was blamed on an uninspiring, masculine, very technical, environment unfriendly image of the natural sciences in general. This conference will dig into the roots of these claims. Todays images of science and technology are the product of their history. In the conference various aspects of this subject will be discussed, such as the self-image of the sciences, and the image of science according to the general public. Scientific illustrations are also part of the theme, so far as they are related to the self image or the public image of science and technology.

Garland Allen, professor of biology at Washington University at St. Louis , (USA), wrote 'Life Science in the Twentieth Century', of which parts are used in the VU-biology 'Encyclopedie'-course. A recent publication is entitled: 'Modern biological determinism: The Violence Initiative, the Human Genome Project, and the new eugenics'.

For both days, scholars of various aspects of the theme from all over the world are invited. On Friday, staff members of the Free University will react to the lectures. On this Info-Page, information on the Friday speal<ers is included, because that day is of special interest for staff and students of the science faculties (including mathematics and computer science) of the Vrije Universiteit and for the staff of the Vrije Universiteit in general. On Friday everybody is free to attend (part of) the program. There is no attendance fee.

Australia, Holland and the USA are now teaching similar units. While most history researches try to deal in some detail with a particular country, or theme or pehod, 'Big History' asks what the whole of history looks like. Like traditional Creation Myths, it begins with the beginning of everything. Then it tells a series of linked stories about the origins of the Universe, the stars and planets, the Thursdays program aims at historians earth and its inhabitants, and finally, of science, but could also be of inteof our own species, human beings. rest to other scholars, historians, Eventually, it takes us to the present science-philosophers and sociologists of science. There is also no attendan- ^day. In this way, 'Big History' offers a coherent and unified account of the ce fee for Thursday. past, of how the Universe got to be For Thursday please apply by email no the way it is, and how we came to be later than May 3 1 : ellym@nat.vu.nl or where we are and what we are. 'Big by mail: E. Manenschijn, Afdeling History' is a 'scientific' Creation Algemene Vorming, FEW, VU, De BoeMyth, in the sense that it uses the lelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam. information of modern scientific and The final program will be sent upon histohcal research." receipt of your application. Website: http://www.few.vu.nl/afdelingen/AAV/onderzoek/ David Christian, associate professor of modern history, Macquarie University NSW (Australia), published books To introduce to you the speai<ers of and articles on the history of Russia Friday the following may serve. and on 'big history'.

David Cristian "I taught some of the first units ever taught in 'Big History'; these lool< at the past on the scale of a Creation Myth. Several other Universities in

agriculture in the United States between 1900 and 1950. In addition to an interest in Mendelian genetics and faith in its ability to solve the problems of food production, agriculturists and eugenicists also shared the belief that the principles of scientific animal and plant breeding could be applied to managing human evolution. I am exploring the funding and institutional base for eugenics: who paid for it, what were their motives, how did they try to insure its propagation and institutionalization, and what was the sort of scientific (genetic) basis for eugenic arguments. The ultimate goal of this work is to place eugenics in its economic, social and political context, and to explore its implications for us today."

Garland Allen "The major focus of my present research is on the history of genetics and its relationship to eugenics and

I nt

Amsterdam, 15 16 juni 2000 in het AuditoFiom van het ttöofögebouw wije ünivefsiicft

CHANGING lIVHflHCEiUl OF THE SCIE

Sally Gregory Kohlstedt "I pursue research on the interface of science with American culture, particularly the practice of science in those institutions where there was a persistent and evident relationship with the larger society. My research also investigates the demographics of scientific activity, learning more about who has done science, including the patterns of participation as they vary by scientific disciplines and across disciplinary boundaries. In recent years my investigation includes the participation by women and the impact such participation has had on the practice of science. Other current research interests connect to the ways science has been presented to the public, particularly in the nineteenth century, through organizations like the American Association for the Advancement of Science, through public museum displays, and through educational programs. My recent work has also explored the changing meaning of scientific literacy, as understood by scientists, educators, and public policy makers." Sally Gregory Kohlstedt, professor of the History of Science at the University of Minnesota (USA), published recently the following books: edited, with Helen Longino, 'Women, Gender, and Science: New Directions', Osiris 12 and edited, 'Women in Science: An Isis Reader'.

Mike Mahoney "My recent research on The Structures of Computation: Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, 195070 traces the efforts to develop a mathematical model of computation that adequately represents the possibilities and limits of the digital electronic stored-program computer. Beginning with the initial models, the Turing machine and the switching circuit, the book recounts the origins of formal language theory, computational complexity, and formal semantics. It looks beyond the conceptual history to examine the formation of theoretical computer science both as a recognized discipline in its own right and as a field of mathematics. The book thereby constitutes a dual case study of the histohcal problems of mathematization and of the formation of new scientific disciplines." Mike Mahoney, professor of history at Princeton University (US) wrote a scientific biography on Pierre de Fermat, and vahous articles on the history of computing.

Before 1 8 5 0 phrenology was an accepted science, but afterwards its image changed into a pseudo-science.

Thursday, June 15, 2000

Chair: Albert van Heiden

10.00-10.15

Opening by Prof. Dr. T. Sminia, Rector of university

10.15-10.45

Albert van Helden (USA) Opening lecture

10.45-11.00

Coffee/Tea

11.00-12.00

Lisa Cartwright (USA) Visual culture and medical science

12.00-13.30

Lunch

13.30-14.30

Roy MacLeod (Australia) The role of museums in the creation of an image of the sciences

14.30-15.30

Steve Fuller (UK) The downside of disunity: How the philosophy of science has become an underachieving discipline

15.30-16.00

Tea/Coffee

16.00-17.00

General discussion Chair: Albert van Helden (USA)

Friday, June 16 2000

Chair: Egbert Boel<er

09.00-10.00

David Christian (Australia) Big history: another image of science Referee: Bert Boekschoten

10.00-10.15

Coffee/Tea

10.15-11.15

Garland E. Allen (USA) Changing images of the life sciences: from morphology and descriptive to experimental and molecular biology, 1900-2000 Referee: Nico van Straalen

11.15-12.15

Sally Gregory Kohlstedt (USA) lmag(in)ing women in the sciences Referee: Silvia Volker

12.15-13.30

Lunch

13.30-14.30

Mike Mahoney (USA) The changing image of the computer Referees: Maarten van Steen and Teun Koetsier

14.30-15.30

Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent (France) 20th century chemistry and its relation with biology: shifts in self image Referee: Henk Timmerman

15.30-16.00

Tea/Coffee

16.00-17.00

Abraham Pais (USA) The image of physics Referee: Ben Bakker

Bernadette BensaudeVincent On her and Isabelle's Stengers book on the history of chemistry: "From the earliest use of fire to forge iron tools to the medieval alchemists' search for the philosopher's stone, the secrets of the elements have been pursued by human civilization. In our book on the history of chemistry we present chemistry as a science in search of an identity, or rather as a science whose identity has changed in response to its relation to society and to other disciplines. Beginning with chemistry's polymorphous beginnings, featuhng many independent discoveries all over the globe, the narrative then moves to a discussion of chemistry's niche in the eighteenth-century notion of Natural Philosophy and on to its nineteenth-century days as an exemplar of science as a means of reaching positive knowledge. I also address contentious issues of concern to contemporary scientists: whether chemistry has become a service science; whether its status has "declined" because its value lies in assisting the leading-edge research activities of molecular geneticists and matehals scientists; or whether it is redefining its agenda." Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, professor of History and Philosophy of Science in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Paris X (France)has published many books and articles, amongst others on Lavoisier.

Abraham Pais "I was a physics student at the University of Utrecht when the Nazi's came to power. Managing to finish my Ph.D. just days before Jews were barred altogether from the universities brought me the distinction of being the last Jew to receive a doctorate degree in wartime Holland. My dissertation attracted the attention of Nils Bohr, who sent a message inviting me to work with him in Denmark. I went underground for the duration of the war, unable to leave Holland to accept Nils Bohr's invitation until 1946. The following year I was a colleague of Einstein at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study." Abraham Pais, professor of physics at Rockefeller University, New York (USA) published in 1982 a critically acclaimed biography of Einstein, in 1986, a definitive history of the study of modern physics, and more recently a biography of Nils Bohr.

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