“Self-questioning”: The scientific autobiography of Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri

"Scientific Autobiography" and Other Papers

Reviews the book, Vittorio Benussi in the History of Psychology by Mauro Antonelli (2018). Mauro Antonelli is Professor of the History of Science and Technology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Milano-Bicocca as well as lecturer in Philosophy at the Alexius Meinong Institute of the Karl-Franzens-University of Graz. His new book, Vittorio Benussi in the History of Psychology, treats of the life and work of the Austrian-Italian psychologist Vittorio Benussi. Benussi was a seminal figure in the early days of the Graz school and a founding father of the Italian Gestalt movement. According to Edwin Boring in A History of Experimental Psychology, Benussi was "the most productive and effective experimental psychologist that Austria had" (Boring, 1950, p. 446). Antonelli, in his study, sets out to expand and correct the extant historical record and portrait of Benussi by fleshing out details drawn from the whole of his career, including his ongoing contributions to experimental psychology in the years (after 1919) when Benussi left Graz and settled in Padua, Italy. Benussi begins his book by giving a brief account of how scientific psychology developed in the German speaking world. Presenting his thesis of "Austrian Psychology" (Antonelli, 2018, p. 17), the first chapter of Antonelli's book, "The Austrian Path toward Gestalt Psychology: From Brentano to Benussi, via Meinong," also gives a detailed but readable account of some of the important philosophical ideas that contributed to the birth of scientific psychology in Germany and Austria. After an outline of Benussi's life history, in Chapter 2, "Vittorio Benussi: A Difficult Life, a Tragic Fate," Chapter 3 of Antonelli's book, "The Graz Period," traces the engagement between Benussi and the Brentano School more sharply. Foremost, Benussi was an empiricist and, as such, was always aware of how theory and speculation could, at times, get in the way of correct observation and proper determination of the facts. In Chapter 3, Antonelli quotes Benussi's "Scientific Autobiography" of 1926, in which it is emphasized how a kind of methodological restraint connecting theorizing to experimentation is an essential characteristic of all experimental work. In Chapter 4, we are treated to an exploration of the far less documented Padua period of Benussi's research. The central developments during this period include Benussi's research on hypnotic states, the connections between emotions and kinaesthesia, and his continuation of work begun in Graz on the psychology of testimony, that is, the detection of lies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

For a professional writer, the publication of selected works or even a complete set of works in several volumes in the writer’s lifetime is the norm (provided a willing publisher is found). Among scientists, however, selected works are very rarely printed during a scientist’s life. The latest example that I know is the two-volume set of Yakov B. Zeldovich’s selected works [1]. The main reason for this difference (this can hardly be doubted) is that typically novels, stories, and the like do not become obsolete; at any rate they remain attractive and interesting (I certainly mean only high-quality literature, not the mediocre or fly-by-night books that have often been published with enormous print runs). In contrast to this, scientific publications often overlap, they are developed and extended by later publications, or they are reflected in reviews, monographs, and textbooks. Nevertheless, a publication of collected scientific works cannot be regarded as unnecessary. (Of course, quality is the issue but I again mean important papers, important at least at the time of their publication). There is no need to prove this when a great scientist is involved, but physicists and other scientists of lesser rank also often accomplish a great deal of very useful work in their lifetime. It would be convenient to be able to read their papers without browsing through old journals. For this reason, and also as a tribute to the author, numerous selected works are published posthumously. Assuming all this, isn’t it legitimate for an author to take part in the publication of his or her own selected works while still in this world? It appears that such attempts are deemed immodest; besides, very few rise to the occasion and undertake this time-consuming job. On the other hand, a publication with the author’s participation should, in general, be of much higher quality than a posthumous one. To make the story short, I had nothing against Yakov Zeldovich publishing his collected works. When he presented the two volumes to me, he said something like “You’ll also reach 70 soon, so follow my example.” And then added: “This absorbed two years of my life.” No doubt, Ya. B. had not devoted two years exclusively to compiling, editing, and commenting on his publications [1], but all this definitely demanded a huge amount of work. Quite a few others were also involved in this effort. I confess that Ya. B.’s advice seemed very seductive at the time. Summing things up is quite natural, once you reach a certain age. However, I soon rejected the idea of publishing my own collected works: the effort involved is enormous and hard, and it would be unlikely that anyone else could be found to help me. Ultimately, I am not sure in my case that the interest in such `collected works’ would warrant the effort. But a thought came to mind that it would be different if I wrote an article — while compiling the volume you are now reading — that would kind of give a synopsis of the nonpublished selected works and be a variant of a scientific autobiography (I mean an account of my scientific efforts), referring to those publications of mine that I consider to be of some value. Even this approach may not be — and probably will not be — justifiable to some; however, reading it is not compulsory, and this calms me.

On Superconductivity and Superfluidity (What I Have and Have Not Managed to Do), As Well As on the 'Physical Minimum' at the Beginning of the 21st Century.- Superconductivity and Superfluidity.- A Few Comments on Superconductivity Research.- On the Theory of Superconductivity.- 'Nobel' Autobiography.- A Scientific Autobiography: An Attempt.- Vitaly L. Ginzburg: A Bibliometric Study.

Tra Rinascimento e Barocco la prospettiva si declina in diverse forme nelle arti applicate, dalle prospettive architettoniche, alle grandi anamorfosi, alle scenografie teatrali. La sua “costruzione” in opera assunse un ruolo centrale, al punto di attrarre l’interesse di artisti e matematici che alternarono speculazioni di carattere teorico a soluzioni pratiche di tipo sperimentale. I cantieri prospettici del tempo divennero dei veri e propri laboratori in scala naturale, in cui le operazioni proiettive acquisivano forma fisica. Riprodotte in opera per mezzo di funi, aste e lumi queste consentivano la verifica sperimentale delle teorie enunciate. In questi luoghi di fabbricazione dell’illusione l’astrazione teorica trovava la sua ragione operativa, palesando quel fortunoso connubio fra arte e scienza su cui la tradizione prospettica si fonda. Di questa prassi operativa si ha testimonianza in modo frammentario nei trattati di prospettiva del tempo, nei capitoli dedicati alle applicazioni. Una lettura critica di tipo trasversale ha permesso di delineare un modus operandi comune, che si fonda sui principi proiettivi della prospettiva stessa e che risolve il problema della costruzione dei tracciati in termini di assoluta generalizzazione.

Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers.

This is a personal review of Steven Weinberg’s scientific autobiography “A Life in Physics”. A reflection on both, personal aspects and scientific milestones of Professor Weinberg’s role-model life is conducted to honour his lasting accomplishments as a great physicist, academic teacher, and public activist in progressing high-energy particle theory and theoretical cosmology, and in raising public support for fundamental physics.

Cet article s’intéresse à une douzaine de récits autobiographiques écrits par des scientifiques et s’attache à en caractériser le genre. Il apparaît clairement qu’une lecture attentive de ces textes est riche en enseignements sur la façon dont la connaissance scientifique est créée, diffusée, recyclée, ainsi que sur les contextes au sein desquels ce processus a lieu. Les inclusions et les omissions de chacun de ces exemples de l’« écriture de soi » est le reflet des influences et processus sociaux qui opèrent lors de la production et l’application de la connaissance scientifique. On discerne également une tension permanente entre l’interprétation personnelle des évènements et l’avancement du projet de la communauté scientifique toute entière.

Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers. By Max Planck. With a Memorial Address on Max Planck by Max von Laue. Translated from the German by Frank Gaynor.

Scientific Autobiography and other Papers By Max Planck. With a Memorial Address on Max Planck, by Max von Laue. Translated from the German by Frank Gaynor. Pp. 192. (London: Williams and Norgate, Ltd., 1950.) 8s. 6d. net.

Review: The Architecture of the City, a Scientific Autobiography, Arcades: The History of a Building Type, Computer Graphics and Environmental Planning, the Fractal Geometry of Nature, Professionals and Urban Form, Vision: A Computational Investigation into the Human Representation and Processing of Visual Information

Many Handicaps and a Lot of Good Luck. A Scientific Autobiography

Book Review| March 01 1983 Review: The Architecture of the City by Aldo Rossi, Diane Ghirardo; A Scientific Autobiography by Aldo Rossi, Lawrence Venuti The Architecture of the CityAldo RossiDiane GhirardoA Scientific AutobiographyAldo RossiLawrence Venuti Adolf Max Vogt, Adolf Max Vogt Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Radka Donnell Radka Donnell Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (1983) 42 (1): 86–88. https://doi.org/10.2307/989868 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Adolf Max Vogt, Radka Donnell; Review: The Architecture of the City by Aldo Rossi, Diane Ghirardo; A Scientific Autobiography by Aldo Rossi, Lawrence Venuti. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1 March 1983; 42 (1): 86–88. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/989868 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of the Society of Architectural Historians Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1983 The Society of Architectural Historians Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Scientific Autobiography: On Brain Health and Cognitive Fitness Into the Later Years of Life—Journey of a Behavioral Neurologist of Aging

Vocational and scientific autobiography