History Of Science Research Articles

Ancient Greek laws of nature

The prevailing narrative in the history of science maintains that the ancient Greeks did not have a concept of a ‘law of nature’. This paper overturns that narrative and shows that some ancient Greek philosophers did have an idea of laws of nature and, moreover, they referred to them as ‘laws of nature’. This paper analyzes specific examples of laws of nature in texts by Plato, Aristotle, Philo of Alexandria, Nicomachus of Gerasa, and Galen. These examples emerged out of the closely intertwined Platonic and Pythagorean traditions, and these philosophers' texts make reference to laws of nature when describing arithmetical methods, arithmological doctrines, or medical theories. Nicomachus' laws of nature are especially noteworthy, because they have features that historians look for in the search for the origin of the modern concept of laws of nature. Nicomachus' laws of nature are mathematical, universal, and necessary. This paper raises the possibility that the ancient Platonic and Pythagorean traditions influenced the subsequent development of the idea of laws of nature in medieval and early modern Europe, including the conception of laws of nature deployed by Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton.

Report of V. M. Turok-Popov at the 1964 meeting of the section of social sciences of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences on the tasks of Soviet Slavic studies

This article presents V. M. Turok-Popov’s contribution to the critical reflection of methodological problems of Soviet historical science, including Soviet Slavic studies, during the thaw. From the documents of the scientist’s personal fund kept in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, his report on the tasks of Slavic studies for the meeting of the Section of Social Sciences of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1964, the purpose of which was to develop methodological issues of history, is published for the first time. The proceedings of the meeting were published in the collection ‘History and Sociology’ (1964), but Turok-Popov’s report was not included in it, which limited the circle of people who could have familiarised themselves with it. The publication is accompanied by a letter from V. V. Altman’s letter, which conveys the reaction to the report of the participants of the meeting and indicates some reasons for its absence from the collection.

The Chinese Freshwater Jellyfish Unbound

Jellyfish are commonly known as dangerous sea creatures that humans should avoid. Focusing on the newly discovered freshwater jellyfish in the late nineteenth century, this article explores a global history of Craspedacusta sowerbii, a species native to China first noted in nineteenth-century Britain but since traveling the world over. The worldwide distribution of C. sowerbii, as both polyps and medusae, made it a global subject of scientific inquiry. However, no independent study has examined the history behind the origin, circulation, and implication of the freshwater jellyfish and its relationship with marine types. The late nineteenth century was the period when our premodern knowledge of jellyfish transformed from it being purely a marine life to the modern recognition of jellyfish as both marine and freshwater organisms, triggered by the discovery and discussion of the Chinese freshwater jellyfish C. sowerbii among naturalists and philosophers. This article focuses on Arthur de Carle Sowerby’s engagement with C. sowerbii in terms of narratives of evolution, nomenclature, and bioinvasion between 1880 and 1941. I argue that jellyfish, as a lowly form of invertebrates, should be taken more seriously by historians of modern China and historians of biology who are interested in the diverse roles of animals in shaping human–animal interactions in the Anthropocene. While the scientific research of jellyfish’s global bloom abounds, the interpretation of the global rise of jellyfish could benefit from a historically and culturally bound analysis of this classical animal. This is particularly so as scientists recognized the diverse perceptions of jellyfish. The global jellyfish bloom requires historical perspectives on a topic that has hitherto received scant attention from historians of science.

RUSSIAN LITERARY ESTATE: A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE

The purpose of the article is to identify and characterize promising vectors of development of the Russian literary estate in the first quarter of the 21st century, in connection with which the works on the “estate” theme of T. N. Tolstaya, Yu. V. Mamleev, V. G. Sorokin, A. P. Potemkin, E. G. Vodolazkin, G. Sh. Yakhina, A. I. Slapovsky, M. L. Stepnova, V. O. Pelevin, etc. are examined in a wide cultural context. The article demonstrates that the new quality of the estate text, in comparison with the classics of the 19th — early 20th century, arises in Soviet literature and continues in the post-Soviet times. The main categories for the development of a modern literary estate are estate heterotopia, estate habitus, dacha myth, crypto-estate mythology and estateness, as well as new modifications of the estate topos: garden-city, a window into transcendent meanings and the Euro-Asian phenomenon. However, the most significant factor in the future of the literary estate in the 21st century is the “civilizational approach,” drawn from historical science. The interdisciplinary phenomenon of the Russian estate is understood within its framework, on the one hand, as one of the manifestations of the universal archetype of world history since the Biblical times, on the other — as an important element of Russia’s national cultural code from antiquity to the present day. It is the “civilizational approach” that connects the futurology of the Russian estate with the “great historical time” and takes its history beyond the imperial period of the 18th — early 20th century, which previously delineated its existence. Thanks to him, the signs of Moscow Russia of the 16th–17th centuries in a number of “estate” texts by modern authors can be perceived as a trend, rather than a curiosity. The relevance of the article lies in the desire to elaborate the paths of Russia’s civilizational identity. Its scientific novelty is in the first comprehensively presented system of categories of poetics for the study of the literary estate of the present and future. The conclusions of the article are obtained with regard to the research context on the issues raised and call for further discussion.

Gaia as Seen from Within

Through our three-way collaboration we sought to understand Gaia and its political implications from the bottom-up and from within. Here we introduce that view of Gaia and how the dialogue between a philosopher (Bruno), a scientist (Tim), and a historian and philosopher of science (Séb) turned into a research programme. This sets in context a previously unpublished piece by Latour: ‘There is nothing simple in a feedback loop – or why goal function is not the problem of Gaia’.

History of linguistic science of the Austroasiatic group of languages with special reference to the Mon-Khmer and Northern Munda languages of India: Retrospect and prospect

History of linguistic science of the Austroasiatic group of languages with special reference to the Mon-Khmer and Northern Munda languages of India: Retrospect and prospect

Beautiful experiments: An illustrated history of experimental science

Beautiful experiments: An illustrated history of experimental science

Рождение политического тела: образы власти на закате Средневековья

At the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Times, power acquires new images that meet historical and political requirements better. The article reviews the process of establishment of one of the key concepts of history of state and political science: the concept of the body politic, at this turn of epochs.

The Political Economy of Knowledge: Navigating Scientometric Enthusiasm amidst Political and Economic Forces Shaping the Production and Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge

While we witness heightened enthusiasm in certain peripheral areas of scientific production regarding scientometric standards, there are increasingly pressing issues concerning how the ideal of objective and rational science is being called into question. In this article, I contrast the enthusiasm for the "prestige" of top-tier journals with the increasingly urgent problems related to the lack of independence of researchers and scientific research itself in a world dominated by security institutions and corporations. While many authors rush to blame postmodernists for the lack of trust in science, recent studies in the history of science reveal an increased role of security institutions and corporations in shaping what we call scientific truth. The ahistorical perspective of pure and objective scientific truth is rather an ideal, and enthusiasm for the scientometric apparatus measuring the quality and merits of scientific research is rather misplaced and tends to support a system where scientific knowledge is increasingly subservient to objectives other than the pursuit of truth.

David Kahn, in remembrance: an INS special forum

ABSTRACT David Kahn was one of America’s leading experts on the history of cryptology, the art and science of breaking the communications codes, ciphers, and secret writing of hostile nations and terrorist organizations – a vital intelligence tradecraft for anticipating potentially dangerous operations of foreign adversaries. As both a journalist and a professional historian, he pursued scholarly interests in cryptology as well as modern German history. His most well-known book, entitled The Codebreakers, influenced the field of cryptology and attracted many young readers to this intelligence profession. Kahn wrote many other studies on the topic and founded the journal Cryptologia. He received an array of honors for his work, including induction into the National Security Agency’s Cryptologic Hall of Fame. In addition, Kahn was a popular social fixture at prestigious clubs in New York City and a member of several boards of editors devoted to Intelligence Studies, including this journal.

Birth of the Academy of Sciences in Russia

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the historical factors that led to the emergence of modern science in the Russian Empire, with a particular focus on the establishment and development of the Academy of Sciences during the 18th and 19th centuries. Adopting an externalist approach to the History of Science, the study explores the interplay between religious, political, social, and intellectual elements and their impact on the evolution of science as a social institution, culminating in the establishment of the Academy of Sciences. The paper highlights the critical relationship between the State and scientific endeavours and sheds light on the transformative efforts of Peter the Great in modernising Russia. It also examines the Empire's cultural exchange with the West and the influential role played by foreign scientists in the nascent years of the Academy of Sciences. By delving into the complex interactions between the Russian cultural framework and scientific developments, this paper seeks to provide a general overview of the cultural context surrounding the institutionalization of scientific work in Russia. It serves as a guideline for future specialised research, offering insights into the multifaceted influences that shaped the growth and establishment of modern science in the Russian Empire.

Standing strong: War-related challenges in Ukrainian biomedical research and opportunities for support.

The prolonged war in Ukraine is having a strong impact on all sectors of the Ukrainian society, including biomedical research. Although the material and psychological conditions are challenging, the country and its researchers are courageously managing to continue their activities. This perspective paper describes the multiple challenges faced by Ukrainian biomedical researchers during wartime and outlines strategies to support and enhance collaboration with the global scientific community. Ukraine has a rich scientific history and modern expertise in biomedical research, and developing more international collaborations with Ukraine can have mutual benefits for all involved parties.

Lessons of soviet psychology

The work is devoted to the analysis of the collection of works “Soviet psychology: the stage of the history of science and mentality” // Responsible. ed. A.L. Zhuravlev, D.V. Ushakov, A.V. Yurevich. Moscow: Publishing house “Institute of Psychology RAS”, 2024. The main ideas presented in 21 articles of this book are highlighted. By studying a retrospective analysis of the works, seven main lessons for modern psychology are formulated, allowing us to see the significance of the Soviet period for the development of science. The first lesson is that despite the ideological pressure and attempts to unify psychology, it implemented the principles of postmodernity and metamodernity, characteristic of modern methodology, with great anticipation. Many ideas and theories were ahead of their time and are relevant and are still being developed today. Lesson two is the formation of psychology as a recognized scientific discipline, which was institutionalized, organized, and acquired a qualifying status. The third lesson teaches us that the space of scientific psychology must be restored: the gaps are closed by the discovery of forgotten names, their achievements and their contribution to the development of scientific thought are analyzed. The development and solution of scientific problems in psychology is rooted in the Soviet period, determining the continuity of scientific knowledge — this is the fourth lesson. The fifth lesson shows us that applied psychology developed intensively during the Soviet period and many of its achievements remain relevant today. The sixth lesson follows from an analysis of the psychology of Soviet people. A real, balanced analysis points to the ambivalence of the characteristics of Soviet people, the limitations of their economic mentality, the presence of double morality, denunciations, and fear of power. Finally, the modern psychological community should not forget what price many scientists paid for their beliefs, what destruction of entire directions in psychology was experienced. The Soviet period of development of Russian psychology is more diverse and ambiguous than previously imagined. The completed project of analyzing the Soviet period of psychology from the perspective of modern science showed its high efficiency and promise. Filling the gaps in the history of Russian psychology is not only fundamental for science, but it is also a moral duty to the generation of Soviet scientists.

Boltzmann's H-function for molecules with orientational degrees of freedom: Emergence of unique features.

Boltzmann's H-function H(t), often regarded as an analog of time-dependent entropy, holds a venerable place in the history of science. However, accurate numerical evaluation of H(t) for particles other than atoms is rare. To remove this lacuna, we generalize Boltzmann's H-function to a gas of molecules with orientational degrees of freedom and evaluate H(t) from the time-dependent joint probability distribution function f(p, L, t) for linear (p) and angular (L) momenta, evolving from an initial nonequilibrium state, by molecular dynamics simulations. We consider both prolate- and oblate-shaped particles, interacting via the well-known Gay-Berne potential and obtain the relaxation of the generalized molecular H(t) from initial (t = 0) nonequilibrium states. In the long-time limit, the H function saturates to its exact equilibrium value, which is the sum of translational and rotational contributions to the respective entropies. Both the translational and rotational components of H(t) decay nearly exponentially with time; the rotational component is more sensitive to the molecular shape that enters through the aspect ratio. A remarkable rapid decrease in the rotational relaxation time is observed as the spherical limit is approached, in a way tantalizingly reminiscent of Hu-Zwanzig hydrodynamic prediction with the slip boundary condition. In addition, we obtain H(t) analytically by solving the appropriate translational and rotational Fokker-Planck equation and obtain a modest agreement with simulations. We observe a remarkable signature of translation-rotation coupling as a function of molecular shape, captured through a physically meaningful differential term that quantifies the magnitude of translation-rotation coupling.

To keep the history from being impersonal: to the 155th anniversary of the birth of Professor A. P. Gerasimov

The article is devoted to the 155th anniversary of the birth of Professor A. P. Gerasimov (1869–1942), Secretary (1914–1935), Honorary Member (1940) and Chairman (1936–1942) of the All-Russian Mineralogical Society, who died in evacuation in Sverdlovsk. His letters, found in the archive of Professor D. P. Grigoriev, kept in the Russian Mineralogical Society, are published: to A.N. Krishtafovich from Petrograd to Vladivostok (05.05.1921), to D.P. Grigoriev from Essentuki to Sverdlovsk (26.03.1942), to relatives from Essentuki (07.06.1942), as well as an autobiography (01.06.1942), and obituaries from the newspaper «The Ural Worker» (12.11.1942). The letters show the living and working conditions of the Geological Committee in Petrograd during the Civil War and of the Leningrad Mining Institute in evacuation during the World War II. The aim of the article is to restore the history of domestic science as fully as possible. The article is aimed at historians of science, as well as teachers, graduate students and students of geological faculties of universities.

Gustave-Adolphe Hirn, the mechanical equivalent of heat, and the conservation of energy

ABSTRACT Alsatian engineer Gustave-Adolphe Hirn is best known to historians of science for his experimental determination of the mechanical equivalent of heat, first published in 1855. Since the 1840s, that equivalent has been closely associated with the conservation of energy, indeed often conflated with it. Hirn was one of Thomas Kuhn’s twelve ‘pioneers’ whose work he deemed relevant to the ostensible ‘simultaneous discovery’ of energy conservation. Yet Hirn never wholeheartedly embraced energy conservation. After reviewing his experimental work, his philosophical reflections, and his response to developments in heat theory, this article identifies three factors as having played central roles in this regard: Hirn’s deepest concerns were ontological, not energetic; none of the concepts basic to his natural philosophy were appropriate stand-ins for a quantitatively conserved energy; and, accurately reflecting the most common interpretation of the principle of the conservation of energy from the 1860s on – as exemplified already by Helmholtz in 1847 – Hirn associated its corpuscular-mechanical underpinning with the despiritualizing materialism he saw as dominating contemporary science. Hence although Hirn’s natural philosophy embraced sentiments quite in the spirit of the conservation of energy, he never explicitly subscribed to that principle.

Григорий Семенович Куцый (1911–1977): учитель, директор школы, ученый

The article reveals the first successes in the pedagogical activity of the history teacher and director of the rural school G.S. Kutsego, who devoted many years to the development of historical science and education in the Far East. The materials of the state archives and the publications of the regional periodical press of the 1930s led to the conviction that success in professional and pedagogical activities allowed an enthusiastic researcher to become a major scientist in a short period of time and involve his colleagues and students in scientific work.

ACADEMICIAN V. P. BURKAT (1939–2009) – FOUNDER OF MODERN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF BREEDING, ORGANIZER OF RESEARCH WORK IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY IN UKRAINE (to the 85th anniversary of the birthday)

The purpose of the article is to reconstruct the major life milestones and creative path of the recognized scientist in the field of animal husbandry, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Professor, Academician of UAAS V. P. Burkat. Research methods are general scientific (analysis, synthesis, classification), special historical (problematic-chronological, comparative-historical), biographical and source studies. The contribution of the scientist to the development of theoretical and methodological principles of breeding, selection, and biotechnology of reproduction of farm animals is substantiated. The important role of V. P. Burkat in the organization of domestic research work in animal husbandry, in particular, in the formation of the Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics named after M.V. Zubets NAAS was proven. The scientific heritage of the scientist is systematized, the priority of his research on the formation of a systematic concept of the breed, linear breeding, development of genetic and biotechnological bases of selection in animal husbandry, the actualization of the problem of conservation and rational use of the farm animals, etc. is substantiated. The contribution of V. P. Burkat to the formation of the modern theory and methodology of breeding in dairy and beef cattle breeding, the breeding of specialized breeds and types of cattle is revealed. It is shown that among his scientist's methodological developments, the most significant is the method of creating the Ukrainian Red-and-White Dairy breed, which is the basis for the development of other specialized domestic breeds of dairy and beef production directions. The program of activities and achievements of established by V.P. Burkat of the scientific school "Breeding and Biotechnology in Animal Husbandry" is summarized. The scholar's scientific search for the popularization and representation of the history of agricultural science in Ukraine is highlighted.

Lessons for the Future of NAMs from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science.

This paper explores what we can learn from the humanities and social sciences about how standards operate in and around science, in order to understand more about how 'the gold standard' can be shifted away from the use of animals in research and testing, and toward New Approach Methodologies (NAMs). These fields allow us to consider potential futures of NAMs as alternatives, replacements, or complements to animal use in testing and research. As we demonstrate, the questions that we pose and how they are framed are as important as the answers that result. Rather than asking how to 'redefine the gold standard', norms and expectations for NAMs must be actively debated and transparently defined. These considerations would be based, in part, on what has been learned in the past from non-human animal models and systems, but also use the norms within the fields from which the NAMs derive in light of the rich broader contexts within which they are being developed. As we argue, notions such as 'a gold standard' are limited and must be replaced by contextualised standards that depend on the scientific, sociocultural and other factors that contribute to our understanding of a particular method (new or otherwise) as 'good' for a particular purpose.

Products of time: Matchboxes as scientific containers and the social lives of archaeological ephemera

Archaeological work leaves material histories, from archival notes to containers that used to store artifacts. Rarely, however, are these containers preserved or valued as technologies that codified and organized archaeological information. This paper analyzes a collection of matchboxes that were formerly used as artifact containers in a 1940s excavation in Coahuila, Mexico. The matchboxes, never formally accessioned and yet still saved by collections staff, are housed In the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) Museum Support Center. By tracing the labor regimes the matchboxes passed through, the specimens they once contained, and the hands that used them in a multitude of ways, this project uses the matchboxes’ microhistories to reveal how archaeological containers influenced archaeological science. This research argues for a treatment of the matchboxes as artifacts themselves, worthy of formal accession and of value for their role in the history of archaeological science.