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16Translating in the History of Science: A Concerted EffortIsis 109 (4): 760-766. 2018.A translator and her science consultant, who have worked together on many books, consider the problems of translating primary and secondary texts in science. Various problems encountered in translating an ongoing documentary edition in the history of science are discussed using the collected works of Albert Einstein as a test case. For instance, each language has its own preferred sentence structure; moreover, not every historical term finds a perfect equivalent in modern usage, and historical a…Read more
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16The Stuttgart Database of Scientific Illustrators 1450–1950: Making the Invisible Hands VisibleSpontaneous Generations 6 (1): 182-191. 2012.The main features of a new online database of scientific illustrators are portrayed. We list illustrators of scientific publications of all genres (especially atlases, articles, textbooks) who were active between 1450 and 1950, thus excluding illuminators of medieval manuscripts as well as illustrators still active. Currently (Sept. 26, 2012), we already have more than 3,461 entries, with particular emphasis on anatomy, dermatology, botany, zoology, mineralogy, astronomy, and general natural his…Read more
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16Heisenberg, German Culture, and Other Such Horrifying ThingsAnnals of Science 57 (3): 301-306. 2000.
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16Photons: The History and Mental Models of Light QuantaSpringer Verlag. 2018.This book focuses on the gradual formation of the concept of ‘light quanta’ or ‘photons’, as they have usually been called in English since 1926. The great number of synonyms that have been used by physicists to denote this concept indicates that there are many different mental models of what ‘light quanta’ are: simply finite, ‘quantized packages of energy’ or ‘bullets of light’? ‘Atoms of light’ or ‘molecules of light’? ‘Light corpuscles’ or ‘quantized waves’? Singularities of the field or spat…Read more
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15Erwin Finlay Freundlich and Testing Einstein's Theory of RelativityArchive for History of Exact Sciences 47 (2): 143-201. 1994.
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14Von der Werkstoffforschung zur Materials ScienceNTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin 19 (1): 5-40. 2011.The manipulation of materials, and to some extent also their systematic classification, form an integral part of the skills and culture of all societies. Yet it took long for proper sciences to develop out of many processing procedures, tapping the accumulated knowledge about specific material characteristics. In the late 20th century an overarching science of workable materials emerged: materials science. This concept and term originated from major boosts in materials research during WWII and t…Read more
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14Elisabeth Vaupel and Stefan L. Wolff , Das Deutsche Museum in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus: Eine Bestandsaufnahme. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2010. Pp. 710. ISBN 978-3-8353-0596-0. €39.90 (review)British Journal for the History of Science 44 (2): 306-307. 2011.
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13Joseph D. Martin, Solid State Insurrection: How the Science of Substance Made American Physics Matter. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018. Pp. ix + 280. ISBN 978-0-8229-4538-3. $49.95 (review)British Journal for the History of Science 52 (2): 379-381. 2019.
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13Spectroscopic PortraitureAnnals of Science 59 (1): 57-82. 2002.This paper describes a now widely forgotten tradition in the nineteenth century which - to borrow a simile used or implied by the actors themselves - may be described as 'spectroscopic portraiture'. Quite unlike the later obsession with numerical precision in wavelength measurement, and also in stark contrast to the contemporary vogue of photographic mapping which presumptuously claimed 'mechanical objectivity', that is avoidance of any human intervention in the recorded data, there was among so…Read more
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12A Breakdown of Intersubjective Measurement: The Case of Solar-Rotation Measurements in the Early 20th CenturyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 29 (4): 473-507. 1998.
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12Die allmähliche Herausbildung des Konzepts,Lichtquanten‘Berichte Zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 38 (2): 121-139. 2015.The Gradual Formation of the Concept of ‘Light Quanta’. The complex concept of ‘light quanta’ which made its first appearance in Albert Einstein’s 1905 paper on a “heuristic point of view” to cope with the photoelectric effect and other forms of interaction of light and matter, has a rich history both before and after 1905. Some of its semantic layers lead as far back as Newton and Kepler, others are only fully espoused several decades later, yet others initially increased, then diminished in im…Read more
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12Aufrecht im Sturm der Zeit. Der Physiker James Franck 1882–1964Annals of Science 66 (4): 578-580. 2009.
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12Gauss, Meyerstein and Hanoverian MetrologyAnnals of Science 64 (1): 41-75. 2007.Summary The growing need for standardized units of measure led to major metrological reforms in the mid-nineteenth century. This paper focusses on their implementation in the Kingdom of Hanover and the involvement of C.F. Gauss. His papers reveal how much the success of his precision measurements hinged on the skill of his mechanic M. Meyerstein. A discussion of the regional weights and measures and the standardization procedure is followed by a description of various precision balances and the …Read more
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12Ursula Klein , tools and modes of representation in the laboratory sciences. Boston studies in the philosophy of science, 222. Dordrecht, boston and London: Kluwer academic publishers, 2001. Pp. XV+259. Isbn 1-4020-0100-2. £59.00, $89.00, 95.00 (review)British Journal for the History of Science 36 (1): 87-127. 2003.
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11Die Relativitatstheorien (RT) Einsteins gehoren zu den meistdiskutierten Theorien der Physik des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts. Nach der Formulie rung der sog. 'speziellen Relativitatstheorie' (SRT) im Jahr 1905 nah men zunachst nur einige Spezialisten von ihr Kenntnis, bis mit ungefiihr fiinf Jahren Verspatung dann auch zunehmend Nicht-Physiker sich mit ihr zu beschaftigen begannen, angeregt durch populiirwissenschaftliche, all gemeinverstiindliche 'Einfiihrungen' von Kollegen Einsteins wie z. B.…Read more
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11In the Name of Science? P. J. W. Debye and his Career in Nazi Germany (review)Isis 101 439-440. 2010.
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11The Mystery of the Moon Illusion: Exploring Size Perception (review)British Journal for the History of Science 37 (2): 233-233. 2004.
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11Serving the Reich: The Struggle for the Soul of Physics under Hitler - by Philip BallCentaurus 57 (4): 276-277. 2015.
Areas of Specialization
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History of Science |
General Philosophy of Science |
History of Physics |
History of Science, Misc |
History of Western Philosophy |
Scientific Change |