Scientific Enterprise and the Colonial `Model': Observations on Australian Experience in Historical Context

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the nature and development of the scientific enterprise in Australia, with a particular focus on the period from the 1880s to 1916. At its beginning, this period was dominated by the formation of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, and at its end it witnessed the formation of the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry. The `colonial' characteristics of Australian science are considered by means of a critical examination of George Basalla's analysis of the spread of Western science from its `centre' to peripheral regions. This is followed by a more detailed historical treatment of aspects of Australian science in the period 1888-1912. I argue that the nature of the Australian scientific enterprise of these years was increasingly conditioned by changing local economic imperatives, a reflection of the loosening of more established imperial relations.

Introduction and Institutionalization of Genetics in Mexico Ana Barahona, Susana Pinar and Francisco J. Ayala

“…4 Emphasis on the local organizations and 1 Basalla, 1967. 2 For example, Sagasti and Guerrero, 1974;Stepan, 1981;Inkster, 1985;Chambers, 1987;MacLeod, 1987;Stafford, 1988, andLafuente andSala Catala´, 1989. 3 Latour, 1987;Home and Kohlstedt, 1991;McClellan, 1992;Petitjean, 1992;Palladino and Worboys, 1993;Vessuri, 1994.…”

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“…A polarização da ciência nos países desenvolvidos, que concentram grande parte dos recursos científicos e tecnológicos, escreve Polanco (1986), orientaria o foco das atividades científicas tendo em vista os objetivos de tais países -desenvolvidos e industrializados. 7 Outros modelos de interpretação da transferência, deslocamento ou mundialização da ciência europeia foram elaborados ao longo dos anos 1980 Inkster, 1985;Lafuente & Sala Catalá, 1989). Quaisquer sejam as classificações adotadas para a interpretação da propagação espaço-temporal da ciência europeia, importa-nos reter, para os objetivos desta apresentação, que os estudos de institucionalização científica elaborados por Figueirôa (1991; estão inscritos num amplo quadro crítico dos modelos eurocêntricos de difusão da ciência.…”

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“…New York: Oxford University Press; R.MacLeod (1982),'On Visiting the Moving Metropolis: Reflections on the Architecture of Imperial Science', Historical Records of Australian Science, 3: n.p. ; I Inkster (1985),. 'Scientific Enterprise and the Colonial Model', Social Studies of Science, XV: 677-704.6.…”