The Popularization of Science in Nineteenth-Century America

Abstract

THE POPULARIZATION OF SCIENCE in nineteenth-century America is inseparable from the democratization of Western society in the early modern era. The contempt for labor that characterized the medieval attitude was gradually replaced by a new spirit whose roots go back to at least the twelfth century and which accompanied the rise in economic im portance of the skilled craftsman and mechanic in a modernizing economy. The new importance of the artisan-mechanic to the economy forced a reconsideration of the proper relationship between the artisan and the scientist. The association of knowledge with its applications-its utility-was interwoven with a growing self-conception that the produc tions of the craftsman and the mechanic made possible a grasp of regular ities and order in nature hitherto not even so conceptualized. Advances in techniques and in the material conditions of life were accompanied by corresponding changes in the perception and conceptualization of nature and society. (1) The artisan achieved a new and elevated status of digni ty and place. He worked in close collaboration with scientists, and fre quently the distinctions between them were blurred and undefined. (2) Taking their cue from the work of the artisan and his methods, the new men of science now raised the possibility that nature could not only be understood but could be altered to meet the needs of man. In the words of Paolo Rossi: A new view of labor, of the functions of technical knowledge and of the significance of artificial processes through which nature was altered and transformed clearly makes its way into the work of artists and experimentalists of the fifteenth century and into the treatises of engineers and technicians of the sixteenth century. ... It was now argued that some of the methods employed by technicians and artisans to modify and alter nature might also be useful for acquiring a real knowledge of natural utility. Indeed, it was boldly asserted in an explicit disputation with the traditional philosophies, the newer methods might have the distinct merit of exhibiting nature in motion. (3) This close link between craftsman and scientist was exemplified in practice. Craft skills were utilized by seventeenth century scientists for the

Atención pública a la ciencia 1820-2010: un panorama longue durée

“…De todos modos, centrarse en unos pocos medios impresos no permite ofrecer tal estimación. Los géneros de la comunicación científica proliferaron en los últimos doscientos años, desde conferencias públicas y debates en sitios determinados a conferencias y educación itinerantes, pasando por publicaciones periódicas de alto y bajo nivel, exposiciones, la prensa de circulación masiva de finales del siglo XIX y comienzos del XX (incluidas las populares revistas científicas), la llegada de la radiodifusión y la televisión a principios y mediados del siglo XX y, más recientemente, internet a comienzos del XXI (ver Cooter & Pumphrey, 1994;Knight, 2006;Kuritz, 1981;Raichwarg, 1990;Sheets-Pyenson, 1985;Stewart, 1986;Whalen & Tobin, 1980). Con todo esto, debemos asumir una expansión masiva del volumen a través de diferentes formatos, junto con la expansión del espacio informativo, los géneros mediáticos y los formatos en general.…”

Cacoepy (bad pronunciation or mispronunciation) of scientific terms and their effect on learning of secondary level science students

“…Many of those titles are only known to clinicians. However, they are increasingly becoming part of modern languages and research courses due to the popularisation of science (Kuritz, 1981).…”

Wissenschaftspopularisierung - Ansätze und Konzepte

“…Gleiches gilt für die Literaturwissenschaft, die sich, wie zahlreiche Arbeiten zu Charles Darwin und Wilhelm Bölsche zeigen, vor allem für die Verknüpfung von Ästhetik und Wissenschaft interessiert (Kelly 1981;Kolkenbrock-Netz 1983;Gebhardt 1984;Berentsen 1986;Mann 1990;Fick 1993;Hamacher 1993;Michler 1999;Szukaj 1996). Und auch von der Geschichtswissenschaft ist lange Zeit vor allem die Wissenschaftspopularisierung der vergangenen zwei Jahrhunderte eingehender untersucht worden, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf den Verhältnissen in den Vereinigten Staaten (Kohlstedt 1976;Kuritz 1981;Whalen 1981; LaFollette 1990), in Großbritannien (Hinton 1979;Kitteringham 1981;Myers 1985;Allen 1994;Cooter/Pumfrey 1994) und Frankreich (George 1974;Béguet 1990; Raichvarg/Jacques 1991) lag, bevor mit den Studien von Andreas Daum und Angela Schwarz auch die Verhältnisse in Deutschland eingehender untersucht worden sind (Daum 1998;Schwarz 1999). Dabei ist es nicht untypisch für die Interpretationsmuster gerade älterer Arbeiten, wenn etwa John C. Burnham, aufgrund der Auswertung zeitgenössischer Zeitschriftenliteratur, die Popularisierung medizinischen, hygienischen und psychologischen Wissens in den USA als Parteinahme für Sachlichkeit und Wissenschaftlichkeit, als Kampf gegen Irrtümer und Aberglauben präsentiert (Burnham 1987).…”