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Linus Pauling Videos: 1957 NSF Lecture 1
Linus Pauling Videos: 1957 NSF Lecture 2
Linus Pauling Videos: 1957 NSF Lecture 3
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The Scientist as Educator and Public Citizen: Linus Pauling and His Era. October 29 and 30, 2007
Videos: Session I. Scientists and Textbooks
Session Chair, "Scientists and Textbooks"Mary Jo Nye (History of Science, Oregon State University)
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“Periodicity, Priority, Pedagogy: Mendeleev and Lothar Meyer”Michael Gordin (History, Princeton University)
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Abstract: The priority dispute over the periodic system of chemical elements between D. I. Mendeleev (1834-1907) and Lothar Meyer (1830-1895)
was one of the most vehement and high-profile of a series of nineteenth-century confrontations that quickly reduced to chauvinistic
nationalist claims by proponents of both sides. Less often recognized is that both periodic systems had their origins in general
chemistry textbooks written by each chemist -- The Principles of Chemistry and Modern Theories of Chemistry, respectively -- and that many of the subtle differences between the two systems, and thus pivotal points in the priority
dispute, can be traced specifically to this textbook origin. This paper will explore the grounding of both systems in specific
pedagogical systems, and discuss how questions of credit played out in the multiple genres of this priority dispute."
“Textbooks as Manifestos: C. A. Coulson after Linus Pauling and R. S. Mulliken"Ana Simões (Physics, University of Lisbon)
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Abstract: In this talk, rather than looking at Pauling’s The Nature of the Chemical Bond (1939) and Coulson’s Valence (1952) as manifestos in which the status of quantum chemistry was discussed, I look at both textbooks as manifestos for particular and distinctive epistemological views on science. In order to do that, I invite you to look at Coulson’s Valence not as the textbook which ended the hegemonic reign of Pauling’s The Nature of the Chemical Bond, but as the outcome of an on-going conversation, either literal or metaphorical, between Pauling and Coulson, in which each
scientist qua author was responding to the other, agreeing or disagreeing with him, in the process revising his ideas, and writing his
textbooks as a result of an enduring dialogue which did not stop with Valence nor even with the last edition of The Nature of the Chemical Bond. Seen from this new perspective, Valence was the textbook "neither Mulliken nor Pauling managed to write", and this realization is at the core of contrasting Pauling
and Coulson’s epistemological views on science.
“Zen and the Art of Textbook Publishing: Quantum Mechanics and Counterculture in the 1970s”David Kaiser (Physics, MIT)
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Abstract: Dr. Kaiser explores scientific interest in the realm of physics over the past half century, and in turn, the manifestations
of that interest in educational publications. By examining changes in enrollment in physics programs, as well as other activities
surrounding the field, he attempts to explain observed trends in scientific education. From Cold War politics to the counterculture
of the 1960s and 1970s, Kaiser studies the political and social phenomena that have influenced the creation and publication
of various physics textbooks and touches upon the translation of these phenomena to the classroom setting.
“Making a Modern Physics Textbook: The Collision of Full-Time Commitments”Kenneth Krane (Physics, Oregon State University)
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Abstract: Without intending to do so, in 1978 I began a second career as a textbook author, which has now seen the production of a total
of 5 editions of 3 undergraduate or graduate physics textbooks. This process has taken place more-or-less continuously over
the past 29 years, during which time I have maintained an active program of research in nuclear physics as well as spending
half my career as department chair. I will discuss the difficulties of balancing these (and other) time commitments, the
appeal that draws me into textbook writing, and the unexpected benefits of joining the national physics education community.
I will also offer some comments about physics textbooks from the varying perspectives of student, instructor, author, and
publisher.
Watch Other Videos Session I. Scientists and Textbooks Session II. Popular and Public Science Session III. The Scientist as Public Citizen |