Results by title
4127 books match the query 'Science' and 133 start with o
On the Frontier of Science
An American Rhetoric of Exploration and ExploitationLeah Ceccarelli
Michigan State University Press, 2013
“The frontier of science” is a metaphor that has become ubiquitous in American rhetoric, from its first appearance in the public address of early twentieth-century American intellectuals and politicians who aligned a mythic national identity with scientific research, to its more recent use in scientists’ arguments in favor of increased research funding. Here, Leah Ceccarelli explores what is selected and what is deflected when this metaphor is deployed, its effects on those who use it, and what rhetorical moves are made by those who try to counter its appeal. In her research, Ceccarelli discovers that “the frontier of science” evokes a scientist who is typically male, a risk taker, an adventurous loner—someone separated from a public that both envies and distrusts him, with a manifest destiny to penetrate the unknown. It conjures a competitive desire to claim the riches of a new territory before others can do the same. Closely reading the public address of scientists and politicians and the reception of their audiences, this book shows how the frontier of science metaphor constrains American speakers, helping to guide the ends of scientific research in particular ways and sometimes blocking scientists from attaining the very goals they set out to achieve.
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On the Geographical Distribution of Plants
Alexander von Humboldt
University of Chicago Press, 2027
The first English translation of an essay that is among Alexander von Humboldt’s least known but most important scientific works.
In the nineteenth century, Alexander von Humboldt was arguably the world’s most famous celebrity after Napoleon. What started in 1799 as a serendipitous trip to the New World tropics with his friend Aimé Bonpland to collect plants and minerals expanded into a five-year exploration of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, México, and Cuba. The discoveries the two amassed were nothing short of staggering, and much of our knowledge of tropical botany, zoology, geography, and geology can be traced back to these journeys. The voyage, and the publication of Humboldt’s travel narratives and scientific studies from these expeditions, which totaled dozens of books, elevated Humboldt to cult status.
In the past two decades, Humboldt’s writings have been rediscovered in multiple fields, including biogeography; Earth and environmental sciences; American and Latin American studies; nineteenth-century art, poetry, and literature; and transatlantic cultural history. His ideas are profoundly relevant to twenty-first-century thinking on the relationship between humans and nature, and the ecological framework in which he viewed the world remains essential two centuries after his travels.
Among his many interests, Humboldt invested considerable effort in explaining the underlying causes of the uneven distribution of plant species across the globe. His extended essay On the Geographical Distribution of Plants is among his least known but most important works, laying foundations for the development of ecology, climatology, and evolutionary biology in the following decades. It was first published in 1815 as an introduction to a seven-volume Latin botanical monograph, Nova genera et species plantarum (New Genera and Species of Plants). The essay, republished in 1817 as a standalone volume, held great influence over nineteenth-century naturalists. It is Humboldt’s most comprehensive and detailed treatment of plant geography. In the essay, he applies what he calls “botanical arithmetic” to reveal ecological and biogeographic patterns of plants, applications that still ground modern macroecology; and he provides frameworks to link vegetation patterns and climate, which are essential in modern Earth system science. Introduced and organized by ecologist Stephen T. Jackson and translated from Latin to English by Philip Holt, this book is essential for the libraries of scientists, historians, and all Humboldt admirers.
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On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods
Bruno Latour
Duke University Press, 2010
On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods continues the project that the influential anthropologist, philosopher, and science studies theorist Bruno Latour advanced in his book We Have Never Been Modern. There he redescribed the Enlightenment idea of universal scientific truth, arguing that there are no facts separable from their fabrication. In this concise work, Latour delves into the “belief in naive belief,” the suggestion that fetishes—objects invested with mythical powers—are fabricated and that facts are not. Mobilizing his work in the anthropology of science, he uses the notion of “factishes” to explore a way of respecting the objectivity of facts and the power of fetishes without forgetting that both are fabricated. While the fetish-worshipper knows perfectly well that fetishes are man-made, the Modern icon-breaker inevitably erects new icons. Yet Moderns sense no contradiction at the core of their work. Latour pursues his critique of critique, or the possibility of mediating between subject and object, or the fabricated and the real, through the notion of “iconoclash,” making productive comparisons between scientific practice and the worship of visual images and religious icons.
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On the Move
How and Why Animals Travel in GroupsEdited by Sue Boinski and Paul A. Garber
University of Chicago Press, 2000
Getting from here to there may be simple for one individual. But as any parent, scout leader, or CEO knows, herding a whole troop in one direction is a lot more complicated. Who leads the group? Who decides where the group will travel, and using what information? How do they accomplish these tasks?
On the Move addresses these questions, examining the social, cognitive, and ecological processes that underlie patterns and strategies of group travel. Chapters discuss how factors such as group size, resource distribution and availability, the costs of travel, predation, social cohesion, and cognitive skills affect how individuals as well as social groups exploit their environment. Most chapters focus on field studies of a wide range of human and nonhuman primate groups, from squirrel monkeys to Turkana pastoralists, but chapters covering group travel in hyenas, birds, dolphins, and bees provide a broad taxonomic perspective and offer new insights into comparative questions, such as whether primates are unique in their ability to coordinate group-level activities.
On the Move addresses these questions, examining the social, cognitive, and ecological processes that underlie patterns and strategies of group travel. Chapters discuss how factors such as group size, resource distribution and availability, the costs of travel, predation, social cohesion, and cognitive skills affect how individuals as well as social groups exploit their environment. Most chapters focus on field studies of a wide range of human and nonhuman primate groups, from squirrel monkeys to Turkana pastoralists, but chapters covering group travel in hyenas, birds, dolphins, and bees provide a broad taxonomic perspective and offer new insights into comparative questions, such as whether primates are unique in their ability to coordinate group-level activities.
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On the Nature of Limbs
A DiscourseRichard Owen
University of Chicago Press, 2007
The most prominent naturalist in Britain before Charles Darwin, Richard Owen made empirical discoveries and offered theoretical innovations that were crucial to the proof of evolution. Among his many lasting contributions to science was the first clear definition of the term homology—“the same organ in different animals under every variety of form and function.” He also graphically demonstrated that all vertebrate species were built on the same skeletal plan and devised the vertebrate archetype as a representation of the simplest common form of all vertebrates.
Just as Darwin’s ideas continue to propel the modern study of adaptation, so too will Owen’s contributions fuel the new interest in homology, organic form, and evolutionary developmental biology. His theory of the archetype and his views on species origins were first offered to the general public in On the Nature of Limbs, published in 1849. It reemerges here in a facsimile edition with introductory essays by prominent historians, philosophers, and practitioners from the modern evo-devo community.
Just as Darwin’s ideas continue to propel the modern study of adaptation, so too will Owen’s contributions fuel the new interest in homology, organic form, and evolutionary developmental biology. His theory of the archetype and his views on species origins were first offered to the general public in On the Nature of Limbs, published in 1849. It reemerges here in a facsimile edition with introductory essays by prominent historians, philosophers, and practitioners from the modern evo-devo community.
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On the Origin of Phyla
James W. Valentine
University of Chicago Press, 2004
Owing its inspiration and title to On the Origin of Species, James W. Valentine's ambitious book synthesizes and applies the vast treasury of theory and research collected in the century and a half since Darwin's time. By investigating the origins of life's diversity, Valentine unlocks the mystery of the origin of phyla.
One of the twentieth century's most distinguished paleobiologists, Valentine here integrates data from molecular genetics, evolutionary developmental biology, embryology, comparative morphology, and paleontology into an analysis of interest to scholars from any of these fields. He begins by examining the sorts of evidence that can be gleaned from fossils, molecules, and morphology, then reviews and compares the basic morphology and development of animal phyla, emphasizing the important design elements found in the bodyplans of both living and extinct phyla. Finally, Valentine undertakes the monumental task of developing models to explain the origin and early diversification of animal phyla, as well as their later evolutionary patterns.
Truly a magnum opus, On the Origin of Phyla will take its place as one of the classic scientific texts of the twentieth century, affecting the work of paleontologists, morphologists, and developmental, molecular, and evolutionary biologists for decades to come.
One of the twentieth century's most distinguished paleobiologists, Valentine here integrates data from molecular genetics, evolutionary developmental biology, embryology, comparative morphology, and paleontology into an analysis of interest to scholars from any of these fields. He begins by examining the sorts of evidence that can be gleaned from fossils, molecules, and morphology, then reviews and compares the basic morphology and development of animal phyla, emphasizing the important design elements found in the bodyplans of both living and extinct phyla. Finally, Valentine undertakes the monumental task of developing models to explain the origin and early diversification of animal phyla, as well as their later evolutionary patterns.
Truly a magnum opus, On the Origin of Phyla will take its place as one of the classic scientific texts of the twentieth century, affecting the work of paleontologists, morphologists, and developmental, molecular, and evolutionary biologists for decades to come.
"A magisterial compendium . . . . Valentine offers a judicious evaluation of an astonishing array of evidence."—Richard Fortey, New Scientist
"Truly a magnum opus, On the Origin of Phyla has already taken its place as one of the classic scientific texts of the twentieth century, affecting the work of paleontologists, morphologists, and developmental, molecular, and evolutionary biologists for decades to come."—Ethology, Ecology & Evolution
"Valentine is one of the Renaissance minds of our time. . . . Darwin wisely called his best-known work On the Origin of the Species; the origin of the phyla is an even stickier problem, and Valentine deserves credit for tackling it at such breadth . . . . A magnificient book."—Stefan Bengtson, Nature
"Truly a magnum opus, On the Origin of Phyla has already taken its place as one of the classic scientific texts of the twentieth century, affecting the work of paleontologists, morphologists, and developmental, molecular, and evolutionary biologists for decades to come."—Ethology, Ecology & Evolution
"Valentine is one of the Renaissance minds of our time. . . . Darwin wisely called his best-known work On the Origin of the Species; the origin of the phyla is an even stickier problem, and Valentine deserves credit for tackling it at such breadth . . . . A magnificient book."—Stefan Bengtson, Nature
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On the Origins of Life and Its Infectious Nature
Life in a Cosmic ContextJosé Quintáns
University of Chicago Press, 2013
An account of life's emergence from inanimate ordinary matter and the logic of its evolution over the last four billion years, emphasizing the essential contributions of infectious events to shape its course.
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On the Shoulders of Giants
The Post-Italianate EditionRobert K. Merton
University of Chicago Press, 1993
With playfulness and a large dose of wit, Robert Merton traces the origin of Newton's aphorism, "If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Using as a model the discursive and digressive style of Sterne's Tristram Shandy, Merton presents a whimsical yet scholarly work which deals with the questions of creativity, tradition, plagiarism, the transmission of knowledge, and the concept of progress.
"This book is the delightful apotheosis of donmanship: Merton parodies scholarliness while being faultlessly scholarly; he scourges pedantry while brandishing his own abstruse learning on every page. The most recondite and obscure scholarly squabbles are transmuted into the material of comedy as the ostensible subject is shouldered to one side by yet another hobby horse from Merton's densely populated stable. He has created a jeu d'esprit which is profoundly suggestive both in detail and as a whole."—Sean French, Times Literary Supplement
"This book is the delightful apotheosis of donmanship: Merton parodies scholarliness while being faultlessly scholarly; he scourges pedantry while brandishing his own abstruse learning on every page. The most recondite and obscure scholarly squabbles are transmuted into the material of comedy as the ostensible subject is shouldered to one side by yet another hobby horse from Merton's densely populated stable. He has created a jeu d'esprit which is profoundly suggestive both in detail and as a whole."—Sean French, Times Literary Supplement
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Once a River
Bird Life and Habitat Changes on the Middle GilaAmadeo M. Rea
University of Arizona Press, 1983
Like many rivers of the arid Southwest, the Gila is for much of its length a dry bed except after seasonal rains. Yet a mere century ago it hosted a thriving biological community, and two centuries ago American Indians fished from its banks.
It is no mystery how the desert swallowed up the Gila. Beaver trapping, overgrazing, and woodcutting first ruined natural watersheds, then damming confined the last drops of its surface flow. Historical sources and archaeological data inform us of the Gila's past, but its bird life further testifies to the changes.
Amadeo Rea traces the decline of bird life on the Middle Gila in a book that addresses the broader issue of habitat deterioration. Bird lovers will find it a storehouse of data on avian migration patterns and on ornithological classification based on skeletal structure. Anthropologists can draw on its Piman ethnoclassification of birds, which links the Gila River tribe with various other Uto-Aztecan peoples of Mexico's west coast.
But for all concerned with protecting our environment, Once a River offers evidence of change that might be apprehended elsewhere. It is a case history of a loss that perhaps need never have occurred.
It is no mystery how the desert swallowed up the Gila. Beaver trapping, overgrazing, and woodcutting first ruined natural watersheds, then damming confined the last drops of its surface flow. Historical sources and archaeological data inform us of the Gila's past, but its bird life further testifies to the changes.
Amadeo Rea traces the decline of bird life on the Middle Gila in a book that addresses the broader issue of habitat deterioration. Bird lovers will find it a storehouse of data on avian migration patterns and on ornithological classification based on skeletal structure. Anthropologists can draw on its Piman ethnoclassification of birds, which links the Gila River tribe with various other Uto-Aztecan peoples of Mexico's west coast.
But for all concerned with protecting our environment, Once a River offers evidence of change that might be apprehended elsewhere. It is a case history of a loss that perhaps need never have occurred.
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One Planet, Many Worlds
The Climate ParallaxDipesh Chakrabarty
Brandeis University Press, 2023
A historian offers a unique look at the pandemic, climate change, and the human versus nonhuman.
Climate change represents a deep conundrum for humans. It is difficult for humans to give up the unequal and yet accelerating pursuit of a good life based on an insatiable appetite for energy sourced mainly from fossil fuel. But the same pursuit, scientists insist, damages the geobiological system that supports the existence of interrelated forms of life, including ours, on this planet. The planet, seen thus, is one. The global sway of financial and extractive capital connects humans technologically, but they remain divided along multiple axes of inequality. Their worlds are many and their politics still global rather than planetary. In the narrative presented here, Chakrabarty continues to explore the temporal and intellectual fault lines that mark the collapse of the global and the planetary in human history.
Climate change represents a deep conundrum for humans. It is difficult for humans to give up the unequal and yet accelerating pursuit of a good life based on an insatiable appetite for energy sourced mainly from fossil fuel. But the same pursuit, scientists insist, damages the geobiological system that supports the existence of interrelated forms of life, including ours, on this planet. The planet, seen thus, is one. The global sway of financial and extractive capital connects humans technologically, but they remain divided along multiple axes of inequality. Their worlds are many and their politics still global rather than planetary. In the narrative presented here, Chakrabarty continues to explore the temporal and intellectual fault lines that mark the collapse of the global and the planetary in human history.
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One World
The Interaction of Science and TheologyJohn C. Polkinghorne
Templeton Press, 2007
Both science and religion explore aspects of reality, providing "a basis for their mutual interaction as they present their different perspectives onto the one world of existent reality," Polkinghorne argues. In One World, he develops his thesis through an examination of the nature of science, the nature of the physical world, the character of theology, and the modes of thought in science and theology. He identifies "points of interaction" and points of potential conflict between science and religion. Along the way, he discusses creation, determinism, prayer, miracles, and future life, and he explains his rejection of scientific reductionism and his defense of natural theology.
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Open Spaces, Open Rebellions
The War over America’s Public LandsMichael J. Makley
University of Massachusetts Press, 2017
In the spring of 2014, rancher Cliven Bundy and his armed supporters engaged in a standoff with Bureau of Land Management agents, and once again, the federal management of public lands was in the national spotlight. The conflict arose because Bundy had not paid required grazing fees and a federal judge ordered the confiscation of his cattle. The ensuing media coverage highlighted information that may have surprised those outside the rural West: the federal government manages 640 million acres of public land, with over 90 percent of it in the West.
In Open Spaces, Open Rebellions, Michael J. Makley offers a succinct and compelling history of the federal government's management of public lands. As Makley reveals, beginning in the nineteenth century and continuing to the present day, debates over how best to balance the use of these lands by the general public, fee-paying ranchers, and resource developers have always been complex and contentious. Indeed, these debates have often been met with demands for privatization or state control, best exemplified by the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1980s and the 2016 occupation of Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
In Open Spaces, Open Rebellions, Michael J. Makley offers a succinct and compelling history of the federal government's management of public lands. As Makley reveals, beginning in the nineteenth century and continuing to the present day, debates over how best to balance the use of these lands by the general public, fee-paying ranchers, and resource developers have always been complex and contentious. Indeed, these debates have often been met with demands for privatization or state control, best exemplified by the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1980s and the 2016 occupation of Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
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Opening the Ozarks
A Historical Geography of Missouri's Ste. Genevieve District, 1760-1830Walter A. Schroeder
University of Missouri Press, 2002
As the oldest European settlement in Missouri, Ste. Genevieve was the funnel through which the eastern Ozarks (the 5,000 square miles beyond Ste. Genevieve’s location on the Mississippi) was established. A magisterial account of the settlement of this area from 1760 through 1830, Opening the Ozarks focuses on the acquisition and occupation of land, the transformation of the environment, the creation of cohesive settlements, and the building of neighborhoods and eventually organized counties.
The study begins with the French Creole settlement at Old Ste. Genevieve in the middle of the eighteenth century. It describes the movement of the French into the Ozark hills during the rest of that century and continues with that of the American immigrants into Upper Louisiana after 1796, ending with the Americanization of the district after the Louisiana Purchase. Walter Schroeder examines the cultural transition from a French society, operating under a Spanish administration, to an American society in which French, Indians, and Africans formed minorities.
Schroeder used thousands of French- and Spanish-language documents, including the Archives of the Indies in Seville, Spain, as well as documents from Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis to gather his information. He also utilized thousands of land records from the American period, including deeds of land sales and sales from the public domain, and plats from both the Spanish and American periods. In addition, Schroeder performed years of fieldwork and perused aerial photography of the area, interviewing residents and searching for vestiges of the past in the landscape.
As the only study to deal with the cradle of Missouri and the first trans-Mississippi expansion of the Anglo-American frontier, Opening the Ozarks will be invaluable to anyone interested in America’s geographical history, particularly that of Missouri.
The study begins with the French Creole settlement at Old Ste. Genevieve in the middle of the eighteenth century. It describes the movement of the French into the Ozark hills during the rest of that century and continues with that of the American immigrants into Upper Louisiana after 1796, ending with the Americanization of the district after the Louisiana Purchase. Walter Schroeder examines the cultural transition from a French society, operating under a Spanish administration, to an American society in which French, Indians, and Africans formed minorities.
Schroeder used thousands of French- and Spanish-language documents, including the Archives of the Indies in Seville, Spain, as well as documents from Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis to gather his information. He also utilized thousands of land records from the American period, including deeds of land sales and sales from the public domain, and plats from both the Spanish and American periods. In addition, Schroeder performed years of fieldwork and perused aerial photography of the area, interviewing residents and searching for vestiges of the past in the landscape.
As the only study to deal with the cradle of Missouri and the first trans-Mississippi expansion of the Anglo-American frontier, Opening the Ozarks will be invaluable to anyone interested in America’s geographical history, particularly that of Missouri.
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Operatic Geographies
The Place of Opera and the Opera HouseEdited by Suzanne Aspden
University of Chicago Press, 2019
Since its origin, opera has been identified with the performance and negotiation of power. Once theaters specifically for opera were established, that connection was expressed in the design and situation of the buildings themselves, as much as through the content of operatic works. Yet the importance of the opera house’s physical situation, and the ways in which opera and the opera house have shaped each other, have seldom been treated as topics worthy of examination.
Operatic Geographies invites us to reconsider the opera house’s spatial production. Looking at opera through the lens of cultural geography, this anthology rethinks the opera house’s landscape, not as a static backdrop, but as an expression of territoriality. The essays in this anthology consider moments across the history of the genre, and across a range of geographical contexts—from the urban to the suburban to the rural, and from the “Old” world to the “New.” One of the book’s most novel approaches is to consider interactions between opera and its environments—that is, both in the domain of the traditional opera house and in less visible, more peripheral spaces, from girls’ schools in late seventeenth-century England, to the temporary arrangements of touring operatic troupes in nineteenth-century Calcutta, to rural, open-air theaters in early twentieth-century France. The essays throughout Operatic Geographies powerfully illustrate how opera’s spatial production informs the historical development of its social, cultural, and political functions.
Operatic Geographies invites us to reconsider the opera house’s spatial production. Looking at opera through the lens of cultural geography, this anthology rethinks the opera house’s landscape, not as a static backdrop, but as an expression of territoriality. The essays in this anthology consider moments across the history of the genre, and across a range of geographical contexts—from the urban to the suburban to the rural, and from the “Old” world to the “New.” One of the book’s most novel approaches is to consider interactions between opera and its environments—that is, both in the domain of the traditional opera house and in less visible, more peripheral spaces, from girls’ schools in late seventeenth-century England, to the temporary arrangements of touring operatic troupes in nineteenth-century Calcutta, to rural, open-air theaters in early twentieth-century France. The essays throughout Operatic Geographies powerfully illustrate how opera’s spatial production informs the historical development of its social, cultural, and political functions.
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Operationism in Psychology
An Epistemology of ExplorationUljana Feest
University of Chicago Press, 2025
Analyzes psychological research to offer insights into how methodological and ontological questions are intertwined.
Psychology has seen an intense debate about the lack of replicability of results in recent years. Uljana Feest uses history and philosophy of science to shed light on the nature of experiment in psychology in general, but her aim reaches beyond debates about replication to provide a novel and comprehensive analysis of the investigative process in experimental psychology. She shows that the central unit of analysis for our epistemological considerations of psychological research should be not theories but, rather, concepts. Her guiding question is: How do psychological concepts figure in the experimental exploration of the objects of psychological research? For Feest, this question has two intertwined aspects: What role do concepts play in the design of experiments and the production of data, and how can concepts be revised or adapted in response to experimental results. Following the historical trajectory of debates about operationism in psychology, she argues that this debate was not concerned with philosophical theories of meaning but, instead, closely connected to the investigative practices of experimental psychologists. The book offers a broad analytical framework for thinking philosophically about the investigative process in psychology, including analyses of the relationship between data and phenomena in psychology, the relationship between folk- and scientific psychological concepts, the relationship between genuine results and experimental artifacts, and the nature and exploration of psychological kinds.
Psychology has seen an intense debate about the lack of replicability of results in recent years. Uljana Feest uses history and philosophy of science to shed light on the nature of experiment in psychology in general, but her aim reaches beyond debates about replication to provide a novel and comprehensive analysis of the investigative process in experimental psychology. She shows that the central unit of analysis for our epistemological considerations of psychological research should be not theories but, rather, concepts. Her guiding question is: How do psychological concepts figure in the experimental exploration of the objects of psychological research? For Feest, this question has two intertwined aspects: What role do concepts play in the design of experiments and the production of data, and how can concepts be revised or adapted in response to experimental results. Following the historical trajectory of debates about operationism in psychology, she argues that this debate was not concerned with philosophical theories of meaning but, instead, closely connected to the investigative practices of experimental psychologists. The book offers a broad analytical framework for thinking philosophically about the investigative process in psychology, including analyses of the relationship between data and phenomena in psychology, the relationship between folk- and scientific psychological concepts, the relationship between genuine results and experimental artifacts, and the nature and exploration of psychological kinds.
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Ophrys
The Bee Orchids of EuropeHenrik Ærenlund Pedersen and Niels Faurholdt
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2007
"The genus Ophrys, the charismatic bee orchids and their relatives, are one of the most diverse and biologically fascinating groups of plants to be encountered in Europe, particularly the Mediterranean.
Ophrys – the Bee Orchids of Europe is an easy to use, comprehensive introduction to the plants found in Europe. It can be used as a field guide (with keys, descriptions and numerous colour photographs) and a standard reference (with chapters on structure, biology, evolution and conservation). The chapter by Richard Manuel gives ample guidelines for cultivation for growers, and is especially helpful for conservationists introducing plants back into the wild.
The classification is based on a broad species concept, and offers an alternative to the finely split classifications of the genus that prevail in most recent field guides.
Finally, the chapter ‘recommended Ophrys excursions’ is ideal for planning field trips."
Ophrys – the Bee Orchids of Europe is an easy to use, comprehensive introduction to the plants found in Europe. It can be used as a field guide (with keys, descriptions and numerous colour photographs) and a standard reference (with chapters on structure, biology, evolution and conservation). The chapter by Richard Manuel gives ample guidelines for cultivation for growers, and is especially helpful for conservationists introducing plants back into the wild.
The classification is based on a broad species concept, and offers an alternative to the finely split classifications of the genus that prevail in most recent field guides.
Finally, the chapter ‘recommended Ophrys excursions’ is ideal for planning field trips."
[more]
Oppenheimer
The Tragic IntellectCharles Thorpe
University of Chicago Press, 2007
At a time when the Manhattan Project was synonymous with large-scale science, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–67) represented the new sociocultural power of the American intellectual. Catapulted to fame as director of the Los Alamos atomic weapons laboratory, Oppenheimer occupied a key position in the compact between science and the state that developed out of World War II. By tracing the making—and unmaking—of Oppenheimer’s wartime and postwar scientific identity, Charles Thorpe illustrates the struggles over the role of the scientist in relation to nuclear weapons, the state, and culture.
A stylish intellectual biography, Oppenheimer maps out changes in the roles of scientists and intellectuals in twentieth-century America, ultimately revealing transformations in Oppenheimer’s persona that coincided with changing attitudes toward science in society.
“This is an outstandingly well-researched book, a pleasure to read and distinguished by the high quality of its observations and judgments. It will be of special interest to scholars of modern history, but non-specialist readers will enjoy the clarity that Thorpe brings to common misunderstandings about his subject.”—Graham Farmelo, Times Higher Education Supplement
“A fascinating new perspective. . . . Thorpe’s book provides the best perspective yet for understanding Oppenheimer’s Los Alamos years, which were critical, after all, not only to his life but, for better or worse, the history of mankind.”—Catherine Westfall, Nature
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Orchards of Privilege
Water, Oranges, and Race in the Gamtoos Valley of South Africa, 1700–2023Robert Ross
Ohio University Press, 2025
This study of the Gamtoos River floodplain in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province traces its transformation from an eighteenth-century natural landscape of thick bush into an agricultural zone now threatened by climate change. The first half of the book explains how missionaries from the London Missionary Society and residents of the Hankey Mission Station introduced irrigation, turning the area into a community of small-scale farmers. Despite early failures, by 1849 they had constructed South Africa’s first major irrigation tunnel and aqueduct. However, conflicts between the missionaries and residents led to the loss of communal lands to privatization, which ultimately impoverished the local farmers. The second half explores efforts to develop the valley for large-scale agriculture, addressing challenges like drought, flash floods, and saline water. By the mid-twentieth century, Afrikaners dominated the area, benefiting from the construction in 1970 of the Kouga Dam, which provided fresh water for the floodplain. This led to the rise of a wealthy white farming community, sustained by apartheid policies and labor from the “Coloured” and African populations. In the early twenty-first century, however, this prosperity has become threatened by severe droughts linked to global climate change. In view of these historical transformations, the Gamtoos River floodplain exemplifies the complex interplay between human ambition, environmental challenges, and sociopolitical forces.
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Orchid
A Cultural HistoryJim Endersby
University of Chicago Press, 2016
At once delicate, exotic, and elegant, orchids are beloved for their singular, instantly recognizable beauty. Found in nearly every climate, the many species of orchid have carried symbolic weight in countless cultures over time. The ancient Greeks associated them with fertility and thought that parents who ingested orchid root tubers could control the sex of their child. During the Victorian era, orchids became deeply associated with romance and seduction. And in twentieth-century hard-boiled detective stories, they transformed into symbols of decadence, secrecy, and cunning. What is it about the orchid that has enthralled the imagination for so many centuries? And why do they still provoke so much wonder?
Following the stories of orchids throughout history, Jim Endersby divides our attraction to them into four key themes: science, empire, sex, and death. When it comes to empire, for instance, orchids are a prime example of the exotic riches sought by Europeans as they shaped their plans for colonization. He also reveals how Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution became intimately entangled with the story of the orchid as he investigated their methods of cross-pollination. As he shows, orchids—perhaps because of their extraordinarily diverse colors, shapes, and sizes—have also bloomed repeatedly in films, novels, plays, and poems, from Shakespeare to science fiction, from thrillers to elaborate modernist novels.
Featuring many gorgeous illustrations from the collection of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Orchid: A Cultural History tells, for the first time, the extraordinary story of orchids and our prolific interest in them. It is an enchanting tale not only for gardeners and plant collectors, but anyone curious about the flower’s obsessive hold on the imagination in history, cinema, literature, and more.
Following the stories of orchids throughout history, Jim Endersby divides our attraction to them into four key themes: science, empire, sex, and death. When it comes to empire, for instance, orchids are a prime example of the exotic riches sought by Europeans as they shaped their plans for colonization. He also reveals how Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution became intimately entangled with the story of the orchid as he investigated their methods of cross-pollination. As he shows, orchids—perhaps because of their extraordinarily diverse colors, shapes, and sizes—have also bloomed repeatedly in films, novels, plays, and poems, from Shakespeare to science fiction, from thrillers to elaborate modernist novels.
Featuring many gorgeous illustrations from the collection of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Orchid: A Cultural History tells, for the first time, the extraordinary story of orchids and our prolific interest in them. It is an enchanting tale not only for gardeners and plant collectors, but anyone curious about the flower’s obsessive hold on the imagination in history, cinema, literature, and more.
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Orchids of Madagascar Second Edition
Edited by Johan Hermans, Clare Hermans, David Du Puy, Phillip Cribb, and Jean Bosser
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2007
A new edition of a now classic work, with the diagnostic notes on each species extended to provide much additional information on distribution, habitat and flowering times. The number of colour photographs has been greatly increased to cover over 250 orchids, and line drawings of new species added in an appendix, while the bibliography has been refined to include the most essential references, with new entries accompanied by concise annotations. This is still the one essential book for botanist, orchid enthusiast, ecologist, environmentalist and field worker who need to have the complete picture on Madagascar’s orchid flora.
[more]
Ordinary Genomes
Science, Citizenship, and Genetic IdentitiesKaren-Sue Taussig
Duke University Press, 2009
Ordinary Genomes is an ethnography of genomics, a global scientific enterprise, as it is understood and practiced in the Netherlands. Karen-Sue Taussig’s analysis of the Dutch case illustrates how scientific knowledge and culture are entwined: Genetics may transform society, but society also transforms genetics. Taussig traces the experiences of Dutch people as they encounter genetics in research labs, clinics, the media, and everyday life. Through vivid descriptions of specific diagnostic processes, she illuminates the open and evolving nature of genetic categories, the ways that abnormal genetic diagnoses are normalized, and the ways that race, ethnicity, gender, and religion inform diagnoses. Taussig contends that in the Netherlands ideas about genetics are shaped by the desire for ordinariness and the commitment to tolerance, two highly-valued yet sometimes contradictory Dutch social ideals, as well as by Dutch history and concerns about immigration and European unification. She argues that the Dutch enable a social ideal of tolerance by demarcating and containing difference so as to minimize its social threat. It is within this particular construction of tolerance that the Dutch manage the meaning of genetic difference.
[more]
Oregon Fossils, Second Edition
Elizabeth L. Orr
Oregon State University Press, 2009
This revised and expanded edition of Oregon Fossils includes a record of all known fossils in Oregon going back 400 million years, along with collecting localities by county, age, rock formation, and published source. The book also provides a geologic overview of the state, from ocean beaches to the high desert, from the Blue Mountains to the Siskiyous.
Unique among fossil field guides, Oregon Fossils includes both specimen identification and interesting notes about their discovery, naming, and conservation. The narrative is sprinkled with biographical sketches of paleontologists who have contributed to the state’s fossil record, and the text is richly illustrated with photographs, line drawings, charts, and maps. A complete bibliography lists full citations to fossil material. The only single volume that provides Oregon’s fossil record and history, Oregon Fossils is a well-written, well-organized guide. It is an excellent reference for classroom and library use, for researchers, and for private collectors and hobbyists.
Unique among fossil field guides, Oregon Fossils includes both specimen identification and interesting notes about their discovery, naming, and conservation. The narrative is sprinkled with biographical sketches of paleontologists who have contributed to the state’s fossil record, and the text is richly illustrated with photographs, line drawings, charts, and maps. A complete bibliography lists full citations to fossil material. The only single volume that provides Oregon’s fossil record and history, Oregon Fossils is a well-written, well-organized guide. It is an excellent reference for classroom and library use, for researchers, and for private collectors and hobbyists.
[more]
Oregon Geology
Elizabeth L. Orr and William N. Orr
Oregon State University Press, 2012
Because Oregon sits on the leading edge of a moving crustal plate, a striking diversity of geologic events have molded its topography. Over a century of study, a deeper understanding of the region’s tectonic overprint has emerged. In this timely update to the 2000 edition, Elizabeth and William Orr incorporate that new knowledge, addressing current environmental problems and detailing tectonic hazards. “Caught between converging crustal plates,” the Orrs write, “the Pacific Northwest faces a future of massive earthquakes and tsunamis.”
A comprehensive treatment of the state’s geologic history, Oregon Geology moves through Oregon’s regions to closely examine the unique geologic features of each, from the Blue Mountains to the Willamette Valley, from the high lava Plains to the Coast Range.
The book includes biographical sketches of notable geologists. It is lavishly illustrated and includes an extensive bibliography.
A comprehensive treatment of the state’s geologic history, Oregon Geology moves through Oregon’s regions to closely examine the unique geologic features of each, from the Blue Mountains to the Willamette Valley, from the high lava Plains to the Coast Range.
The book includes biographical sketches of notable geologists. It is lavishly illustrated and includes an extensive bibliography.
[more]
Organic Management for the Professional
The Natural Way for Landscape Architects and Contractors, Commercial Growers, Golf Course Managers, Park Administrators, Turf Managers, and Other Stewards of the LandBy Howard Garrett, John Ferguson, and Mike Amaranthus
University of Texas Press, 2012
Can you manage the landscape of a golf course, city park, or corporate campus without synthetic fertilizers and toxic pesticides? Absolutely! Organic landscaping is not only possible on a large scale, but it also makes sense both economically and environmentally. It promotes healthy soils and plants, which require less water and sequester more carbon—a winning combination for both your bottom line and the planet’s fight against resource depletion and global warming. Organic programs on a commercial scale have enormous potential to make a difference in the quality of our environment, our use of fuels, and our climate. And as those who have already converted to organics have discovered, they also cost a lot less over the long term.
Organic Management for the Professional is the first comprehensive guide to “going green” in large-scale landscaping. Nationally recognized organic gardening expert Howard Garrett, with associates John Ferguson and Mike Amaranthus, not only explains in detail how to manage projects with natural organic techniques, but also presents the material in clear, simple terms so that commercial and institutional property owners can understand what to ask of their landscape architects, contractors, growers, and maintenance people. They give detailed, proven instructions for the key components of organic landscaping—soil building, correct planting techniques, fertilizing, pest control, compost, and mulch. Then they show how to apply these organic methods in large-scale landscaping, commercial growing (orchards, tree farms, nurseries, and greenhouse operations), and recreational properties (golf courses, parks, and sports fields).
[more]
Oriental Networks
Culture, Commerce, and Communication in the Long Eighteenth CenturyBärbel Czennia
Bucknell University Press, 2021
Oriental Networks explores forms of interconnectedness between Western and Eastern hemispheres during the long eighteenth century, a period of improving transportation technology, expansion of intercultural contacts, and the emergence of a global economy. In eight case studies and a substantial introduction, the volume examines relationships between individuals and institutions, precursors to modern networks that engaged in forms of intercultural exchange. Addressing the exchange of cultural commodities (plants, animals, and artifacts), cultural practices and ideas, the roles of ambassadors and interlopers, and the literary and artistic representation of networks, networkers, and networking, contributors discuss the effects on people previously separated by vast geographical and cultural distance. Rather than idealizing networks as inherently superior to other forms of organization, Oriental Networks also considers Enlightenment expressions of resistance to networking that inform modern skepticism toward the concept of the global network and its politics. In doing so the volume contributes to the increasingly global understanding of culture and communication.
Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.
Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.
[more]
Origin and Evolution of Planetary and Satellite Atmospheres
Edited by S. K. Atreya, J. B. Pollack, and M.S. Matthews
University of Arizona Press, 1989
An integrated discussion of the similarities and differences between the atmospheres of various bodies of the solar system, including the Earth.
[more]
Origin of the Earth and Moon
Edited by R. M. Canup and K. Righter
University of Arizona Press, 2000
The age-old question of how our home planet and its satellite originated has in recent times undergone a minor revolution. The emergence of the "giant impact theory" as the most successful model for the origin of the Moon has been difficult to reconcile with some aspects of the Earth, and the development of an integrated model for the origin of the Earth-Moon system has been difficult for this reason. However, recent technical advances in experimental and isotopic work, together with intensified interest in the modeling of planetary dynamics, have produced a wealth of new results requiring a rethinking of models for the origin of the Earth and Moon.
This book is intended to serve as a resource for those scientists working closely in this field, while at the same time it provides enough balance and depth to offer an introduction for students or technically minded general readers. Its thirty chapters address isotopic and chemical constraints on accretion, the dynamics of terrestrial planet formation, the impact-triggered formation of the Earth-Moon system, differentiation of the Earth and Moon, the origin of terrestrial volatiles, and conditions on the young Earth and Moon.
Covering such subjects as the history and origin of the Moon's orbit, water on the Earth, and the implications of Earth-Moon interactions for terrestrial climate and life, the book constitutes a state-of-the-art overview of the most recent investigations in the field. Although many advances have been made in our ability to evaluate competing models of the formation of the Earth-Moon system, there are still many gaps in our understanding. This book makes great strides toward closing those gaps by highlighting the extensive progress that has been made and pointing toward future research.
This book is intended to serve as a resource for those scientists working closely in this field, while at the same time it provides enough balance and depth to offer an introduction for students or technically minded general readers. Its thirty chapters address isotopic and chemical constraints on accretion, the dynamics of terrestrial planet formation, the impact-triggered formation of the Earth-Moon system, differentiation of the Earth and Moon, the origin of terrestrial volatiles, and conditions on the young Earth and Moon.
Covering such subjects as the history and origin of the Moon's orbit, water on the Earth, and the implications of Earth-Moon interactions for terrestrial climate and life, the book constitutes a state-of-the-art overview of the most recent investigations in the field. Although many advances have been made in our ability to evaluate competing models of the formation of the Earth-Moon system, there are still many gaps in our understanding. This book makes great strides toward closing those gaps by highlighting the extensive progress that has been made and pointing toward future research.
[more]
Origins Of Logical Empiricism
Ronald N. Giere
University of Minnesota Press, 1996
Establishes a historical framework for the study of logical empiricism.
Logical empiricism remains a strong influence in the philosophy of science, despite the discipline's shift toward more historical and naturalistic approaches. This latest volume in the eminent Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science series examines the main features of the intellectual milieu from which logical empiricism sprang, providing the first critical exploration of this context by authors within the Anglo-American analytic tradition of philosophy.
These articles challenge the idea that logical empiricism has its origins in traditional British empiricism, pointing instead to a movement of scientific philosophy that flourished in the German-speaking areas of Europe in the first four decades of the twentieth century. The intellectual refugees from the Third Reich who brought logical empiricism to North America did so in an environment influenced by Einstein's new physics, the ascension of modern logic, the birth of the social sciences as rivals to traditional humanistic philosophy, and other large-scale social, political, and cultural themes.
The contributors, including some of our most distinguished philosophers and historians of science, emphasize the connections among members of the logical empiricist movement as well as their connections with members of other major intellectual movements of the time. Focusing on the continuing influence of logical empiricism and the vitality of the issues with which its proponents struggled, this important volume provides valuable context to contemporary philosophers of science.
Contributors: Nancy Cartwright, Jordi Cat, Richard Creath, Michael Friedman, Peter Galison, Warren Goldfarb, Don Howard, Thomas Oberdan, Thomas Ricketts, Thomas Ryckman, Joia Lewis Turner, Thomas E. Uebel.
Ronald N. Giere is professor of philosophy and director of the Center for the Philosophy of Science at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of Explaining Science (1988) and editor of Cognitive Models of Science (1992). Alan Richardson is assistant professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia.
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Origins Of Magnetospheric Physics
An Expanded EditionJames A. Van Allen
University of Iowa Press, 2004
Early in 1958, instruments on the space satellites Explorer I and Explorer III revealed the presence of radiation belts, enormous populations of energetic particles trapped in the magnetic field of the earth. Originally published in 1983 but long out of print until now, Origins of Magnetospheric Physics tells the story of this dramatic and hugely transformative period in scientific and Cold War history. Writing in an accessible style and drawing on personal journals, correspondence, published papers, and the recollections of colleagues, James Van Allen documents a trail-blazing era in space history
[more]
Origins of Psychopathology
The Phylogenetic and Cultural Basis of Mental IllnessFábrega Jr., Horacio
Rutgers University Press, 2002
What are the origins of human psychopathology? Is mental illness a relatively recent phenomenon, or has it been with us throughout evolution?
In Origins of Psychopathology, Horacio Fárega Jr. employs principles of evolutionary biology to better understand the significance of mental illness. He explores whether what psychiatry has categorized as mental disorders could have existed during earlier phases of human evolution. Fábrega approaches the prominent features of mental disorders as adaptive responses to the environment and life’s circumstances, which in turn can only be understood in the context of our evolutionary past. Taking his cue from theoretical issues raised by research into primate behavior and early hominid evolution, he poses the question: What, if any, aspects of mental illness are rooted in our evolution? Does mental illness occur in primates and other animals, and if so, what does this tell us about mental illness in human evolution? How has mental illness played an adaptive role? How has the development of language and higher cognitive functions affected characteristics of psychopathology? Fábrega synthesizes insights from both the clinical and the evolutionary points of view. This facet of psychopathology, which involves its origins and manifestations viewed across the expanse of human evolution, has, until now, been largely neglected in psychiatric education, theory, and practice.
In Origins of Psychopathology, Horacio Fárega Jr. employs principles of evolutionary biology to better understand the significance of mental illness. He explores whether what psychiatry has categorized as mental disorders could have existed during earlier phases of human evolution. Fábrega approaches the prominent features of mental disorders as adaptive responses to the environment and life’s circumstances, which in turn can only be understood in the context of our evolutionary past. Taking his cue from theoretical issues raised by research into primate behavior and early hominid evolution, he poses the question: What, if any, aspects of mental illness are rooted in our evolution? Does mental illness occur in primates and other animals, and if so, what does this tell us about mental illness in human evolution? How has mental illness played an adaptive role? How has the development of language and higher cognitive functions affected characteristics of psychopathology? Fábrega synthesizes insights from both the clinical and the evolutionary points of view. This facet of psychopathology, which involves its origins and manifestations viewed across the expanse of human evolution, has, until now, been largely neglected in psychiatric education, theory, and practice.
[more]
Orioles, Blackbirds, and Their Kin
A Natural HistoryAlexander F. Skutch
University of Arizona Press, 1996
From blackbirds and orioles to meadowlarks, grackles, and cowbirds, the variety and variation shown by members of the family Icteridae is legend. The family exhibits great diversity in size and coloration, mating and nest building, and habits and habitats. This group of 94 New World species once known as the troupials is well represented in backyards across America; yet most icterids are tropical or semi-tropical species that remain largely unstudied.
The least known of these species are perhaps best known to Alexander Skutch, who has studied birds in a Costa Rican tropical valley for more than half a century. In this fascinating book the first devoted exclusively to the icterids—he combines his own observations with those of other naturalists to provide a comparative natural history and biology of this remarkable family of birds. Devoting a separate chapter to each major group or genus, he delineates the outstanding characteristics of each and includes observations of little-studied tropical species such as caciques and oropendolas.
Orioles, Blackbirds, and Their Kin is an eminently readable natural history in the classic style. Enhanced by 31 scratchboard illustrations, this book will delight nature enthusiasts everywhere with its fascinating exposition of avian diversity. Because so much of the published information on the icterids is widely scattered, Skutch's painstaking compilation has created a valuable reference work that will provide students and researchers with a wealth of new insights into the tropical members of this New World family.
The least known of these species are perhaps best known to Alexander Skutch, who has studied birds in a Costa Rican tropical valley for more than half a century. In this fascinating book the first devoted exclusively to the icterids—he combines his own observations with those of other naturalists to provide a comparative natural history and biology of this remarkable family of birds. Devoting a separate chapter to each major group or genus, he delineates the outstanding characteristics of each and includes observations of little-studied tropical species such as caciques and oropendolas.
Orioles, Blackbirds, and Their Kin is an eminently readable natural history in the classic style. Enhanced by 31 scratchboard illustrations, this book will delight nature enthusiasts everywhere with its fascinating exposition of avian diversity. Because so much of the published information on the icterids is widely scattered, Skutch's painstaking compilation has created a valuable reference work that will provide students and researchers with a wealth of new insights into the tropical members of this New World family.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 10
Constructing Knowledge in the History of ScienceEdited by Arnold Thackray
University of Chicago Press, 1995
[more]
Osiris, Volume 11
Science in the FieldEdited by Henrika Kuklick and Robert E. Kohler
University of Chicago Press, 1996
Unlike many histories of scientific practices, which deal with laboratory experiments, this collection of essays focuses on scientific investigations conducted out of doors: biological, physical, and social. Case studies from varied disciplines explore the material, human, and cultural aspects of fieldwork, and the relationships between scientific activity and popular outdoor activities such as exploration and recreation.
Included are "Gender, Culture, and Astrophysical Fieldwork: Elizabeth Campbell and the Lick Observatory-Crocker Eclipse Expeditions," by Alex Soo-jung-Kim Pang; "Wallace in Other Lands," by Jane Camerini; "The Heroic Science of Glacier Motion," by Bruce Hevly; "Objectivity or Heroism: Invisibility of Women in Science," by Naomi Oreskes; "When Nature is the Zoo: Vision and Power in the Art and Science of Natural History," by Gregg Mitman; "Manly Men in Scientific Balloons: Meteorology and the Victorian Scientist as Romantic Hero," by Jennifer Tucker; "Paul du Chaillu and Construction of Authority," by Stuart McCook; "Of Sangfroid and Sphinx Moths: Cruelty, Public Relations, and Entomology, 1800-1840," by Anne Larsen Hollerbach; "The Ship as a Scientific Instrument in the 18th Century," by Richard Sorrenson; and "'A Tent with a View:' Colonial Officers, Anthropologists, and the Making of the Field in Northern Rhodesia, 1937-1960," by Lynette Schumaker.
Included are "Gender, Culture, and Astrophysical Fieldwork: Elizabeth Campbell and the Lick Observatory-Crocker Eclipse Expeditions," by Alex Soo-jung-Kim Pang; "Wallace in Other Lands," by Jane Camerini; "The Heroic Science of Glacier Motion," by Bruce Hevly; "Objectivity or Heroism: Invisibility of Women in Science," by Naomi Oreskes; "When Nature is the Zoo: Vision and Power in the Art and Science of Natural History," by Gregg Mitman; "Manly Men in Scientific Balloons: Meteorology and the Victorian Scientist as Romantic Hero," by Jennifer Tucker; "Paul du Chaillu and Construction of Authority," by Stuart McCook; "Of Sangfroid and Sphinx Moths: Cruelty, Public Relations, and Entomology, 1800-1840," by Anne Larsen Hollerbach; "The Ship as a Scientific Instrument in the 18th Century," by Richard Sorrenson; and "'A Tent with a View:' Colonial Officers, Anthropologists, and the Making of the Field in Northern Rhodesia, 1937-1960," by Lynette Schumaker.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 12
Women, Gender, and Science: New DirectionsEdited by Sally Gregory Kohlstedt and Helen Longino
University of Chicago Press, 1997
What do research on women in science and research on science and gender have to do with each other? This volume brings together prominent historians and philosophers of science to examine women's participation in science, gender and science, and the potential for interaction between these two pieces of a larger puzzle. The eleven chapters included here explore a number of interrelated topics: the experiences of individual women working in science; the demographic patterns of and support for women in specific fields; the gendered construction of scientific education and terminology; the impact of feminist critiques on contemporary science; and more. The result is a collection of works that are rich in suggestions, specific in their evidence, and grounded in the complex discussion of gender in late twentieth century cultural and academic life.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 13
Beyond Joseph Needham: Science, Technology, and Medicine in East and Southeast AsiaEdited by Morris Low
University of Chicago Press, 2000
Devoted to the history of non-Western science, technology, and medicine, this path-breaking volume goes beyond the legacy of the late historian of Chinese science, Joseph Needham, by covering an unprecedented range of countries and by adopting new approaches. The seventeen chapters address topics in China, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. However, the contributors do not view the histories of these countries in isolation. Many adopt a cross-cultural approach by tracing interaction with other Asian countries and the West. The volume begins with four chapters that provide a "big picture" overview of science and civilization in Asia. These are followed by more focused essays, which deal with aspects of science, technology, and medicine in specific countries.
Specialist and non-specialist readers alike will leave this volume with a strong sense of the political and economic imperatives behind knowledge systems in Eastern Asia, their cultural contexts, and how they have coexisted along with those in the West.
Specialist and non-specialist readers alike will leave this volume with a strong sense of the political and economic imperatives behind knowledge systems in Eastern Asia, their cultural contexts, and how they have coexisted along with those in the West.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 14
Commemorative Practices in Science: Historical Perspectives on the Politics of Collective MemoryEdited by Pnina G. Abir-Am and Clark A. Elliot
University of Chicago Press, 2000
This volume breaks new ground in the study of how national culture, disciplinary tradition, epistemological choice, and political expediency affect the construction of collective memory and, then, how historians work with—and sometimes against—those constructions. Essays focus on a variety of commemorative rites, ranging from the quincentennial of Copernicus to the centennials of Pasteur, Darwin, and Planck; from the tercentenary of Harvard to the half centennial of Los Alamos; from the centennial of evolutionary theory to anniversaries of research schools in molecular biology.
Contributors include Clark A. Elliott, Owen Gingerich, Dieter Hoffmann, Dominque Pestre, Robert W. Seidel, and V. Betty Smocovitis.
Contributors include Clark A. Elliott, Owen Gingerich, Dieter Hoffmann, Dominque Pestre, Robert W. Seidel, and V. Betty Smocovitis.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 15
Nature and Empire: Science and the Colonial EnterpriseEdited by Roy MacLeod
University of Chicago Press, 2001
Surveying Africa, Asia, and the Americas, this important new collection looks at roles of science, medicine, and technology during five centuries of colonialism. This thought-provoking history examines the many intersections of science, politics, and culture during colonialism, including the relation between racism and medical science, "exploration" and its potential for wealth, and the perceived differences between indigenous knowledge and European science. Sixteen chapters focus on such topics as intellectual property rights and biodiversity, "acclimatizing" the world, and science and development. Bringing together contributions from scholars of history and science from around the globe, Nature and Empire forges a new path for readers interested in science and society during the modern era.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 16
Science in Theistic Contexts: Cognitive DimensionsEdited by John Hedley Brooke, Margaret J. Osler, and Jitse M. van der Meer
University of Chicago Press, 2001
It is a widely shared assumption that science and religion are fundamentally opposed to each other. Yet, recent historiography has shown that religious belief needs to be added to the social, economic, political, and other cultural factors that went into the making of modern science. This new collection shows religious ideas not only motivated scientific effort but also shaped the actual content of major scientific theories. The fourteen studies contained in this volume concentrate on such topics as the theological facets of modern astronomy in the works of Galileo, Kepler, and Newton; the retention of teleology in the natural philosophy of Boyle; and the theistic and teleological associations of the modern theory of evolution authored by Darwin and Wallace. While the majority of the contributions focus on the Christian traditions, the collection also contains case-studies of Judaic and Islamic influences.
Reflecting the fecundity of contemporary scholarship, the current volume should be of extraordinary interest to historians of science, scientists, as well as anyone intrigued by the many ways in which relations between religion and science have been constructed.
Contributors include:
Peter Barker,
John Hedley Brooke,
Geoffrey Cantor,
Margaret G. Cook,
Michael J. Crowe,
Thomas Dixon,
Noah J. Efron,
Richard England,
Martin Fichman,
Maurice A. Finocchiaro,
Menachem Fish,
Bernard R. Goldstein,
Bernard Lightman,
Margaret J. Osler
F. Jamil Ragep,
Phillip R. Sloan,
Stephen Snobelen,
Jitse M. van der Meer,
Stephen J. Wykstra,
Reflecting the fecundity of contemporary scholarship, the current volume should be of extraordinary interest to historians of science, scientists, as well as anyone intrigued by the many ways in which relations between religion and science have been constructed.
Contributors include:
Peter Barker,
John Hedley Brooke,
Geoffrey Cantor,
Margaret G. Cook,
Michael J. Crowe,
Thomas Dixon,
Noah J. Efron,
Richard England,
Martin Fichman,
Maurice A. Finocchiaro,
Menachem Fish,
Bernard R. Goldstein,
Bernard Lightman,
Margaret J. Osler
F. Jamil Ragep,
Phillip R. Sloan,
Stephen Snobelen,
Jitse M. van der Meer,
Stephen J. Wykstra,
[more]
Osiris, Volume 17
Science and Civil SocietyEdited by Lynn K. Nyhart and Thomas Broman
University of Chicago Press, 2002
This volume explores the varieties of relationships formed between science and civil society, at both the conceptual and institutional levels, since the late seventeenth century. It brings together general historians and historians of science with different national perspectives to confront the various ways sin which science and civil society have shaped one another in different times and places. How, when, and why did science become intertwined in the network of voluntary associations, professional groups and other institutions we understand as comprising "civil society"? How has science affected the ideology of civil society and thus the legitimacy of political authority in historical contexts as different as late eighteenth-century America, mid nineteenth-century Germany, and early twentieth-century China? How have scientists made use of the ideological links between science and civil political discourse to further their own professional ends? In contrast to much recent writing on civil society, this volume does not aim at making normative pronouncements about the role of civil society in promoting democratic polities, nor does it attempt to weigh the role of science in democracy. Instead, the essays examine how the fruitful interplay of beliefs concerning science and civil society has worked to legitimize the institutional forms of civil society and naturalize its ideologies, while at the same time giving to science its overwhelmingly powerful role in public life.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 18
Science and the CityEdited by Sven Dierig, Jens Lachmund, and Andrew Mendelsohn
University of Chicago Press, 2003
Seeking to unite the history of science and urban history, this book emphasizes the active role cities play in shaping both scientific practice and scientific knowledge. Furthermore, the authors argue that cities themselves have to be viewed as mediated by science. Four interconnections of science and the city are discussed: the relationship between scientific expertise and urban politics; science's role in the cultural representation of the city; the embedment of scientific activity in the city's social and material infrastructure; and the interaction between science and everyday urban life.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 19
Landscapes of Exposure: Knowledge and Illness in Modern EnvironmentsEdited by Gregg Mitman, Michelle Murphy, and Christopher Sellers
University of Chicago Press, 2004
Bringing together historians of science and medicine with environmental historians, and adding more contemporary vantage points from geography, anthropology, and sociology, Osiris Volume 19: Landscapes of Exposure offers an unprecedented interdisciplinary depiction of how, over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, scientists and lay people have generated methods for connecting health and place, disease and ecology, calculation and risk.
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Osiris, Volume 20
Politics and Science in Wartime: Comparative International Perspectives on the Kaiser Wilhelm InstituteEdited by Carola Sachse and Mark Walker
University of Chicago Press, 2005
Politics and Science in Wartime brings together a team of internationally known scholars who compare science and its practices in the Third Reich to that in other wartime nations. Their nuanced conclusions on topics ranging from scientific mobilization and purges to the ethics of scientific practice offer new perspectives on science under extreme political conditions.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 21
Global Power Knowledge: Science and Technology in International AffairsEdited by John Krige and Kai-Henrik Barth
University of Chicago Press, 2006
Osiris annualy examines a particular topic in the history of science, bringing together experts in the field to consider multiple aspects of the time period, episode, or theme. Volume 21, Historical Perspectives on Science, Technology, and International Affairs, explores the ways in which scientists and issues in science and technology have played significant roles in foreign policy and international relations, especially since the Second World War.
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Osiris, Volume 22
The Self as Project: Politics and the Human SciencesEdited by Greg Eghigian, Andreas Killen, and Christine Leuenberger
University of Chicago Press, 2007
Osiris annually examines a particular topic in the history of science, bringing together experts in the field to consider multiple aspects of the time period, episode, or theme. Volume 22 explores the ways that twentieth-century political institutions and the human sciences in the western world attempted to understand and shape the attitudes and behaviors of individuals.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 23
Intelligentsia Science: The Russian Century, 1860-1960Edited by Michael Gordin, Karl Hall, and Alexei Kojevnikov
University of Chicago Press, 2008
The newest annual volume of Osiris, Intelligentsia Science explores the transformations in science in the history of Russia and the Soviet Union, from serfdom to Sputnik, as a series of developments in Russian culture.
The contributors argue that it was the generation of the 1860s that transformed “intelligentsia” into a central notion of Russian popular discourse, cementing its association with revolutionary politics—and with science. Science became the cornerstone of the intelligentsia’s ideological and political projects, either as an alternative to socialism, or more often as its nominal raison d’être. The Russian century may in fact be over, but the interrelation of the intelligentsia and science to form “intelligentsia science” proves enduring.
The contributors argue that it was the generation of the 1860s that transformed “intelligentsia” into a central notion of Russian popular discourse, cementing its association with revolutionary politics—and with science. Science became the cornerstone of the intelligentsia’s ideological and political projects, either as an alternative to socialism, or more often as its nominal raison d’être. The Russian century may in fact be over, but the interrelation of the intelligentsia and science to form “intelligentsia science” proves enduring.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 24
National Identity: The Role of Science and TechnologyEdited by Carol E. Harrison and Ann Johnson
University of Chicago Press, 2009
This latest volume of Osiris, National Identity: The Role of Science and Technology, explores the ways in which modern science and the nation-state have mutually interacted since the Enlightenment. The contributors argue for the formative role of science and technology in the creation of national identity, and with examples drawn from eastern and western nation-states, they argue that possession of scientific and technological resources became a marker of national character; the first states to develop this power nexus of science, technology, and bureaucracy went on to become globally dominant and widely imitated. This volume traces the significance of this relationship from its beginnings in the West to its dissemination into the postcolonial world.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 25
Expertise: Practical Knowledge and the Early Modern StateEdited by Eric H. Ash
University of Chicago Press, 2010
This newest annual edition of Osiris brings together a variety of scholars to consider a topic of increasing interest in the history of science: expertise. Focusing specifically on the role expertise has played in the support, legitimation, and growth of the state since early modern times, Expertise and the Early Modern State reveals how scientific expertise and practical knowledge were crucial to the construction of early modern empires and economies. The state, on the other hand, performed a similar function for scientists, giving them much of the status and resources they needed to further their work. A penetrating, multifaceted investigation, Osiris 25 will be required reading for historians of science and early modern political development.
[more]
Osiris, Volume 26
KlimaEdited by James Rodger Fleming and Vladimir Jankovic
University of Chicago Press, 2011
“Climate is a rather elusive entity,” wrote Helmut Landsberg in 1950 as he sorted out some twenty or so competing definitions. This volume of Osiris explores the complexities in understanding what climate means from a historical perspective. The title of this volume, Klima, evokes its Greek origins, κλίμα, meaning an extended period encompassing vast layers of different kinds of meteorological information. The volume thus seeks not only to decouple Klima from its current exclusive association with atmospheric sciences, but also to re-visit the implications of an ancient vocabulary for medical, geographical, agricultural, economic, racial, and other “endemic” concerns. If climate is not just about the weather, what is it? The essays in this volume treat climate discourse as a framing device that makes explicit all social concerns arising from the anxiety over the sensible and latent experiences of living in an atmosphere of hunger and satiation, disease and health, poverty and wealth, isolation and community, angst and hope.
James Fleming is a historian of science and technology and Professor of Science, Technology and Society at Colby College, Maine. Vladimir Jankovic is a faculty member, at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester. He is a historian of atmospheric sciences, and has published in the history of meteorology, geography of environmental knowledge, and medical climatology.[more]
Osiris, Volume 28
Music, Sound, and the Laboratory from 1750-1980Edited by Alexandra Hui, Julia Kursell, and Myles W. Jackson
University of Chicago Press Journals, 2013
The understanding of sound underwent profound changes with the advent of laboratory science in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. New techniques of sound visualization and detection, the use of electricity to generate sound, and the emergence of computers radically reshaped the science of acoustics and the practice of music. The essays in this volume of Osiris explore the manifold transformations of sound ranging from soundproof rooms to psychoacoustics of seismology to galvanic music to pedaling technique. They also discuss more general themes such as the nature of scientific evidence and the development of instruments and instrumentation. In examining the reciprocity between music and science, this volume reaches a new register in the evolution of scientific methodology during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
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Osiris, Volume 29
Chemical Knowledge in the Early Modern WorldEdited by Matthew D. Eddy, Seymour H. Mauskopf, and William R. Newman
University of Chicago Press Journals, 2014
The last twenty-five years have witnessed some provocative transmutations in our understanding of early modern chemistry. The alchemist, once marginalized as a quack, now joins the apothecary, miner, humanist, and natural historian as a practitioner of “chymistry.” In a similar vein, the Chemical Revolution of the eighteenth century, with its focus on phlogiston and airs, has been expanded to include artisanal, medical, and industrial practices. This collection of essays builds on these reappraisals and excavates the affinities between alchemy, chymistry, and chemistry from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. It reveals a rich world of theory and practice in which instruments, institutions, inscriptions and ideas were used to make material knowledge. More generally, the volume will catalyze wide-ranging discussions of material and visual cultures, the role of expertise, and the religious and practical contexts of scientific inquiry.
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