Marconi, masculinity and the heroic age of science: wireless telegraphy at the British Association meeting at Dover in 1899

In September 1899, at the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) in Dover, Guglielmo Marconi’s wireless telegraphy system was used to transmit messages across the English Channel (and across a national border) for the first time. This achievement represented a highly effective performance of scientific masculinity and constitutes a key turning point in an important struggle between competing interpretations of invention and innovation as masculine practices within British science. The British Association tended to favor a narrative of scientific research as a collectivist, international, gentlemanly-amateur pursuit, largely confined to the laboratory. Marconi, by contrast, explained the development of wireless telegraphy as the achievement of his own genius. Appealing not only to the established scientific elite but to a range of non-traditional audiences, and stressing the possibilities or ‘imagined uses’ of his technology even more so than his actual results, he succeeded in commanding unprecedented influence

What Can We Learn from the History of STS in Italy? A Few Hints for the Future

By recalling his own career as an historian of science and technology, the author sketches the history of Science and Technology Studies in Italy from their early steps in the 1970s and 1980s. He highlights the ways in which the field has gained visibility and substance in the Italian context, but also pointing out the constraints and hurdles that still must be overcome to consolidate it. In particular, the author underlines how the traditionally rigid disciplinary partitions of Italian academia and the nationally centralized system of Italian universities have hindered, and still hinder, the institutionalization and the potential impact of STS south of the Alps

"Italy"

Enlightenment Legacies, the Spirit of Association, and a New Nation; Striving for a National Scientific Community; Diasporas; Weak Science and Technology, and a Remarkable Economic Takeoff; Conclusion: When Imagined National Scientific Communities Backfire

Traiettorie della modernizzazione. Cosa si pu\uf2 imparare dalla storia dell'elettricit\ue0 in un'antica citt\ue0 universitaria.

Il saggio pone a confronto lo sviluppo della scienza elettrica, l'introduzione delle tecnologie elettriche e la celebrazione della scienza dell'elettricit\ue0 nella sfera pubblica per esaminare le traiettorie della modernizzazione nel particolare contesto offerto da un'antica citt\ue0 universitaria: Bologna

9th International Summer School in History of Science: "Current approaches to the history of science"

ISSHS Berkeley – Bologna – Paris – Uppsala 9th International Summer School in History of Science University of Bologna, 29 August – 3 September 2004 Facoltà di Lettere, Via Zamboni 38, Aula II (2nd floor), 9:30-12:30 “Current approaches to the history of science” Program Monday Introduction: Dominique Pestre “Thirty years of science studies. Between intellectual analysis and political intervention" Nicolaas Rupke "Serving different interests: the purposes of 20th-century history of science in the English- and German-speaking worlds" Tuesday Making Natural Knowledge: Jan Golinski "Making natural knowledge: Reconsiderations" George E. Smith “Vistas, short and long, narrow and wide” Wednesday Closer Looks, I: Claire Salomon-Bayet “Epistemology, sociology of sciences, science policy: End of a French ideology, 1950-2000” Anna Guagnini and Giuliano Pancaldi “Purification rituals: Reflections on the history of science in Italy, 1967-2004” Thursday Closer Looks, II: Feza Günergun “Researches on history of science in Turkey: Emergence, current approaches, and future directions” José Ferreirós "The history of science in Spain: notes and reflections" Friday Summaries and general discussion Dava Sobel “Writing about history of science for a general audience” _______ In the afternoons: Monday, 14:30-16:30 Work in progress: students’ informal presentations (5 mins each). Tuesday, 14:30-15:30 Guided tour: The Museums of Palazzo Poggi: Science and art in Bologna, 15th-18th centuries. Wednesday, 13:30-22:00: Excursion to Florence (15:00-17:00 guided tour of the Institute and Museum of the History of Science; 17:30-18:30 guided tour of the exhibition “Vitrum: Glass between art and science in the Roman world”; 19:00 dinner in Florence). Thursday: free (recommended visit to the Museo Civico Medievale, Via Manzoni 4, Bologna, preserving several fine sculptures illustrating academic life in Bologna during the Middle Ages). _________ Organizers: Cathryn Carson and Roger Hahn (Berkeley), Tore Frängsmyr (Uppsala), J.L. Heilbron (Berkeley and Oxford), Giuliano Pancaldi (Bologna), Dominique Pestre (Paris) Local organization: Giuliano Pancaldi with Paola Bertucci, Marco Bresadola, Eleonora Certo, Paola Govoni, and Anna Guagnini With the financial support of: Facoltà di Lettere, Università di Bologna Dipartimento di Filosofia, Università di Bologna Settore Relazioni Internazionali, Università di Bologna Il Consiglio Regionale dell’Emilia Romagn

The physics of imponderable fluilds

1. Introduction – 2. Interpreting Laplacian physics, or the multiple uses of imponderables – 3. Instruments to catch the imponderables – 4. Normalizing novelty: Laplacians face the battery – 5. “A wonderful and important instrument of analysis”: chemistry lessons for physicists - 6. Enter Ampère: mathematics, electricity, and the instrument makers – 7. From fluids to current – 8. Conclusion: a new toolbox for physicists

Frodi scientifiche? Ricerca e responsabilit\ue0 sociale dello scienziato

Quali sono le strategie migliori per contenere il pericolo delle frodi scientifiche? Dopo una premessa storica volta a chiarire i termini del problema, gli autori esaminano diverse opinioni espresse al riguardo e considerano le diverse strategie adottate in tempi recenti. Concludono formulando alcune proposte basate sulla loro esperienza di ricercatori