The language of objects: Christian Jürgensen Thomsen's science of the past

The Danish amateur scholar Christian Jürgensen Thomsen has often been described as a founder of modern "scientific" archaeology. Thomsen's innovation, this essay argues, reflects developments within neighboring fields, such as philology and history. He reacted against historians who limited themselves to histories of texts and therefore abandoned the earliest human history. Instead, he proposed a new history of objects, which included the entire history of humankind. Thomsen's work as director of the Royal Museum of Nordic Antiquities in Copenhagen was especially important for this renewal. The arrangement of artifacts not only helped him formulate his theories, but also allowed him to present his arguments in a language of objects. At the same time, Thomsen's definition of archaeology as a museum science placed his branch of archaeology in a closer relationship with other museum sciences, such as geology and comparative anatomy. From the 1840s, Thomsen's museum became a model for how the study of human artifacts could deliver scientific insights into human nature and the laws of human development.     

The creation of prehistoric man. Aimé Rutot and the Eolith controversy, 1900-1920

Although he died in obscurity, the Belgian museum conservator Aimé Rutot (1847-1933) was one of the most famous European archaeologists between 1900 and 1920. The focus of his scientific interest was stone flints, which he claimed to be the oldest known human tools, so-called eoliths. Skeptics maintained that the flints showed no marks of human workmanship, but Rutot nevertheless managed to spread his "Eolithic theory" in an important part of the scientific community. This essay demonstrates how material objects--series of stone flints and sets of statues that purported to reconstruct prehistoric "races"--were given scientific meaning by Rutot. Rutot diffused his ideas by disseminating his stones and statues, thus enlarging his networks of influence. For a time he managed to be at the material center of a trade network as well as at the intellectual center of archaeological debate. The essay shows how Rutot achieved this status and how he eventually fell from favor among serious scientists.     

Aligning work force management practices with competitive priorities and process technology: A conceptual examination

Despite the accepted need for strategic alignment in the manufacturing strategy literature, there has been relatively little research aimed at simultaneously aligning decisions in the structural and infrastructural areas with the competitive priorities of an organization. This article attempts to bridge the gap by examining how work force management practices, an infrastructural decision, should be aligned with both the process technology of a manufacturing plant, a structural decision, and its competitive priorities. A conceptual model for linking competitive priorities, process technologies, and work force management practices is presented, and specific and testable propositions are developed for future empirical research. The proposed conceptual model is based on the premise that the process of matching work force management practices to competitive priorities involves identification of the key managerial tasks underlying various competitive priorities. These tasks, in turn, are matched with the process technology characteristics and work force management practices to seek a good fit, which is expected to improve manufacturing performance.     

The 2007 Benjamin Franklin medal in materials engineering, Presented to Merton C. Flemings, Sc.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

The second half of the twentieth century marked the emergence of metal casting, also known as solidification processing, as a field for scientific and engineering inquiry. Merton C. Flemings is recognized internationally for his pioneering work in this field resulting in the development of fundamental understanding and novel processes of commercial importance. Amongst his work is semi-solid metalworking (SSM), an environmentally friendly process, which has led to the development of a new world-wide industry providing lightweight, affordable metallic castings for applications ranging from aerospace, to sporting goods, to consumer electronics.     

George Evelyn Hutchinson: 20th-century ecologist

Evelyn Hutchinson was a man of amazing diversity and intellectual power, working during most of a century in which the role of polymath was almost as extinct as that of a saint. Hutchinson's life spanned most of this century, 1903–1991, and his publications nine of its decades.     

浅析物联网技术在科技馆中的应用

物联网即传感网,被称为继计算机、互联网之后,世界信息产业的第三次浪潮。物联网技术的出现及应用对科技馆提升自动化管理能力、实现人性化服务、提升工作效率等方面将产生巨大影响。本文通过对物联网相关技术的概述、物联网技术如何在科技馆业务中的应用,提出了科技馆合理应用物联网技术的可行路径。     

谁见幽人独往来 迪惠尔与噬菌体的发现

在上个世纪二、三十年代,曾经有一场轰轰烈烈的关于噬菌体发现优先权之争。参与者分别来自法国、英国和比利时。最终尘埃落定则是在四十年代,美国的噬菌体群体的研究工作发表之后。时隔半个多世纪,重新审视这段历史,当年很多谜团的答案都已经成了生物学常识,但它所昭示的科学发现规律却历久弥新:突破性的成就,往往是由一些非正统的研究者作出的,因为他们最少受到既定理论藩篱的限制。然而这样的学者,又总要为其特立独行付出代价——科研群体组成中属于大多数的正统学者在相当长的时间内很难接受他们的观点。这一方面源于知识发展的惰性,毕竟他们的理论太超前了;另一方面也源于科研群体的门第观念。再伟大的学者也不可能超越人性,科学的世界里没有神。     

Edward B. Aveling: the people's Darwin

By the late-19th century, evolutionary theory, known by most people as Darwinism, had earned a reputation as an atheistic theory that challenged religious orthodoxy. From recent historical work we now know a great deal about how those with religious convictions received Darwinian ideas, and the role that professional scientists played in styling and communicating 'Darwinism' to the wider public and between themselves. However, relatively little is known about how Darwinian ideas were received and used by avowedly irreligious groups, and how these groups set about communicating their own version of Darwinism to a public hungry for cheap and accessible science. The activities of the Secularist Edward Bibbins Aveling, a prolific popularizer of Darwinian ideas in the late-19th century, offer a unique insight into this relatively uncharted territory. His work helped to develop the polemic of popular irreligious groups and imbue Darwinism with overtly atheistic connotations; it also engendered unprecedented support for atheism from the general public, and challenged the monopoly that some professional scientists enjoyed over imparting serious scientific knowledge to them.     

This view of science: Stephen Jay Gould as historian of science and scientific historian,popular scientist and scientific popularizer

Science historian Ronald Numbers once remarked that the two most influential historians of science of the 20th century were Thomas Kuhn and Stephen Jay Gould. All historians are deeply familiar with Kuhn's work and influence, and most know of the remarkable impact Gould has had on evolutionary theory through both his professional and popular works. But little attention has been paid to the depth, scope, and importance of Gould's r?le as historian and philosopher of science, and his use of popular science exposition to reinforce old knowledge and generate new. This paper presents the results of an extensive quantitative content analysis of Gould's 22 books, 101 book reviews, 479 scientific papers, and 300 Natural History essays, in terms of their subject matter (Evolutionary Theory, History and Philosophy of Science, Natural History, Paleontology/Geology, Social Science/Commentary), and thematic dichotomies (Theory-Data, Time's Arrow-Time's Cycle, Adaptationism- Nonadaptationalism, Punctuationism-Gradualism, Contingency-Necessity). Special emphasis is placed on the interaction between the subjects and themata, how Gould has used the history of science to reinforce his evolutionary theory (and vice versa), and how his philosophy of science has influenced both his evolutionary theory and his historiography. That philosophy can best be summed up in a quotation from Charles Darwin, frequently cited by Gould: 'All observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service'. Gould followed Darwin's advice throughout his career, including his extensive writings on the history and philosophy of science.     

Knowledge held in common. Tales of Luther Burbank and science in the American vernacular.

During the first half of the twentieth century, the horticulturist Luther Burbank was largely considered an irrelevant figure by the scientific community, despite winning acclaim from the public as an eminent scientist. In examining the intellectual, social, and political claims embedded in texts by and about Burbank, this essay argues that consideration of the Burbank stories as they circulated in the vernacular realm can aid historians in understanding the dynamics of science in American life. Among the themes it addresses are how the Burbank stories directly engaged the question of who should legitimately count as a student of nature; the varied philosophical perspectives that derived from siting science within the deomestic sphere; and how these stories played with the possibility of a philosophy of nature based on the concept of "living matter," as opposed to one grounded on mechanistic principles. The essay also discusses how Burbank's views on evolution were mediated by the image of the child and the way in which his convictions regarding the power of the environment to release latent characteristics in physiological material presented a view of the future of the American "race" that was at odds with conventional eugenic thinking and assigned a central role to women in the drama of American evolution.     

地球科学∶世纪之交的回顾与展望

地球科学在20世纪取得了空前的进步,21世纪将是其更加迅速发展的时代.简要回顾了地球科学在20世纪的重大成就,展望了该科学领域21世纪初叶的发展趋势与战略重点,并提出了具体措施建议.     

Réaumur: natural historian and pioneer of applied science

This article is published to mark the tercentenary of the birth of Réaumur. Today, his work is rather little appreciated but his contemporaries called him the Pliny of the eighteenth century, and in his breadth of knowledge and interest he has been likened to Francis Bacon. He is commonly remembered for his achievements in the systematic application of science to industry but he also did important biological work, particularly in entomology.     

探究西藏现代画家安多强巴的创作特色与理念

上个世纪藏族现代画家安多强巴倡导并实践了多元化的绘画风格,他在绘画题材的选择上不拘一格,除了传统的佛教题材之外,同时也致力于日常生活题材的艺术表现。一方面,安多强巴将佛教题材平易化,以多样化的绘画表现手法阐释了藏族艺术的内涵。另一方面他也将世俗人间的题材陌生化,以一种带有浓厚个人色彩的、角度特殊的绘画作品观照自然及社会万象。安多强巴的绘画风格、绘画技法和艺术理念等对当代的藏族绘画依然影响深远。     

从清教主义“原罪说”角度谈《红字》救赎主题

《红字》是美国19世纪杰出浪漫主义作家纳撒尼尔·霍桑的代表作之一。霍桑和清教主义传统有着复杂的关系。他的作品常常弥漫着浓厚的清教主义宗教色彩。因此,基于清教主义“原罪”思想,本文试图通过分析《红字》中海斯特,白兰和牧师丁梅斯代尔这两个主要人物犯下罪行,接受惩罚最后获得救赎的过程,探讨小说救赎主题。     

Science in the 19th-century zoo

The 19th century saw the advent of the modern zoological garden. The newly founded zoos not only claimed to educate and entertain their audiences, but also to serve science by providing direct access to exotic animals. However, reality did not live up to the promise of such rhetoric. The vast majority of biologists preferred to use dead bodies as the material for their morphological research. Nevertheless, there was still a strong interaction between the zoo and science. In the debate on Darwinism, the apes in the cage played a vital role.     

博物馆研究文献计量与知识图谱分析

对中文社科引文索引（CSSCI）收录的1998—2012年有关博物馆研究论文进行统计,从年代分布、期刊分布、主题分布、核心著者分布等方面进行文献计量分析,确定我国博物馆研究领域的核心作者、核心期刊以及研究规律,揭示博物馆研究概况及研究主题。运用文献共被引分析方法与动态网络分析的信息可视化技术,绘制我国博物馆研究领域的科学知识图谱。展示博物馆研究的关键节点以及节点所代表的专家及其著作对该领域发展所起的作用,展现我国博物馆研究的知识基础与研究前沿。进而为今后我国博物馆研究提供思路与借鉴,推动该领域的理论与经验研究。     

浅析博物馆藏品的管理工作

目前,博物馆藏品管理工作中仍然存在着一些问题,如工作效率低下、人力资源浪费、支出费用增加、基础工作薄弱以及教育宣传工作受限等。这些问题严重制约了博物馆的有序发展。因此,探究改进博物馆藏品管理工作的策略,具有现实的理论意义和实践价值。     

谈博物馆讲解员的倦怠心理

陈列讲解是博物馆社会教育和服务的核心内容之一,博物馆要充分发挥其社会作用,实现其教育职能,讲解员起着非常重要的作用,它是我博物馆与观众沟通的重要媒介。新时期的讲解员在工作中面临着机遇和挑战。部分讲解员在日复一日的讲解工作中,由于各方面的压力,工作积极性降低,产生了倦怠心理。     

Germs in space. Joshua Lederberg,exobiology, and the public imagination, 1958-1964

Under the leadership of Joshua Lederberg, some American biologists and chemists proposed exobiology as the most legitimate program for space research. These scientists used the fear of contamination--of earth and other planets--as a central argument for funding "nonpolitical," "scientifically valid" experiments in extraterrestrial life detection. Exobiology's resemblance to popular science fiction narratives presented a significant challenge to its advocates' scientific authority. Its most practical applications, moreover, bore an unseemly resemblance to the United States Army's research on biological weapons. At the same time that exobiologists wanted to use the media to attract support for their program, they had to monitor their statements carefully in order to maintain their view of exobiology as a peaceful, scientifically valid research program. In examining how exobiology's creators positioned their work in comparison to other space sciences as well as science fiction, this case study highlights how cultural and political imperatives entered science through practice and narrative during the Cold War.