ORGANISATORISK
BØGER
ARRANGEMENTER
The Aarhus Network for Science, Technology and Medicine Studies
Organising committee: Finn Olesen, Associate Professor, Information and Media Science, Peter C. Kjærgaard, Associate Professor, History of Ideas, Jakob Bek-Thomsen, PhD-student and outreach officer, Aarhus Climate Secretariat. Student assistants: Helene Sloth Borgholm, Nanna Lüders Kaalund
The Role of Hamilton's Optical-Mechanical Analogy in Schrödinger's Research Program
Abstract: The quantum revolution emerged from a series of crises of the classical-mechanical worldview from the late 19th century to the mid-1920s. In part, these crises were caused by conflicts between theoretical expectations and novel experimental results, for instance in research on black body radiation and on atomic spectroscopy. At a deeper level, however, the crisis of classical mechanics arose from attempts to integrate newly-established physical theories such as electrodynamics and thermodynamics into a coherent mechanical worldview. Conflicts between these theories necessitated a reorganization and reevaluation of their most fundamental concepts.
In the course of the quantum revolution, seemingly unquestionable fundamental categories such as space, time, and matter had to be reevaluated. Central to this process of reevaluation was not only a large amount of undisputed empirical knowledge but also the persistence of certain theoretical structures and methods. Which concepts and theoretical structures could be maintained in the emerging new theory and could thus serve as a guide for its development? As in the case of relativity theory, high-level, abstract structures survived, although with a new physical interpretation.
After a general introduction into the history of quantum physics, I will discuss the long-term influence of Hamilton's optical-mechanical analogy that served Schrödinger as a guide to the formulation of wave mechanics. Hamilton's analogy was gradually transformed from an abstract attempt at unifying optics and dynamics into, as we have shown recently, a powerful heuristic principle within Schrödinger's research program that culminated in the development of wave mechanics. Just as Einstein did when elaborating the consequences of the equivalence principle, Schrödinger realized an unused potential of classical physics when completing Hamilton's analogy.
Our insights were made possible by the Quantum History Project’s ongoing effort of reconstructing Schrödinger’s research program through his publications, correspondence and research notebooks. Drawing on numerous unpublished documents from Schrödinger’s research, I will illustrate how the optical-mechanical analogy, when transferred from classical to modern physics, persisted as a theoretical structure but underwent a deep transformation in its role and its interpretation.
Kl. 16.30 inviterer Selskabet på kaffe, te og frugt i Institut for
Matematiske Fags frokoststue, rum 04.4.19 på 4. sal.
Jesper Lützen, Sekretær
Videnskabshistorisk Selskab
Sider: 378Forfattere:
Merete Bjerrum, Trine Fastrup Nielsen, Mogens Mellergaard, Jette Møllerhøj, Raben Rosenberg, Pernille Sonne, Jesper Vaczy Kragh, Barbara Zalewski
Redaktør: Jesper Vaczy Kragh
Skildringer af dansk psykiatri har ofte haft karakter af politiske indlæg. Enten i form af skrifter, hvor psykiatere forsvarer psykiatrien som hård videnskab, eller kritiske analyser af psykiatrien som et disciplinerende system, der på forskellige måder undertrykker såkaldt ”syge” mennesker.
I denne bog gives for første gang en samlet historisk skildring af den danske hospitalspsykiatri med fokus på både videnskabelige landvindinger og den skiftende historiske kontekst, psykiatrien har udviklet sig igennem. I ti kapitler fortæller forfatterne – som tæller både psykiatere og historikere – om dansk psykiatri fra grundlæggelsen af Sct. Hans Hospital i 1600-tallet til i dag, hvor neuropsykiatrien vinder frem, og skellene mellem førhen adskilte psykiatriske retninger i stigende grad nedbrydes til fordel for en mere sammensat beskrivelse af psykiske lidelser.
Psykiatriens historie i Danmark er et enestående værk om et aspekt af danmarkshistorien, som har en bemærkelsesværdig evne til at bringe sindene i kog, men som ikke desto mindre har været sparsomt skildret.
JESPER VACZY KRAGH er cand.mag. og ph.d. og ansat ved Medicinsk Museion, Københavns Universitet, hvor han arbejder på et forskningsprojekt om medicinsk behandling i psykiatrien i perioden efter 1950. Han er forfatter til en lang række artikler om bl.a. psykiatrihistorie, spiritisme og kulturhistorie.
Opslag
Alle kommentarer
