mandag den 28. november 2011

De særeste ting

Geologisk Museeum

NY PERMANENT UDSTILLING FRA 12. OKT. 2011.
Et enhjørningehorn, lårbensknoglen fra en kæmpe og en hestekæbe indgroet i en trærod. De særeste ting er en ny udstilling på Geologisk Museum, der byder på forunderlige genstande og tilhørende historier fra Danmarks første museum: Museum Wormianum. Udstillingen er bygget op om installationen One Room, som er den anerkendte amerikanske kunstner Rosamond Purcells kunstneriske fortolkning af det gamle museum.

"Med De særeste ting byder vi på originale genstande fra både Museum Wormianum og Det Kongelige Kunstkammer og ikke mindst en række af de kuriøse historier, teorier og tolkninger, man i datiden knyttede til genstandene; at norske lemminger (mus, red.) blev avlet i skyer og faldt ned fra himlen, at paradisfugle blev født uden fødder og levede hele deres liv svævende, og at narhvalens snoede tand stammede fra en enhjørning. De særeste ting er dermed en udstilling, der ikke alene fremviser sære genstande, men som også illustrerer menneskets forhold til og fascination af genstandene", siger Hanne Strager, formidlingschef på Statens Naturhistoriske Museum.

Museum Worminaum blev skabt af lægen Ole Worm i midten af 1600-tallet og bestod først og fremmest af en omfattende samling naturalier - dyr, planter og mineraler fra hele verden. I dag betragtes Museum Wormianum ikke blot som Danmarks første museum, men et af verdens første museer. Efter Ole Worms død overgik samlingen til kongen, Frederik III. Han havde få år forinden, som den første danske konge, oprettet et kunstkammer, og Worms samling indgik fra da af i Det Kongelige Kunstkammer.

Ole Worm udgav også et katalog med beskrivelser af alle sine genstande og forsynede bogen med en tegning af sit museum. Bogens tegning, det berømte kobberstik, har inspireret den amerikanske kunstner Rosamond Purcell til at genskabe Ole Worms museum i kunstinstallation One Room, der også indgår i De særeste ting.

fredag den 25. november 2011

Science Fiction, videnskabs- og civilisationskritik

Civilisationens undergang er nær

- eller er det fiktion?

Klimaforandringer, bioterrorister, gensplejsede organsimer, der går amok og en kultur, hvor afstanden mellem rige og fattige markeres med hegn og bevæbnede vagter. Margareth Atwood leverer i sine to romaer Onyx and Crake og The Year After the Flood en civilisationskritik gennem at skildre et dystopia i en ikke for fjern fremtid.

Litterat og universitetspolitisk frontkæmper Sune Auken går denne eftermiddag sammen med bioetiker og teologisk smagsdommer Mickey Gjerris og Axel Kornerup Hansen, Professor på LIFE med speciale i forsøgsdyr

og diskuterer på baggrund af Atwoods bøger spørgsmål som:

Kan litteraturen hjælpe os til at forstå vores egen fremtid?
Er klima-dystopier blot et dække for naturromantikere?
Skaber Science Fiction litteraturen urealistiske forventninger til og ubegrundet angst for videnskabens muligheder?

Tid: Onsdag d. 14. december 2011 kl. 16.00
Sted: Simeons kirkes menighedslokaler.Sjællandsgade 12b2200 Kbh. N

Der vil være kaffe, the, gløg og kager.

Arr. Forum for Eksistens og Videnskab i samarbejde med Studentermenigheden i København,
Simeon-skt. Johannes Sogn og foreningen ”Ej Blot Til Lyst”

torsdag den 24. november 2011

Nye organisationsformer i offentlige vidensinstitutioner


David Budtz Pedersen forsvarer sin ph.d.-afhandling:


Politisk epistemologi. Om begrundelser, normer og konsekvenser af nye organisationsformer i offentlige vidensinstitutioner

Tid: 25. november 2011 kl. 13.00 - af hensyn til kandidaten lukkes dørene præcis 13.00
Sted: København, Studiestræde 6, Studiegården, Anneks A
Arrangør: Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet

Bedømmelsesudvalg:
Lektor Jan Faye, formand (Københavns Universitet)
Professor Aant Elzinga (Göteborgs Universitet)
Docent Karen Siune (Aarhus Universitet)
Leder af forsvarshandlingen:
Lektor Maja Horst (Københavns Universitet)


Et antal eksemplarer af afhandlingen er fremlagt til gennemsyn og hjemlån i Det Kgl. Biblioteks information på Københavns Universitet Amager og til gennemsyn på Det Kgl. Biblioteks læsesal Øst, Diamanten samt på Institut for Medier, Erkendelse og Formidling, Njalsgade 76.
Et resumme af afhandlingen kan ses her:
http://hum.ku.dk/kalender/2011/november/politisk-epistemologi/Resume.pdf/

H. C. Ørsteds rejsebreve

Videnskabshistorisk Selskab

Indbydelse til foredrag ved:

cand.mag. Karen Jelved
og Professor Andrew D. Jackson
Niels Bohr Institutet, KU

H. C. Ørsteds rejsebreve

tirsdag den 6. december 2011, kl. 17.00
Auditorium 10, H. C. Ørsted Instituttet,
Universitetsparken 5, 2100 København Ø

Igennem hans lange karriere foretog H. C. Ørsted otte udlandsrejser fra 1800 til 1846, som gav ham mulighed for at møde og arbejde med de største videnskabelige hjerner i Europa. Michael Faraday, Humphry Davy, Joseph Fourier, André Marie Ampère, Carl Friedrich Gauss, og Alexander von Humboldt – for blot at nævne nogle få – var medlemmer af hans videnskabelige kreds.
Hver af disse rejser blev dokumenteret af Ørsted i breve til familie og venner hjemme i Danmark, ofte i form af en rejsedagbog. Ørsteds interesser var langt bredere end naturvidenskab, og i mange af brevene skriver han om kunst, teater, litteratur, filosofi og politik, som ville være af større interesse for de læsere, han havde i tankerne. Derfor er hans møder med Goethe, Victor Hugo og Walter Scott beskrevet i detaljer. Selv om han undertiden beklagede sig, holdt Ørsted af at rejse. Han giver levende beskrivelser af de glæder og de trængsler, en rejsende kunne opleve i den første halvdel af det nittende århundrede, og han udtrykker ofte sin mening om folk og steder, som ikke ville have været anset for passende i et mere offentligt dokument.
H. C. Ørsteds rejsebreve beskriver udviklingen af den verdensanskuelse, der dannede grundlaget for hans videnskabelige arbejder. De vidner om, at naturvidenskaben har været international i mere end to århundreder med personlige kontakter og samarbejde, der ikke hæmmedes af afstand og nationale grænser. Og de viser den bemærkelsesværdige hastighed, hvormed ny videnskabelig viden blev skabt i det nittende århundrede: Tiden mellem Ørsteds opdagelse af elektromagnetismen og Ampères korrekte teoretiske beskrivelse af hans resultater var kun 16 uger.
Nogle af disse breve blev udgivet af Ørsteds datter Mathilde i 1870 under titlen Breve fra og til H. C. Ørsted. Denne tidligere udgave er præget af rettelser og mange udeladelser, der synes at have haft til hensigt at bevare brevskriverens værdighed. Heldigvis findes de originale breve i Ørsted Samlingen på Det Kongelige Bibliotek i København, og de præsenteres nu i uforkortet form for første gang både på dansk og i en engelsk oversættelse.
H. C. Ørsteds rejsebreve giver et fascinerende personligt vidnesbyrd om hans udvikling både som videnskabsmand og som menneske.

Kl. 16.30 inviterer Selskabet på kaffe, te og frugt i Institut for Matematiske Fags frokoststue, rum 04.4.19 på 4. sal. Efter foredraget vil der blive lejlighed til at spise middag med foredragsholderne for egen regning.

Jesper Lützen, Sekretær

Videnskabelige samarbejder henover jerntæppet under den kolde krig

The Niels Bohr Archive
History of Science Seminar

Fri 9 December 2011, 14.15
Aud. A, Niels Bohr Institute
Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen

Zuoyue Wang
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Transnational Science and the Cold War:
China, US, and Europe

It is well-known that during the early Cold War the Soviet Union provided much scientific and technological assistance to the People’s Republic of China after the latter’s founding in 1949. Much less has been written about the continuing but sometimes invisible scientific and technological connections that China maintained with the US and Europe, especially following the Sino-Soviet breakup around 1960. This paper will examine these transnational scientific relations across the Iron Curtain, with special attention to China’s interactions with the Niels Bohr Institute, highlighting along the way the roles of western-trained Chinese scientists in the making of transnational science in China during the Cold War.

Zuoyue Wang

Den kolde krig og modstanden mod nukleare prøvesprængninger

The Niels Bohr Archive
History of Science Seminar

Thu 15 December 2011, 14.15
Aud. M, Niels Bohr Institute
Blegdamsvej 21, Copenhagen

D.J. Kinney
Florida State University, Tallahassee

The AEC’s Propaganda Primer:
Revisiting Cold War Atomic Testing in the Arctic

Between 1965 and 1971, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission fundamentally changed the means by which it represented its activities and the way in which it dealt with public dissent, both in the United States and abroad. By mounting a massive public relations campaign between 1969 and 1971, the AEC sought to suppress the outcry over the proposed nuclear test on Amchitka Island in Alaska. The means by which this effort was undertaken were outlined in an internal document -- a "p.r. primer" -- on public relations and disinformation which had been written in the aftermath of the failed attempt to assuage the protests over the 1969 "Milrow" atomic test.
Through a series of presentations, publications, and propagandistic films, the AEC went about softening the opposition to its activities. The mantra of this effort was stated best by Under Secretary of State Elliot Richardson in a conference call regarding Canadian opposition to the upcoming atomic test: "This is one of those situations like many [in] which the question is a good deal in how the situation is perceived rather than what the real facts are."
These developments are important not only for what they reveal about the AEC and U.S. foreign policy; they also indicate that public opposition to proposed Arctic nuclear tests was a significant factor for starting the environmental movement.

Beslutning om fjernbetjening af kropsmaskiner etc

Lucy Suchman Lecture – Remote Control: Asymmetric entanglements of bodies and machines

This is an invitation for a lecture by Lucy Suchman at the ITU on November 29 at 14 hrs in Aud 1.

Everyone is welcome.

Lucy Suchman is Professor of STS and Sociology at University of Lancaster and Adjunct Professor at the IT University since 2009 (visit her home page here: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociology/profiles/31/)

Lecture abstract:
Remote Control: Asymmetric entanglements of bodies and machines
Drawing from recent work in Science and Technology Studies, this talk will explore configurations at the interface of bodies and machines within the danger zones of contemporary war fighting. More specifically, I consider developments in remotely controlled aircraft and robots, devices designed to keep ‘our’ bodies safe, while putting ‘the enemy’ at greater risk. I read media accounts of these initiatives to address a wider problematic regarding recognition and identification in the domain of remotely controlled warfighting. While science fiction and popular culture anxiously anticipate a future of autonomous weapons and robot soldiers, more intimate configurations of human and machine are presently in play in the form of new devices (drone aircraft, battlefield robots) for the projection of action at a distance. While critics rightly direct our attention to questions regarding the ethical and legal status of mechanized decision making, I focus here on a prior question regarding the promise of ‘decision’ itself. Arguably always a fictive prelude to action, the moment of decision becomes further distributed across messy assemblages of sociotechnical mediation that presuppose the recognizability of their objects, at the same time that those objects become increasingly difficult to define.

Event information:
November 29, 2011. 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Aud 1., IT University, Copenhagen

4S og EASST konference på CBS okt.2012 om videnskabs- og teknologistudier

from:

Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S)

2012: Copenhagen

October 17-20, 2012, Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark
Held jointly with European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST)

(View the 2011, Cleveland meeting page).

“Design and displacement – social studies of science and technology”

For the Joint 4S/EASST conference 2012 we broadly invite papers that address the dynamics and interrelationships between science, technology and society. Papers which address the meeting’s theme ‘Design and Displacement’ are especially relevant, but papers on any topic in STS are welcome.

‘Design’ has become a key concept across a multitude of disciplinary domains and social spheres. In addition to its traditional ‘aesthetic’ associations, it is now a key term in multiple scientific domains and in diverse technological practices. One can even think of societies and social arrangements being ‘designed’. In science and technology, ‘design’ implies the re-arrangement of materials and ideas for innovative purposes. When newly designed scientific and technical objects enter the world, however, their initial purposes are often displaced.

For decades, STS researchers have been following the practical and political dimensions of science and technology. By focusing on concepts and practices of scientific and technological design at their sites of construction and on their multiple displacements the 2012 conference continues this tradition. By bringing together ‘design’ and ‘displacement’ we want to highlight how scientific and technological design engages with existing socio-technical arrangements in both planned and unplanned ways, facilitating both collaborations and contestations, and generating both order and disorder.

The conference encourages analytic, critical and practical engagement with design and displacement in several ways. First, it points to the need for investigating the relation between design intentions and their displacements, for example as catalysts for change and conflict. It also highlights the importance of investigating design controversies. It locates design practices in broader political contexts, and focuses attention on how design facilitates or hinders social inclusion, locally and globally. The theme ‘Design and Displacement’ invites careful analyses of the way design practices take part in shaping worlds. However, ‘Design and Displacement’ also raises questions around STS as design work and practice-based interventions. In this sense design becomes simultaneously topic and outcome, a situation that raises new questions concerning the role of STS research.

New! Call for Open Panels

As a new initiative, proposals for ‘open panels’ at the 2012 Joint Conference 4S/EASST can now be submitted. The selected open panels will then be included as part of the formal call for papers.

A ‘panel’ is a collection of papers that address a shared theme. Panels are normally submitted at the call for papers as a ‘closed package’ of papers and presentations. The 2012 conference hereby calls for open panels, i.e. panels that have a theme and a responsible anchor-person(s), but which are not already filled up with papers. The purpose of calling for open panels is to stimulate the formation of new networks around topics of interest to the 4S/EASST community and may take inspiration from the conference theme “Design and Displacement”. The selected open panels will be announced as part of the ordinary call for papers to come.

Submit your name, institutional affiliation and a short (maximum 300 words) description of the open panel theme along with a title. Deadline is January 4, 2012. Submit an Open Panel Now.

Proposers of open panels must be prepared to be in contact with the scientific program committee about the final composition of their panels and they must be prepared to chair the panel.

The selected open panels will be included in the call for papers opening January 11, 2012 and thereby allow direct submission of papers to a selected panel.

Exhibitors

The 4S is the oldest and largest scholarly association devoted to studying science, technology and society. The annual meeting attracts over 1,000 scholars. Many attendees look forward to the book exhibit for finding new books for class, for their research, and for staying current in the field. Visit the Exhibitors page for information on how to participate.http://www.4sonline.org/meeting/exhibitors

Mentorship Program

The Mentorship Program has become a popular part of the 4S conference. The goal of the program is to facilitate mentoring of individuals who are new to the conference and/or to 4S. A mentoring relationship assumes a minimum of one conversation at the 4S conference. It is hoped that mentoring relationships will also continue with at least two follow-up phone calls or emails during the following 12 months. We will match new scholars with more experienced scholars and make an effort to assign mentors outside of one's university. We hope that the mentoring project will allow new scholars to feel more at home in the STS community.

Travel Support for Students

Please consult the travel grants page for more information.
http://www.4sonline.org/meeting/travel_grants

Contact Info

For general meeting information and any questions about the program, contact the Scientific Program Chair, Signe Vikkelsø at meeting@4sonline.org.

For technical assistance with the submission or registration process, contact the 4S Webmaster.

Important Dates

  • January 4, 2012: Deadline for submitting open panels
  • January 11, 2012: Abstract submissions open: The deadline for abstract submission I suggest should be: March 11, 2012
  • March 11, 2012: Deadline for submissions of individual papers and session proposals.
  • May 1, 2012: Acceptance notification.

Hugin og Munin nr. 267

Hugin og Munin nr. 267, den 24. november, 2011.



Nyhedsbrevet læses på nettet på odinsravne.blogspot.com

Med venlig hilsen Red.