Dr. Mary Joe Nye - 'Shifting Problems in Modern Physics and in the Histories That We Write'

On September 12, 2018, Professor Mary Jo Nye presented "Shifting Problems in Modern Physics and in the Histories That We Write" as part of the Lyne Starling Trimble Science Heritage Public Lectures at he American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland.

Abstract:
Scientists have been professionally identified with disciplinary fields since the late nineteenth century, but the questions they ask and the problems they solve are not neatly carved up by disciplinary perimeters. Reward systems such as the highly visible Nobel Prizes appear to offer stable categories that define the physical, chemical, and biological sciences, but these rewards do not in fact reflect disciplinary rigidity. In this talk, I examine some trends in Nobel Prize awards in Physics, focusing on shifts in the disciplinary boundaries and social organization of physics in the course of the twentieth century. I tie these developments to changes, too, in the ways in which histories of physics have been written.

Speaker Biography:
Mary Jo Nye is Emerita Horning Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Her recent books include Before Big Science: The Pursuit of Modern Chemistry and Physics 1800-1940 (Twayne, 1996; Harvard University Press, 1999), Blackett: Physics, War, and Politics in the 20th Century (Harvard University Press, 2004), and Michael Polanyi and His Generation: Origins of the Social Construction of Science (University of Chicago Press, 2011). In 2017 she received the Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics awarded by the American Physical Society.

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The Lyne Starling Trimble Science Heritage Public Lecture Series features prominent science historians and writers who highlight the important roles that science plays in modern society and culture. All lectures are held at the American Center for Physics, College Park, MD, unless noted otherwise.

Funded by a generous donation from Dr. Virginia Trimble, the lecture series is named after her late father, Dr. Lyne Starling Trimble (1912–1992) who held patents for a number of color-reproduction systems and was an innovative chemist. The series was first endowed at $100,000 by Dr. Trimble, and the Physics Heritage & Promise campaign aims to support and increase sustainability by further endowing the series at $200,000.