Research at the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, 1920s--1960s: A small narrative of physics in the twentieth century (California).
详细信息
- 作者：Walling ; Olivia Weaver.
- 学历：Doctor
- 年：2005
- 导师：Kohlstedt, Sally Gregory
- 毕业院校：University of Minnesota
- 专业：History of Science.
- ISBN：0542439557
- CBH：3198144
- Country：USA
- 语种：English
- FileSize：14538681
- Pages：245
文摘
This dissertation consists of a study of nuclear research at the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology from the 1920s to the early 1960s. In particular, the narrative is concerned with the development of research in nuclear astrophysics in tandem with the study of nuclear energy levels of light nuclei under the leadership of William A. Fowler. The work at this laboratory emphasizes how local subcultures influence the practice of science.;The introduction to this study reviews the secondary literature concerned with physics in twentieth century America. In particular, I highlight how that literature has been dominated by science's connection with military priorities and on the organization of big science. I critique this literature by showing how its central concerns produce a historiographical frame that makes only one narrative of postwar events in physics possible. The study of Kellogg Lab here strives to elaborate on this narrative by highlighting how scientists there engaged in pragmatic and short term planning in order to take advantage of changing research foci quickly. The small and elite nature of this laboratory allowed it to plan its investigations opportunistically. This style of research stands in contrast to the organizational structures with which we are familiar from many histories of physics in mid-twentieth century America.;Chapter two examines the origins of the laboratory with a particular focus on the establishment of its social geography. Here I look at the start of nuclear physics research in connection with Caltech's distinctive vision of the physicist at work. Chapters three and four address the two major research projects of Kellogg Lab, nuclear astrophysics and the measurement of nuclear energy levels, in detail. The narrative investigates the research of the principal researchers including: William A. Fowler, Charles C. Lauritsen, Thomas Lauritsen, Edwin Salpeter, Fred Hoyle, Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge, Jesse Greenstein, and Faye Ajzenberg-Selove. Chapter five explores the rivalry in research concerning the origin of the elements (i.e., nucleosynthesis) between Fowler and his collaborators and Alastair G. W. Cameron. This chapter explores how personal relationships influenced the researchers' conception of scientific practice and highlights distinctive features of the Caltech ethos.;In conclusion, I explore how this narrative of research at Kellogg Laboratory challenges existing views of the practice of science during this time period. In this regard, I suggest some avenues of research that may lead to new understandings of physics during this period. In particular, I suggest that many physicists practiced science within elite subcultures and that these subcultures influenced their chosen research programs as well as how they viewed collaborators and competitors.