Doctoral Dissertation Research in History and Philosophy of Science

休·r·斯洛滕，博士论文学生；学者们普遍认为，1843年至1867年由亚历山大·达拉斯·巴赫（Alexander Dallas Bache）领导的美国海岸勘测局（Coast Survey）是南北战争前最有力的科学支持机构之一。然而，关于海岸调查的全面和分析的历史还没有被写出来。海岸勘测局于1807年作为联邦政府的一个临时机构首次获得授权，该机构将调查该国的海岸线，以促进商业和航海。在巴赫担任总监之前的一段时间里，海岸测量的意义不大；但在巴赫的指挥下，海岸勘探局成长为南北战争前最有影响力的科学机构。由于地理（主要是地球物理）研究最适合调查局的任务范围，这种科学在海岸调查局的赞助下得到了扩展。海岸测量在这一时期也发挥了独特的教育作用，训练平民和军官的科学方法。然而，最重要的是，Bache的海岸调查是新兴科学界发展和专业化的重要中心，并为未来的科学研究融资公共政策树立了先例。

Hugh R. Slotten, Dissertation Student; Topic: "A History of the Coast Survey of the United States in the Nineteenth Century" Scholars have generally acknowledged that the Coast Survey of the US under the command of Alexander Dallas Bache from 1843 to 1867 was one of the most powerful institutions supporting science in the antebellum period. A comprehensive and analytic history of the Coast Survey, however, has not yet been written. The Coast Survey was first authorized in 1807 as a temporary agency of the federal government that would survey the country's coastlines in the interests of commerce and navigation. In the period preceding Bache's tenure as superintendent, the Coast Survey attained only minor significance; but under Bache's command, the Coast Survey grew to become the most influential scientific institution of the antebellum period. Because geographical (primarily geophysical) research fit best into the range of the Survey's mandate, this kind of science expanded under Coast Survey patronage. the Coast Survey also served a unique educational function in this period, training civilians and military officers in scientific methods. Above all, however, Bache's Coast Survey functioned as a vital center for the growth and professionalization of the emerging scientific community and set a precedent for future public policy towards the financing of scientific research.