Doctoral Dissertation Research in the History and Philosophy of Science

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The doctoral student is Michael N. Keas. His topic is "The Structure and Philosophy of Group Research: A. W. Hofmann's Research Program in London and Berlin." As a teacher, experimentalist, and organizer of science, August Wilhelm von Hofmann (1818-1892) made an important contribution to both British and German chemistry. He improved the laboratory research and instructional methods developed by Justus Liebig in Giessen and pondered their epistemological assumptions long after Liebig had retreated to agricultural chemistry. Hofmann became the first professor of the British Royal College of Chemistry in 1845 and continued his teaching and research in London until 1865 when he accepted an invitation to direct the chemistry program at the University of Berlin. A number of his students and assistants became prominent chemists in England and Germany. Under this grant for doctoral dissertation research support, Mr. Keas aims to analyze the composition, organization, and methodology of A. W. Hofmann's laboratory research group and to explain how these factors guided the group's choice and solution of research problems. his approach combines tools of social and intellectual history. He hopes to show how the composition and organization of the research group interacted both in harmonious and in conflicting ways with Hofmann's academic goals and scientific presuppositions to carry out a body of group research achievements.