The Rise and Institutionalization of Geophysics in American Universities

美国大学地球物理学的兴起和制度化

• 批准号: 9112304
• 负责人: Ronald Doel
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: American Institute of Physics
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1992
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1992-06-01 至 1995-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9112304&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Rise; Institutionalization; Geophysics; American; Universities

In the 20th century, geophysics moved from industrial laboratories and endowed research facilities into the university. It was one of the last major branches of physical science in the United States to do so. The transformation of geophysics into a university-based discipline challenged geologists, geophysicists, and university administrators who wrestled with the sharp conflict between solid earth geophysicists and field geologists over proper methodological approaches and the daunting diversity of geophysics' component fields. Geophysicists sought to develop academic facilities in part to approach complex problems such as the nature of the Earth's core through interdisciplinary contacts readily available at universities. Its leaders also sought to develop professional centers for training new recruits to the field. By the 1960s, the rapid growth of geophysics reshaped existing departments of geological sciences and reoriented the study of geological phenomena. Yet because the history of geophysics remains largely unexplored, little is known about these significant and far- reaching changes. Given the importance of interdisciplinary research in modern science, the subject merits special attention. Dr. Doel is concentrating on the period from the early 1920s through the 1960s, utilizing the growth of solid earth geophysics to explore several broad themes including discipline formation, the development of American research universities, and the influence of patronage and institutional settings on the production of scientific knowledge. This study is being undertaken at the Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics (AIP). The AIP is playing an important role in this project, including the preservation of historical "raw data" such as unpublished correspondence, institutional records, and tape-recorded recollections, using methods AIP has developed for similar projects in other fields.

在20世纪，地球物理学从工业实验室和捐赠的研究设施转移到大学。它是美国物理科学的最后几个主要分支之一。地球物理学转变为一门以大学为基础的学科，对地质学家、地球物理学家和大学管理人员提出了挑战，他们在固体地球物理学家和野外地质学家之间就正确的方法方法和地球物理学组成领域令人生畏的多样性产生的尖锐冲突中挣扎。地球物理学家试图发展学术设施，部分原因是为了通过大学里现成的跨学科接触来研究复杂的问题，比如地核的性质。它的领导人还寻求发展专业中心，以培训该领域的新成员。到20世纪60年代，地球物理学的快速发展重塑了现有的地质科学部门，并重新定位了地质现象的研究方向。然而，由于地球物理学的历史在很大程度上仍未被探索，对这些重大而深远的变化所知甚少。鉴于跨学科研究在现代科学中的重要性，这一课题值得特别关注。Doel博士专注于从20世纪20年代早期到60年代，利用固体地球物理学的发展来探索几个广泛的主题，包括学科的形成，美国研究型大学的发展，以及赞助和机构设置对科学知识生产的影响。这项研究是在美国物理学会（AIP）的物理历史中心进行的。AIP在该项目中发挥着重要作用，包括使用AIP为其他领域类似项目开发的方法保存历史“原始数据”，如未发表的通信、机构记录和磁带记录的回忆。