The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics

项目摘要ses 0135615战后物理学中费曼图的分散david kaisermitt与传统的理论物理学的历史和哲学不同，传统的理论物理学的历史和哲学被框架为知识或概念的历史，这个项目研究了近代物理学的历史，重点是计算技能、当地实践和理论工具和技术。特别地，这个项目追溯了一个理论工具的历史，这个工具后来几乎主导了现代物理学的每一个分支：理查德·费曼的简单线条图，在20世纪40年代末被引入。人们最感兴趣的是，一代又一代的年轻理论家是如何在描述亚原子物质的一系列相互竞争的理论框架中，学会用图表来构建他们的研究的。这种以技能为基础的观点使历史学家能够从头开始解析战后理论物理学的历史，作为一个最终关于设计、部署和争论支撑日常计算的工具的故事。作为对概念世界观或“范式”的早期研究的补充，凯泽的历史项目集中在研究实践和将其付诸实践的科学实践者的同步制作上。关注费曼图及其从20世纪40年代末到60年代中期的扩散，揭示了战后物理学中更大的转变，包括如何与满屋子的研究生合作的观念的变化；如何理解前所未有的大量实验数据；如何培养处于博士后阶段的青年物理学家；以及如何在油印的暑期学校课堂讲稿和预印本中传达新的研究技术。战后早期几十年里，费曼图的竞争使用和解释只能在这些制度和教学转变的背景下理解。关键在于什么应该算作“理论物理学”，以及如何训练一个人成为一名“理论家”。因此，研究现代物理学的历史学家和社会学家，以及从事理论构建和选择工作的科学哲学家，都应该对这个项目感兴趣。预期的结果是一本关于费曼图早期历史的书，以及会议演讲和发表的文章。

Project AbstractSES 0135615The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar PhysicsDavid KaiserMITUnlike traditional approaches to the history and philosophy of theoretical physics, which have been framed as intellectual or conceptual histories, this project examines the history of recent physics with a focus on calculational skills, local practices, and theoretical tools and techniques. In particular, this project traces the history of a theoretical tool which came to dominate nearly every branch of modern physics: RichardFeynman 's simple line-drawings, introduced in the late 1940s. Of central interest is how generations of young theorists learned to frame their research in terms of the diagrams, in and out of a series of competing theoretical frameworks for describing sub-atomic matter. Such a skills-based view allows historians to unpack the history of postwar theoretical physics from the ground up, as a story ultimately about designing, deploying, and disputing the tools which undergird everyday calculations. Complementing earlier studies of conceptual worldviews or "paradigms," Kaiser's historical project concentrates on the simultaneous crafting of research practices and of the scientific practitioners who put them to work. Focusing on Feynman diagrams and their dispersion from the late 1940s through the mid-1960s illuminates larger transitions within postwar physics, including changing notions of how to collaborate with roomfuls of graduate students; how to make sense of unprecedented reams of experimental data; how to train young physicists at the postdoctoral stage; and how to communicate new research techniques in mimeographed summer school lecture notes and preprints. The competing uses and interpretations of Feynman diagrams during the early postwar decades can only be understood within the context of these institutional and pedagogical transitions. At stake was nothing less than what should count as "theoretical physics," and how someone should be trained to become a "theorist." This project should therefore be of interest both to historians and sociologists of modern physics, as well as to philosophers of science who work on theory construction and selection. The expected outcome is book on the early history of Feynman diagrams, as well as conference presentations and published articles.