Dissertation Research: Between Politics and Pedagogy: Constructions of Theoretical Physics in Imperial Germany

本论文研究项目提供了德意志帝国理论物理学（1871-1918）的文化史。所考虑的一般问题是检查和描述“学科”的发展，从它的多重起源到它的“黄金时代”的开始。在这个总体框架设定的范围内，该项目依次处理三个主要问题：定义理论物理；确定一个未被充分研究的研究学院（索默菲尔德学院）的重要性；探索古典物理学和现代物理学之间复杂的内在联系。本文分为三个相应的部分。NSF资助为其中两个部分的数据收集提供支持。在第一篇文章中，研究者试图定义“理论物理学”一词在“世纪末”，当“学科”尚未连贯，当它缺乏研究或教学中心，中心文本和共同的历史。通过对所谓的机械世界观“失败”的争论，研究人员将阐明理论物理研究的实践，而对大学和理工大学这一学科的教学的关注将为工业应用和教学法在20世纪最负盛名的科学领域的发展提供新的见解。后一项工作将需要在亚琛、柏林、德累斯顿、卡尔斯鲁厄和慕尼黑的大学和高等学校档案中检查课程清单（vorlesungsverzeichnisse）、课堂讲稿和试题。在第2节中，随着注意力转向实现学科一致性的手段，焦点缩小了。该项目的核心部分包括对萨默菲尔德学院的详细研究，既看萨默菲尔德自己的研究，也看他的教学风格。本节的研究将集中在慕尼黑德意志博物馆的索默菲尔德档案上，不仅包括对索默菲尔德和他的学生在慕尼黑所做的工作的技术分析，还包括对他的学生在他们自己的职业生涯早期的研究内容的类似检查。

This dissertation research project provides a cultural history of theoretical physics in Imperial Germany (1871-1918). The general problem considered is that of examining and describing the development of the "discipline", from its multiple origins to the beginnings of its "golden-age." Within the boundaries set by this general framework, the project deals in turn with three major problems: that of defining theoretical physics; that of determining the importance of a single understudied research school (the Sommerfeld School); and that of exploring the complex interlinkages between classical and modern physics. The dissertation is divided into three corresponding sections. NSF funding provides support to collect data for two of these sections. In the first, the researcher seeks to define the term "theoretical physics" in the fin-de-siecle, a time when the "discipline" was not yet coherent, when it lacked research or pedagogical centers, central texts and common histories. By focusing on the debate over the so-called "failure" of the mechanical world-view, the researcher will elucidate the practice of theoretical physics research, while a concentration on the teaching of the subject in both universities and Technische Hochschulen will provide a novel insight into the importance of both industrial applications and pedagogy on the growth of what would become the most prestigious scientific field of the twentieth century. This latter work will require the examination of course listings (Vorlesungs-Verzeichnisse), lecture notes and examination questions at university and Hochschule archives in Aachen, Berlin, Dresden, Karlsruhe and Munich. In Section 2 the focus is narrowed, as attention turns to the means by which disciplinary coherence was achieved. The central part of the project involves a detailed study of the Sommerfeld School, looking both at Sommerfeld's own research as well as his pedagogical style. Research for this section will be centered on the Sommerfeld archive at the Deutsches Museum, Munich, and will include not only a technical analysis of the work done by both Sommerfeld and his students in Munich, but also a similar examination of research content for his students early on in their own professional careers.