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

本论文的研究项目提供了理论物理学在帝国德国（1871-1918）的文化史。所考虑的一般问题是，审查和描述的“学科”的发展，从它的多个起源到它的“黄金时代”的开始。在这个总体框架所设定的界限内，该项目依次涉及三个主要问题：定义理论物理;确定一个未充分研究的研究学派（索末菲学派）的重要性;以及探索经典物理学和现代物理学之间复杂的相互联系。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。首先，研究人员试图在世纪末定义“理论物理学”一词，当时“学科”还没有连贯性，缺乏研究或教学中心，中心文本和共同历史。通过集中讨论机械世界观的所谓“失败”，研究人员将阐明理论物理研究的实践，而在大学和技术学院对该主题的教学集中将提供一个新的见解，工业应用和教育学对什么将成为二十世纪最负盛名的科学领域的增长的重要性。这后一项工作将需要在大学和亚琛、柏林、德累斯顿、卡尔斯鲁厄和慕尼黑的高等学校档案馆检查课程清单（Vorlesungs-Verzeichnisse）、讲义和试题。在第2节中，重点缩小，注意力转向实现学科连贯性的手段。该项目的核心部分涉及索末菲学校的详细研究，在索末菲自己的研究以及他的教学风格。这一部分的研究将集中在索末菲档案在德意志博物馆，慕尼黑，并将不仅包括一个技术分析的工作都索末菲和他的学生在慕尼黑，但也是一个类似的研究内容检查他的学生在自己的职业生涯早期。

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.