Doctoral Dissertation Research: John Archibald Wheeler: A Study in the Pedagogy, Philosophy, and Politics of Twentieth Century Physics

博士论文研究：约翰·阿奇博尔德·惠勒：二十世纪物理学的教育学、哲学和政治学研究

• 批准号: 0751310
• 负责人: Mary Jo Nye
• 金额: $ 0.8万
• 依托单位: Oregon State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-02-01 至 2009-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0751310&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; John; Archibald

A great deal has been written about the achievements, influence, and power of the American community of theoretical physics in the twentieth century. Among the towering figures of this community has been John Archibald Wheeler (1911-) whose life and career spanned the entire century. Wheeler is popularly known for his coining of the term "black hole" and for his collaboration with Niels Bohr in explicating the theoretical basis for the general mechanism of nuclear fission in 1939. He also made significant contributions to the areas of nuclear and particle physics, general relativity and cosmology, and information theory and quantum mechanics. Perhaps the most enduring legacy of John Wheeler lies in his work as a mentor. On average, an academic physicist will supervise fifteen Ph.D. students over the course of a career. Wheeler supervised more than three times that number. Nor were Wheeler's students average. Harriet Zuckerman has observed that the most promising students and the most successful mentors tend to seek out each other. The list of former Wheeler students contains some of the most highly regarded physicists of the twentieth century, including Richard Feynman, Charles Misner, David Hill, Kip Thorne and Jacob Bekenstein. No less than five Festschrifts for John Wheeler have been organized by his students and colleagues.Wheeler's role in physics extended well outside the academic community. A key player in the Manhattan Project, working mainly at Hanford, Wheeler remained active in defense related research or consultation throughout his career, including development of the hydrogen bomb and the instigation of Project Matterhorn and Project Jason, which enabled physicists to do defense research on their own campus. He served on the Boards of Battelle International and Southwest Research which administered and carried out scores of research projects for government agencies, particularly the Department of Defense, and some of his students became involved in this research.The scope of Wheeler's oeuvre, the number and accomplishments of his students, and his political (as well as philosophical) influence on theoretical physics in the United States make him a pivotal figure in understanding the achievements, influence, and power of this community. The study of scientific pedagogy has been a focus of significant recent scholarship, as has been the analysis of research groups and research schools. The practical exercise of mentorship and leadership through the processes of apprenticeship, collaboration, and what may be called "chains of wisdom" is the focus of this research project, with John Archibald Wheeler's career and influence in the construction of twentieth-century American theoretical physics at the project's center. The merit of the present project lies in its original analysis of John Wheeler's practice of pedagogy, mentorship, and leadership in twentieth-century American theoretical physics within the context of a large body of current literature in science studies and the history of physics. The project's new data and perspectives will be useful to scientists, as well as historians and sociologists. A compelling merit of this project is its integration of analysis of developments in scientific research with processes in scientific education at the university and post-graduate levels.The impact of the project is broad and significant. First of all, this project will offer insights into the teaching and training of scientists and illuminate how they learn to become productive achievers. These results will be useful to science educators and to makers of science policy. Secondly, this project will have a positive impact on visually impaired scholars in developing and using research methods that capitalize on recent technical innovations in adaptive hardware and software. Finally, this project demonstrates that visually impaired scholars can make meaningful contributions to the study of science and society.

关于美国理论物理学界在20世纪的成就、影响和力量，已经有大量的著述。约翰·阿奇博尔德·惠勒（1911-）是这个社区的杰出人物之一，他的生活和职业生涯跨越了整个世纪。惠勒因创造了“黑洞”一词而广为人知，并因1939年与尼尔斯·玻尔合作阐明了核裂变的一般机制的理论基础而闻名。他还对核物理和粒子物理、广义相对论和宇宙学、信息论和量子力学等领域做出了重大贡献。也许约翰惠勒最持久的遗产在于他作为导师的工作。平均而言，一个学院物理学家将指导15个博士学位。学生在职业生涯中。惠勒监督的人数是这个数字的三倍多。惠勒的学生也不是平均水平。哈里特·朱克曼观察到，最有前途的学生和最成功的导师往往会互相寻找。前惠勒学生的名单包括一些最受尊敬的物理学家的二十世纪，包括理查德费曼，查尔斯米斯纳，大卫希尔，基普索恩和雅各布贝肯斯坦。约翰·惠勒的学生和同事为他组织了不少于五次的学术论文。惠勒在物理学领域的作用远远超出了学术界。惠勒是曼哈顿计划的关键人物，主要在汉福德工作，他在整个职业生涯中一直积极参与国防相关的研究或咨询，包括氢弹的开发和马特宏峰计划和杰森计划的煽动，这使得物理学家能够在自己的校园里进行国防研究。他曾在巴特尔国际和西南研究委员会任职，为政府机构，特别是国防部管理和开展了大量的研究项目，他的一些学生也参与了这项研究。惠勒的作品范围，他的学生的数量和成就，他对美国理论物理学的政治（以及哲学）影响使他成为理解这个社区的成就，影响和力量的关键人物。科学教育学的研究一直是近年来重要学术研究的焦点，研究团体和研究学校的分析也是如此。通过学徒，合作和什么可以被称为“智慧链”的过程中的指导和领导的实际锻炼是这个研究项目的重点，与约翰阿奇博尔德惠勒的职业生涯和影响力在该项目的中心二十世纪美国理论物理学的建设。本项目的优点在于它的原始分析约翰惠勒的教学法，指导和领导在二十世纪的美国理论物理学的背景下，在科学研究和物理学史的大量当前文献。该项目的新数据和观点将对科学家以及历史学家和社会学家有用。该项目的一个突出优点是将科学研究的发展分析与大学和研究生一级的科学教育过程结合起来，产生了广泛而重大的影响。首先，该项目将为科学家的教学和培训提供见解，并阐明他们如何学习成为富有成效的成就者。这些结果将对科学教育工作者和科学政策的制定者有所帮助。其次，该项目将对视障学者开发和使用研究方法产生积极影响，这些方法利用了自适应硬件和软件的最新技术创新。最后，这个项目证明了视障学者可以为科学和社会的研究做出有意义的贡献。