Doctoral Dissertation Research: The New Prophet: Harold C. Urey, Scientist, Atheist, and Defender of Religion

本博士论文项目由科学、技术和社会计划资助。它是对美国物理化学家哈罗德·克莱顿·尤里(Harold Clayton Urey，1893-1981)的生活和职业生涯的社会和传记研究。它主要关注尤里作为美国诺贝尔奖获得者为谈判科学和宗教在社会中各自的角色所做的公共工作。尽管乌雷从小就是一个虔诚的无神论者，但他最终成为了宗教对公共和科学生活重要性的公共倡导者。从20世纪30年代的大萧条到冷战的高潮，他对科学和宗教的公开立场是在不断变化的社会和政治背景中演变的。随着他在研究项目之间的转移，从1934年为他赢得诺贝尔奖的同位素化学，到曼哈顿计划，再到地球化学，最后到宇宙化学和行星探索，它们也在不断演变。该项目使用口述历史、档案和相关时期出版的资料，将乌雷的公共立场放在背景中，并考察从第一次世界大战到美国宇航局阿波罗计划，乌雷作为科学家和公民的经历与他对科学和宗教之间关系的看法之间的关系。它还考察了尤里无法将这些想法付诸行动或获得大多数同龄人的接受。尤里关于科学和宗教的不断演变的讨论之所以重要，主要有两个原因。首先，20世纪的主流叙事是世俗化，科学和科学家被标榜为世俗化的主要力量。因此，尤里的故事将给我们一个有趣的视角，从这个角度来质疑并增加一些必要的细微差别。其次，乌雷的科学和宗教思想虽然受到社会和政治背景的影响，但也反映了他认为科学和科学家应该在社会中发挥的作用。在他的科学工作背景下更仔细地研究Urey的思想，将使我们深入了解Urey参与大科学项目的动机，如阿波罗计划。这个项目依赖于几个档案馆和图书馆：加州大学圣地亚哥曼德维尔特别收藏图书馆的Harold C.Urey的论文；化学遗产基金会的口述历史收藏和期刊收藏；美国犹太神学院的科学、哲学和宗教会议(1939-1968)的档案；俄勒冈州立大学特别收藏图书馆的Linus Pauling的论文；芝加哥大学特别收藏图书馆的芝加哥原子科学家档案；哥伦比亚大学图书馆对哈罗德·C·尤里的口述历史采访；以及美国物理研究所的口述历史收藏。

This doctoral dissertation project funded is by the Science, Technology, and Society Program. It is a social and biographical study of the life and career of the American physical chemist Harold Clayton Urey (1893-1981). It focuses primarily on the public work Urey did as an American Nobel Laureate to negotiate the respective roles of science and religion in society. Although he was a dedicated atheist from a young age, Urey eventually became a public advocate of the importance of religion for public and scientific life. From the Depression of the 1930s to the height of the Cold War, his public positions on science and religion evolved in the midst of changing social and political contexts. They also evolved as he moved between research projects from the isotope chemistry that won him the Nobel Prize in 1934, to the Manhattan Project, to geochemistry, and finally to cosmic chemistry and planetary exploration. This project uses oral histories, archives, and published sources from the periods in question to put Urey's public positions in context and to examine the relationship between Urey's experiences as scientist and citizen from WWI to NASA's Apollo program and his ideas of the relationship between science and religion. It also examines Urey's inability to act on these ideas or to gain acceptance for them among the majority of his peers.Urey's evolving discussions of science and religion are important for two principal reasons. First, the dominant narrative of the 20th century is one of secularization, with science and scientists billed as the primary forces of secularization. Urey's story will thus give us an interesting perspective from which to question and add some needed nuance this narrative. Second, Urey's ideas of science and religion, while shaped by social and political contexts, also reflected the role that he felt science and scientists should play in society. Studying Urey's ideas more closely in the context of his scientific work will give us insight into Urey's motivations for engaging in Big Science projects such as the Apollo program.This project relies upon several archives and libraries: the papers of Harold C. Urey at the University of California, San Diego Mandeville Special Collections Library; the oral history collection and journal collection of the Chemical Heritage Foundation; the archives of the Conference on Science, Philosophy, and Religion (1939-1968) at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America; the papers of Linus Pauling at the Special Collections Library of Oregon State University; the archives of the Atomic Scientists of Chicago at the Special Collections Library of the University of Chicago; the oral history interview with Harold C. Urey at the Columbia University Library; and the oral history collection of the American Institute of Physics.