Dissertation Grant: Finding Form: Goethe and Plant Morphology in Twentieth Century Anglophone Scholarship

本项目考察了约翰·沃尔夫冈·冯·歌德对二十世纪英语国家植物形态和生物学的影响。研究人员建议访问四个档案馆，以完成档案和珍本研究：匹兹堡的亨特植物文献研究所，英国剑桥大学的纽纳姆学院档案馆，苏格兰的圣安德鲁斯大学特别收藏，以及伦敦的鲁道夫斯坦纳图书馆。除了加强我们对生物学历史的理解之外，这个项目的结果将为那些在教育和设计环境中从事形态学工作的人提供形态学的不同方面的背景和暴露。STEM教育机构使用形态学来鼓励环境管理。形态学在设计科学，特别是仿生学方面也有重要的意义。通过讲座、博客和会议，与教育工作者、设计师和更广泛的公众接触，这项资助下提出的研究的重要性将产生广泛的影响。本项目对科学历史文献的贡献体现在三个方面。它考察了科学异化在我们对歌德传统在植物形态和超越的理解中的作用。这将增加对科学素养和科学文化参与的讨论，因为科学异化的概念涉及到那些在寻求参与科学知识和实践时声称被边缘化的人的经历。此外，它还考察了传统上受过训练的业余科学家，他们从事于歌德的科学，并利用他的概念来批评科学规范，探索科学与社会其他领域的关系。最后，它展示了科学家如何经常吸引科学界边缘和远远超出科学界的受众。具体来说，歌德的科学和更大的文化遗产在20世纪英语世界与环境运动的核心文献。总之，这些主题展示了歌德的接受和20世纪的形态学如何为科学史家所追求的其他研究领域带来丰硕的成果。

General Audience Summary This project examines the impact of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on twentieth century Anglophone plant morphology and biology. The researcher proposes to visit four archives to complete archival and rare book research: the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, the Newnham College Archives at the University of Cambridge in England, the University of St. Andrews Special Collections in Scotland, and the Rudolf Steiner House Library in London. In addition to enhancing our understanding of the history of biology, the results of this project will provide a context for and exposure to different aspects of morphology for those working with morphology in education and design settings. STEM educational institutions have used morphology to encourage environmental stewardship. Morphology also has significant implications in the design sciences, particularly for biomimicry. By reaching out to educators, designers, and the broader public through lectures, a blog, and conferences, the significance of the research proposed under this grant would have a broad impact.Technical Summary This project contributes to the historical literature on science in three ways. It examines the role of scientific alienation in our understanding of the Goethean tradition within plant morphology and beyond. This will add to discussions of scientific literacy and cultural engagement with science as the concept of scientific alienation engages with the experiences of those who make claims of being marginalized as they seek to engage with scientific knowledge and practices. In addition, it examines traditionally trained and amateur scientists who engaged with Goethe's science and used his concepts to critique scientific norms and explore the relation of science to other areas of society. Finally, it shows how scientists often engage audiences at the fringe of the scientific community and well beyond it. Specifically, Goethe's scientific and larger cultural heritage in the twentieth century Anglophone world engaged with the core literature of environmental movements. Together, these themes exhibit how Goethe's reception and twentieth century morphology may be fruitful for other areas of research being pursued by historians of science.