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

关于二十世纪美国理论物理界的成就、影响和力量，已经写了很多文章。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。众所周知，惠勒创造了“黑洞”一词，并在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。他还在核物理和粒子物理、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·惠勒最经久不衰的遗产在于他作为导师的工作。平均而言，一名学术物理学家在整个职业生涯中将指导15名博士生。惠勒监管的人数是这个数字的三倍多。惠勒的学生也不是中等水平。哈里特·扎克曼观察到，最有前途的学生和最成功的导师往往会互相寻找对方。惠勒以前的学生名单包括一些20世纪最受尊敬的物理学家，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·惠勒的学生和同事们为他组织了不下五次的研讨会。惠勒在物理学中的作用远远超出了学术界。作为曼哈顿计划的关键参与者，惠勒主要在汉福德工作，在他的整个职业生涯中，他一直活跃在国防相关研究或咨询方面，包括氢弹的开发，以及马特霍恩计划和杰森计划的煽动，这使物理学家能够在自己的校园里进行国防研究。他在巴特尔国际和西南研究的董事会任职，这两个机构为政府机构，特别是国防部管理和执行了数十个研究项目，他的一些学生参与了这项研究。惠勒的全部著作的范围，他的学生的数量和成就，以及他对美国理论物理的政治(和哲学)影响，使他成为了解这个社区的成就、影响和权力的关键人物。科学教育学的研究一直是最近学术研究的一个重要焦点，对研究小组和研究学校的分析也是如此。通过学徒、合作和所谓的“智慧之链”的过程实践指导和领导力是本研究项目的重点，约翰·阿奇博尔德·惠勒的职业生涯和在20世纪美国理论物理建设中的影响是该项目的中心。本项目的优点在于它在大量当前科学研究和物理学史文献的背景下，对约翰·惠勒在20世纪美国理论物理学中的教学、指导和领导实践进行了原创性的分析。该项目的新数据和新视角将对科学家以及历史学家和社会学家有用。这个项目的一个引人注目的优点是，它将对科学研究发展的分析与大学和研究生一级的科学教育过程结合在一起，该项目的影响是广泛和重大的。首先，这个项目将提供对科学家的教学和培训的见解，并阐明他们如何学习成为多产的成就者。这些结果将对科学教育工作者和科学政策制定者有用。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，这些方法利用了最近在自适应硬件和软件方面的技术创新。最后，这个项目表明视障学者可以为科学和社会研究做出有意义的贡献。

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.