From Biological Rhythm Studies to Chronobiology: A History of a New Scientific Discipline

提案0958974 PI：Jole ShackelfordFrom Biological Rhythm Studies to Chronobiology：A History of a New Scientific Physiology人类有一个内在的时钟，动物的生命受昼夜节律的支配，这一观点在今天是司空见惯的。 生物节律研究的历史发展，或今天所知的时间生物学，在历史学科中很少受到关注，但生物节律研究从根本上改变了我们对生物的看法，从相对静止的生物体，在不断变化的环境中稳定自己（体内平衡）到暂时活跃，有机系统，其化学物质以复杂的模式振动或振荡，这些模式预期环境因素如光、热、潮汐和其他周期性现象。此外，时间生物学家自己对科学发展的描述往往强调他们个人研究路线的历史;他们没有掌握生物节律作为科学研究领域出现的更广泛的历史图景。本项目是一个为期两年的时间生物学历史调查，发展专业知识和协议，以培养学生在近代科学史方面的能力。一个由历史学家、哲学家和科学家组成的核心小组将在明尼苏达大学定期举行的研讨会上开会，以确定时间生物学的历史界限和内容，时间生物学是生物学史上一个相对年轻的领域，但它与研究得更好的环境生物学和发育生物学是同时代的。主要研究人员将通过协作研讨会的形式发展科学中的时间生物学专业知识，确定建立时间生物学作为一门新学科的关键历史要素，制定研究书目，定位和评估与主要研究人员及其实验室有关的主要源文件。 最终的结果将是一个节奏研究的历史和时间生物学作为一个自主的科学研究领域的出现的工作叙事。在资助的高潮，主要研究人员将汇集历史学家，哲学家和科学家，提出个人研究的结果，这是为了出版。这些步骤将有助于培养学生在这方面和可比的近代科学的历史研究所需的方法的长期目标。

Proposal 0958974 PI: Jole ShackelfordFrom Biological Rhythm Studies to Chronobiology: A History of a New Scientific DisciplineThe idea that humans have an inner clock and that animal life is governed by circadian rhythms is commonplace today. The historical development of biological rhythm studies, or chronobiology as it is known today, has received scant attention within the historical disciplines, and yet biological rhythms research has radically transformed how we view living creatures, from relatively static organisms that stabilize themselves in a changing environment(homoeostasis) to temporally active, organic systems whose chemistries vibrate or oscillate in complex patterns that anticipate predictable changes in environmental factors such as light, heat,tides, and other periodic phenomena. Moreover, chronobiologist's own accounts of the developmental of their science often emphasize the history of their individual lines of inquiry; they do not grasp the broader historical picture of the emergence of biological rhythms as a scientific research area.This project is a two-year investigation of the history of chronobiology, developing expertise and protocols for training students in the history of recent science. A core group of historians, philosophers, and scientists will meet in a regularly-scheduled workshop at the University of Minnesota to define the historical limits and content of chronobiology, a relatively young field inthe history of biology, but one that is contemporary with the better-studied environmental biology and developmental biology. The principal investigators will develop interactional expertise in the science through the collaborative workshop format, identify the key historical elements of the establishment of chronobiology as a new discipline, elaborate a research bibliography, locate and evaluate primary source documents pertaining to the leading researchers and their laboratories. The end result will be a working narrative of the history of rhythm studies and emergence of chronobiology as an autonomous scientific research area.At the culmination of the grant, the principal investigators will bring together historians, philosophers, and scientists to present the results of individual studies, which are intended for publication. These steps will contribute to the long term goal of training students in the methods required to do historical research on this and comparable recent sciences.