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

这个项目考察了约翰·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。这位研究人员建议访问四个档案馆，以完成档案和稀有书籍的研究：匹兹堡的亨特植物文献研究所、英格兰剑桥大学的纽汉姆学院档案馆、苏格兰的圣安德鲁斯大学特别收藏馆和伦敦的鲁道夫·斯坦纳书屋图书馆。除了加强我们对生物学历史的了解外，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一个关于形态的不同方面的背景和接触。STEM教育机构使用形态学来鼓励环境管理。形态学在设计科学中也有重要的意义，特别是在仿生学方面。通过讲座、博客和会议接触到教育工作者、设计师和更广泛的公众，这项拨款下提议的研究的意义将产生广泛的影响。该项目以三种方式为科学历史文献做出贡献。它考察了科学异化在我们对植物形态内和之外的歌德传统的理解中的作用。这将增加关于科学素养和科学的文化参与的讨论，因为科学异化的概念与那些声称在寻求接触科学知识和实践时被边缘化的人的经历相联系。此外，它还考察了传统上受过训练的和业余的科学家，他们从事歌德的科学，并使用歌德的概念来批判科学规范，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的受众，以及远远超出科学界的受众。具体地说，歌德在二十世纪英语世界的科学和更广泛的文化遗产涉及到环境运动的核心文学。总而言之，这些主题展示了歌德的接受和二十世纪的形态如何可能为科学史学家正在追求的其他研究领域带来丰硕成果。

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.