Goethes
Theory of Colour Reconsidered: New Experiments on the Symmetry of Spectral
Phenomena
By Prof.
Dr. Joh. Grebe-Ellis, Bergische Universität Wuppertal
Goethe's
look through the prism started a description of spectral appearances as
complementary phenomena. The question, whether he this way denoted a
generalizable structural feature, had to remain unanswered, as long as it was
just theorized. Through systematic broadening of Newton's experiments based on
Goethe's concept of inversion it can be shown that complementary spectra are
indeed interdependent. Against this background, Goethe's remark on the symmetry
of spectral phenomena can be justified.
Scientific
proficiency through philosophical literacy
By Hanne
Andersen, Head of Department, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
The role of
history and philosophy of science in science education has been an important
topic in science education over the last half century. However, most analyses
of philosophy, history and sociology of science and science teaching have
focused on how history and philosophy of science can be brought into science
education at the K-12 level and in teacher education with the aim of improving
the scientific literacy of the general public. In contrast, there have been
only few analyses of the possible roles of history and philosophy of science in
higher education in the sciences. In this talk, I shall argue that history and philosophy
of science also have important roles to play in higher education. I shall argue
that scientists are continuously required to reflect on scientific knowledge
creation as well as on the societal contexts in which scientific knowledge is
put to use, and that philosophical-analytical skills acquired through the
display of historical and contemporary exemplars can improve scientists’
proficiency in identifying and solving the various kinds of epistemological and
ethical problems that they encounter qua scientists. In this way, not only can
scientific proficiency be seen as a complement to the scientific literacy aimed
for in general science education, scientific proficiency also requires that
professional scientists acquire a certain philosophical literacy.
Looking
through the Kaleidoscope
By
Professor Iwan Morus, Aberystwyth
University
When we
think about kaleidoscopes now, we think of them as children’s toys. That was
not how David Brewster, who invented the kaleidoscope in 1818, regarded the
novel instrument. For Brewster, the kaleidoscope was a serious matter: it was
an instrument that illustrated optical principles, that taught its users how to
see properly, or even offered a way of industrializing art. Brewster’s
invention was understood at the time as part of a broader visual culture of
knowledge and science. Turning knowledge into spectacle was integral to the
practice of this kind of public natural philosophy. In this lecture I want to
tease out some of the kaleidoscope’s broader connections and its place in the
early nineteenth-century culture of optical experimentation. By looking at the
kaleidoscope as an example of the nineteenth century’s visual culture of
science and the ways in which experimenters worked to make knowledge visible, I
want to conclude by asking whether producing scientific spectacle might still
be a promising strategy for communicating scientific knowledge.