Scientific Communication Across the Iron Curtain

Scientific Communication Across the Iron Curtain
Author: Christopher D. Hollings
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 117
Release: 2015-12-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319253468

This monograph provides a concise introduction to the tangled issues of communication between Russian and Western scientists during the Cold War. It details the extent to which mid-twentieth-century researchers and practitioners were able to communicate with their counterparts on the opposite side of the Iron Curtain. Drawing upon evidence from a range of disciplines, a decade-by-decade account is first given of the varying levels of contact that existed via private correspondence and conference attendance. Next, the book examines the exchange of publications and the availability of one side's work in the libraries of the other. It then goes on to compare general language abilities on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain, with comments on efforts in the West to learn Russian and the systematic translation of Russian work. In the end, author Christopher Hollings argues that physical accessibility was generally good in both directions, but that Western scientists were afflicted by greater linguistic difficulties than their Soviet counterparts whose major problems were bureaucratic in nature. This volume will be of interest to historians of Cold War science, particularly those who study communications and language issues. In addition, it will be an ideal starting pointing for anyone looking to know more about this fascinating area.

Communicating Science in Social Contexts

Communicating Science in Social Contexts
Author: Donghong Cheng
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2008-07-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1402085982

Science communication, as a multidisciplinary field, has developed remarkably in recent years. It is now a distinct and exceedingly dynamic science that melds theoretical approaches with practical experience. Formerly well-established theoretical models now seem out of step with the social reality of the sciences, and the previously clear-cut delineations and interacting domains between cultural fields have blurred. Communicating Science in Social Contexts examines that shift, which itself depicts a profound recomposition of knowledge fields, activities and dissemination practices, and the value accorded to science and technology. Communicating Science in Social Contexts is the product of long-term effort that would not have been possible without the research and expertise of the Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) Network and the editors. For nearly 20 years, this informal, international network has been organizing events and forums for discussion of the public communication of science.

Mathematics across the Iron Curtain

Mathematics across the Iron Curtain
Author: Christopher Hollings
Publisher: American Mathematical Society
Total Pages: 457
Release: 2014-07-16
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1470414937

The theory of semigroups is a relatively young branch of mathematics, with most of the major results having appeared after the Second World War. This book describes the evolution of (algebraic) semigroup theory from its earliest origins to the establishment of a full-fledged theory. Semigroup theory might be termed `Cold War mathematics' because of the time during which it developed. There were thriving schools on both sides of the Iron Curtain, although the two sides were not always able to communicate with each other, or even gain access to the other's publications. A major theme of this book is the comparison of the approaches to the subject of mathematicians in East and West, and the study of the extent to which contact between the two sides was possible.

Cold War Journalism

Cold War Journalism
Author: Kevin Grieves
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 135
Release: 2021-04-29
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3030656403

This book explores Cold War journalism and journalists as threat, representing ‘enemy’ systems and ideologies. The book also examines Cold War aspirations of forging transnational journalistic connections across the Iron Curtain as well as finding common journalistic ground within the East and West blocs. The book shines a critical light on overly idealistic visions for that journalistic common ground, drawing on primary archival source material to investigate journalists and reporting work, journalistic content and journalistic venues during the Cold War era. This is not a book about traditional war correspondence – rather, it is about the rhetorical battles and the ideological fronts that have shaped and continue to shape our world. By fully understanding how journalism and journalists have intersected with hostile barriers and divisions in the past, we can have a more nuanced understanding of the current global media environment.

Biographies in the History of Physics

Biographies in the History of Physics
Author: Christian Forstner
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2020-07-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030485099

This book sheds new light on the biographical approach in the history of physics by including the biographies of scientific objects, institutions, and concepts. What is a biography? Can biographies also be written for non-human subjects like scientific instruments, institutions or concepts? The respective chapters of this book discuss these controversial questions using examples from the history of physics. By approaching biography as metaphor, it transcends the boundaries between various perspectives on the history of physics, and enriches our grasp of the past.

Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology

Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology
Author: Massimiano Bucchi
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2014-06-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1135049475

Communicating science and technology is a high priority of many research and policy institutions, a concern of many other private and public bodies, and an established subject of training and education. Over the past few decades, the field has developed and expanded significantly, both in terms of professional practice and in terms of research and reflection. The Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology provides a state-of-the-art review of this fast-growing and increasingly important area, through an examination of the research on the main actors, issues, and arenas involved. In this brand-new revised edition, the book brings the reviews up-to-date and deepens the analysis. As well as substantial reworking of many chapters, it gives more attention to digital media and the global aspects of science communication, with the inclusion of four new chapters. Several new contributors are added to leading mass-communication scholars, sociologists, public-relations practitioners, science writers, and others featured herein. With key questions for further discussion highlighted in each chapter, the handbook is a student-friendly resource and its scope and expert contributors mean it is also ideal for both practitioners and professionals working in the field. Combining the perspectives of different disciplines and of different geographical and cultural contexts, this original text provides an interdisciplinary and global approach to the public communication of science and technology. It is a valuable resource for students, researchers, educators, and professionals in media and journalism, sociology, the history of science, and science and technology.

America's Information Wars

America's Information Wars
Author: Colin B. Burke
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2018-03-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1538112469

This book narrates the development of science, sci/tech, and intelligence information systems and technologies in the United States from the beginning of World War II to the second decade of our century. The story ranges from a description of the information systems and machines of the 1940s created at Wild Bill Donovan’s predecessors of the Central Intelligence Agency, to the rise of a huge international science information industry, and to the 1990’s Open Access-Open Culture reformers’ reactions to the commercialization of science information. Necessarily, there is much about the people, cultures, and politics that shaped the methods, systems, machines and protests. The reason for that is simple: The histories of technologies and methods are human histories. Science information’s many lives were shaped by idiosyncrasies and chance, as well as by social, economic, political and technical ‘forces’. The varied motives, personalities and beliefs of unique and extraordinary people fashioned science information’s past. The important players ranged from a gentleman scholar who led the Office of Strategic Services’ information work, to an ill-fated Hollywood movie director, to life-mavericks like the science information legend Eugene Garfield, to international financial wheeler-dealers such as Robert Maxwell, and to youthful ultra-liberal ideologically-driven Silicon Valley internet millionaires. However, although there are no determining laws of information history, social, political, legal and economic factors were important. After 1940, science information’s tools and policies, as well as America’s universities, were being molded by the nation’s wealth, its role in international affairs, the stand-off between left and right politics, and by the intensifying conflict between Soviet and Western interests.

The Renaissance of General Relativity in Context

The Renaissance of General Relativity in Context
Author: Alexander S. Blum
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2020-11-12
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 3030507548

This contributed volume explores the renaissance of general relativity after World War II, when it transformed from a marginal theory into a cornerstone of modern physics. Chapters explore key historical processes related to the theory of general relativity, in addition to presenting a thorough treatment of the relevant science behind these episodes. A broad historiographical framework is introduced first, thus providing the broad context in which the given computational approaches and case studies occurred. Written by an international and interdisciplinary group of expert authors, these chapters will bring readers to a more complete understanding of Einstein’s theory. Specific topics include: Social and citation networks The Fock-Infeld dispute Wheeler’s turn to gravitation theory The position of general relativity in theories of fundamental interactions The pursuit of a quantum theory of gravity The emergence of dark matter in relation to cosmological models Institutional frameworks for gravitational wave search in Europe The Renaissance of General Relativity in Context is ideal for historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science. Students and researchers in physics will also be interested in the topics explored.

Journalism, Science and Society

Journalism, Science and Society
Author: Martin W. Bauer
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2008-07-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134187297

Analyzing the role of journalists in science communication, this book presents a perspective on how this is going to evolve in the twenty-first century. The book takes three distinct perspectives on this interesting subject. Firstly, science journalists reflect on their ‘operating rules’ (science news values and news making routines). Secondly, a brief history of science journalism puts things into context, characterising the changing output of science writing in newspapers over time. Finally, the book invites several international journalists or communication scholars to comment on these observations thereby opening the global perspective. This unique project will interest a range of readers including science communication students, media studies scholars, professionals working in science communication and journalists.

Wagner’s Theory of Generalised Heaps

Wagner’s Theory of Generalised Heaps
Author: Christopher D. Hollings
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2017-09-09
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 3319636219

The theories of V. V. Wagner (1908-1981) on abstractions of systems of binary relations are presented here within their historical and mathematical contexts. This book contains the first translation from Russian into English of a selection of Wagner’s papers, the ideas of which are connected to present-day mathematical research. Along with a translation of Wagner’s main work in this area, his 1953 paper ‘Theory of generalised heaps and generalised groups,’ the book also includes translations of three short precursor articles that provide additional context for his major work. Researchers and students interested in both algebra (in particular, heaps, semiheaps, generalised heaps, semigroups, and groups) and differential geometry will benefit from the techniques offered by these translations, owing to the natural connections between generalised heaps and generalised groups, and the role played by these concepts in differential geometry. This book gives examples from present-day mathematics where ideas related to Wagner’s have found fruitful applications.