No description available.

<p>When debating the structure of the cosmos, Raphael delivers to Adam perhaps Milton's most famous line: "be lowly wise." With the promise to "justify the ways of God to men," Milton does not limit man's knowledge to base matters, but reclaims the heights of "other worlds" for the poet. Over the course of the seventeenth century, the natural philosophers' material explanations of the natural order were slowly gaining authority over other sources of knowledge, the poets prime among them. My dissertation takes up the competing early modern claims to knowledge that Milton lays down for Adam. I argue that natural philosophy, what today we call "science," emerged as the dominant authority over knowledge by appropriating the poet's imagination.</p><p>The poet's imagination had long revealed the divine hand that marked nature--a task that, as Sidney put it, merited the poet a "peerlesse" rank among other professions. For Bacon, Galileo, and Royal Society fellows, the poetic imagination revealed material explanations of nature's order that other orthodox models and methods could not. For the first decades of the seventeenth century, the imagination aligned poetry and natural philosophy as complementary pursuits of knowledge: Sidney's poet was to imagine a "golden" world that revealed the divine order, the material cause of which Bacon's natural philosopher was to discover in nature. But as the Royal Society fellows countered the claim that they peddled fancies, they severed ties with the poet. In one ingenious rhetorical move, Royal Society fellows proclaimed themselves to have perfected the poet's imaginative work, securing the imagination for natural philosophy while disavowing poetry as the product of an idle fancy. Such rhetoric proved as powerful then as it does now. For Margaret Cavendish, the poet occupies the supplemental role that "recreate[s] the mind" once it grows tired of the "serious" natural philosophical studies. After the Restoration, then, the important role of the poetic imagination would go largely unrecognized even as it set itself to work in what would become the separate disciplines of literature and science.</p> / Dissertation

We investigate the origins of mathematical societies and journals. We argue that the origins of today’s professional societies and journals have their roots in the informal gatherings of mathematicians in 17th century Italy, France, and England. The small gatherings in these nations began as academies and after gaining government recognition and support, they became the ancestors of the professional societies that exist today. We provide a brief background on the influences of the Renaissance and Reformation before discussing the formation of mathematical academies in each country.

We investigate the origins of mathematical societies and journals. We argue that the origins of today’s professional societies and journals have their roots in the informal gatherings of mathematicians in 17th century Italy, France, and England. The small gatherings in these nations began as academies and after gaining government recognition and support, they became the ancestors of the professional societies that exist today. We provide a brief background on the influences of the Renaissance and Reformation before discussing the formation of mathematical academies in each country.

The first four decades of the twentieth century was a period of rapid development in physics. The late nineteenth century discoveries of X-rays, Becquerel rays and subatomic particles had revealed new properties of matter, and the early twentieth century quantum and relativity theories added to the notion that the discipline was undergoing a fundamental change in thought and practice. Historians and scientists alike have retrospectively conceived of a sharp divide between nineteenth century and twentieth century physics, applying the terms ‘classical’ and ‘modern’ to distinguish between these two practices. However, recent scholarship has suggested that early twentieth century physicists did not see this divide as self-evident, and in fact were responsible for consciously constructing these categories and definitions. This thesis explores the creation of the terms ‘classical’ and ‘modern’ physics in Britain, and the physicists responsible. I consider how these terms were employed in ‘public’ arenas (lectures, books, newspapers, museums) influencing the wider reception of ‘modern’ physics. I consider not only the rhetorics employed by ‘modern’ physicists, but also those we would now consider to be ‘classical’, revealing a diverse range of potential definitions of ‘modern’ physics. Furthermore, even within the ‘modernists’ themselves, there was considerable disagreement over how their work was to be presented, as industrially applicable, or of value simply as intellectual knowledge in and of itself. There were also different notions of how scientific ‘progress’ should be portrayed, whether knowledge advanced through experimental refinement or theoretical work. Early twentieth century ‘modern’ physics appeared to discard long held theories, rejecting much of the discipline’s past. As such, physicists’ connection to the legacy of Newton was under threat. Furthermore, the instability of science more generally was revealed: if physicists had shown the old theories to be wrong, then why should the new ones be any different? This had severe implications as to how the public placed ‘trust’ in science. I explore how physicists carefully managed the ‘public’ transition from ‘classical’ to ‘modern’ physics, regaining public trust during a period of scientific ‘revolution’ and controversy.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T14:16:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Nei da Silva.pdf: 516447 bytes, checksum: 6d666c266e984fe810adc14be330d706 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-10-07 / Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo / In seventeenth-century England, the saltpeter was one of the most studied materials, for its commercial value and the issues involving its origin and obtaining. At mid-century, the British dependence in saltpetre export took several science men to engage attempt in the studies and researchs on this material. Among these scholars, we will accent important studies groups worried about commonweal, as Samuel Hartlib and his associates; which would become the Royal Society of London; and, still, scholars as Benjamin Worsley , Robert Boyle and Thomas Henshaw / Na Inglaterra do século XVII, o salitre era um dos materiais mais estudados, por seu valor comercial e pelas questões que envolviam sua origem e sua obtenção. Em meados do século, a dependência inglesa na exportação de salitre levou vários homens de ciência a empenharem esforços nos estudos e pesquisas sobre esse material. Entre esses estudiosos, daremos ênfase a importantes grupos de estudo que se preocupavam com o bem-comum como foi o de Samuel Hartlib e seus associados; o do que se transformaria na Royal Society de Londres; e, ainda, o de estudiosos como Benjamin Worsley, Robert Boyle e Thomas Henshaw

Following the appointment of its first aristocratic Grand Masters in the 1720s and in the wake of its connections to the scientific Enlightenment, ‘Free and Accepted’ Masonry rapidly became part of Britain’s national profile and the largest and arguably the most influential of Britain’s extensive clubs and societies. The new organisation did not evolve naturally from the mediaeval guilds and religious orders that pre-dated it, but was reconfigured radically by a largely self-appointed inner core. Freemasonry became a vehicle for the expression and transmission of the political and religious views of those at its centre, and for the scientific Enlightenment concepts that they championed. The ‘Craft’ also offered a channel through which many sought to realise personal aspirations: social, intellectual and financial. Through an examination of relevant primary and secondary documentary evidence, this thesis seeks to contribute to a broader understanding of contemporary English political and social culture, and to explore the manner in which Freemasonry became a mechanism that promoted the interests of the Hanoverian establishment and connected and bound a number of élite metropolitan and provincial figures. A range of networks centred on the aristocracy, parliament, the magistracy and the learned and professional societies are studied, and key individuals instrumental in spreading and consolidating the Masonic message identified. The thesis also explores the role of Freemasonry in the development of the scientific Enlightenment. The evidence suggests that Freemasonry should be recognised not only as the most prominent of the many eighteenth century fraternal organisations, but also as a significant cultural vector and a compelling component of the social, economic, scientific and political transformation then in progress.

In order to examine the factors that impinge on an on-going change, this Field Study involved a consideration of the first two Royal Society of Arts Courses In The Teaching of English in Singapore Schools (RSA TESL). These were part-time courses offered to graduate teachers to enable them to further improve their skills in English Language teaching. The study was based on a questionnaire that incorporated the following components: the general background of the teacher the school climate the level of attainment in relation to the competencies identified the level of sharing the methods of dissemination Of the teachers from courses one and two who were invited to attend a feedback session, forty-eight responded. The questionnaire was designed to elicit responses from the participants in relation to the main factors mentioned above. The results of the study were subjected to three main types of analyses viz, comparisons based on raw data co-relations of the different factors using the Pearson's Product Moment Co-efficient Chi-square and T-score analyses of means of the different factors to ascertain degrees of relationship. Since the course had a task-based emphasis, it was not surprising that the study revealed a high level of attainment of the teachers in relation to the main competencies developed in the course. This in turn was shown to have a significant effect on the confidence of the teachers to share their knowledge and skills with other teachers. Another factor that was significant in terms of the levels of sharing achieved by the teachers was the position held by them. It was found that a greater degree of sharing of skills and knowledge was achieved by the senior subject teachers than those who were not. This was also confirmed when a comparison of courses one and two was made. The degree of sharing achieved by the course one participants was higher because there were more senior subject teachers among them. Furthermore, this difference in sharing in relation to position was marked in both schools that had a good climate or those that had a poor climate. The school climate also significantly affected the relative level of sharing of skills and knowledge achieved by the teachers. Even among the senior subject teachers, the level of sharing was greater in schools with a good climate than in those with a poor climate. Finally, in terms of the method of dissemination, it was found that the senior subject teachers used both the formal (demonstrations, workshops) and informal methods of dissemination while the ordinary teachers used mainly the informal (discussions etc) methods of dissemination. The four main findings arising from the study have had a significant impact on the future developments in relation to the RSA TESL course as well as other in-service courses where a transfer of knowledge/skills is expected on completion of the course.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T14:16:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Alberto Martins Haag.pdf: 581079 bytes, checksum: 50d94ced6bcf823448ff9aa96f23908a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Between 1967 and 1969, invited by Fundação Brasil Central, an ad hoc expediton of The Royal Society and The Royal Geographical Society, known as the Mato Grosso Expedition, came to Brazil. The expedition&#8223;s researches were closely related to the Brazilian military regime&#8223;s plans to occupy and develop the so called Brasil Central. The documentation of the Mato Grosso Expedition shows the resumption of post colonial practices and the movement of a so called pure science towards an applied science according to the national developmentist project. The expedition also shows the maintenance of the british prospecting model in untouched territories and their consequences to science / Entre 1967 e 1969, a convite da Fundação Brasil Central, veio ao Brasil a expedição conjunta Royal Society/Royal Geographical Society, conhecida como Expedição Mato Grosso . Os estudos feitos pelo grupo de cientistas ligaram-se estreitamente ao projeto desenvolvimento de ocupação do Centro-Oeste brasileiro pelo governo militar e a documentação sobre a expedição revela a retomada de práticas pós-coloniais e a passagem da ciência pura para uma ciência aplicada nos moldes do desejado para o projeto desenvolvimentista nacional. A análise da Expedição Mato Grosso mostra a manutenção do modelo britânico de prospecção de territórios ainda intocados e suas consequências sobre a ciência

No description available.