Dissertation Research: Between Politics and Pedagogy: Constructions of Theoretical Physics in Imperial Germany

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

This dissertation research project provides a cultural history of theoretical physics in Imperial Germany (1871-1918). The general problem considered is that of examining and describing the development of the "discipline", from its multiple origins to the beginnings of its "golden-age." Within the boundaries set by this general framework, the project deals in turn with three major problems: that of defining theoretical physics; that of determining the importance of a single understudied research school (the Sommerfeld School); and that of exploring the complex interlinkages between classical and modern physics. The dissertation is divided into three corresponding sections. NSF funding provides support to collect data for two of these sections. In the first, the researcher seeks to define the term "theoretical physics" in the fin-de-siecle, a time when the "discipline" was not yet coherent, when it lacked research or pedagogical centers, central texts and common histories. By focusing on the debate over the so-called "failure" of the mechanical world-view, the researcher will elucidate the practice of theoretical physics research, while a concentration on the teaching of the subject in both universities and Technische Hochschulen will provide a novel insight into the importance of both industrial applications and pedagogy on the growth of what would become the most prestigious scientific field of the twentieth century. This latter work will require the examination of course listings (Vorlesungs-Verzeichnisse), lecture notes and examination questions at university and Hochschule archives in Aachen, Berlin, Dresden, Karlsruhe and Munich. In Section 2 the focus is narrowed, as attention turns to the means by which disciplinary coherence was achieved. The central part of the project involves a detailed study of the Sommerfeld School, looking both at Sommerfeld's own research as well as his pedagogical style. Research for this section will be centered on the Sommerfeld archive at the Deutsches Museum, Munich, and will include not only a technical analysis of the work done by both Sommerfeld and his students in Munich, but also a similar examination of research content for his students early on in their own professional careers.