Science and ideology: The case of physics in Nazi Germany

Autors/ores

  • Philip Ball Science writer and author (London, UK).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.7.7665

Paraules clau:

Nazism, German physics, science and politics, Peter Debye

Resum

Science is not «above» politics and ethics: it is intrinsically political, and constantly raises ethical dilemmas. The consequences of evading such issues were made particularly clear in the actions of scientists working in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 40s. The accusation in 2006 that Dutch physicist Peter Debye was an opportunist who colluded with the Nazis reopened the debate about the conduct of physicists at that time. Here I consider what those events can tell us about the relationship of science and politics today. I argue that an insistence that science is an abstract, apolitical inquiry into nature is a myth that can leave it morally compromised and vulnerable to political manipulation.

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Biografia de l'autor/a

Philip Ball, Science writer and author (London, UK).

Science writer and author (London, UK). He previously worked as an editor at Nature , and his many books on science and its interactions with the broader culture include Serving the Reich: The struggle for the soul of physics under Hitler (2014).

Referències

Ball, P. (2014). Serving the Reich. London: Bodley Head.

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Heilbron, J. L. (2000). The dilemmas of an upright man: Max Planck and the fortunes of German science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Heisenberg, W. (1948, 5 January). Letter to S. Goudsmit (box 10, folder 95). Samuel Goudsmit Papers, American Institute of Physics.

Hoffmann, D. (2005). Between autonomy and accommodation: The German Physical Society during the Third Reich. Physics in Perspective, 7(3), 293–329. doi: 10.1007/s00016-004-0235-x

Hoffmann, D., & Walker, M. (March 2006). Peter Debye: A typical scientist in an untypical time. Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. Retrieved from www.dpg-physik.de/dpg/gliederung/fv/gp/debye_en.html

Hoffmann, D., & Walker, M. (Eds.). (2011). «Fremde» Wissenschaftler im Dritten Reich. Die Debye-Affäre im Kontext. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag.

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Rammer, G. (2012). «Cleanliness among our circle of colleagues»: The German Physical Society’s Policy toward its past. In D. Hoffmann, & M. Walker (Eds.), The German Physical Society in the Third Reich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. (2007). Political interference with climate change science under the Bush Administration. Retrieved from www.cfr.org/climate-change/political-interference-climate-change-science-under-bush-administration-december-2007/p15079

Van Ginkel, G. (2006). Prof. Peter J. W. Debye (1884-1966) in 1935-1945: An investigation of historical sources. The Netherlands: RIPCN.

Walker, M. (1995). Nazi science: Myth, truth and the German atomic bomb. New York: Plenum.

Walker, M. (Ed.). (2003). Science and ideology: A comparative history. London: Routledge.

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Publicades

2017-06-20

Com citar

Ball, P. (2017). Science and ideology: The case of physics in Nazi Germany. Metode Science Studies Jornal, (7), 69–77. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.7.7665
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Número

Unravelling science: Pulling the thread of knowledge (2017)

Secció

Ciència i ideologia

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