
Contents
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36.1 Early Quantum Historiography: Intellectual and Disciplinary History 36.1 Early Quantum Historiography: Intellectual and Disciplinary History
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36.2 The Forman Thesis: Social and Cultural History 36.2 The Forman Thesis: Social and Cultural History
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36.3 Impact and Controversies 36.3 Impact and Controversies
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36.4 Revealing Examples: Ehrenfest, Pauli, Schrödinger, Joffe 36.4 Revealing Examples: Ehrenfest, Pauli, Schrödinger, Joffe
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36.5 Conclusions 36.5 Conclusions
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Acknowledgements Acknowledgements
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References References
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36 Quantum Historiography and Cultural History: Revisiting the Forman Thesis
Get accessProfessor at the Department of History of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver
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Published:19 May 2022
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Abstract
In the 1960s and 1970s, research on the history of quantum physics stood at the forefront of methodological innovations in the discipline of history of science. This review of the formative stage of quantum historiography describes the path from Thomas Kuhn’s project of oral histories and archival databases to Paul Forman’s pathbreaking study of 1971, which inaugurated the cultural approach in the history of the exact sciences. Forman’s analysis connected the culture of Weimar Germany, the status of the exact sciences within it, related ideological currents in physics, and the emerging concepts of quantum acausality, individuality, and Anschaulichkeit. Subsequent controversies surrounding the Forman Thesis helped develop the sociology of scientific knowledge. Several key case studies discussed in recent literature on quantum history provide further tests of the main assumptions behind Forman’s cultural approach and illustrate its heuristic role.
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