Menzel, Julia Harriet (Author)
This paper examines the history of the renormalization group, a cornerstone of contemporary theoretical physics, focusing on the work of Kenneth Wilson (winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in physics) and affiliated scholars in the 1970s. In particular, it reconstructs how studies of the renormalization group led to formative interactions between two distinct branches of physics, namely particle physics and condensed matter theory. Instead of explaining such intellectual coordination as the result of material and conceptual exchanges, as in Peter Galison’s widely influential discussion of the “trading zone,” my analysis emphasizes the pedagogical labor, social institutions, and political economic conditions that gave the renormalization group its mediating power. To that end, I show how early lectures and fast circulating pre-prints on the renormalization group created a population of physicists in the United States conversant in the rudiments of both condensed matter and particle theory. I then root the formation of a transatlantic network of renormalization group enthusiasts in the geopolitics of the Cold War, showing that the spread of Wilsonian ideas was made possible by a liberal internationalist program of academic exchanges and summer schools sponsored by the US state department and NATO. Finally, I argue that sharp cuts to basic science funding in the United States pushed young physicists seeking jobs in the 1970s to work across specializations, which visibly impacted how renormalization group ideas were interpreted and used—often against the objections of their original progenitors.
...More
Article
Goeminne, Gert;
(2011)
Once upon a Time I Was a Nuclear Physicist: What the Politics of Sustainability Can Learn from the Nuclear Laboratory
(/isis/citation/CBB001034592/)
Article
Zangwill, Andrew;
(2014)
The Education of Walter Kohn and the Creation of Density Functional Theory
(/isis/citation/CBB001202209/)
Article
Greiff, Alexis De;
(2006)
The Politics of Noncooperation: The Boycott of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics
(/isis/citation/CBB000670747/)
Book
Byrne, Peter;
(2010)
The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett III: Multiple Universes, Mutual Assured Destruction, and the Meltdown of a Nuclear Family
(/isis/citation/CBB001022747/)
Article
Sethi, Megan Barnhart;
(2012)
Information, Education, and Indoctrination: The Federation of American Scientists and Public Communication Strategies in the Atomic Age
(/isis/citation/CBB001220840/)
Article
Alexandru Marcoci;
James Nguyen;
(2020)
Judgement aggregation in scientific collaborations: The case for waiving expertise
(/isis/citation/CBB954706835/)
Book
Munns, David P. D.;
(2013)
A Single Sky: How an International Community Forged the Science of Radio Astronomy
(/isis/citation/CBB001320933/)
Article
Tang, Li;
Hu, Guangyuan;
(2013)
Tracing the Footprint of Knowledge Spillover: Evidence from U.S.--China Collaboration in Nanotechnology
(/isis/citation/CBB001320128/)
Book
Alessandro Antonello;
(2019)
The Greening of Antarctica: Assembling an International Environment
(/isis/citation/CBB784199176/)
Article
Istvan Hargittai;
Magdolna Hargittai;
(2023)
On Edward Teller's Inner World: As Revealed in His Letters to Maria Goeppert Mayer
(/isis/citation/CBB245597711/)
Book
Thierry Montmerle;
Yi Zhou;
(2023)
China and the International Astronomical Union: Divorce, Separation and Reconciliation
(/isis/citation/CBB831387586/)
Article
Giudice, Gian Francesco;
(2012)
Big Science and the Large Hadron Collider
(/isis/citation/CBB001220408/)
Article
Johnston, Sean F.;
(2009)
Implanting a Discipline: The Academic Trajectory of Nuclear Engineering in the USA and UK
(/isis/citation/CBB000932243/)
Thesis
Hanson, Todd Alan;
(2007)
Quantum Entanglements: Collaboration and Communication in a ScientificCommunity of Practice
(/isis/citation/CBB001560967/)
Chapter
Galison, Peter;
(2004)
Mirror Symmetry: Persons, Values, and Objects
(/isis/citation/CBB000502024/)
Article
Chen, Chaomei;
Kuljis, Jasna;
(2003)
The Rising Landscape: A Visual Exploration of Superstring Revolutions in Physics
(/isis/citation/CBB000300372/)
Article
Greiff, Alexis De;
(2002)
The Tale of Two Peripheries: The Creation of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste
(/isis/citation/CBB000340906/)
Thesis
Lynn, Freda B.;
(2006)
Quality Uncertainty and Professional Status: A Study of Mathematicians and Economists
(/isis/citation/CBB001560955/)
Article
Giulia Rispoli;
Doubravka Olšáková;
(2020)
Science and Diplomacy around the Earth: From the Man and Biosphere Programme to the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme
(/isis/citation/CBB832498939/)
Article
Jinyan Liu;
Fang Wang;
Baichun Zhang;
(2021)
Chinese Theoretical Physicists in Dubna ̶A Case Study of Zhou Guangzhao
(/isis/citation/CBB850702172/)
Be the first to comment!