Examines the widespread view that it was the crucial Michelson-Morley experiment that led Einstein to formulate the special relativity theory. From Einstein's writings, evidence is presented that no such direct genetic connection exists. The author suggests that the historian of science must resist the experimenticist's fallacy of imposing a…

Many talented physicists who fled Europe during the rise of fascist regimes came to the United States to escape various kinds of persecution. The role and accomplishments of these scientists in enriching the science community in the United States are discussed. (JN)

Discusses how physics draws upon and adds to other disciplines. Presents five reasons why physics is important and relevant to the present. (DS)

Proposes a new component in the analysis of a scientific work, which depends on certain thematic elements which underlie scientific endeavor and provide science with what constant identity it has. This "thematic analysis" allows the historian of science to view past science along another dimension. (MLH)

Using the example of Hans Christian Oersted's (1777-1851) discovery that magnetic fields surround currents as a focal point, it suggests, by using different historical examples, that science and history be brought together in a kind of conjunction for scholarly research and classroom purposes, for both scientists and nonscientists. (SK)

A Discussion of attempts to understand the great inter-relationships among all areas of knowledge" by Neils Bohr, a physicist, and others. (SE)

The author discusses some reasons for constraints that society places on science. Restraints on scientific inquiry and research are imposed when a scientific pursuit comes into conflict with widely held social values or when the pursuit is questioned in terms of "good science." These restraints reflect different views of the role of free inquiry…