Joseph D Martins
Biographic Data
| ID | 3595441 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Joseph D Martins |
| GIVEN NAMES | Joseph D |
| FAMILY NAME | Martins |
| SIGNATURE | MARTINS J D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Durham University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8591-2150 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Acid Test
In March 1953, Allen Astin, director of the National Bureau of Standards, lost his job. He was fired by Sinclair Weeks, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's newly confirmed secretary of commerce. The bureau had concluded that AD-X2, an aftermarket additive advertised as extending the life of automotive batteries, was ineffective. Weeks regarded the condemnation as an attack on small business and sought to install friendlier leadership at the bureau. …
The tragedy of the canon; or, path dependence in the history and philosophy of science
The Simple and Courageous Course
The University of Chicago was the site of a remarkable ideological alignment after World War II. Its chancellor, Robert Maynard Hutchins, was one of mid-century America’s fiercest critics of science and of the moral stature of scientists. His administration nevertheless forged a détente with Chicago’s physical scientists in the process of establishing the Institutes for Basic Research, which consolidated the personnel and resources the Manhattan …
Prestige Asymmetry in American Physics
ArgumentWhy do similar scientific enterprises garner unequal public approbation? High energy physics attracted considerable attention in the late-twentieth-century United States, whereas condensed matter physics - which occupied the greater proportion of US physicists - remained little known to the public, despite its relevance to ubiquitous consumer technologies. This paper supplements existing accounts of this much remarked-upon prestige asymme…
Who Owns the Twentieth Century? (And Is It Worth Owning)
Previous articleNext article FreeWho Owns the Twentieth Century? (And Is It Worth Owning?) Stephen G. Brush. With Ariel Segal. Making Twentieth Century Science: How Theories Became Knowledge. vxii + 531 pp., bibl., index. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. £25.99 (cloth). Jon Agar. Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond. ix + 614 pp., index. Cambridge: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. £30 (cloth).Joseph D. MartinJoseph D. Martin Search for mor…
New straw for the old broom
Fundamental Disputations
A philosophical debate between particle physicists and solid state physicists roiled as these subdisciplines competed for financial support, social approbation, and intellectual prestige through the second half of the twentieth century. Their disagreement hinged on the nature of fundamental research. The particle physics community adopted a reductionist approach, arguing that the fundamental physical laws were those governing the smallest constit…
Is the Contingentist/Inevitabilist Debate a Matter of Degrees
The contingentist/inevitabilist debate contests whether the results of successful science are contingent or inevitable. This article addresses lingering ambiguity in the way contingency is defined in this debate. I argue that contingency in science can be understood as a collection of distinct concepts, distinguished by how they hold science contingent, by what elements of science they hold contingent, and by what those elements are contingent up…
Is the Contingentist/Inevitabilist Debate a Matter of Degrees
The contingentist/inevitabilist debate contests whether the results of successful science are contingent or inevitable. This article addresses lingering ambiguity in the way contingency is defined in this debate. I argue that contingency in science can be understood as a collection of distinct concepts, distinguished by how they hold science contingent, by what elements of science they hold contingent, and by what those elements are contingent up…
Prestige Asymmetry in American Physics
ArgumentWhy do similar scientific enterprises garner unequal public approbation? High energy physics attracted considerable attention in the late-twentieth-century United States, whereas condensed matter physics - which occupied the greater proportion of US physicists - remained little known to the public, despite its relevance to ubiquitous consumer technologies. This paper supplements existing accounts of this much remarked-upon prestige asymme…
The Simple and Courageous Course
The University of Chicago was the site of a remarkable ideological alignment after World War II. Its chancellor, Robert Maynard Hutchins, was one of mid-century America’s fiercest critics of science and of the moral stature of scientists. His administration nevertheless forged a détente with Chicago’s physical scientists in the process of establishing the Institutes for Basic Research, which consolidated the personnel and resources the Manhattan …
Who Owns the Twentieth Century? (And Is It Worth Owning)
Previous articleNext article FreeWho Owns the Twentieth Century? (And Is It Worth Owning?) Stephen G. Brush. With Ariel Segal. Making Twentieth Century Science: How Theories Became Knowledge. vxii + 531 pp., bibl., index. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. £25.99 (cloth). Jon Agar. Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond. ix + 614 pp., index. Cambridge: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. £30 (cloth).Joseph D. MartinJoseph D. Martin Search for mor…
Fundamental Disputations
A philosophical debate between particle physicists and solid state physicists roiled as these subdisciplines competed for financial support, social approbation, and intellectual prestige through the second half of the twentieth century. Their disagreement hinged on the nature of fundamental research. The particle physics community adopted a reductionist approach, arguing that the fundamental physical laws were those governing the smallest constit…
Is the Contingentist/Inevitabilist Debate a Matter of Degrees
The contingentist/inevitabilist debate contests whether the results of successful science are contingent or inevitable. This article addresses lingering ambiguity in the way contingency is defined in this debate. I argue that contingency in science can be understood as a collection of distinct concepts, distinguished by how they hold science contingent, by what elements of science they hold contingent, and by what those elements are contingent up…
New straw for the old broom
Fundamental Disputations
A philosophical debate between particle physicists and solid state physicists roiled as these subdisciplines competed for financial support, social approbation, and intellectual prestige through the second half of the twentieth century. Their disagreement hinged on the nature of fundamental research. The particle physics community adopted a reductionist approach, arguing that the fundamental physical laws were those governing the smallest constit…
Prestige Asymmetry in American Physics
ArgumentWhy do similar scientific enterprises garner unequal public approbation? High energy physics attracted considerable attention in the late-twentieth-century United States, whereas condensed matter physics - which occupied the greater proportion of US physicists - remained little known to the public, despite its relevance to ubiquitous consumer technologies. This paper supplements existing accounts of this much remarked-upon prestige asymme…
Who Owns the Twentieth Century? (And Is It Worth Owning)
Previous articleNext article FreeWho Owns the Twentieth Century? (And Is It Worth Owning?) Stephen G. Brush. With Ariel Segal. Making Twentieth Century Science: How Theories Became Knowledge. vxii + 531 pp., bibl., index. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. £25.99 (cloth). Jon Agar. Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond. ix + 614 pp., index. Cambridge: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. £30 (cloth).Joseph D. MartinJoseph D. Martin Search for mor…
The Simple and Courageous Course
The University of Chicago was the site of a remarkable ideological alignment after World War II. Its chancellor, Robert Maynard Hutchins, was one of mid-century America’s fiercest critics of science and of the moral stature of scientists. His administration nevertheless forged a détente with Chicago’s physical scientists in the process of establishing the Institutes for Basic Research, which consolidated the personnel and resources the Manhattan …
The tragedy of the canon; or, path dependence in the history and philosophy of science
Acid Test
In March 1953, Allen Astin, director of the National Bureau of Standards, lost his job. He was fired by Sinclair Weeks, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's newly confirmed secretary of commerce. The bureau had concluded that AD-X2, an aftermarket additive advertised as extending the life of automotive batteries, was ineffective. Weeks regarded the condemnation as an attack on small business and sought to install friendlier leadership at the bureau. …
Sociology (5 works) · Law (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Climate Change Communication and Perception (3 works) · History (3 works) · History (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (3 works)