Princeton University - Bric A Brac Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

Page 26 text:

NATURAL SCIENCES By Eric Malcolm Rodgers, M.A. Associate Professor of Physics Bending over his retort amid coils of wire with flashing sparks, the great scientist works on his mysterious theory . . . Gloomy bearded savant, heedless . . . shambles out to a belated meal . . . shattering explosion . . . This is the ustage scientist of the movies and cheap notion. We shall always have such artificial stage types, where there is a lack of understanding. Many of them are no longer acceptable. Two world wars have swept the ustage American from the European theater, replacing him by a thoughtful, important person. The stage Frenchman simply won't hold water any longer. But the stage scientist is still with us, an amusing joke for the audience, a nice job for the character actor, and a stricture on modern civilization. Can Prince-ton help to remove that slur? All over the civilized world we meet the same coils of wire and that same antique retort like a glass comma- automatic machines now turn them out 'by the hundred to maintain outworn tradition. Picturefmagazines wait till they catch a scientist with open mouth or with trailing beard, then print a picture with 'khuman interest. The contrast of this tradition with real. scientists is appalling. It :brings real scientists against prejudice and misunderf standing. Business heads dislike their own scientific experts, military distrust theirs, some educational heads regard them as queer and inferior, and the general public does not even recognize them or their work. Isn't this last an insulting lie? Surely the general public knows and respects science and scientists. No: What they think they know and claim to respect are sham shadows of their own imagination or myths of tradition-stage scientists and stage science. The real scientist is neither a gloomy dreamer nor an eilicient formulafmonger. He has 'his 'hair cut as of-ten Professor E. M. Rogers, Department of Physics Professor A. K. Parpart, Chairman, Department of Biology Professor A. G. Shenstone, Chairman, Department of Physics Chairman, D9Pf1flme'1f Uf Geology Professor H. H. Hess, Professors E. G. Butler, G. Fankhauser, Department of Biology

Page 25 text:

Professors W. F. Craven, R. L. Powell, Department of History Professors P. J. Strayer, O. Morgenstern, De- partment af Economics and Social Instit Professor G. A. Craig, Department of History Professor S. E. Howard, Department of Economics and Social Institutions 5, . f e if AM. . ' ff 7 sf'-N: 1-5 Qi' -fs- Professor L. V. Chandler, Department of Economics and Social Institutions or forming any ideas about what is desirable or un' desira-ble, we employ and We need value premises in making scientihc observations of facts and in analyzing their casual interrelation. Chaos does not organize itself utions by evading them. 24 into any cosmos. We need viewpoints and they presume valuations. A 'disinterested social science' is, from this viewpoint, pure nonsense. lt never existed, and it will never exist. We can strive to make our thinking rational in spite of this, but only by facing the valuations, not From the study of society the student may properly obtain convictions and, conceivably, even aspirations to participate in social decisions. In Whitehead's phrase, knowledge does not keep any better than ish, and in a democratic society positive commitment and action are legitimate ends for the educated man.

Page 27 text:

Professor H. Cantril, .M ProfessorsyH. S. Taylor, C. E. Birchenall, G. Dougherty, Professor W. Feller, Department of Chemistry Department of Mathematics Professor Turkevitch, Department of Chemistry as the next man-more often if he has to deal with ofhcialdom. He is capable, clear, and happyg his science is systematic and imaginative, powerful for practical uses and delightful as an intellectual resource. He goes and tries things and abides honestly by his experimental results, which he codifies into lawsg he devises new ideas couraf geously, even outrageously, then he tests them experif mentally or uses them as language in expressing his knowledge. He dea.ls in knowledge of Nature, not witch' craft. His interest in art and politics and religion are as lively fand prejudicedj as those of his unscientific neighf bors. Though he tries to be extra critical and logical, he finds the effects of his scientiic training are mainly restricted to his own work, unless his science has given him heartfelt ideals-a love of accuracy, or a ruthless delight in logic, or a great faith in appeal to experiment. In his work, he is a happy man and a humble one. He enjoys using his curiosity and knowledge to pry into Nature. He is humble because he knows how little he knows. His combination of observing and extracting information with clever flexiblefminded thinking-extperif ment with theory-is science. The man who does this is a scientist. To him, the science already known and long since settled is, in a way, dead museumfstuff: the facts and ideas yet undiscovered, unformulated, are not yet Chairman, Department of Psychology -,...g,,