Myles W. Jackson Livres

The history of the CCR5 gene as a lens through which to view such issues as intellectual property, Big Pharma, personalized medicine, and race and genomics.

The book explores the intricate relationship between physicists, musicians, and instrument makers in nineteenth-century Germany, highlighting how musical instruments served as experimental systems for scientific inquiry. It delves into the influence of acoustical research on instrument design and performance, as well as the collaborative efforts to standardize musical pitch and beat. Additionally, it examines the role of choral societies in fostering social connections and the quest to quantify musical virtuosity. This historical analysis reveals the mutual shaping of music and physics during this transformative period.

Historically, music was considered both an art and a science, with its elements—like the mathematics of tuning and celestial harmonies—primarily studied as science until the seventeenth century. By the nineteenth century, while scientists had shifted focus from the music of the spheres, they remained dedicated to understanding performing musicians and their instruments. Myles Jackson explores the interplay between physicists, musicians, and instrument makers in nineteenth-century Germany. Musical instruments served as experimental systems for physicists, whose research directly enhanced instrument manufacturing and aided musicians' performances. Music also acted as a cultural resource, fostering connections and collaborations. Jackson details experiments in acoustical vibrations that led to new musical instruments and improvements in the reed pipe, crucial for organ builders. He examines collaborations aimed at standardizing beat and pitch and the debates surrounding the standardization of aesthetic qualities. The role of choral societies as a means of social life and cultural unity is also highlighted. Finally, he addresses a key question of the era: Could physicists quantify musical skill using universal mechanical principles? Jackson’s historical analysis reveals how music and physics influenced and shaped each other during this transformative period.

In the nineteenth century, scientific practice shifted from personal endeavor to business enterprise. Myles Jackson explores this transformation through a sociocultural history of precision optics in Germany, focusing on the career of optician Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787-1826). Orphaned at eleven, Fraunhofer trained under a decorative glass cutter but grew frustrated with his master's refusal to let him study optical theory. He later joined the Optical Institute, where he excelled in producing the world's finest achromatic lenses and prisms. His laboratory, located in an old Benedictine monastery, reflected the monks' labor, yet his secretive methods prevented British experimental natural philosophers from replicating his success. This secrecy ensured his institute's monopoly but hindered his acceptance in the scientific community, which viewed artisanal practices with disdain. The rise of German optical technology during this period highlights significant social, economic, and political issues, including mechanization, patent law reform, the role of skills in physics and society, the emergence of Mechanics' Institutes, and scientific patronage. After Fraunhofer's death, his legacy was used in the newly united Germany to advocate for the integration of scientific research, technological innovation, and industrial and state support.

Written in the late 1800's, it is still easy enough to read if you have a decent vocabulary. What is so interesting is that it isn't just about Freemasonry symbolism, but traces the symbolism back even further to some societies and shows how it could have evolved through history. Contents Preface I Preliminary II The Noachidae III The Primitive Freemasonry of Antiquity IV The Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity V The Ancient Mysteries VI The Dionysiac Artificers VII The Union of Speculative and Operative Masonry at the Temple of Solomon VIII The Travelling Freemasons of the Middle Ages IX Disseverance of the Operative Element X The System of Symbolic Instruction XI The Speculative Science and the Operative Art XII The Symbolism of Solomon's Temple XIII The Form of the Lodge XIV The Officers of a Lodge XV The Point within a Circle XVI The Covering of the Lodge XVII Ritualistic Symbolism XVIII The Rite of Discalceation XIX The Rite of Investiture XX The Symbolism of the Gloves XXI The Rite of Circumambulation XXII The Rite of Intrusting, and the Symbolism of Light XXIII Symbolism of the Corner-stone XXIV The Ineffable Name XXV The Legends of Freemasonry XXVI The Legend of the Winding Stairs XXVII The Legend of the Third Degree XXVIII The Sprig of Acacia XXIX The Symbolism of Labor XXX The Stone of Foundation XXXI The Lost Word Synoptical Index

Eine faszinierende Studie über die Beziehungen von Handwerkskunst, Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft vor dem Hintergrund der beginnenden Industrialisierung - ausgezeichnet mit dem Hans-Sauer-Preis 2006 (Historischer Sonderpreis für Forschung über Erfinder). Im 19. Jahrhundert vollzog sich in der Praxis des Forschens ein dramatischer Wandel vom persönlichen Abenteuer zum organisierten Unternehmen. Als einer der Protagonisten gilt Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787-1826), später gefeiert als »Vater der Spektroskopie«. Diese Verklärung lässt außer Acht, dass der aus einer Glasmacherdynastie stammende Fraunhofer nicht zuletzt durch seine handwerkliche Präzisionsarbeit die Entwicklung der Physik im 19. Jahrhundert entscheidend beeinflusste. Sein Labor in einem ehemaligen Benediktinerkloster atmete den Geist mönchischen Lebens, gerade auch, was die strenge Wahrung der Produktionsgeheimnisse anging: So versuchten z. B. britische Naturwissenschaftler vergeblich, Fraunhofers lupenreine Linsen nachzubauen. Myles W. Jackson beleuchtet anhand Fraunhofers Werdegang das Verhältnis zwischen Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft, zwischen Naturwissenschaftlern und Handwerkern. Er zeigt, welchen Verlauf der Siegeszug der deutschen optischen Technik in Deutschland im Rahmen der damaligen sozialen, politischen und wirtschaftlichen Gegebenheiten nahm und auf welchen Traditionen er dabei aufbaute. Fraunhofers Vorbild regte verschiedene Interessengruppen zu Initiativen an, die Anstrengungen von Wissenschaft, Technik und Industrie zu bündeln. Zur Reihe: Die Wissenschaftsgeschichte verstand sich lange Zeit als eine Art Gedächtnis der Wissenschaften. Heute sucht sie ihren Platz in der Kulturgeschichte und sieht ihre Aufgabe nicht zuletzt darin, Brücken zwischen den Naturwissenschaften und den Geisteswissenschaften zu bauen. Die Formen, in denen dies geschieht, sind keineswegs ausgemacht. Sie sind Gegenstand eines großen, gegenwärtig im Gange befindlichen Experiments. Die historische Einbettung der wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnis, der Blick auf die materielle Kultur der Wissenschaften, auf ihre Objekte und auf die Räume ihrer Darstellung verlangt nach neuen Formen der Reflexion, des Erzählens und der Präsentation. Die von Michael Hagner und Hans-Jörg Rheinberger herausgegebene Reihe »Wissenschaftsgeschichte« versteht sich als ein Forum, auf dem solche Versuche vorgestellt werden.