Thread: History of Science Paper

I am in a history of science class and i need to a paper on pretty much any topic i choose - so long as it falls under the scope of the course.
The dates are from Newton to about the 1960's.

I have been having some trouble trying to pick a topic that would really and truly fall under the discipline "History of Science". I thought perhaps you people might have some ideas!

And he said that we shouldn't write on the Manhattan project because he has read that paper so many times that he now marks it really hard.

How about Maxwell, the one who first explained electromagnetic waves. According to some his work is equal in importance to that of Newton and Einstein, and the most important advance in physics in the 19th century.

I can't explain it in detail cos I'm not an expert, but his work was vital for understanding the properties of stars for example.

or watson and crick and the discovery of DNA i think it just fits in(date wise)

[/quote]I thought perhaps you people might have some ideas!

the discovery of photosynthesis

How about writing it on the battle of wits between Einstein and Bohr....

we gonna be able to see what u chose. id like to

another would be mendeleev and the periodic table, how he predicted elements that were discoved later etc

Thanks for all of the ideas!
I looked into all of the stuff on electromagnetivity and stuff ... and the history of it is really complicated. And I feel that it would be too hard to confine it to 12 pages.

I have decided to do Mendel. And look at why his work was ignored for 24 years before people were like ... wait a minute ... this monk knew about this all along! I was able to find some good primary sources on this topic, so that is what made me choose it.

Wish me luck!

Tesla is the king.
Tesla and the death ray.
Tesla and the resonance frequency (which got him evicted at one point in his life for creating an 'earthquake' in his building...)

Tesla the Noble vs the Evil Businessman Edison...

sigma; i have often wondered why "Wernher von Braum" 1912-1977, is not mentioned much in the understanding of science. aside a very interesting life story, he was instrumental in developments in rocketry.
his work has led to much of what we use in defense and space exploration.

Originally Posted by jackson33

sigma; i have often wondered why "Wernher von Braum" 1912-1977, is not mentioned much in the understanding of science. aside a very interesting life story, he was instrumental in developments in rocketry.
his work has led to much of what we use in defense and space exploration.

You mean the guy who stole Robert Goddard's Ideas, and put one thousand pounds of high explosives on it, sent 9250 of these to rain down on London, killed some distant relatives of mine, ran to the Americans, had his past airbrushed out, claimed to be the father of the rocket? I'd have shot the Bastard. Bob Goddard invented the liquid fuelled rocket.
He did not invent the principles of rocket control either, that too, was mostly Goddard.

Originally Posted by Megabrain

Originally Posted by jackson33

sigma; i have often wondered why "Wernher von Braum" 1912-1977, is not mentioned much in the understanding of science. aside a very interesting life story, he was instrumental in developments in rocketry.
his work has led to much of what we use in defense and space exploration.

You mean the guy who stole Robert Goddard's Ideas, and put one thousand pounds of high explosives on it, sent 9250 of these to rain down on London, killed some distant relatives of mine, ran to the Americans, had his past airbrushed out, claimed to be the father of the rocket? I'd have shot the Bastard. Bob Goddard invented the liquid fuelled rocket.
He did not invent the principles of rocket control either, that too, was mostly Goddard.

i did say "interesting life", not perfect. yes, he had a boss dead set on world domination. his pattens for 2 and 3 stage rockets, have been honored and the results well known. his life in the US, was admirable and his contributions remarkable.

his contributions are no less controversial than Hubble or Einstein, the results maybe more concrete. since the best paper to write would be one that creates thought or controversy. sigma ask, i gave a very good answer and your reply confirms.

Originally Posted by invert_nexus

Tesla is the king.
Tesla and the death ray.
Tesla and the resonance frequency (which got him evicted at one point in his life for creating an 'earthquake' in his building...)

Tesla the Noble vs the Evil Businessman Edison...

I would very strongly recommend against writing a paper about Tesla making a death ray or earthquake machine.

mega; need to add a little in the name of sensitivity. i too, lost some not so distant relatives in WWII. most families did, from the US and certainly in the UK. what little i contribute to discussion would never be intended to devalue those and i do honor all that have given life for the freedoms we have.

on the other hand, i cannot hold any German or Japanese person responsible for what went on in the 40's, any more than i accept responsibility for the events. much in the same manner i don't hold cigarette manufacturer's for any persons death, gun makers for the deaths of millions or any food for the making people fat. i don't even hold auto makers responsible for the millions killed or injured worldwide each year.
to blame or hold responsible the two pilots that dropped bombs on Japan, to end WWII is likewise not in my nature.

Braum, was one of several hundred scientist invited to the US (did not run off to) and accepted. many did not and whatever they were working on died in progress. Goddard's work is well known and is credited for much of his work. i learned some years back any idea Ive had and i know you won't believe this, but quite a few has been thought of by others and their efforts given credit. if for no other reason, they pursued thought to an end result.

I think that ol werner should have been tried as a war criminal - just like the guys who built the gas chambers and many others who played 'ancilliary rolls' in the war. I do not think his contribution was as great as people make out. Without him I feel sure there would still be footprints on the moon. I simply do not rate the guy.

Originally Posted by Megabrain

I think that ol werner should have been tried as a war criminal - just like the guys who built the gas chambers and many others who played 'ancilliary rolls' in the war. I do not think his contribution was as great as people make out. Without him I feel sure there would still be footprints on the moon. I simply do not rate the guy.

many people, think as you and the line drawn in that conflict or any other was too lenient. some think any one that served as a combatant should have been shot and even those that supported those troops. of course that leaves a few kids and since they were the products of those troops, so just do them as well. this is the extreme but my point.

when a war is over, to me the war is over. that means the waring parties have concluded hostilities, all of them and retribution is for those in a country. Truman and Churchhill went on, the premier of Japan lived out his life and Hitler killed himself, if he had lived, would have been tried, convicted and shot for acts against the Jewish. what was done to the Jewish is another story and those people, not acting as a government, reacted as any group should. that was not considered war, an act of war or served any purpose to the purpose of war. even the prisoners of war were released from all nations.

yes, we would have gone to the moon and for other reasons, not much later. Braum's insistence, that we could do this, would have come from another source and JFK would have stimulated a public.

Originally Posted by Megabrain

You mean the guy who stole Robert Goddard's Ideas, and put one thousand pounds of high explosives on it, sent 9250 of these to rain down on London, killed some distant relatives of mine, ran to the Americans, had his past airbrushed out, claimed to be the father of the rocket? I'd have shot the Bastard. Bob Goddard invented the liquid fuelled rocket.
He did not invent the principles of rocket control either, that too, was mostly Goddard.

To be fair, von Braun always gave Goddard credit. He never tried to claim that he was responsible for any of Goddard's ideas, and he often talked publically about how Goddard basically invented everything long before anyone else.

Also, the germans built around 6000 V2s. Only 3200 were launched, and only 1400 of them were sent against England - so your figure of 9250 being lauched against London is way too high.

Finally, the person most responsible for the V2 was arguably Walter Thiel, the German engineer who designed the V2 engine and headed the V2 project. von Braun did a lot of development work on liquid fueled rockets for Germany, but didn't work that much on the V2 specifically.

The 9250 was off the internet, a .edu site but cannot remember which.

Originally Posted by Megabrain

The 9250 was off the internet, a .edu site but cannot remember which.

I strongly suspect that you were looking at the number of V1s launched against England, which was indeed around 10,000. But the V1 was a jet-powered cruise missile, and von Braun didn't have anything to do with building it.

You are correct it was 9250 V1's The number of V2's seems uncertain but is generally thought to be around 1300-1500.