How does Knowledge become Scientific? A Historical Study on the Consolidation of Quantum Theories as Reference Knowledge in Physics.

• Grant number: 24/04470-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: November 01, 2024
• End date: October 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Science
• Principal Investigator: Ivã Gurgel
• Grantee: Ivã Gurgel
• Host Investigator: Christian Joas
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Niels Bohr Archive, Denmark
• Associated research grant: 20/04867-2 - High energy physics and instrumentation with the LHC-CERN, AP.ESP

Abstract

The questions "What is Science?" and "Why Trust Science?" are present, with different formulations, throughout the History of Sciences and throughout the History of Epistemology. However, today we live in a relatively new situation, when debates about the validity of scientific knowledge have entered the public sphere and become the concern of heads of state. Planning to face the climate crisis, for example, involves being clear about the role and limits of science in relation to issues of social interest.If, on the one hand, we need to oppose anti-science speeches, on the other, the presence of scientistic stances in public debates about science is also worrying. To avoid extreme positions we need to look not at the scientist as an isolated being, but at the historical development of the scientific community. This perspective, which takes us back to renowned authors such as Thomas Kuhn, allows for a considered assessment of the sciences, in which it is possible to verify how their legitimation is constructed.The objective of the research is to understand how Quantum Physics became one of the main theoretical references for Physical Sciences. Specifically, we seek to analyze the constitution and scientific practices undertaken in the Theoretical Physics group at CERN between the years 1952 and 1957. We consider that this group was important for the directions that Physics would take after World War II and it was potentially important for have brought together scientists from various locations around the world, reflecting a process of circulation of ideas that allows us to see their influence throughout the world.