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METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20150218T151411Z
DTSTART:20150310T130000Z
DTEND:20150310T140000Z
SUMMARY:Life Cycle of A Star: Richard Feynman\, Carl Sagan\, and Reputati
 on In Transit
UID:{http://www.columbasystems.com/customers/uom/gpp/eventid/}r15g-i5impj
 cj-afk657
DESCRIPTION:This seminar is part of the lunchtime seminar series for the 
 Centre for the History of Science\, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM). Lun
 chtime seminars are typically no more than 30 minutes in length\, follow
 ed by a period for audience questions (ending before 2pm). All are welco
 me.\n\nLife Cycle of A Star: Richard Feynman\, Carl Sagan\, and Reputati
 on In Transit\n\nOliver Marsh (University College London)\n\nAbstract:\n
 In science\, as in celebrity culture\, people can acquire knowledge of a
  subject without encountering it themselves. This paper extends that ana
 logy by applying work on circulation of scientific knowledge to reputati
 on and characterisation\, understood as ‘biographical’ knowledge. By ana
 logy with graphs\, equations\, and the other simplified units used to ci
 rculate scientific knowledge\, I propose the concept of ‘myths’. Myths a
 re simplified units of knowledge passed around about individuals\, by wh
 ich people build up a representation of that individual. I illustrate th
 is using the case-studies of Richard Feynman and (to a lesser extent) Ca
 rl Sagan.  Both acquired distinctive reputations which tied their scienc
 e to their personality. These reputations were built up through a great 
 many communications\, from personal contact with other scientists to mas
 s media reportage.  Following James Secord’s ‘Knowledge in Transit’ appr
 oach I focus on the communicative contexts of these interactions – the d
 ifferent media\, the relationship between interlocutors\, and so on. Fro
 m this\, I illustrate that biographical and scientific knowledge are cir
 culated through the same interactions. Both forms of knowledge are influ
 enced by the communicative context of interactions\, but also influence 
 one another. This entails an extension to the Knowledge in Transit proje
 ct – to consider not just circulating knowledge\, but interactions betwe
 en different forms of circulating knowledge.
STATUS:TENTATIVE
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
LOCATION:2.57\, Simon Building\, Manchester
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