A Eurasian Mineralogy: Aleksandr Fersman's Conception of the Natural World.
In: Isis: A Journal of the History of Science in Society, Jg. 107 (2016-09-01), Heft 3, S. 518-539
academicJournal
Zugriff:
Thoroughly a product of imperial Russia's aristocratic culture, the mineralogist and geochemist Aleksandr Fersman rose to the top of the country's scientific establishment after the Bolsheviks took control. He then remained a staunch supporter of various industrial projects through much of the Stalinist period. This essay puts Fersman's thinking about the natural world in conversation with a quite distinctive mode of intellectual inquiry that developed contemporaneously. Eurasianism was a philosophical doctrine of a group of Russian émigrés who emphasized Russia's unique status straddling Europe and Asia. While Fersman did not belong to this group of thinkers, a number of his ideas drew on specific experiences in the environments of the Eurasian landmass. Indeed, the article argues that Fersman's dualistic understanding of nature, his advocacy for the field of geochemistry, his definition of deserts, and a scheme he proposed for industrial operations owed much to the Eurasian settings of the science he practiced. Furthermore, this case of a Eurasian mineralogist illuminates novel aspects of the interplay between national and global sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Isis: A Journal of the History of Science in Society is the property of University of Chicago Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Titel: |
A Eurasian Mineralogy: Aleksandr Fersman's Conception of the Natural World.
|
---|---|
Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Bruno, Andy |
Zeitschrift: | Isis: A Journal of the History of Science in Society, Jg. 107 (2016-09-01), Heft 3, S. 518-539 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2016 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
ISSN: | 0021-1753 (print) |
DOI: | 10.1086/688345 |
Schlagwort: |
|
Sonstiges: |
|