[5] February 6 - The boundaries of Polish science
Section outline
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In the partitioned Polish lands scientists condemned small-spirited provincialism, calling instead for "the idea of great co-national harmony! And just as the nature of these lands which we have settled is bound amid its entire countless variety into one integral whole, so we will obey the eternal laws of nature, and combine various peoples, societies, and countries into one organic national whole, into one nation." Did natural science help unite the Poles?
Presentation: Oksana
Assigned reading:
Józef Majer, "The relation of the Cracow Scientific Society toward science and the country" (1868). [Polish source]
Jerzy Jedlicki, "Professional environments," in The Vicious Circle 1832-1864, vol. 2 of A History of the Polish Intelligentsia (2014), 163-190.
Polish options: Jan Śniadecki, “O języku narodowym w matematyce. Rzecz czytana na posiedzeniu Literackiem Universytetu Wileńskiego dnia 15. Listopada roku 1813. v. s.,” in Dzieła Jana Śniadeckiego, edited by Michal Baliński, 2nd ed. (Warsaw: A. E. Glücksberg, 1837), 3:194–210.
“Zjazd lekarzy i przyrodników w Krakowie,” Czas (September 14, 1869).Kornelius, “Znaczenie zjazdów naukowych i towarzyskich,” Sobótka tygodnik belletrystyczny illustrowany, no. 37 (September 9, 1871): 435–38.[Andrzej Niemojewski], “Dyskusja Galicyjska,” Myśl Niepodległa, no. 139 (July 1910): 913–27. (Cf. here (vol. 13, no. 3) for the object of his critique.)Jan K. Kochanowski, “Kilka słów w sprawie nauki narodowej,” Nauka polska 2 (1919): 444–48.Czech option: “Šestý sjezd lékařů a přírodozpytců polských v Krakově,” Živa 1, no. 9 (1891): 279–81.German option: “Bericht über die I. Jahres-Versammlung der polnischen Aerzte und Naturforscher,” Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift, no. 79 (October 2, 1869): 1327–29.Russian option: V. R. K., "Польские письма. Пятое письмо," Русская мысль no. 10 (1881): 34-41.Suggested reading:
Patrice M. Dabrowski, "Constructing a Polish landscape: The example of the Carpathian frontier," Austrian History Yearbook 39 (2008): 46-65.Magdalena Micińska, At the Crossroads 1865-1918, translated by Tristan Korecki, Vol. 3, A History of the Polish Intelligentsia (Frankfurt am Main, 2014).Antoni Karbowiak, Młodzież polska akademicka za granicą 1795-1910, (1910).Artur Kijas, Polacy w Rosji od XVII wieku do 1917 roku: Słownik biograficzny (2000).Zofia Skubała-Tokarska, ed., Historia nauki polskiej, vol. 4 (1987).Owen Gingerich, “The Copernican Quinquecentennial and Its Predecessors: Historical Insights and National Agendas,” Osiris 14 (1999): 37–60. (NB: There is a large literature in Polish and German on the anachronistic nationality of Copernicus. Please ask if you want references.)For a classic positivist account of Polish contributions to the sciences, see Feliks Konecny, ed., Polska w kulturze powszechnej, volume 2 (1918). -