Robert Park, professor of physics at the University of Maryland, author of the book "Voodoo Science", and editor of the weekly enewsletter "What's New", had the following entry in the last issue of What's New:
|2. CONSERVAPEDIA: OMINOUS ECHOES OF DEUTSCHE PHYSIK. |Last week I commented about Conservapedia, which was created to counter |the "liberal bias of Wikipedia." As an example, I quoted from an item about |relativity and Einstein. Physicist Don Langenberg, Chancellor Emeritus of |the University of Maryland, who happened to be reading "The German Genius" |by Peter Watson (Harper, 2010), remarked that the Conservapedia position |quite accurately echoes a view expressed in May 1924 by Nobel physics |laureates, Philipp Lenard and Johannes Stark in which they compared Hitler |with the giants of science. This marked the emergence of "Deutsche Physik," |which eschewed relativity and quantum theory, arguing that they were too |theoretical, too abstract, and "threatened to undermine intuitive |mechanical models of the world." Langenberg wonders if it’s possible that |our rabid right might be pushing us toward revisiting the tragic events of |the early 20th century. Yes, folks, Wikipedia is a liberal conspiracy (standard disclaimers apply) and the only way to counter the "liberal worldview" is by promoting the "conservative worldview" even if it means changing the nature of physics. For those unfamiliar with "Deutsche Physik", which was an ideologically driven interpretation of physics and which was developed in opposition to the "Jewish Science" of people like Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity. For more on Deutsche Physik or Aryan Physics, see the Wikipedia entry (standard disclaimers apply plus watch out for the liberal bias): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik It's an interesting story but, of course, Deutsche Physik fell out of favor even with the Nazis, Werner Heisenberg (yes, the uncertainty Heisenberg, not the "Breaking Bad" Heisenberg) was a proponent of Einstein's theory (as well as being well connected to high ranking Nazi Heinrich Himmler) and, ironically, (quoting from the Wikipedia entry:) |Heisenberg would later employ his "Jewish physics," in the German |project to develop nuclear fission for the purposes of nuclear weapons |or nuclear energy use. See Noam Chomsky's comments at the end of the entry comparing Deutsch Physik to postmodernism. For a fair and balanced presentation, that is, not all loonies (not the Canadian dollar) are in the right wing, it is useful to remember that Lysenkoism was another form of ideologically driven science that also ultimately failed when it attempted to make the scientific enterprise follow ideological dogma; see the Wikipedia entry on Lysenkoism (yada-yada): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism To get some sense of the effects of Lysenkoism, here's a quote from the Wikipedia entry: |In 1948, genetics was officially declared "a bourgeois pseudoscience"[5]; |all geneticists were fired from work (some were also arrested), and all |genetic research was discontinued. Nikita Khrushchev, who claimed to |be an expert in agricultural science, also valued Lysenko as a great scientist, |and the taboo on genetics continued (but all geneticists were released |or rehabilitated posthumously). The ban was only waived in the mid 1960s. | |Thus, Lysenkoism caused serious, long-term harm to Soviet biology. |It represented a serious failure of the early Soviet leadership to find real |solutions to agricultural problems, throwing their support for a charlatan — |at the expense of many human lives. Lysenkoism also spread to China, |where it continued long after it was eventually denounced by the Soviets. And, of course, there is creation science; see the Wikipedia entry (yada-yada): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_science All of these can be used as examples of ideologically driven attempt to corrupt the scientific enterprise and to substitute ideological assumptions and beliefs for scientific ones. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4374 or send a blank email to leave-4374-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
