John M. Ziman – författare

After expanding steadily for centuries, science is reaching its limits to growth. We can no longer afford the ever increasing cost of exploring ever wider research opportunities. In the competition for resources, science is becoming much more tightly organised. A radical, pervasive and permanent structural change is taking place. It already affects the whole research system, from everyday laboratory life to national budgets. The scientific enterprise cannot avoid fundamental change, but excessive managerial insistence on accountability, evaluation, 'priority setting', etc. can be very inhospitable to expertise, innovation, criticism and creativity. Can the research system be reshaped without losing many features that have made science so productive? This trenchant analysis of a deep-rooted historical process does not assume any technical knowledge of the natural sciences, their history, philosophy, sociology or politics. It is addressed to everybody who is concerned about the future of science and its place in society.

'Science, Technology, and Society' - STS - has become a major educational theme. There are many courses in schools, universities and other institutions, dealing with all sorts of topics such as the history of science, energy policy, industrial innovation, technology assessment, Third World development, scientific method, and so on. But what is this subject really about? Why should it be taught? Who should study it? What should they learn? How should the subject be approached? Who should teach it? These questions are being asked by both teachers and students in many fields of science, engineering, medicine, social studies, and the humanities. This informal account of the rationale of STS education shows how many diverse factors are involved - the philosophy and sociology of science and education, social and cultural objectives, political ideologies, vocational needs, scholarly standards, institutional capabilities, etc., not to mention the practical realities of teaching and learning at all levels.

In this 1976 volume, Professor Ziman paints a broad picture of science, and of its relations to the world in general. He sets the scene by the historical development of scientific research as a profession, the growth of scientific technologies out of the useful arts, the sources of invention and technical innovation, and the advent of Big Science. He then discusses the economics of research and development, the connections between science and war, the nature of science policy and the moral dilemmas of social responsibility in science. Each topic is introduced by reference to easily understandable particular examples, with a large number of illustrations chosen to bring out the concreteness and reality of science as a human activity. Professor Ziman gives a chapter-by-chapter list of suggested topics for oral and written discussion, intended to provoke critical, sceptical attitudes to simplified solutions to real issues, and comments briefly on relevant books and other sources.

In this book, originally published in 1987, John Ziman seeks the answers to crucial questions facing scientists who need to change the direction of their careers. A research scientist takes years to acquire specialized knowledge and skills. A whole career may then be spent as an expert in a very narrow field. But new discoveries and new social demands bring rapid change to science and technology. Is it really so difficult for scientists to move into new fields of research mid-career? How are their attitudes to change affected by their education, their research experience, their conditions of employment and their personal ambitions? How can they be helped through such periods and re-deployed for further useful scientific work? This book was written primarily for working scientists and their employers, in the language they would themselves use about their personal experiences and motives. For the non-scientist it provides many vivid glimpses of science as a career, and at the same time opens up a fresh area of the sociology of science, of social psychology and of management studies.

Philosophical puzzles, political problems, ethical enigmas - science has them all. Do some theories stink? Is research a gentlemanly art or a tough professional game? What happens to scientists who go gaga? Can scientific knowledge be treated as a commercial commodity? How can research be made relevant to national development? Is war good for physics? What should scientists do about Soviet dissidents? How does information become knowledge? Why bother about examinations? These and many other topics on the human side of science are discussed in this wide-ranging book, originally published in 1981. As an experienced theoretical physicist, Professor Ziman speaks about science from the inside. As a long-time advocate of social responsibility in science, technology and education, he looks critically into science from the outside. He exposes for the layman, with wit and nerve, some of the most challenging issues of the time.

'Science, Technology, and Society' - STS - has become a major educational theme. There are many courses in schools, universities and other institutions, dealing with all sorts of topics such as the history of science, energy policy, industrial innovation, technology assessment, Third World development, scientific method, and so on. But what is this subject really about? Why should it be taught? Who should study it? What should they learn? How should the subject be approached? Who should teach it? These questions are being asked by both teachers and students in many fields of science, engineering, medicine, social studies, and the humanities. This informal account of the rationale of STS education shows how many diverse factors are involved - the philosophy and sociology of science and education, social and cultural objectives, political ideologies, vocational needs, scholarly standards, institutional capabilities, etc., not to mention the practical realities of teaching and learning at all levels.

The purpose of this book is to give a coherent account of the different perspectives on science and technology that are normally studied under various disciplinary heads such as philosophy of science, sociology of science and science policy. It is intended for students embarking on courses in these subjects and assumes no special knowledge of any science. It is written in a direct and simple style, and technical language is introduced very sparingly. As various perspectives are sketched out in this book, the reader moves towards a consistent conception of contemporary science as a rapidly changing social institution that has already grown out of its traditional forms and plays a central role in society at large. It will appeal to students in a wide range of scientific disciplines and complement well Professor Ziman's earlier books.

Why believe in the findings of science? John Ziman argues that scientific knowledge is not uniformly reliable, but rather like a map representing a country we cannot visit. He shows how science has many elements, including alongside its experiments and formulae the language and logic, patterns and preconceptions, facts and fantasies used to illustrate and express its findings. These elements are variously combined by scientists in their explanations of the material world as it lies outside our everyday experience. John Ziman's book offers at once a valuably clear account and a radically challenging investigation of the credibility of scientific knowledge, searching widely across a range of disciplines for evidence about the perceptions, paradigms and analogies on which all our understanding depends.

After expanding steadily for centuries, science is reaching its limits to growth. We can no longer afford the ever increasing cost of exploring ever wider research opportunities. In the competition for resources, science is becoming much more tightly organised. A radical, pervasive and permanent structural change is taking place. It already affects the whole research system, from everyday laboratory life to national budgets. The scientific enterprise cannot avoid fundamental change, but excessive managerial insistence on accountability, evaluation, 'priority setting', etc. can be very inhospitable to expertise, innovation, criticism and creativity. Can the research system be reshaped without losing many features that have made science so productive? This trenchant analysis of a deep-rooted historical process does not assume any technical knowledge of the natural sciences, their history, philosophy, sociology or politics. It is addressed to everybody who is concerned about the future of science and its place in society.