Science and Objectivity:  The Case of the Hubble-van Maanen Debates in Astronomy
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{'SignBlockName': 'Ronald J. Overmann', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
An issue of increasing interest both among scientists and among                 members of Congress and the general public is the assumed                       objectivity of scientific research.  Yet historians and                         philosophers of science have argued in many places, most notably                in Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions, that                      scientists' observations are necessarily shaped by the theory in                which they are made.  Psychologists have found as well that, if                 one expects to see something, then it may show up even if                       "objectively" it is not there.  This is not an issue of                         deliberate distortion of scientific results, but rather a fact of               life which scientists and the public must come to recognize.                                                                                                    An important instance of how theory shaped an observation                       occurred in astronomy after World War I.  A centuries-long                      dispute over whether spiral nebulae are galaxies beyond the                     boundary of our own galaxy or are actually within the Milky Way                 culminated in a debate between Adriaan van Maanen and Edwin                     Hubble at the Mount Wilson Observatory.  Hubble, who went on to                 become one of the outstanding figures of 20th century science --                he even appeared on the cover of Time magazine -- argued that the               appearance of Cepheid variable stars in the nebulae place the                   spirals far beyond the confines of our galaxy.  Van Maanen,                     however, measured the rotation of spiral nebulae and placed them                inside the galaxy.  Over the course of many years of trying to                  reconcile the two observations, Hubble finally concluded that van               Maanen had read his expectations into his data.  In short, van                  Maanen's theory led him to "see" things which actually were not                 there.                                                                                                                                                          An interesting aspect of the debate between Hubble and van                      Maanen, in contrast to contemporary confrontational approaches to               errors in scientific publications, is that it all occurred behind               the scenes.  Hubble, after discussions with the head of the                     Observatory and several colleagues, decided that it would be                    "ungentlemanly" and would have created an unseemly public                       controversy to confront van Maanen in public about his error.                   Only after a decade of effort, was he able to convince van Maanen               of his mistake.  Van Maanen eventually did acknowledge the                      correctness of Hubble's observations.                                                                                                                           In order for the full debate to be available for use by                         historians, philosophers, sociologists, and policy makers                       interested in the "objectivity" of scientific research, Dr.                     Hetherington will edit the entire set of unpublished manuscripts                and additional correspondence dealing with the debate.  He will                 also provide an historical introduction to these materials
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{'Code': '1353', 'Text': 'Hist & Philosophy of SET'}
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