Robert Mayer and the Conservation of Energy:  The           Crystallization of Meaning
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{'SignBlockName': 'Ronald J. Overmann', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
The process of discovery has largely been a "black box" for those               studying the development of science and technology.   Anecdotal                 histories abound: for example, Archimedes taking a bath and                     shouting "Eureka|" upon his discovery of the laws of floatation                 or Kekule discovering the benzine ring in a dream about a snake                 biting its tale.  While these "Eureka|" experiences certainly                   occur, what is clear from studies by historians and philosophers                of science is that these sudden insights can only be fruitful in                the context of a well-prepared mind of a scientist who has                      undertaken long careful investigations prior to gaining the                     sudden new insight.  Dr. Caneva is studying one such example, a                 critical one in the history of science concerning the discovery                 of the first law of conservation of energy.  This is the case of                a simultaneous discovery--that is, more than one scientist                      discovered it at the same time.  That the discovery is                          simultaneous indicates how much the ground had been prepared                    among scientists in the 19th century who were looking at the                    interchangability of forms of energy.                                                                                                                           Dr. Caneva is specifically examining the work of one of these co-               discoverers, Julius Robert Mayer, who had a flash of insight in                 July, 1840 while letting blood in Java from the veins of European               sailors.  He observed the surprising redness of the venous blood                drawn from the veins of these sailors when they are in the                      tropics compared to the color of the blood when drawn in Northern               Europe.  He concluded that a lower rate of metabolic combustion                 would suffice to maintain the body heat in the tropics and that                 consequently the body would extract less oxygen from the red                    arterial blood.  He quickly concluded that the oxidation of                     foodstuff is the only possible source of animal heat.  This line                of reasoning led him, unlike others who had made similar                        observations, to a theory that motion and heat were a single,                   indestructible force in nature, and that this force was                         quantitatively conserved in any conversion.  How Mayer reached                  this conclusion and what prepared him for this sudden insight has               remained a puzzle.  The central aim of Dr. Caneva's study is to                 render historically intelligible Mayer's formulation of what                    became the principle of conservation of energy.  In addition to                 examining the creative thought processes of a single individual,                this study will throw into relieve important aspects of the                     "common knowledge" of contemporary physiology, physics, and                     several little-known intellectual movements; assess the nature                  and significance of Naturphilosophie; and provide a basis for                   future comparative studies of Mayer and the other coformulators.                In broader terms, it will provide much needed new information on                the creative processes which lead to important scientific                       discoveries.
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{'Code': '1353', 'Text': 'Hist & Philosophy of SET'}
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