Elena Aronova
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780262027953
- eISBN:
- 9780262326100
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262027953.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
‘Big Science’ as a notion was coined in 1960 by physicist Alvin Weinberg and physicist-turned-historian Derek de Solla Price, and immediately became the center of heated discussions in the U.S. ...
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‘Big Science’ as a notion was coined in 1960 by physicist Alvin Weinberg and physicist-turned-historian Derek de Solla Price, and immediately became the center of heated discussions in the U.S. Simultaneously, in the post-Stalinist Soviet Union, a counterpart of the American discussion of Big Science was epitomized in the concept of Scientific-Technological Revolution, which became the center of a theoretically significant discussions focused on the conditions and consequences of scientific-technical, social and economic change in different political systems. Throughout the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union advocated their ability to offer and display different visions of a modern industrial society, and Big Science played major role in these powerful Cold War imageries. This chapter examines different ways in which Big Science was deployed as a resource to debate, negotiate, and rationalize the concerns and anxieties of the Cold War, on the opposite sides of the political divide. In both political settings, scientists, as well as social theorists, promoted the view that Big Science needs what might be called “Big Science Studies” – an independent expertise, which would provide a systematic assessment and characterization of Big Science, and advise governments accordingly.Less
‘Big Science’ as a notion was coined in 1960 by physicist Alvin Weinberg and physicist-turned-historian Derek de Solla Price, and immediately became the center of heated discussions in the U.S. Simultaneously, in the post-Stalinist Soviet Union, a counterpart of the American discussion of Big Science was epitomized in the concept of Scientific-Technological Revolution, which became the center of a theoretically significant discussions focused on the conditions and consequences of scientific-technical, social and economic change in different political systems. Throughout the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union advocated their ability to offer and display different visions of a modern industrial society, and Big Science played major role in these powerful Cold War imageries. This chapter examines different ways in which Big Science was deployed as a resource to debate, negotiate, and rationalize the concerns and anxieties of the Cold War, on the opposite sides of the political divide. In both political settings, scientists, as well as social theorists, promoted the view that Big Science needs what might be called “Big Science Studies” – an independent expertise, which would provide a systematic assessment and characterization of Big Science, and advise governments accordingly.
Lilach Gilady
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226433202
- eISBN:
- 9780226433349
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226433349.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter examines the connection between extravagant state-funded scientific megaprojects—known as Big Science—and international prestige by focusing on the Transits of Venus (TOVs). It first ...
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This chapter examines the connection between extravagant state-funded scientific megaprojects—known as Big Science—and international prestige by focusing on the Transits of Venus (TOVs). It first provides an overview of the international reaction to China's 2003 launch of the spacecraft Shenzhou V and whether it raised the prospects for a renewed space race before discussing Big Science projects such as space programs and ambitious biomedical projects like the Human Genome Project as examples of conspicuous consumption. It then considers Big Science in relation to prestige and three primary utility-based alternatives that explain Big Science as strategic investment, as a promoter of knowledge, and as pork-barrel politics, arguing that conspicuous consumption is a necessary complementary component for the analysis of Big Science. It also describes the international race to observe the TOVs of 1761, 1769, 1874, and 1882 as a case study of conspicuous consumption.Less
This chapter examines the connection between extravagant state-funded scientific megaprojects—known as Big Science—and international prestige by focusing on the Transits of Venus (TOVs). It first provides an overview of the international reaction to China's 2003 launch of the spacecraft Shenzhou V and whether it raised the prospects for a renewed space race before discussing Big Science projects such as space programs and ambitious biomedical projects like the Human Genome Project as examples of conspicuous consumption. It then considers Big Science in relation to prestige and three primary utility-based alternatives that explain Big Science as strategic investment, as a promoter of knowledge, and as pork-barrel politics, arguing that conspicuous consumption is a necessary complementary component for the analysis of Big Science. It also describes the international race to observe the TOVs of 1761, 1769, 1874, and 1882 as a case study of conspicuous consumption.
Herman Philipse
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199697533
- eISBN:
- 9780191738470
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199697533.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Natural theologians who aim at confirming the theistic hypothesis by adducing empirical evidence are confronted by the dilemma of God-of-the-gaps. Either theism predicts no specific phenomena at all, ...
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Natural theologians who aim at confirming the theistic hypothesis by adducing empirical evidence are confronted by the dilemma of God-of-the-gaps. Either theism predicts no specific phenomena at all, or these phenomena may be accounted for in the future by superior scientific explanations, so that theism will be disconfirmed. A pessimistic induction concerning the history of science and natural theology will convince sophisticated natural theologians that they should avoid this risk of God-of-the-gaps. Richard Swinburne uses the following immunizing strategy: theism should purport to explain only phenomena that are either ‘too big’ or ‘too odd’ for science to explain. But this strategy fails with regard to miracles (too odd), as is argued by a detailed examination of the case of Christ’s bodily resurrection, and it is problematic with regard to instances of ‘too big’, such as fine-tuning, or the explanation of the universe as a whole.Less
Natural theologians who aim at confirming the theistic hypothesis by adducing empirical evidence are confronted by the dilemma of God-of-the-gaps. Either theism predicts no specific phenomena at all, or these phenomena may be accounted for in the future by superior scientific explanations, so that theism will be disconfirmed. A pessimistic induction concerning the history of science and natural theology will convince sophisticated natural theologians that they should avoid this risk of God-of-the-gaps. Richard Swinburne uses the following immunizing strategy: theism should purport to explain only phenomena that are either ‘too big’ or ‘too odd’ for science to explain. But this strategy fails with regard to miracles (too odd), as is argued by a detailed examination of the case of Christ’s bodily resurrection, and it is problematic with regard to instances of ‘too big’, such as fine-tuning, or the explanation of the universe as a whole.
Michael Riordan, Lillian Hoddeson, and Adrienne W. Kolb
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226294797
- eISBN:
- 9780226305837
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226305837.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Recognizing that US taxpayers would not cover the entire SSC cost, the Bush Administration began trying to internationalize the laboratory by seeking large foreign contributions. But the only serious ...
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Recognizing that US taxpayers would not cover the entire SSC cost, the Bush Administration began trying to internationalize the laboratory by seeking large foreign contributions. But the only serious prospect was Japan, which was initially hesitant to commit to such a partnership. In 1990, before the extent of the cost overrun was fully recognized, the US House of Representatives capped the federal SSC contribution at $5 billion while requiring at least 20 percent foreign contributions. When estimated total costs grew to $8.25 billion, this stipulation meant that a total of $1.7 billion was needed from other countries. That summer, amendments to terminate the SSC were defeated by comfortable margins in both House and Senate despite worsening public perceptions of the project. But thus chastened, high Administration officials redoubled their efforts that fall to secure a billion-dollar Japanese commitment but obtained only a promise to consider partnering in the SSC laboratory.Less
Recognizing that US taxpayers would not cover the entire SSC cost, the Bush Administration began trying to internationalize the laboratory by seeking large foreign contributions. But the only serious prospect was Japan, which was initially hesitant to commit to such a partnership. In 1990, before the extent of the cost overrun was fully recognized, the US House of Representatives capped the federal SSC contribution at $5 billion while requiring at least 20 percent foreign contributions. When estimated total costs grew to $8.25 billion, this stipulation meant that a total of $1.7 billion was needed from other countries. That summer, amendments to terminate the SSC were defeated by comfortable margins in both House and Senate despite worsening public perceptions of the project. But thus chastened, high Administration officials redoubled their efforts that fall to secure a billion-dollar Japanese commitment but obtained only a promise to consider partnering in the SSC laboratory.
R. D. Anderson
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198206606
- eISBN:
- 9780191717307
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206606.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The unification of Germany in 1871 left universities under the control of individual states, but they had common national characteristics, and Prussian influence was strong. Expansion of university ...
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The unification of Germany in 1871 left universities under the control of individual states, but they had common national characteristics, and Prussian influence was strong. Expansion of university numbers enlarged the academic profession, though there were divisions between the established professors and the growing number without full chairs. The growth of the natural sciences was strong, and connected with the success of German industry. Some growth was directed into the more practical Technische Hochschulen. In the late 19th century, these sought the same rights as universities to award doctorates, with a parallel debate over whether modern as well as classical secondary education should qualify for university entry. By 1900 the modernists had got their way. The foundation of the Kaiser–Wilhelm–Gesellschaft in 1911 marked the arrival of 20th-century ‘big science’, and a departure from the old idea of the union of research and teaching.Less
The unification of Germany in 1871 left universities under the control of individual states, but they had common national characteristics, and Prussian influence was strong. Expansion of university numbers enlarged the academic profession, though there were divisions between the established professors and the growing number without full chairs. The growth of the natural sciences was strong, and connected with the success of German industry. Some growth was directed into the more practical Technische Hochschulen. In the late 19th century, these sought the same rights as universities to award doctorates, with a parallel debate over whether modern as well as classical secondary education should qualify for university entry. By 1900 the modernists had got their way. The foundation of the Kaiser–Wilhelm–Gesellschaft in 1911 marked the arrival of 20th-century ‘big science’, and a departure from the old idea of the union of research and teaching.
Asif Siddiqi
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780262027953
- eISBN:
- 9780262326100
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262027953.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Making use of newly available archival sources, this paper revisits a poorly understood episode in postwar Soviet science: the development of the N-1 super rocket designed to take Soviet cosmonauts ...
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Making use of newly available archival sources, this paper revisits a poorly understood episode in postwar Soviet science: the development of the N-1 super rocket designed to take Soviet cosmonauts to the Moon. Evidence from the N-1 complicates our received understanding of the phenomenon of Soviet “big science,” understood until now as singularly-minded, risk-averse projects that quelled dissent. Instead we find a process characterized by risk-taking, competition, and messiness, thus raising fundamental questions about the nature and efficacy of notions such as ‘big science’ in the Soviet context.Less
Making use of newly available archival sources, this paper revisits a poorly understood episode in postwar Soviet science: the development of the N-1 super rocket designed to take Soviet cosmonauts to the Moon. Evidence from the N-1 complicates our received understanding of the phenomenon of Soviet “big science,” understood until now as singularly-minded, risk-averse projects that quelled dissent. Instead we find a process characterized by risk-taking, competition, and messiness, thus raising fundamental questions about the nature and efficacy of notions such as ‘big science’ in the Soviet context.
Max Boisot, Markus Nordberg, Saïd Yami, and Bertrand Nicquevert (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199567928
- eISBN:
- 9780191728945
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199567928.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Knowledge Management, Organization Studies
After twenty-five years of preparation, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva, is finally running its intensive scientific experiments into high-energy particle physics. These experiments, which ...
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After twenty-five years of preparation, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva, is finally running its intensive scientific experiments into high-energy particle physics. These experiments, which have so captured the public's imagination, take the world of physics to a new energy level — the terascale — at which elementary particles are accelerated to one millionth of a percent of the speed of light and made to smash into each other with a combined energy of around fourteen trillion electron-volts. What new world opens up at the terascale? No one really knows, but the confident expectation is that radically new phenomena will come into view. The kind of Big Science being pursued at CERN, however, is becoming ever more uncertain and costly. Do the anticipated benefits justify the efforts and the costs? This book aims to give a broad organizational and strategic understanding of the nature of Big Science by analyzing one of the major experiments that uses the Large Hadron Collider, the ATLAS Collaboration. It examines such issues as: the flow of ‘interlaced’ knowledge between specialist teams; the intra- and inter-organizational dynamics of Big Science; the new knowledge capital being created for the workings of the experiment by individual researchers, suppliers, and e-science and ICTs; the leadership implications of a collaboration of nearly three thousand members; and the benefits for the wider societal setting. This book aims to examine how, in the face of high levels of uncertainty and risk, ambitious scientific aims can be achieved by complex organizational networks characterized by cultural diversity, informality, and trust — and where Big Science can head next.Less
After twenty-five years of preparation, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva, is finally running its intensive scientific experiments into high-energy particle physics. These experiments, which have so captured the public's imagination, take the world of physics to a new energy level — the terascale — at which elementary particles are accelerated to one millionth of a percent of the speed of light and made to smash into each other with a combined energy of around fourteen trillion electron-volts. What new world opens up at the terascale? No one really knows, but the confident expectation is that radically new phenomena will come into view. The kind of Big Science being pursued at CERN, however, is becoming ever more uncertain and costly. Do the anticipated benefits justify the efforts and the costs? This book aims to give a broad organizational and strategic understanding of the nature of Big Science by analyzing one of the major experiments that uses the Large Hadron Collider, the ATLAS Collaboration. It examines such issues as: the flow of ‘interlaced’ knowledge between specialist teams; the intra- and inter-organizational dynamics of Big Science; the new knowledge capital being created for the workings of the experiment by individual researchers, suppliers, and e-science and ICTs; the leadership implications of a collaboration of nearly three thousand members; and the benefits for the wider societal setting. This book aims to examine how, in the face of high levels of uncertainty and risk, ambitious scientific aims can be achieved by complex organizational networks characterized by cultural diversity, informality, and trust — and where Big Science can head next.
Nikolai Krementsov
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199992980
- eISBN:
- 9780199370016
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199992980.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter illuminates the place of biomedical sciences in the culture and society of 1920s Russia. It investigates the role that the new knowledge of human biology played in answering the “big” ...
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This chapter illuminates the place of biomedical sciences in the culture and society of 1920s Russia. It investigates the role that the new knowledge of human biology played in answering the “big” questions of human nature and human destiny (who are we? where we come from? and where are we going?), which had haunted humanity for millennia and assumed particular urgency in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution. It demonstrates a particular cultural affinity of the Bolsheviks’ visions of the country’s future to the promises of eternal life and hopes for conquering death generated by concurrent biomedical research. It examines efforts of scientists, their Bolshevik patrons, and their literary fans/critics who collectively transformed esoteric, specialized biomedical knowledge into an influential cultural resource, a resource that facilitated the establishment of large specialized institutions for biomedical research, inspired numerous science-fiction stories, displaced religious beliefs, and gave the centuries-old dream of immortality new forms and new meanings in Bolshevik Russia.Less
This chapter illuminates the place of biomedical sciences in the culture and society of 1920s Russia. It investigates the role that the new knowledge of human biology played in answering the “big” questions of human nature and human destiny (who are we? where we come from? and where are we going?), which had haunted humanity for millennia and assumed particular urgency in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution. It demonstrates a particular cultural affinity of the Bolsheviks’ visions of the country’s future to the promises of eternal life and hopes for conquering death generated by concurrent biomedical research. It examines efforts of scientists, their Bolshevik patrons, and their literary fans/critics who collectively transformed esoteric, specialized biomedical knowledge into an influential cultural resource, a resource that facilitated the establishment of large specialized institutions for biomedical research, inspired numerous science-fiction stories, displaced religious beliefs, and gave the centuries-old dream of immortality new forms and new meanings in Bolshevik Russia.
Agustí Canals
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199669165
- eISBN:
- 9780191749346
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669165.003.0009
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies, Knowledge Management
In this chapter we review some of the ideas Max Boisot developed about the organizational and strategic aspects of big science projects and their application to the understanding of big science ...
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In this chapter we review some of the ideas Max Boisot developed about the organizational and strategic aspects of big science projects and their application to the understanding of big science projects like ATLAS. First, we will look at some fundamental questions about the nature of knowledge and its differentiation from the concepts of data and information. Second, we have a look at Boisot's published research on big science, represented mainly by the article "Generating knowledge in a connected world: The case of the ATLAS experiment at CERN", reproduced in this book, and the book "Collisions and Collaboration". Issues in this part range from learning, culture or leadership to new management research models or e-science. Finally, we overview some of the ideas on which Boisot was working in the last months of his research about big science, and that may constitute avenues for future research.Less
In this chapter we review some of the ideas Max Boisot developed about the organizational and strategic aspects of big science projects and their application to the understanding of big science projects like ATLAS. First, we will look at some fundamental questions about the nature of knowledge and its differentiation from the concepts of data and information. Second, we have a look at Boisot's published research on big science, represented mainly by the article "Generating knowledge in a connected world: The case of the ATLAS experiment at CERN", reproduced in this book, and the book "Collisions and Collaboration". Issues in this part range from learning, culture or leadership to new management research models or e-science. Finally, we overview some of the ideas on which Boisot was working in the last months of his research about big science, and that may constitute avenues for future research.
Shantha Liyanage and Max Boisot
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199567928
- eISBN:
- 9780191728945
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199567928.003.0012
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Knowledge Management, Organization Studies
This chapter examines the ATLAS Collaboration from a leadership perspective. It first looks at how leadership in general may be conceptualized and then at how the concepts play out in the realm of ...
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This chapter examines the ATLAS Collaboration from a leadership perspective. It first looks at how leadership in general may be conceptualized and then at how the concepts play out in the realm of science. Like other Big Science projects, the ATLAS Collaboration operates at the forefront of knowledge creation. The kind of leadership it requires is not vested in a single individual but is distributed throughout the collaboration. ATLAS's project management team has little formal control over the 3,000-plus members of the collaboration. These remain attached to national institutions and are accountable only to them. How, then, does a scientific collaboration as large as ATLAS generate and sustain creative and constructive interactions among several thousand scientists and engineers of diverse cultures, traditions, and habits? And, given the complexity of the tasks involved, how does it align such interactions with its experimental goals while keeping the project's stakeholders happy?Less
This chapter examines the ATLAS Collaboration from a leadership perspective. It first looks at how leadership in general may be conceptualized and then at how the concepts play out in the realm of science. Like other Big Science projects, the ATLAS Collaboration operates at the forefront of knowledge creation. The kind of leadership it requires is not vested in a single individual but is distributed throughout the collaboration. ATLAS's project management team has little formal control over the 3,000-plus members of the collaboration. These remain attached to national institutions and are accountable only to them. How, then, does a scientific collaboration as large as ATLAS generate and sustain creative and constructive interactions among several thousand scientists and engineers of diverse cultures, traditions, and habits? And, given the complexity of the tasks involved, how does it align such interactions with its experimental goals while keeping the project's stakeholders happy?
Michael Riordan, Lillian Hoddeson, and Adrienne W. Kolb
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226294797
- eISBN:
- 9780226305837
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226305837.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The October 1993 termination of the Superconducting Super Collider by Congress was a stunning blow for the US high-energy physics community — and a watershed event in the history of Big Science. ...
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The October 1993 termination of the Superconducting Super Collider by Congress was a stunning blow for the US high-energy physics community — and a watershed event in the history of Big Science. Tunnel Visions follows the evolution of this multibillion-dollar basic scientific project from its origins in the Reagan Administration’s military buildup of the early 1980s to its post-Cold War demise a decade later. Obtaining support for this expensive project required physicists to make uncomfortable compromises and enter unfamiliar alliances with Department of Energy officials, Texas politicians and businessmen, and partners from the military-industrial complex. The billions of taxpayer dollars needed to build the SSC came with a level of public scrutiny few physicists had anticipated. The combination of this attention, ever-mounting SSC cost overruns, perceptions of mismanagement of the project by the physicists and DOE, and the lack of major foreign contributions were prominent factors in its termination. The book analyzes these and many other factors that contributed to the SSC’s demise, which occurred against the political backdrop of rapidly changing scientific needs as the United States transitioned from a Cold War footing in the early 1990s. Its death raises difficult questions about maintaining public support for such a large and expensive project during its lengthy construction period. Another important question is whether (and how) academic scientists and their government backers can manage such an enormous undertaking on their own. Comparisons with the successful European experience in building the Large Hadron Collider help to address these issues.Less
The October 1993 termination of the Superconducting Super Collider by Congress was a stunning blow for the US high-energy physics community — and a watershed event in the history of Big Science. Tunnel Visions follows the evolution of this multibillion-dollar basic scientific project from its origins in the Reagan Administration’s military buildup of the early 1980s to its post-Cold War demise a decade later. Obtaining support for this expensive project required physicists to make uncomfortable compromises and enter unfamiliar alliances with Department of Energy officials, Texas politicians and businessmen, and partners from the military-industrial complex. The billions of taxpayer dollars needed to build the SSC came with a level of public scrutiny few physicists had anticipated. The combination of this attention, ever-mounting SSC cost overruns, perceptions of mismanagement of the project by the physicists and DOE, and the lack of major foreign contributions were prominent factors in its termination. The book analyzes these and many other factors that contributed to the SSC’s demise, which occurred against the political backdrop of rapidly changing scientific needs as the United States transitioned from a Cold War footing in the early 1990s. Its death raises difficult questions about maintaining public support for such a large and expensive project during its lengthy construction period. Another important question is whether (and how) academic scientists and their government backers can manage such an enormous undertaking on their own. Comparisons with the successful European experience in building the Large Hadron Collider help to address these issues.
Saïd Yami, Markus Nordberg, Bertrand Nicquevert, and Max Boisot
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199567928
- eISBN:
- 9780191728945
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199567928.003.0006
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Knowledge Management, Organization Studies
This chapter focuses on the inter- and intraorganizational dynamics that characterizes Big Science. It shows, first, that the high stakes associated with a unique, next-generation particle physics ...
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This chapter focuses on the inter- and intraorganizational dynamics that characterizes Big Science. It shows, first, that the high stakes associated with a unique, next-generation particle physics experiment will lead actors to collaborate and share resources; secondly, that, given the uncertainties, a loosely coupled institutional framework is essential for the pursuit of such a collaborative approach. The way that the ATLAS Collaboration deals with the collective action problem holds valuable lessons for all organizations — commercial, government, voluntary, and so on — involved in the production of knowledge in the 21st century. The chapter begins by exploring the nature of collective strategies and the varying degrees of collaboration they engender from a theoretical perspective. It then briefly describes the functioning of the ATLAS Collaboration as a collective practice. In a discussion section, it brings theory and description together in order to make sense of such a practice. It concludes with a brief look at the implications of the analysis of Big Science collaborations for the scientific enterprise as a whole and for science-based commercial collaborations in particular.Less
This chapter focuses on the inter- and intraorganizational dynamics that characterizes Big Science. It shows, first, that the high stakes associated with a unique, next-generation particle physics experiment will lead actors to collaborate and share resources; secondly, that, given the uncertainties, a loosely coupled institutional framework is essential for the pursuit of such a collaborative approach. The way that the ATLAS Collaboration deals with the collective action problem holds valuable lessons for all organizations — commercial, government, voluntary, and so on — involved in the production of knowledge in the 21st century. The chapter begins by exploring the nature of collective strategies and the varying degrees of collaboration they engender from a theoretical perspective. It then briefly describes the functioning of the ATLAS Collaboration as a collective practice. In a discussion section, it brings theory and description together in order to make sense of such a practice. It concludes with a brief look at the implications of the analysis of Big Science collaborations for the scientific enterprise as a whole and for science-based commercial collaborations in particular.
Amit Prasad
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780262026956
- eISBN:
- 9780262322065
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262026956.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
The hierarchical and exclusionary characteristics of science impact not only different facets of technoscientific research, development, and deployment, but also their historiography. Because, for ...
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The hierarchical and exclusionary characteristics of science impact not only different facets of technoscientific research, development, and deployment, but also their historiography. Because, for example, India has been considered a part of the “periphery,” almost nothing about MRI or NMR (from which MRI emerged) research in India is documented. An added consequence is that little is known about the genealogical links of recent transnational transformations that are making India an important site for technoscientific innovations. This chapter documents and analyzes NMR research in India from its beginnings in the late 1940s and maps its links to MRI research and development. It argues that empirical investigations of particular technoscientific trails in India (as elsewhere) not only lead to a very different understanding of the “center-periphery” relationship and the West versus non-West technocultural divide, but also allow a better understanding of present day technoscientific transformations.Less
The hierarchical and exclusionary characteristics of science impact not only different facets of technoscientific research, development, and deployment, but also their historiography. Because, for example, India has been considered a part of the “periphery,” almost nothing about MRI or NMR (from which MRI emerged) research in India is documented. An added consequence is that little is known about the genealogical links of recent transnational transformations that are making India an important site for technoscientific innovations. This chapter documents and analyzes NMR research in India from its beginnings in the late 1940s and maps its links to MRI research and development. It argues that empirical investigations of particular technoscientific trails in India (as elsewhere) not only lead to a very different understanding of the “center-periphery” relationship and the West versus non-West technocultural divide, but also allow a better understanding of present day technoscientific transformations.
Amit Prasad
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780262026956
- eISBN:
- 9780262322065
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262026956.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
Chapter 5 – the last chapter – explores a particular technocultural dominant in each of the three nations studied, arguing that, to better understand the contextual characteristics of a culture, we ...
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Chapter 5 – the last chapter – explores a particular technocultural dominant in each of the three nations studied, arguing that, to better understand the contextual characteristics of a culture, we have to deconstruct its Eurocentric entrapments. This chapter shows that the hierarchical and Euro/West-centric influence of scientific culture lies in a powerful paradox, whereby the “origin” of modern science is located in Europe, even while the role of location in scientific culture is erased. This chapter analyzes scientific culture as a product not of located and static national cultures, but, rather, of located and shifting entangled transnational histories. It shows how the cultures of MRI in the United States, Britain, and India were entangled within hierarchical networks of transnational, national, local, and laboratory policies and practices.Less
Chapter 5 – the last chapter – explores a particular technocultural dominant in each of the three nations studied, arguing that, to better understand the contextual characteristics of a culture, we have to deconstruct its Eurocentric entrapments. This chapter shows that the hierarchical and Euro/West-centric influence of scientific culture lies in a powerful paradox, whereby the “origin” of modern science is located in Europe, even while the role of location in scientific culture is erased. This chapter analyzes scientific culture as a product not of located and static national cultures, but, rather, of located and shifting entangled transnational histories. It shows how the cultures of MRI in the United States, Britain, and India were entangled within hierarchical networks of transnational, national, local, and laboratory policies and practices.
Timo J. Santalainen, Markus Nordberg, Ram B. Baliga, and Max Boisot
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199567928
- eISBN:
- 9780191728945
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199567928.003.0004
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Knowledge Management, Organization Studies
This chapter sets the scene for the chapters that follow. It describes a series of workshops in which the ATLAS Collaboration was explored with the collaboration's project leaders from a managerial ...
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This chapter sets the scene for the chapters that follow. It describes a series of workshops in which the ATLAS Collaboration was explored with the collaboration's project leaders from a managerial perspective. The idea of these workshops, sponsored by the ATLAS management, was to impart a more strategic orientation to the collaboration's efforts. It did not quite work out that way, and the reasons for this have much to teach about the nature of Big Science. It turns out that the managers of knowledge-intensive organizations may have more to learn from how Big Science projects such as ATLAS are developed and run than the other way round.Less
This chapter sets the scene for the chapters that follow. It describes a series of workshops in which the ATLAS Collaboration was explored with the collaboration's project leaders from a managerial perspective. The idea of these workshops, sponsored by the ATLAS management, was to impart a more strategic orientation to the collaboration's efforts. It did not quite work out that way, and the reasons for this have much to teach about the nature of Big Science. It turns out that the managers of knowledge-intensive organizations may have more to learn from how Big Science projects such as ATLAS are developed and run than the other way round.
Philipp Tuertscher, Raghu Garud, Markus Nordberg, and Max Boisot
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199567928
- eISBN:
- 9780191728945
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199567928.003.0005
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Knowledge Management, Organization Studies
The collective effort required to develop, build, and run the ATLAS detector has been structured as a ‘collaboration’, a distributed problem-solving network characteristic of Big Science, itself a ...
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The collective effort required to develop, build, and run the ATLAS detector has been structured as a ‘collaboration’, a distributed problem-solving network characteristic of Big Science, itself a relatively recent kind of enterprise involving big budgets, big staffs, big machines, and numerous laboratories. While ATLAS is an archetypical example of this type of enterprise in high-energy physics (HEP), similar endeavours can be found in basic physics, astronomy, and the life sciences. This chapter presents research that investigates the development and construction of the complex technological system that makes up the ATLAS detector.Less
The collective effort required to develop, build, and run the ATLAS detector has been structured as a ‘collaboration’, a distributed problem-solving network characteristic of Big Science, itself a relatively recent kind of enterprise involving big budgets, big staffs, big machines, and numerous laboratories. While ATLAS is an archetypical example of this type of enterprise in high-energy physics (HEP), similar endeavours can be found in basic physics, astronomy, and the life sciences. This chapter presents research that investigates the development and construction of the complex technological system that makes up the ATLAS detector.
Amit Prasad
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780262026956
- eISBN:
- 9780262322065
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262026956.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
Celebration of MRI as “the ultimate imaging technique” is today neither uncommon nor unwarranted. But, in the 1970s, scientists and nonscientists alike were unsure whether it could ever be developed. ...
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Celebration of MRI as “the ultimate imaging technique” is today neither uncommon nor unwarranted. But, in the 1970s, scientists and nonscientists alike were unsure whether it could ever be developed. Apart from theoretical and technical difficulties, there were a variety of other issues and concerns that stood in the way of MRI's (it was not even called MRI then) emergence as a medical imaging technology. The birth of MRI, this chapter shows, was the outcome of a variety of unpredictable and contingent, albeit hierarchical, entanglements that stretched across both time and geography. It argues that distinctions between invention, development, and diffusion of technology are, in practice, messy and muddled. Different stages in the life cycle of a technology, as the history of MRI illustrates, are often folded onto each other. It also argues that, although contingent upon circumstances, the development of MRI was a hierarchical and exclusionary process. The transformation of MRI research into a “big science,” among other things, had the consequence of privileging some research groups and excluding others and as such it also had a dramatic impact on the transnational geography of MRI research and development.Less
Celebration of MRI as “the ultimate imaging technique” is today neither uncommon nor unwarranted. But, in the 1970s, scientists and nonscientists alike were unsure whether it could ever be developed. Apart from theoretical and technical difficulties, there were a variety of other issues and concerns that stood in the way of MRI's (it was not even called MRI then) emergence as a medical imaging technology. The birth of MRI, this chapter shows, was the outcome of a variety of unpredictable and contingent, albeit hierarchical, entanglements that stretched across both time and geography. It argues that distinctions between invention, development, and diffusion of technology are, in practice, messy and muddled. Different stages in the life cycle of a technology, as the history of MRI illustrates, are often folded onto each other. It also argues that, although contingent upon circumstances, the development of MRI was a hierarchical and exclusionary process. The transformation of MRI research into a “big science,” among other things, had the consequence of privileging some research groups and excluding others and as such it also had a dramatic impact on the transnational geography of MRI research and development.
John Child and Martin Ihrig (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199669165
- eISBN:
- 9780191749346
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669165.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies, Knowledge Management
This book is about knowledge, which is the wellspring of progress and the major competitive factor in business today. It brings together and commemorates the contributions that Max Boisot made to our ...
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This book is about knowledge, which is the wellspring of progress and the major competitive factor in business today. It brings together and commemorates the contributions that Max Boisot made to our understanding of the role of knowledge resources in management and organization. The book is structured into five core sections. These are Analyses of the Chinese System, Organizational Complexity, the Strategic Management of Knowledge, Knowledge in Big Science, andInnovations in Education. Each section features one key paper that Boisot had written or co-authored, accompanied by extended commentaries that put his contribution into a wider perspective. A further part of the book includes six reflective essays by Boisot’s collaborators, all of whom are world-renowned authorities. Max Boisot was a pioneering thinker and management educator. Knowledge and the Study of Organization and Management brings together in one place –for the first time ever– the breadth and depth of his work as well as pointing to directions of further development. Its unifying foundation is Boisot’s treatment of knowledge and how to make its conceptual analysis relevant to managerial and educational practice in ways that he demonstrated so powerfully.This book is of considerable value to organization and management scholars, graduate students, management consultants, and intellectually curious managers of global enterprises. Max Boisot’s concepts have high practical relevance as well as a sound theoretical basis, and many have found their way into executive education courses. This book will therefore be a valuable resource for both academics and practitioners.Less
This book is about knowledge, which is the wellspring of progress and the major competitive factor in business today. It brings together and commemorates the contributions that Max Boisot made to our understanding of the role of knowledge resources in management and organization. The book is structured into five core sections. These are Analyses of the Chinese System, Organizational Complexity, the Strategic Management of Knowledge, Knowledge in Big Science, andInnovations in Education. Each section features one key paper that Boisot had written or co-authored, accompanied by extended commentaries that put his contribution into a wider perspective. A further part of the book includes six reflective essays by Boisot’s collaborators, all of whom are world-renowned authorities. Max Boisot was a pioneering thinker and management educator. Knowledge and the Study of Organization and Management brings together in one place –for the first time ever– the breadth and depth of his work as well as pointing to directions of further development. Its unifying foundation is Boisot’s treatment of knowledge and how to make its conceptual analysis relevant to managerial and educational practice in ways that he demonstrated so powerfully.This book is of considerable value to organization and management scholars, graduate students, management consultants, and intellectually curious managers of global enterprises. Max Boisot’s concepts have high practical relevance as well as a sound theoretical basis, and many have found their way into executive education courses. This book will therefore be a valuable resource for both academics and practitioners.
Marzio Nessi
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199669165
- eISBN:
- 9780191749346
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669165.003.0017
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies, Knowledge Management
In a very personal reflective essay, Marzio Nessi, the technical coordinator of the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN, recounts Max Boisot’s work and interaction with the particle physics community at ...
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In a very personal reflective essay, Marzio Nessi, the technical coordinator of the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN, recounts Max Boisot’s work and interaction with the particle physics community at ATLAS and CERN, whose research on the Higgs particle, the famous “God particle”, has attracted a lot of media attention. Boisot was interested in the creation of knowledge at ATLAS and studied its unique organization, characterized by collaborative behavior, a bottom-up approach, and a consensus-driven management style, which has enabled this Big Science institution to create a new way of dealing with extreme complexity. Boisot was fascinated by how a scientific collaboration as large as ATLAS generates and sustains creative and constructive interactions among thousands of researchers from diverse cultures, traditions and habits. He believed that the self-organizational capability of the collaboration was the key to success. Boisot’s research also laid the ground for studying how scientific and technical progress is made and how the value of basic research can be captured for society.Less
In a very personal reflective essay, Marzio Nessi, the technical coordinator of the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN, recounts Max Boisot’s work and interaction with the particle physics community at ATLAS and CERN, whose research on the Higgs particle, the famous “God particle”, has attracted a lot of media attention. Boisot was interested in the creation of knowledge at ATLAS and studied its unique organization, characterized by collaborative behavior, a bottom-up approach, and a consensus-driven management style, which has enabled this Big Science institution to create a new way of dealing with extreme complexity. Boisot was fascinated by how a scientific collaboration as large as ATLAS generates and sustains creative and constructive interactions among thousands of researchers from diverse cultures, traditions and habits. He believed that the self-organizational capability of the collaboration was the key to success. Boisot’s research also laid the ground for studying how scientific and technical progress is made and how the value of basic research can be captured for society.
Eugene Halton
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226314655
- eISBN:
- 9780226314679
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226314679.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
In his novel His Master's Voice, Polish writer Stanislaw Lem poses perplexing questions about the nature of science, life, communication, and cosmology, and most especially about the strange and ...
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In his novel His Master's Voice, Polish writer Stanislaw Lem poses perplexing questions about the nature of science, life, communication, and cosmology, and most especially about the strange and perverse creatures we humans are. Written in 1967, the book is set in America in the form of a memoir of a mathematician, Peter E. Hogarth, and concerns his work on the “His Master's Voice” project. This chapter takes the novel as another means of observing the epiphany of big science in American culture.Less
In his novel His Master's Voice, Polish writer Stanislaw Lem poses perplexing questions about the nature of science, life, communication, and cosmology, and most especially about the strange and perverse creatures we humans are. Written in 1967, the book is set in America in the form of a memoir of a mathematician, Peter E. Hogarth, and concerns his work on the “His Master's Voice” project. This chapter takes the novel as another means of observing the epiphany of big science in American culture.
