Styles of Meaning-making in Poetry by Victorian Scientists. While much has been written about the attitudes of canonical poets to science in Victorian Britain, the complementary perspectives of scientists who wrote poetry have been entirely overlooked. What is most striking about their poetry (and indeed that of neglected feminist poets of the 1880s and 1890s which the study will also examine) is the agreeable relations that it, unlike canonical Victorian poetry and most scholarship in the area, ....Styles of Meaning-making in Poetry by Victorian Scientists. While much has been written about the attitudes of canonical poets to science in Victorian Britain, the complementary perspectives of scientists who wrote poetry have been entirely overlooked. What is most striking about their poetry (and indeed that of neglected feminist poets of the 1880s and 1890s which the study will also examine) is the agreeable relations that it, unlike canonical Victorian poetry and most scholarship in the area, sees to exist between poetry and science. The substantial revisionary monograph I propose will focus upon the discursive modes that scientists brought to their poetry and the ontologies which underpin them.Read moreRead less
Modelling Nervous Systems, 1880-1930: Debates over Choice of Materials and Techniques in the Correlation of Form and Function. This project will examine key scientific research programs in the history of the neurosciences in the transitional period 1880-1930 in order to explore the models, methodologies, and material techniques that were the foundation for the most influential theories. Several major figures will serve as anchors for the study, providing insight into the contentious debates as ....Modelling Nervous Systems, 1880-1930: Debates over Choice of Materials and Techniques in the Correlation of Form and Function. This project will examine key scientific research programs in the history of the neurosciences in the transitional period 1880-1930 in order to explore the models, methodologies, and material techniques that were the foundation for the most influential theories. Several major figures will serve as anchors for the study, providing insight into the contentious debates as well as the often unstated basic agreements that occurred across a range of disciplinary, social, and national boundaries to examine the roots of what neuroscience is today.Read moreRead less
Producing Biodiversity: A History of Science in Australia's Desert Lands. Biodiversity conservation is regarded by most people as desirable, but its historical and cultural aspects are poorly understood. It is not just about scientific understanding of animals and plants, but also a matter of practice and negotiation. People and places are changed through conservation and these changes in turn shape the ways nature is imagined and managed. Producing Biodiversity documents historical and contempo ....Producing Biodiversity: A History of Science in Australia's Desert Lands. Biodiversity conservation is regarded by most people as desirable, but its historical and cultural aspects are poorly understood. It is not just about scientific understanding of animals and plants, but also a matter of practice and negotiation. People and places are changed through conservation and these changes in turn shape the ways nature is imagined and managed. Producing Biodiversity documents historical and contemporary initiatives in biodiversity management on six very different pastoral properties on the margins of the Australian desert. We provide a long-term perspective on national and local conservation imperatives in different eras, and explore how they affect pastoral, Aboriginal and scientific communities.Read moreRead less
The Eureka! Myth: Discourses of Discovery and Invention in Modern Societies. The advances in understanding made through this project will assist in reinterpreting the value of different institutional forms of provision for scientific work, will illuminate the process of commercialisation of research, and will help in assessing many unspoken assumptions behind intellectual property and patent law.
Anatomies of Empire: Race, Evolution and Scientific Networks in the Twentieth-Century British World. Our research demonstrates how Australian scientists, Australian field experiences, and Australian materials were central to comparative anatomy, evolutionary theory and race science in the twentieth century. This study uncovers for the first time the powerful imperial network of racial biologists and physical anthropologists whose influential studies of human nature and racial classification deri ....Anatomies of Empire: Race, Evolution and Scientific Networks in the Twentieth-Century British World. Our research demonstrates how Australian scientists, Australian field experiences, and Australian materials were central to comparative anatomy, evolutionary theory and race science in the twentieth century. This study uncovers for the first time the powerful imperial network of racial biologists and physical anthropologists whose influential studies of human nature and racial classification derived from Australian work. These ideas about what it means to be human, hitherto unexamined historically, continue to underpin our contemporary assumptions about ethnic difference, Aboriginal status, multiculturalism, and national identity.Read moreRead less
Aetiana: laying foundations for the study of the history of ancient philosophy. Ancient philosophy is one of the pillars of the tradition of western thought. It has made a magnificent contribution to reflection on lasting problems in the areas of ethics, theory of knowledge, metaphysics and logic. The Socratic tradition of discussion on how we should live is the most striking example of how ancient philosophy remains directly relevant to issues in our society today. Research that strengthens our ....Aetiana: laying foundations for the study of the history of ancient philosophy. Ancient philosophy is one of the pillars of the tradition of western thought. It has made a magnificent contribution to reflection on lasting problems in the areas of ethics, theory of knowledge, metaphysics and logic. The Socratic tradition of discussion on how we should live is the most striking example of how ancient philosophy remains directly relevant to issues in our society today. Research that strengthens our knowledge in this area will thus be of considerable benefit to the community.Read moreRead less
Empowering Australia: Collecting and Interpreting the Material Culture of Australian Technology in New South Wales, 1880-1972. In Australian social history, the industrial museum occupies an important but largely forgotten place. Today, Sydney's exciting Powerhouse Museum is increasingly conscious of its legacy and lineage, dating from its creation as the Technological and Sanitary Museum of 1880. Nevertheless, much of the material culture of manufacture and innovation that lies in its collect ....Empowering Australia: Collecting and Interpreting the Material Culture of Australian Technology in New South Wales, 1880-1972. In Australian social history, the industrial museum occupies an important but largely forgotten place. Today, Sydney's exciting Powerhouse Museum is increasingly conscious of its legacy and lineage, dating from its creation as the Technological and Sanitary Museum of 1880. Nevertheless, much of the material culture of manufacture and innovation that lies in its collections remains uninterpreted and inaccessible to historians and the public. This project seeks to 'recover' the past of the Museum, and its role in Sydney's heritage of research, design and the applied arts; and to demonstrate the dynamic relevance of historical research to the Museum's present and forward plannning.Read moreRead less
Perception, interpretation, and the explanation of delusional beliefs. The occurrence of bizarrely false beliefs, called delusions, presents challenges, not only for clinical psychiatric practice, but also for psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy. The aim of this project is to make a distinctively philosophical contribution to our understanding of delusional beliefs by addressing three philosophical questions raised by the study of delusions, questions about perception, interpretation, and e ....Perception, interpretation, and the explanation of delusional beliefs. The occurrence of bizarrely false beliefs, called delusions, presents challenges, not only for clinical psychiatric practice, but also for psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy. The aim of this project is to make a distinctively philosophical contribution to our understanding of delusional beliefs by addressing three philosophical questions raised by the study of delusions, questions about perception, interpretation, and explanation. Answers to these questions will constitute substantial contributions to three central areas of philosophy, but their significance also extends beyond philosophy. They will impact on the scientific investigation of delusions and will contribute indirectly to the treatment and rehabilitation of sufferers.
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The Development of Quantum Gravity. This research constitutes the first large-scale effort to unpack and make sense of the development of quantum gravity. Given the pressing nature of this problem and its importance for our worldview, such a study would be of great benefit to several sectors of the academic community. By giving a global perspective of the field from its origins those outside the field will be able to appreciate its importance and its place in contemporary physics. Quantum gravi ....The Development of Quantum Gravity. This research constitutes the first large-scale effort to unpack and make sense of the development of quantum gravity. Given the pressing nature of this problem and its importance for our worldview, such a study would be of great benefit to several sectors of the academic community. By giving a global perspective of the field from its origins those outside the field will be able to appreciate its importance and its place in contemporary physics. Quantum gravity researchers will be able to see how their preferred approach fits into the web of research programmes, thus opening the door for greater collaboration between the various approaches. This research will greatly enhance Australia's position in this breakthrough science.Read moreRead less
Promoting Whiteness: Race Science and the Making of the Middle-Class Woman in Australia, 1880-1940. Many Australians remain confused about precisely how race relations operated and were defined in the early twentieth century. Since, elite women were central actors in promoting racial ideologies, this study will provide the a broad insight into precisely how racial ideologies came to permeate white Australian society and their importance for both national and individual identity. Such insights ar ....Promoting Whiteness: Race Science and the Making of the Middle-Class Woman in Australia, 1880-1940. Many Australians remain confused about precisely how race relations operated and were defined in the early twentieth century. Since, elite women were central actors in promoting racial ideologies, this study will provide the a broad insight into precisely how racial ideologies came to permeate white Australian society and their importance for both national and individual identity. Such insights are of critical importance to understanding the impact of racial thought in the past, and its continuing effects, and thus for our ability to move beyond the current acrimonious debates over race within Australia and in within our region.Read moreRead less