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Peter Dear

Peter Dear

Peter Dear is a Professor of History of Science & Technology Studies at Cornell University.
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  • Joking about Science

    Peter Dear Series: Science and Society
    2009-07-07
    An apocryphal story sometimes heard among physicists concerns a toast, proposed by his Cambridge University colleagues, to J. J. Thomson’s discovery of the electron in 1897: “To the electron: may it never be of use to anyone!” That joke reflects a serious conundrum: should science be judged by its usefulness, or by its success at increasing our understanding of nature?... read
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