AUTHOR'S BIO
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 2009-07-07An 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 Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 16839
