Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics (2021)

While scientists celebrate certain aspects of past science, they disregard other aspects as misguided and not worth remembering. The history of science presented in science textbooks tend to be a picture of past heroes who anticipated modern knowledge, such as Galileo, Newton, Maxwell and Einstein. In my historical work I try to appreciate valuable parts of past science that current scientists do not remember and celebrate. By paying attention to the “losers” in the history of science, we can actually learn much that is scientifically valuable. Through historical work we can recover forgotten ideas and phenomena, and a further examination of such recovered items can even lead to new scientific knowledge. Looking at history with full respect for the past scientists, we can recognize that the scientific common sense of today was once the subject of controversy and exciting cutting-edge research. Going back to early periods of science with this kind of historical perspective can help us regain a sense of fascination in the familiar aspects of nature. Making the science of everyday phenomena come alive can help us instill a love of science in students and the general public. I will substantiate these claims with illustrations from my works on the history of temperature and thermometry (Inventing Temperature, 2004), the basic atomic composition of matter (Is Water H₂O?, 2012), and early electrical instruments and theories (How Does a Battery Work?, forthcoming).