Scientific Babel: English, German, and the Fall of the Polyglot Natural Science

Communication, especially publication, in the natural sciences today takes place almost exclusively in English. This phenomenon is relatively recent, with a strong shift toward monoglot natural science taking place roughly half a century ago. In this talk, Michael D. Gordin, the Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Princeton University, will offer an account of the transformation of communication in the natural sciences from a primarily trilingual situation in 1850 (English, French, and German) to a bilingual situation after the Second World War (English primary, Russian secondary), to the monoglot system of today. In particular, the significant and sudden decline of German, due to political upheaval during the twentieth century (especially the First World War) and cultural processes within the scientific community, was the primary condition for the transformation of a polyglot linguistic system in the natural sciences to a monoglot one.

Reception: 5:30pm

Talk: 6:00pm

This event is FREE and open to the public. Please RSVP here.