A Good Name and Great Riches: Rebranding Solid-State Physics for the National Laboratories

Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation

Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org

In 1943 Oliver E. Buckley, lamenting the inadequacy of the term physics to describe what physicists did, quoted the proverb, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.” Decades later, solid-state physicists felt similar discontent, renaming their field “condensed matter physicists” (CMP). Ostensibly a mere rebranding, the change signaled deeper realignment. “Solid state” emerged in the 1940s to serve institutional aims, while “condensed matter” grouped a set of theoretical and experimental approaches. Reimagining the field in this way set CMP apart from materials science, which claimed the bulk of solid-state funding and personnel through the 1980s. The National Laboratory System, given its responsiveness to shifts in national funding priorities, is a sensitive historical instrument with which to trace the transition from solid state to condensed matter. Solid state responded to evolving funding priorities by sharpening its intellectual mission. At the same time, it struggled to articulate its intellectual, as opposed to technological, merit. The proverb continues with “and loving favor rather than silver and gold.” An emphasis on conceptual cohesion and associated social esteem exposed the growing tension between technology-focused funding goals for materials research and condensed matter’s ascendant intellectual identity.

Joseph Martin completed a B.A. in history and philosophy of science at Boston University in 2006. Since then he spent a year working as a grant administrator in New Zealand before arriving at the University of Minnesota, where he received an M.A. in philosophy in 2011 and continues working toward a Ph.D. in the history of science, technology, and medicine. His dissertation focuses on how solid-state physicists actively and consciously structured their discipline by examining the role of philosophical stances and rhetoric in institution building.