Biography:Andrew Pickering

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Short description: British academic


Andrew Pickering
Andrew Pickering.jpg
Andrew Pickering, 2011
Born1948
Academic work
Main interestsSociology of science
Notable worksConstructing Quarks: A Sociological History of Particle Physics; The cybernetic brain: sketches of another future.

Andrew Pickering (born 1948) is a British sociologist, philosopher and historian of science at the University of Exeter. He was a professor of sociology and a director of science and technology studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign until 2007. He holds a doctorate in physics from the University of London, and a doctorate in Science Studies from the University of Edinburgh.[1] His book Constructing Quarks: A Sociological History of Particle Physics (1984)[a] is a classic in the field of the sociology of science.

Career

Andrew Pickering in 2011

In elucidating some of the sociological factors prevailing in particle physics, Pickering also wrote a number of papers for journals and conferences.[2][3][4][5] According to Pickering, theory and experiment come in packages, and traditions of experiment generate just the kind of data which will fuel further theorising, while traditions of theory generate new problems for further development.[6]

Pickering thus described two theoretical frameworks in particle physics: 'old physics' – which at the time of its death, was "still alive"[6] – dominated high energy physics through the 1960s and into the early 1970s, and concerned itself with 'common [particle physics] phenomena'. 'New physics' refers to the theory and experiment 'package' concerned with rare phenomena, such as the search for quarks. While each theoretical framework had little to say about the other, and "was useless in the phenomenal world of its rival",[6] each was satisfactory in its own terms. Despite this, Pickering also outlined a process of "magical transmutation", where new theories are produced from old, by what he called "analogical recycling".[7] Pickering noted that all this is symptomatic of Kuhnian type revolutions.[6]

He authored The mangle of practice: Time, agency and science (University of Chicago Press, 1995), where he develops a performative conception of scientific practice, focusing on non-human agency and strongly contributing to the posthumanist trend of Science and Technology Studies. His most recent book, The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future traces the history of British Cybernetics after the Second World War. Pickering considers Cybernetics as a type of nomad science that, instead of seeking to dominate reality as its modern counterpart (thus leading to processes of enframing, following Heidegger) rather develops an ontological theatre between humans and non-humans. In this book, Pickering explores projects that intertwine, for instance, technology, psychiatry, spirituality, education and, of course, brain sciences.

Selected publications

Books

Chapters in books

  • Pickering, Andrew (1982), "Interests and Analogies", Science in Context: Readings in the Sociology of Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, pp. 125–146, ISBN 9780262520768 
  • Pickering, Andrew (1982), "Elementary Particles: Discovered or Constructed?", Physics in Collision: High-Energy ee/ep/pp Interactions, volume 1, New York, New York: Plenum Press, pp. 439–448, ISBN 9780306409967 
  • Pickering, Andrew (1992), "From Science As Knowledge to Science As Practice", in Pickering, Andrew, Science As Practice and Culture, Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, pp. 1–28, ISBN 9780226668017 
  • Pickering, Andrew; Stephanides, Adam (1992), "Constructing Quaternions: On the Analysis of Conceptual Practice", in Pickering, Andrew, Science As Practice and Culture, Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, pp. 139–167, ISBN 9780226668017 
  • Pickering, Andrew (2004), "The Science of the Unknowable: Stafford Beer's Cybernetic Informatics", The History and Heritage of Scientific and Technological Information Systems, Medford, New Jersey: Information Today, Inc., pp. 29–38, ISBN 9781573872294 

Journal articles

Notes

a. ^ See Dalitz (1985) for a critical review of this book.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Pickering, A. R. (1983). "History of particle physics : a sociological analysis". https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/18545. 
  2. ↑ Pickering, Andy (1981). Elementary Particles: Discovered or Constructed?. Pre-publication copy of article to appear in Proc. of Int. Conf. on Physics in Collision: High Energy ee/ep/pp Interactions. Blacksburg, VA. p. 11. http://www-spires.slac.stanford.edu/spires/find/hep/www?irn=822760. 
  3. ↑ Pickering, Andy (1983). Producing A World: Transformations Of Experimental Practice In The History Of High-Energy Physics. Paper presented at History of Science Society Mtg., Norwalk, Conn., 27–30 Oct 1983. Maui, Hawaii. p. 12. http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/find/hep/www?r=PRINT-83-1051. 
  4. ↑ Pickering, A.R. (1984), "Against putting the phenomena first: The discovery of the weak neutral current", Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 15 (2): 85–117, doi:10.1016/0039-3681(84)90001-3, http://philoscience.unibe.ch/documents/TexteFS10/Pickering1984app.pdf, retrieved 20 March 2013 
  5. ↑ Pickering, Andrew R.; Trower, W. Peter (1985), "Some sociological problems of high-energy physics", Nature 318 (6043): 243–245, doi:10.1038/318243a0, Bibcode: 1985Natur.318..243P 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Pickering, Andy (1983), p.12
  7. ↑ Pickering, Andy (1981), p.11
  8. ↑ Dalitz, R.H. (28 March 1985), "Fundamental Developments", Nature 314 (6009): 387–388, doi:10.1038/314387a0, Bibcode: 1985Natur.314..387D 

External links

Archival collections



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