Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen

Winds of change: communication and wind power technology development in Denmark and Germany from 1973 to ca. 1985

Engineers play an important role in communicating technology and its socioeconomic implications. In this paper, based on research into the recent history of wind power technology in Denmark and in Germany, we will investigate the communication efforts of engineers and its role in the success and failure of new wind power technology. We argue that effective communication by engineers and technicians was a crucial component for the rapid success of Danish wind power technology, while a lack of communication contributed to early failures in Germany. As part of their efforts in developing and promoting wind power technology, Danish engineers not only built informal and professional networks of communication in which knowledge and objects could be shared, but also acted as public spokespersons for wind power interests. The case of wind power technology shows that engineering communication comprised different forms, modes, and tasks of communication involving different types of actors and serving different needs and scopes. Engineering communication is not a simple tool at hand, but requires favorable social conditions and adequate institutions.

‘What things mean in our daily lives’: a history of museum curating and visiting in the Science Museum's Children's Gallery from c. 1929 to 1969

The Childrens Gallery in the Science Museum in London opened in December 1931. Conceived partly as a response to the overwhelming number of children visiting the Museum and partly as a way in which to advance its educational uses, the Gallery proved to be an immediate success in terms of attendances. In the Gallery, children and adults found historical dioramas and models, all of which aimed at presenting visitors with the social, material and moral impacts of science and technology on society throughout history. Also, there were numerous working models with plenty of buttons to press, handles to turn and ropes to pull. Controversial visitor studies carried out in the 1950s revealed that the historical didacticism was more or less lost on the children who came to the Gallery. Consequently, the New Childrens Gallery that opened in 1969 had to some extent abandoned the historical perspective in favour of combining instruction with pleasure in order to make the children feel that ‘science is a wonderful thing’.

In quest of publicity: the science—media partnership of the Galathea Deep Sea Expedition from 1950 to 1952

The Galathea Deep Sea Expedition from 1950 to 1952 combined oceanographic research with simultaneous science reporting and strategically seeking publicity. In effect, the expedition organizers ventured into a science—media partnership. From the beginning, reporting scientific exploration to the general public at home and abroad was considered an essential part of the expedition. Combining scientific objectives with publicity concerns, the expedition built on boundary work performed by boundary workers separating science from the media. Several boundary objects were mobilized to facilitate interactions across the cultural border between scientists and journalists. In particular, the mythological sea serpent domesticated by scientists and fully adopted by journalists played an important role in aligning the scientific aspects of the expedition with publicity and science reporting. The historical narrative of the expedition feeds into contemporary discussions about the dominant discourse on science and the media.

Nanotech, Blur and Tragedy in Recent Artworks by Gerhard Richter

ABSTRACT The author considers Gerhard Richters work on nanotechnology, highlighting how these pieces continue the artists ontology on photographic blur and, as such, raise questions about truth and reality with respect to the mass medias visual presentation of nanotechnology. The four works discussed include: Erster Blick (2000) and Graphit (2005), the mural Strontium (2004) and the suite of sheets numbered 737 to 754 in the continuous image installation Atlas. Examining these works, the author notes Richters general skepticism about the benefits of technology, shown through his allusions to war and terrorism, and contrasts Richters artworks with utopian visions of nanoscience in the mass media.

How to take non-knowledge seriously, or “the unexpected virtue of ignorance”

This commentary argues that we need to take ignorance and non-knowledge seriously in the fields of science communication and public understanding of science. As much as we want ignorance to disappear, it seems that it is here to stay—in the sciences and in the rest of society. Drawing on the vast but scattered literature on ignorance and non-knowledge, we suggest that paying closer attention to these phenomena could be beneficial for science communicators. Despite the fact that ignorance and non-knowledge, just like knowledge, today are highly politicized fields, they may also open up for new lines of inquiry and may be key to more pluralistic and equal democratic deliberation about science and technology.

Spreading the Gospel: A Popular Book on the Bohr Atom in its Historical Context

Summary The emergence of quantum theory in the early decades of the twentieth century was accompanied by a wide range of popular science books, all of which presented in words, and a few in images, new scientific ideas about the structure of the atom. The work of physicists such as Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr, among others, was pivotal to the so-called planetary model of the atom, which, still today, is used in popular accounts and in science textbooks. In an attempt to add to our knowledge about the popular trajectory of the new atomic physics, this paper examines one book in particular, co-authored by Danish science writer Helge Holst and Dutch physicist and close collaborator of Niels Bohr, Hendrik A. Kramers. Translated from Danish into four European languages, the book not only explained contemporary ideas about the quantum atom, but also discussed unresolved problems. Moreover, the book was quite explicit in identifying the quantum atom with the atom as described by Bohrs theory. We argue that Kramers and Holsts book, along with other ‘atomic books’, was a useful tool for physicists and science popularisers in trying to understand the new quantum physics.

Enacting the social relations of science: historical (anti-)boundary-work of Danish science journalist Børge Michelsen:

This article investigates the writings of Danish science journalist Borge Michelsen from 1939 to 1956. As part of the international social relations of science movement in the period, Michelsen transformed science journalism from mere reporting on issues pertaining to science into performing the social function of science journalism: advancing and enacting the social relations of science. Based on analyses of Michelsens articles and other initiatives, this study suggests that the social function of science journalism practiced by Michelsen showed many new and conflicting aspects. From a boundary-work perspective, it is argued that, through science journalism, Michelsen not only helped establish new cultural boundaries of science, but also did anti-boundary-work. The notion of anti-boundary-work implies breaking down existing barriers between science and society, all the while establishing new links to reinforce mutual relations between scientists and policy-makers, between scientists and journalists, and...This article investigates the writings of Danish science journalist Børge Michelsen from 1939 to 1956. As part of the international social relations of science movement in the period, Michelsen transformed science journalism from mere reporting on issues pertaining to science into performing the social function of science journalism: advancing and enacting the social relations of science. Based on analyses of Michelsens articles and other initiatives, this study suggests that the social function of science journalism practiced by Michelsen showed many new and conflicting aspects. From a boundary-work perspective, it is argued that, through science journalism, Michelsen not only helped establish new cultural boundaries of science, but also did anti-boundary-work. The notion of anti-boundary-work implies breaking down existing barriers between science and society, all the while establishing new links to reinforce mutual relations between scientists and policy-makers, between scientists and journalists, and between science and the public. Finally, in the concluding remarks, the contemporary significance of Michelsens social function of science journalism is discussed.

From the preserves of the educated elite to virtually everywhere: A content analysis of Danish science news in 1999 and 2012

In an attempt to qualify changes to science news reporting due to the impact of the Internet, we studied all science news articles published in Danish national newspapers in a November week in 1999 and 2012, respectively. We find the same amount of science coverage, about 4% of the total news production, in both years, although the tabloids produce more science news in 2012. Online science news also received high priority. Journalists in 2012 more often than in 1999 make reference to scientific journals and cite a wider range of journals. Science news in 2012 is more international and politically oriented than in 1999. Based on these findings, we suggest that science news, due partly to the emergence of online resources, is becoming more diverse and available to a wider audience. Science news is no longer for the elite but has spread to virtually everywhere in the national news system.

Postcolonial partnerships: deep sea research, media coverage and (inter)national narratives on the Galathea Deep Sea Expedition from 1950 to 1952

The Danish Galathea Deep Sea Expedition between 1950 and 1952 combined scientific and official objectives with the production of national and international narratives distributed through the daily press and other media. Dispatched by the Danish government on a newly acquired naval ship, the expedition undertook groundbreaking deep sea research while also devoting efforts to showing the flag, public communication of science, and international cooperation. The expedition was conceived after the war as a way in which to rehabilitate Denmarks reputation internationally and to rebuild national pride. To this end, the expedition included an onboard press section reporting the expedition to the Danish public and to an international audience. The press section mediated the favourable, post-war and postcolonial image of Denmark as an internationalist, scientific, modernizing and civilizing nation for which the expedition planners and many others were hoping. The expedition, therefore, was highly relevant to, indeed fed on, the emerging internationalist agenda in Denmarks foreign policy. Bringing out these aspects of the historical context of the expedition, this paper adds important perspectives to our knowledge about the expedition in particular and, more generally, about scientific exploration in the immediate post-war and postcolonial period.

Small State Preoccupations: Science and Technology in the Pursuit of Modernization, Security, and Sovereignty in Greenland

Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen explores the modernization of Greenland, which took place at the same time that US government officials wanted to expand America’s postwar military presence on the island and Denmark sought to use science and technology to secure its sovereignty, improve its security posture, and pursue modernization on behalf of the Greenlandic people. Danish politicians focused on North Greenland, site of military installations and American-led scientific studies and technological development, and South Greenland, where Greenlanders lived. By modernizing the country in a Danish way, Denmark hoped to simultaneously strengthen sovereignty claims and limit US activities in the North, and reduce American cultural influence in the South. Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen argues that decolonization efforts were strongly related to Denmark’s desire to exploit natural resources, allow Greenlanders some measure of self-rule, and to push back on its overbearing security partner, the USA.