Journals of the History of Science Society of Japan

Abstract
This paper explores how Edmund C. Berkeley tried to instruct and popularize high-speed computers in the 1940s and 1950s and how Berkeley emphasized the connection between computers and symbolic logic. Berkeley strengthened his conviction in the significance of symbolic logic and Boolean algebra before his graduation from Harvard University and maintained this conviction for more than 30 years. Berkeley published books and articles, including Giant Brains, and sold electrical toy kits by which young boys could learn electrical circuits and their logical implications. The target audience of Berkeley covered wide range of people including those who were not making computers but were interested in using them, that is, amateur adult technology enthusiasts who enjoyed tinkering with technology or reading about science and technology, and young students. In these projects Berkeley used Shannon’s paper of 1938, “A symbolic analysis of relay and switching circuits” as a theoretical basis of his conviction. Design of these kits was fine-tuned by Claude E. Shannon.

Keywords
Edmund C. Berkeley, symbolic logic, computer, Claude E. Shannon, Giant Brains

Abstract
This paper analyses the changes in the image of Madame Lavoisier from the perspective of gender in two centuries worth of academic literature. From her lifetime to the end of the twentieth century, which marked the 200 years anniversary of Antoine Lavoisier’s death, this woman was mainly praised as the quintessential sensible woman who had been dedicated to her husband, the father of the Chemical Revolution. Whereas this was intended as a praise to Madame Lavoisier, an investigation conducted from this perspective does not mean it depicted her as one of the intellectuals of the eighteenth century. On the other hand, a study that attempted to portray who she really was, due to the gender question, could be accused of bias and manipulating the historical documents; furthermore, if such a study adopted an unsuitable methodology, it would only end up emphasizing her as a “”wicked woman””. From the perspective of second-wave feminism, personified by the slogan ”The personal is political””, this paper shows the importance of the perception of Madame Lavoisier as a person who supported the Chemical Revolution in her own right.
Such a perspective demands an analysis of how Marie-Anne Lavoisier has been described more recently, especially before the emergence of second-wave feminism, as well as how the research on her changed after this shift in feminist thought occurred. Such works can answer the question of when scientists attracted attention in history. In particular, this paper will compare the ways that female and male scientific researchers have attracted attention and shed light on the reasons for the difference between how the two sexes have been treated, to stop adopting the view of the strong and the tendency to group humans according to different conditions and think of them as being the same. This research approach will be a usef11l method for not only gender minority studies in the history of science but also for other minority studies.

Keywords
Korean mathematics, geometrical diagrams, use of colors in diagrams,representation of three-dimensional objects

This article analyzes the work of two Neo-Confucianists, Choe Han-gi (1803-1877) and Nishi Amane (1829-1897), who endeavored to construct the metaphysical ground of modern scientific knowledge in Korea and Japan during the mid-19th century. The influx of Western scientific knowledge into East Asia triggered a reinterpretation of Neo-Confucianism, which had been the main body of traditional knowledge. Nishi and Choe designed the philosophical underpinning that allowed acceptance of modern Western scientific knowledge. This involved division of the ri (理, principle) of Neo-Confucianism into two different concepts, the laws of the physical world and those of the human world. Choe’s and Nishi’s concepts of the laws of the physical world were clearly similar to the laws of nature of modern Western science. Although Nishi and Choe found a way to reinterpret Neo-Confucianism and to construct the metaphysical ground for acceptance of modern Western science, by dividing ri, the significance is that they tried to reconnect the laws of the physical world with those of the human world. This study will attempt to demonstrate Various prototypes for the metaphysical ground of modern scientific knowledge existed in mid-19th century East Asia.

Keywords
Nishi Amane, Choe Han-gi, the laws of the physical world, the laws of the human world, Neo-Confucianism

Hallerstein’s astronomical excellence was widely recognized recently. As one of the prominent scientist attached to the Chinese Imperial Court, he was involved in other types of research besides astronomy, but his authorship was not always obvious amidst the Jesuits’ collective work. Besides astronomical observations the Beijing Jesuits also provided early electricity experiment, which enabled Volta’s inventions of the electrophorus and battery. The development of such devices paved the way for electrical observations that were longer in duration than the quick ones conducted with the Leyden jar. The scientists urgently needed a new approach because they wanted to know the process responsible for an interesting electrical spark. Electric experiments became fashionable in European high society meetings, as vacuum pumps had somewhat earlier. Both innovations were introduced to the Chinese court in Hallerstein’s time, but never garnered the same amount of interest as Western astronomy did. One reason for the Chinese indifference was the nonexistence of a wider technical use for vacuum or electricity during Hallerstein’s lifetime. Ingenhousz and other physicians educated in Leyden eventually developed a broader use of electricity in countries considered somewhat scientifically backward, such as Hallerstein’s native Habsburg monarchy and Japan.

Keywords
Hallerstein, Ingenhousz, Jesuits, Electrophorus, Air Pumps

Rudolf Clausius’s 16 papers on the mechanical theory of heat have been studied through four various methods, i.e. traditional text analysis with the help of Clausius’s own manuscripts, mathematical equation analysis, experimental data table analysis, and technical term analysis. The first three analyses were briefly summarized while the result of the last technical analysis was explained with such important terms in thermodynamics as Disgregation (Degree of dispersion) and Uncompensirte Verwandlung (Non compensated transformation). These terms played important roles through indicating the micro nature and irreversible character, respectively before the appearance of the term Entropie (entropy) in Clausius’s famous paper of 1865. The result of technical term analysis for his paper on the theory of electricity (1853) by the use of a text mining method is also shown with tables and figures.

Keywords
R. Clausius, Entropy, mechanical theory of heat,irreversible (non reversible), text mining