The Form and Function of Scientific Discoveries

The Dibner Library Lectures contribute immeasurably to the Smithsonian Libraries' efforts to acquaint the larger public with the valuable materials in the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology, and how they are used by scholars. The creative research done by these lecturers and all users of the Dibner Library speak clearly and unmistakably to the continuing usefulness of the volumes Bern Dibner collected and donated to the nation in his 1976 gift to the Smithsonian. This is the tenth lecture in the Dibner Library Lecture Series, supported by The Dibner Fund, and the second to be published.

Kenneth L. Caneva delivered this lecture on "The Form and Function of Scientific Discoveries" in November 2000 and prepared it for the present publication with notes and bibliography. We first met Professor Caneva in 1995 when he was selected to be a Smithsonian Libraries Dibner Library Resident Scholar in the early years of that program. Caneva is one of twenty-five scholars who have benefited from this program also generously supported by The Dibner Fund since 1992.

The cover image is a well known illustration of science represented as a ship, boldly sailing beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the emblematic limits of the old world. Appearing on the title page of Francis Bacon's Novum Organum (1620), the image epitomizes the spirit of scientific inquiry that forms the basis of Professor Caneva's observations about the experiments and discoveries of Hans Christian Ørsted, Johann Wilhelm Ritter, and Thomas Johann Seebeck, the subjects of his lecture. Bacon's eminence as a philosopher of science was recognized by Bern Dibner, the creator of the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology, who included Bacon in his galaxy of 200 pioneers in the history of science and technology, now celebrated as the "Heralds of Science."

We thank The Dibner Fund for supporting the lecture series, its publications, and the successful resident scholar program.

Nancy E. Gwinn
Director
Smithsonian Institution Libraries
May 2001

[image of Kenneth Canva (on the right) with David Dibner, President of the Dibner Fund]