Ph. Lenard—the well known Nobel prize winner—felt to be deceived concerning the discovery of the X-rays by a ungrateful and jewish dominated fate. He complained over an insufficient appreciation of his precursory research work by the definitive discoverer W. C. Röntgen. Lenard proved this interpretation by his contributions to the development of a paticular type of cathode ray tube manufactured by the glass-blower L. Müller-Unkel and the decisive part this tube played in the discovery of the new radiation. This interpretation (...) has been emphasized during the Third Reich and even nowaday it became not completely obliterate. Relying on recently discovered historical documents we describe the history of the origin of the Müller-Unkel tube. In this way we can demonstrate that essential parts of the interpretation of Ph. Lenard and his politically like-minded friends are to be transposed into the grounds of legends. (shrink)

In a 1976 paper, Robert DeKosky wrote ‘William Crookes is a puzzle to historians of latenineteenth century science. Despite his achievements we are forced to ask why he did not accomplish more.’ It is an interesting question; equally interesting is the question that prompts this paper – how did he accomplish so much?Why some scientists become prolific and successful is a question with both historical and ahistorical dimensions. Among the former are a number of cultural aspects rarely studied by historians. (...) They include the nature of childhood experience, family attitudes, mentoring, and the existence of intellectual and practical support networks in adulthood. Ail are important, but how they contribute to individual success varies with time and place. (shrink)

Recent studies in nineteenth-century spiritualism have illuminated the social practice of the occult in various cultural contexts. Richard Noakes in his latest study on telegraphy and the occult in Victorian England, for instance, shows how the world of spiritualism and the world of technology were welded together by Victorian engineering schemes and money. 2 This paper looks at another culture of occult practice which has often been neglected by historians of science: the role of spiritism in the making of German (...) experimental psychology. Based on a debate focusing on the German astrophysicist Karl Friedrich Zöllner and the American medium Henry Slade, I will show how spiritistic experiments were situated in the emerging contexts of scientific practice, laboratories and disciplines. 3 This study will also take a close look at the perception of spiritistic mediums as instruments by experimenters such as Zöllner. 4Things were in control and then they were not and then they were.Sally Bushell, Under the Breadfruit Tree. (shrink)