Pragmatic and Dogmatic Physics; Presentation and Response in Nature, 1938.
A. Loewenstein*, Chemistry Department, Technion, Israel Institute of technology, Haifa 32000, Israel. Tel: 972-4-8293758 Fax: 972-4-8242996 E-mail: chaharon@techunix.technion.ac.il
Abstract
The German physicist J. Stark has published an article entitled: “The Pragmatic
and Dogmatic Spirit in Physics” in Nature in April 1938. In this paper Stark
divides the world of Physics into Dogmatic and Pragmatic fractions. Jewish scientists
seem to dominate the undesired dogmatic spirit while the pragmatic fraction
is represented mostly by Aryans. The circumstances that led to this publication
and the response it received from the scientific community, are analyzed in
this communication. It is interesting to learn how a combination of anti-Semitic
views with science found its expression in the pages of Nature.
Key words: Nature, J. Stark, A.S. Eve, anti-Semitism and scientific publication.