University of Pennsylvania
Philidelphia 19104
Department of History and 215 243 8400
Sociology of Science
Edgar Fahs Smith Hall D6
215 South 34th Street 10 Jan 79
Dear Mr. Snelson,
I received the things you sent me and looked them over with much interest. IÕm afraid the reprints IÕve sent in return havenÕt the flair and artistic interest of yours. IÕm not enough of a physicist to know how much modern physics should be looking for concrete models of atoms. But as an historian I am quite fascinated by your attempts to provide one and the reactions you have gotten from the scientific professionals. I was also struck by how much of the piece your atom model is with your sculptures: material suspended in the void by invisible forces. I would like to see them in situ. Thomas Kuhn in his Structure of Scientific Revolutions ( do you know it?) observes that the revolutions in scientific though often find their inspiration in obscure and (?) sources outside science Š Platonic philosophy, idealist Naturphilosophe and Š who knows, some day sculpture and industrial design. Then historians of science will analyze the logic of history, and how sculptors presents the ideals of structure and form while physicists count angels on the heads of abstract pins. Who knows?
Yours Sincerely
(signed) Robert Kohler
Robert
E. Kohler, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus
Department
of History and Sociology of Science
303
Logan Hall
University
of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia,
Pa. 19104-6304
Tel:
215-898-7098
Fax:
215-573-2231
Email:
rkohler@sas.upenn.edu
431 S. 47th St. Philadelphia, Pa. 19143
Tel/fax: 215-476-5856