This article was downloaded by: [University of Otago]

On: 12 January 2015, At: 05:52

Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,
37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

International Journal of Science Education

Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tsed20

History and philosophy of science in physics education

a a
Henry Nielsen & Poul V. Thomsen
a
Centre for Studies in Physics Education , Institute of Physics, University of Aarhus , Aarhus
C, Denmark
Published online: 24 Feb 2007.

To cite this article: Henry Nielsen & Poul V. Thomsen (1990) History and philosophy of science in physics education,
International Journal of Science Education, 12:3, 308-316, DOI: 10.1080/0950069900120310

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0950069900120310

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained
in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no
representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the
Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and
are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and
should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for
any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever
or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of
the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic
reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any
form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://
www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
 INT. J. sci. EDUC., 1990, VOL. 12, NO. 3, 308-316

History and philosophy of science in physics

education

Henry Nielsen and Poul V. Thomsen, Centre for Studies in Physics

Education, Institute of Physics, University of Aarhus, Aarhus C, Denmark
Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 05:52 12 January 2015

Physics education in the Danish upper secondary school system has undergone a major reform, starting in
August 1988. The earlier science-centred physics curriculum has given way to a presentation of physics
as a human activity, one way of obtaining this aim being through a compulsory introduction to elements of
the history and philosophy of science. Following a brief presentation of the main reasons for including the
historical-philosophical dimension in physics teaching, this article describes how this dimension—which
was unfamiliar to most physics teachers—was implemented in daily teaching practice. The implement-
ation took place in three steps: (1) the development of a comprehensive teachers' guide, (2) a nationwide
in-service teacher training programme, and (3) the publication of a number of students' books written
according to the guidelines of the committee responsible for all aspects of the implementation programme.

Changing perspectives
The history and philosphy of science has traditionally been more or less banned from
science teaching although now and then conscientious teachers have used fragments.
A few attempts have been made to integrate history and philosopy of science in
physics education, e.g. Project Physics (1970). Winds have, however, recently started
blowing from a different direction. Changes in attitude are noticeable in most
Western countries and in recent years the main objective of a number of conferences
has been to investigate why and especially how this topic may be integrated (Pavia
1983, Munich 1986, Paris 1988).
So far, these thoughts have probably received the strongest official support in
Denmark. In June 1987, the Danish parliament passed a bill which brings about an
extensive reform of the upper secondary school system ('Gymnasium', age group
16-19). Students entering the gymnasium after August 1988 must be taught
according to new and updated syllabi, and it is evident that of all subjects the sciences
have undergone the most extensive curricular changes.
This is not the place to go into detail with the reform and its causes. Suffice it to
say, that the percentage of 16 year olds entering the Danish gymnasium has increased
from 7% in 1960 to approximately 35% in 1988 and that it has turned out that a large
fraction of the students of today are unable to—or unwilling to—appreciate the
traditional, abstract physics and chemistry courses. Research carried out a few years
ago has shown (Nielsen and Thomsen 1985-88) that a majority of upper secondary
school students in Denmark find physics to be difficult, unrelated to other school
subjects, and with very little connection to real life.
0950-0693/90 $3-00 © 1990 Taylor & Francis Ltd.
 HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 309

One purpose of the reform of the physics syllabus has been to alleviate this
apparent paradox. The intention is to get away from the earlier science centred
teaching of physics, towards a presentation of physics as a human activity. The
emphasis is no longer on science for its own sake, but on science as a tool, necessary
for understanding the world in which we live. The means to obtain this shift are two-
fold: (1) a reduction of the amount of 'hard physics' in the curriculum and (2) the
introduction of five new 'dimensions' which must be included in the teaching of
physics. The dimensions aim at persuading the students of the fact that physics has
been—and still is—an important and indispensable part of our culture at large. The
dimensions are:
Physics and the world around us.
The physicist's world-view.
Examples of modern technology.
The physics-technology-society relationships.
Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 05:52 12 January 2015

History and philosophy of physics.

The rest of this paper concentrates on the historical-philosophical dimension since
the authors have been centrally involved in its development and realization.

Pedagogical considerations
At the above-mentioned conferences a number of reasons for including the
historical-philosophical dimension in physics teaching have been discussed. Briefly,
these reasons may be grouped under the following headings:
(i) Physics as a human activity. This is connected to the broadened view of
physics as a process as well as a product. It emphasizes that the advancement
of physics is often far from the linear and rational picture given in standard
textbooks, and history of physics provides examples in large numbers. This
offers a unique possibility for understanding the scientific way of thinking as
opposed to a non-scientific way: the establishment of a scientific, quan-
titative paradigm (using Kuhn's terminology (Kuhn 1971)) as opposed to
qualitative reasoning, and the corresponding quantitative, experimental
corroboration of the theoretical predictions.
(ii) The cultural connection. Understanding how physics influences culture at
large (i.e. changing technologies/societies as well as the world-view) and vice
versa may be facilitated through historical studies. Also, the gap between
'the two cultures' (Snow 1964) can be bridged from the science side (only?).
(iii) Positive change of students' attitudes. Implementation of the first two reasons
in actual teaching practice is expected to change the climate in the classroom
from 'scientific closure' to interactional openness thus activating students in
ways complementary to traditional physics teaching.
(iv) Better understanding of fundamental concepts. This argument is connected to
the point of view, that 'ontogenesis repeats phylogenesis' in concept
formation, i.e. students' preconceptions are analogous to earlier scientific
viewpoints. Generally, we do not agree with this idea, but it may be a
heuristic aid in specific cases.
Usually, physics teaching is based on textbooks explaining the physics in detail and
sometimes containing scattered historical information and/or anecdotes. But a
 310 H. NIELSEN AND P. V. THOMSEN

teaching that seriously involves the historical-philosophical dimension offers new

possibilities. One extreme is based on teaching materials (books) along the
traditional line, offering a comprehensive text about the historical development of
concepts. This approach was used in a recent book (Thomsen 1987). Another
extreme is to present a number of excerpts from original papers or books together
with a short introduction and suggestions for questions etc. to be used in actual
teaching. This approach was used for Danish in-service teacher training (cf. the
following two sections), but this is generally too demanding for students. It seems to
us now that a 'golden mean' between the two extremes is to be preferred: books
aimed at students should include selected excerpts from original sources as well as a
broad text giving the necessary historical and conceptual background. This
approach has been used by Nielsen (1987) and is being used in two forthcoming
books (Nielsen et al. 1989, Thomsen 1989). The well-known Project Physics course
(Project Physics 1970) was written in accordance with the same philosophy, but as it
Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 05:52 12 January 2015

is a general text book with the (relatively few) sources integrated into the main text, it
is not very easy to use in the new Danish upper secondary physics teaching in which
all five dimensions have to be taken seriously.
Selecting excerpts from original sources is far from easy since a balance has to be
found: on the one hand, central quotations with a maximum of pertinent information
are wanted, on the other, the quotations must be readable (under guidance) by the
students. This leads the selector into a serious dilemma, which may only be solved by
drawing on general considerations as to what is possible (and what is not!) in physics
education, as well as on the expertise of professional historians of physics and physics
teachers (cf. the next section).

Implementation
Although the reform had been preceded by a widespread debate among the physics
teachers in the gymnasium and although some teachers certainly to some degree have
included one or the other of the five dimensions in their teaching, it is probably fair to
say that as a whole the group of physics teachers were not well prepared for the
reform. As a consequence, the Ministry of Education allotted extraordinary funds
for an increased amount of in-service teacher training activities and appointed a
committee to be responsible for the organization of the teacher training programme.
This committee soon decided that due to the very limited amount of money available
(approximately 2000 DKK per physics teacher) the most sensible way ahead would be
to concentrate the effort on creating the basis for a number of regional in-service
teacher training courses. These courses were to be developed and implemented by
five working-groups ('think-tanks'), the members of which were carefully chosen
among active and interested teachers from universities and upper secondary schools.
In the following, we shall report on the work carried out by the group
commissioned for the historical-philosophical dimension. This group consisted of
two physics teachers, one history teacher and one teacher of Danish from upper
secondary schools in the Aarhus area plus two physicists (authors of this paper) and
one historian of physics from the University of Aarhus. Each member of the group
had prior experience in the field, and most of us had in fact already published books
on history of physics for upper secondary school students.
In our discussions within the group we rapidly realized that our task was
formidable: firstly, we had to convince the average physics teacher (who previously
 HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 311

had not been actively involved with the history and philosophy of physics) that
history of physics is interesting and that the students really may benefit from it.
Secondly, we had to teach him/her some interesting examples from the history of
physics along with suggestions for actual use in the classroom. And, thirdly, we had
to convince the teacher that he/she would also be able to teach the students on the
historical-philosophical dimension without any problems.
The final result of our work was (1) a teachers' guide, and (2) an inexpensive
training programme which will enable every single physics teacher to acquire a
minimal introduction to the subject. As an almost integrated part one should also
consider (3) the books for students on different aspects of the history of physics,
which the individual members of the working group had already written in
advance—or which they are writing at present. In the following, we only present
brief comments on the first two points; instead we concentrate our efforts on giving a
more thorough discussion of two of the books, which are designed for the upper
Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 05:52 12 January 2015

secondary school physics students.

The teachers' guide—an overview

The working group devoted most of its efforts to develop a teachers' guide
containing a number of concrete examples of how the historical-philosophical
dimension may be introduced in the classroom. Thus the book came to contain two
introductory chapters and five separate cases of rather different character. The
contents are roughly as follows:
Chapter 1: On the Historical-Philosophical Dimension in Physics Teaching (H.
Nielsen and P. V. Thomsen). This is a general introduction explaining the
intentions underlying this dimension (cf. section on 'pedagogical consider-
ations' above) and also containing brief presentations of the changing views in
the philosophy of science from Bacon to Kuhn.
Chapter 2: Dealing with Sources (L. Bluhme). This chapter presents some
standard methods used by history teachers to make their students work with
original texts in a meaningful way. This kind of teaching is quite unfamiliar to
physics teachers, and it is therefore important to provide them with this kind of
tool. One function of the subsequent chapters in the guide is to provide
concrete illustrations of the use of these methods.
It is not possible to give an adequate description of the above-mentioned tools in this
paper, but very briefly the central idea is to teach students about the existence of
three different levels of questions: (1) review, (2) analysis and (3) assessment. At the
review level, the most elementary level, the student is just asked to describe in his or
her own words what is the actual content of the source text. At the next level, the
analysis level, the student should be able to divide the text(s) into parts and thus, for
example, compare two texts on the same issue but by different authors. And, finally,
at the highest conceptual level, the assessment level, the student is asked, for
example, to find out whether a certain hypothesis is confirmed by the sources at
hand.
The five remaining chapters have basically the same structure. Each of them
presents a historical case study, giving a brief introduction to the historical and
scientific context followed by a selection from original sources. Suggestions for use in
the classroom are given, including a list of questions along the above-mentioned lines
for students to answer while working with the texts. These questions fulfil a double
 312 H. NIELSEN AND P. V. THOMSEN

purpose since they also are meant as illustrations to the teacher of the methods
described in Chapter 2 of the book.
Chapter 3: The Scientific Revolution (P. V. Thomsen). The main part of this
chapter is an extract of a student's book (Thomsen 1989) which will be
discussed later in this paper.
Chapter 4: Physics and the Industrial Revolution (H. Nielsen). The main part of
this chapter is contained in an already published book with the same title
(Nielsen 1987)._It will also be discussed later in this paper.
Chapter 5: Early Electrodynamics (O. Knudsen). This chapter is based on two
earlier publications by O. Knudsen. It presents texts by Coulomb, Poisson,
Oersted, Ampere and Faraday, illustrating conflicting views on the nature of
electricity, magnetism, and electromagnetic interactions.
Chapter 6: The Break-through of Modern Physics: Quantum Physics (P. V.
Thomsen). This chapter contains an extract from a previous book (Thomsen
Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 05:52 12 January 2015

1987) followed by two short texts by Niels Bohr.

Chapter 7: History of the Atomic Bomb (C. Jensen and J. P. Touborg). This
chapter is the result of a collaboration between a history teacher (Jensen) and a
physics teacher (Touborg). It presents no less than 15 texts, two of which
concern the discovery of nuclear fission while the rest deal with the Manhattan
project and the first use of nuclear weapons. Unlike the-other chapters, this one
provides material for discussions of ethical, political, and military issues.

The in-service teacher training programme

The training programme was designed as two stages. The first stage was a three-day
seminar, held in August 1988, for a selected group of some 30 physics teachers. The
participants were known to us as having previously shown an active interest in
history and philosophy of physics and came from schools all over the country. At this
seminar the above-mentioned book was presented and subjected to a thorough
discussion. The participants were then given the responsibility for arranging (in
close collaboration with local branches of the Danish Association of Physics
Teachers) a nationwide series of regional meetings. At these meetings one of the
members of the think-tank introduced the dimension and the teachers' guide (which
in the meantime had been sent to every physics teacher in Denmark), and concrete
proposals for teaching were discussed. This second stage became operational during
the Fall of 1988 and will continue during the Fall terms of 1989 and 1990, by which
time almost every physics teacher in the country will have had the opportunity to
attend at least one of these one-day courses.
The first series of regional meetings has now been completed, and we have
received a certain amount of feedback. With very few exceptions, the reactions of
teachers participating in the meetings have been positive as regards the historical-
philosophical dimension in general, and the usefulness of the teachers' guide in
planning and running teaching sequences for students in particular. The real test,
however, will be the reactions of the students when they are contronted with teaching
material of this kind. Until now, few students have experienced teaching sequences
concerned with the historical-philosophical dimension, as these sequences are
generally recommended for the second and third year in the upper secondary school.
So far, reports from enthusiastic teachers are encouraging—but what will happen
when 'the average teacher' takes over? We shall know in a year or two!
 HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 313

Books for the students—two examples

Case 1: The Scientific Revolution—from Aristotle to Newton
The reasons given in the second section (for incorporating the historical-
philosophical dimension in physics teaching) all apply to the Scientific Revolution.
The Scientific Revolution in the 17th century marks the transition from
philosophy of nature to science as we know it today. The very thought of dealing with
nature by means of controlled experiments and 'philosophizing' by means of
mathematics (instead of discussing interpretations of the canonical texts of Aristotle
and the Bible) may be the greatest step ever taken by the human mind.
The first 'unification* in physics soon happened as a result of this way of thinking,
when Newton showed that terrestrial and celestial phenomena can be described by
the same theory. This fact brings later unifications into an expanded perspective.
Galileo Galilei is the central figure in the scientific revolution. In his vivid
Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 05:52 12 January 2015

writings, everyday phenomena are described and analysed understandably, in-

consistencies in previous arguments are shown, and precise definitions (needed for
mathematical handling) of e.g. acceleration are given. Still, some concepts were not
clear to Galileo, e.g. force, and had to await Newton. It is well-known that the same
confusion about the same concepts is widely spread among students (and the
majority of the adult population too!). In the physics education literature this
phenomenon is termed 'alternative frameworks', 'children's ideas', 'preconceptions'
etc. (see, for example, Driver 1984). One might hope that serious work with the
scientific revolution might help the students in transforming their own concepts.
The book on the scientific revolution is in its final writing stage. It consists of (1) a
main text, (2) selected extracts from the writings of Aristotle, Galileo and Newton,
and (3) a number of suggestions for the actual teaching, including questions to the
texts and some experiments. We shall outline the contents of the main text only.
The introduction puts the scientific revolution into a broader historical
perspective, discussing the Greek tradition and the Jewish-Christian tradition thus
leading to the role of the Catholic church around 1600.
The rest of the main text consists of two major parts and an interlude. The first
major part is a presentation of the ideas about motion on the surface of the Earth,
starting with Aristotle's view and concept of causes. Medieval modifications
(impetus theory) are briefly mentioned and the stage is ready for Galileo to enter. His
discussion of and experiments on uniformly accelerated motion is recapitulated in
detail. Afterwards, the introduction of 'the scientific method' and Galileo's emphasis
on how things really proceed contrasted to Aristotle's emphasis on why things
proceed, is discussed. This part concludes with a description of Newton's definition
of force and the deterministic nature of classical mechanics. The changes brought
about by relativity and quantum physics are mentioned briefly.
The interlude is of a more philosophical nature. The meaning of 'explanation' is
discussed, comparing the views of Aristotle, Galileo and Newton. In conclusion, the
concept of 'paradigm' is introduced (Kuhn 1971) and changing views of science
discussed with an emphasis on the open-ended nature of the scientific endeavour.
The second major part is concerned with 'physics of the heavens'. It introduces
the geocentric universe and reasons for it of philosophical, religious and scientific
kinds. The work of Copernicus and Kepler is briefly described, while Galileo's
discussion (which led to the famous trial in 1633) is treated in more detail—partly
because many of his arguments may still persuade students. Descartes' explanation
 314 H. NIELSEN AND P. V. THOMSEN

of planetary motion (rotating ether) is contrasted to Newton's theory of universal

gravitation, and the long-lasting argument between Cartesians and Newtonians with
all its nationalistic (France versus England) overtones is discussed. Finally, the
classical view of a stationary universe is summed up with a brief opening to modern
cosmology.

Case 2: Physics and the Industrial Revolution

This book (154 pages) was published in Denmark in the Summer of 1987, and is now
in the process of being translated into Swedish. The book is divided into three
sections, (1) the main text, (2) extracts of 14 original sources of widely different
character, and (3) problems for the students.
The main text gives a systematic account of the theme of the book. It opens with a
bird's-eye view of the scientific and technological development in the centuries
before the Industrial Revolution and a brief discussion of what the Industrial
Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 05:52 12 January 2015

Revolution was and why it started in England. It continues with the history of the
steam engine, stressing that although the steam engine did not start the Industrial
Revolution, it came to play an immense role during the 19th century as it was
developed into a 'universal motor', equally suitable for stationary purposes and
transport duties. The discussion focuses on the contributions of Newcomen, Watt,
and Trevithick to the development of a successful engine with an ever increasing fuel
economy.
The steam engine thus became a very reliable machine, but it also became a great
challenge to the scientists of the time. They were unable to explain how it worked,
because they lacked an adequate theory of heat. This does not mean that there were
no ideas around. On the contrary: the book outlines the essential features of two
competing paradigms—heat as a kind of substance (caloric) and heat as some sort of
motion. It ends up giving a fairly detailed account of Rumford's famous cannon-
boring experiment in Munich in 1798, where the caloric paradigm was seriously
challenged, but still managed to survive for another 30—50 years.
The next chapter gives an elementary introduction to Carnot's theory of heat
engines, which was published in his famous book On the Motive Power of Heat in
1824. The student's attention is drawn to the fact, that although Carnot's theory was
published as late as 25 years after Rumford's experiments in Munich, he neverthe-
less built his theory on the caloric theory of heat. But it is also emphasized, that
Carnot's theory was not immediately recognized. In fact it was forgotten and only
rediscovered by leading physicists in the 1840s, when—in a modified form—it
became one of the cornerstones in the physical theory which is now called
thermodynamics. The other cornerstone, the concept of energy and the establish-
ment of the principle of energy conservation through the works of Mayer, Joule,
Clausius, Kelvin and others, is treated in the final chapter, which in particular
focuses on how Mayer and Joule—following very different lines of thought—
independently arrived at the principle of energy conservation. But it also tells the
story of how their publications were received, and how they became engaged in a
long and fierce battle concerning priority with respect to the discovery of this
fundamental law of nature. The story of the Mayer and Joule battle should convince
the students that physics is a very human activity, and that it is sometimes far from
being the objective search for Truth, as most people seem to imagine, and which is
the idealized picture many physicists like to convey to the public, even today.
 HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 315

The main section concludes with a brief discussion of how thermodynamics,

when it had become fully developed, was able to pay back its debts to technology by
suggesting the principles on which new heat engines (steam turbines and internal
combustion engines) could be constructed.
The original sources section contains excerpts from books, newspaper articles,
patent descriptions and scientific articles on such different subjects as: national
economy (Adam Smith 1776), the factory system (Baines 1835), on the conditions of
the factory workers (Harkort 1841), living conditions in Manchester (Tocqueville
1835), steam engines (Watt 1769, Boulton 1765, Carnot 1824), the caloric theory of
heat (Rumford 1798, Dalton 1808), energy conservation (Mayer 1845, Joule 1847)
and energy degradation (Kelvin 1892).
The problems section contains a number of questions to guide the students in
their reading and evaluation of these sources.
Physics and the Industrial Revolution has received very positive reviews and has
Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 05:52 12 January 2015

been bought by the majority of upper secondary schools in Denmark. The book
contains more material than can be taught in 10 or even 20 lessons, which is what
teachers in general are recommended to spend on a teaching sequence concerning the
historical-philosophical dimension. Fortunately, it is possible to concentrate on
various aspects of the book without any trouble. As far as the 'genuine' physics is
concerned, the class may, for example, choose to go into detail with the caloric
hypothesis and the Rumford cannon-boring experiment, or it may choose to
concentrate its efforts on the development of the principle of energy conservation.
This seems to be a common practice and is quite all right. What the author would not
like to happen, however, is that the classes might feel tempted to ignore the sections
on the Industrial Revolution, which the author believes to be essential in order to put
the development of the physical ideas on heat and energy into their proper
perspective. This is why the book has recently been supplemented with a slide series
(72 pictures with booklet containing a fairly detailed description of each picture), in
which the author together with a history teacher has tried to give a visual and vivid
illustration of the Industrial Revolution and 'the Age of Steam*.

Conclusions
Physics education evidently is haunted by many severe problems, such as persis-
tency of alternative frameworks, match of physics curriculae to the intellectual
capacities of the students, and sometimes even negative attitudes of students. We do
not believe to have solved all these problems in connection with the new upper
secondary school reform in Denmark, but we do believe the reform will at least
change the attitudes of many students concerning physics in a positive direction. It
is, however, a process that may take quite a few years to unfold, since it relies on a
corresponding change in the teachers' conception of what physics is and what it
ought to be in the upper secondary school. More work remains to be done to
accelerate this process.

References
DRIVER, R. 1984, Cognitive psychology and pupils' frameworks in mechanics. In Proceedings
of GIREP Conference: The Many Faces of Teaching and Learning Mechanics (Utrecht).
KUHN, T . S. 1971, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd enlarged version (University of
Chicago Press).
 316 HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

MUNICH 1986, Science Education and the History of Physics, Proceedings of a multinational
teacher/teacher trainer conference in Munich.
NIELSEN, H. 1987, Physics and the Industrial Revolution (HOW) (in Danish).
NIELSEN, H. and THOMSEN, P. V. 1985-88, Physics in upper secondary schools in Denmark,
I—III. European Journal of Science Education, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 95-106 (1985); Vol. 8,
No. 3, pp. 315-324 (1986). International Journal of Science Education, Vol. 10, No. 2,
pp. 189-202 (1988).
NIELSEN, H., NIELSEN, K. and SIGGAARD, H. 1989, History of Technology (Teknisk forlag) (in
Danish).
PARIS 1988, Science Education and the History of Physics, Proceedings of an international
conference in Paris.
PAVIA. 1983, Using History of Physics in Innovatory Physics Education, Proceedings of an
international conference in Pavia.
Project Physics 1970, Revised edition, 1981 (Holt, Rinehart and Winston).
SNOW, C. P. 1964, The two Cultures (Cambridge).
THOMSEN, P. V. 1987, The Break-through of Modern Physics: Quantum Physics (HOW) (in
Danish).
Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 05:52 12 January 2015

THOMSEN, P. V. 1989, The Scientific Revolution (HOW) (in Danish).

Correspondence
Henry Nielsen, Centre for Studies in Physics Education, Institute of Physics, University of
Aarhus DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.