Aant Elzinga (born 22 November 1937,

Bolsward Bolsward (, West Frisian: ''Boalsert'') is a city in Súdwest-Fryslân in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. Bolsward has a population of just under 10,200. It is located 10 km W.N.W. of Sneek. History The town is founded on thr ...

) is professor emeritus at the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current Swedish universities and with 37,000 students and 6000 st ...

. In 1984 he set up a unit for science and technology foresight at the

Science Council of Canada The Science Council of Canada (SCC) was a Canadian governmental advisory board existing from 1966 to 1993. It originally had 25 scientists and senior civil servants, later expanded to 40 natural and physical scientists, with the civil servants remo ...

. From 1991 to 1997 he was president of the

European Association for the Study of Science and Technology Science and technology studies (STS) is an interdisciplinary field that examines the creation, development, and consequences of science and technology in their historical, cultural, and social contexts. History Like most interdisciplinary fie ...

. He is a member of the

Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg The Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets-Samhället i Göteborg, abbreviated KVVS and often known simply as ''Samhället'') is a Swedish Royal Academy. Its predecessor was founded in Gothenburg ...

and affiliated with the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science at Gothenburg University. He is also a founding member of the

Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council (ISC). SCAR coordinates international scientific research efforts in Antarctica, including the Southern Ocean. SCAR's scien ...

's (or SCAR's) Action group for history of Antarctic science. Member of International Advisory Board of the Netherlands Research Graduate School of Science, Technology and Modern Culture (WTMC).

Biography

Elzinga studied theoretical physics and applied mathematics, B.A. (1960) at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

in Canada, history and philosophy of science MSc (1964) at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(UCL), Fil Lic (1968) and Fil Dr (1971) vetenskapsteori (theory of science and research) at

Gothenburg University The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current Swedish universities and with 37,000 students and 6000 s ...

. He did his doctoral dissertation on a research program in early modern physics with reference to the work of the Dutch 17th-century physicist, mathematician and astronomer

Christiaan Huygens Christiaan Huygens, Lord of Zeelhem, ( , , ; also spelled Huyghens; la, Hugenius; 14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor, who is regarded as one of the greatest scientists of ...

. He has been guest researcher at the Collegium Helveticum of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (

ETH (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

) in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

, and a Fellow at the

Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS) is an institute for advanced study in Uppsala, Sweden. It is one of the ten member institutions of the Some Institutes for Advanced Study The Some Institutes for Advanced Study (SIAS) consortium organi ...

( SCASSS),

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

Writing

Elzinga has written on

science policy Science policy is concerned with the allocation of resources for the conduct of science towards the goal of best serving the public interest. Topics include the funding of science, the careers of scientists, and the translation of scientific disc ...

from both a conceptual-critical and a practical point of view. Introduced (in 1985) the concept of "epistemic drift". The latter denotes a shift from emphasis on internal quality control to external relevance assessments of research in contexts of strong political and commercial pressures. Analysis builds on studies regarding tensions existing between objectivity and partisanship in research as a human activity and its forms of institutionalization in society. A recent book (2006) was on

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

's bestowal of the

Nobel prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

. Elzinga combines history, philosophy, and the

politics of science The politicization of science for political gain occurs when government, business, or advocacy groups use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted. The pol ...

, giving science policy studies a broader, reflexive and more critical framework. Together with

Andrew Jamison Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

(1995) written on the concept of "policy cultures", referring to goals and norms associated with four different types of stakeholder groups - academic, commercial, bureaucratic and civil society. Critical studies on the co-production of scientific and social orders also dealt with evaluation procedures used by international development agencies, the interplay of internationalism and science and a brief history of

Unesco The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Polar research

Since 1986 specialized in the history and politics of polar research in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. Also concerned with "climate as research and politics". Introduced the thesis that the

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; french: Année géophysique internationale) was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific ...

(IGY 1957/58) and the political regime that followed upon it (i.e., the

Antarctic Treaty System russian: link=no, Договор об Антарктике es, link=no, Tratado Antártico , name = Antarctic Treaty System , image = Flag of the Antarctic Treaty.svgborder , image_width = 180px , caption ...

) was marked by

geopolitical Geopolitics (from Greek γῆ ''gê'' "earth, land" and πολιτική ''politikḗ'' "politics") is the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. While geopolitics usually refers to ...

rivalry, no longer in the form of imperialist conflict but by translation of national political agendas into scientific competition and cooperation between participant countries, a "sublimation of politics in science". Thus one can speak of the construction of Antarctica as a continent by and for science. In connection with the Fourth

International Polar Year The International Polar Years (IPY) are collaborative, international efforts with intensive research focus on the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor in 1875, but died before it first occurred i ...

(2007–2009) worked on the history of the four international polar years to highlight changing foci, conditions of research, logistics and epistemological characteristics over the past 125 years.

Works

Also see https://web.archive.org/web/20091001024402/http://www.flov.gu.se/om/personal/aant_elzinga/ * (Co-author with Ronny Ambjörnsson and Gunnar Andersson) ''Forskning och politik i Sverige, Sovjet och USA'', Aldus/Bonniers, Stockholm 1968. * (Co-author with Ronny Ambjörnsson and Anna Törngren) Tradition och revolution. Huvuddrag i det europeiska tänkandet, Cavefors publ. Staffanstorp 1969 & several later editions. * On a Research Program in Early Modern Physics, Scan. Univ. Bks Göteborg 1972. . * Evaluating the Evaluation Game. On the methodology of project evaluation. SAREC-Report R:1 Stockholm 1980. ISSN 0348-2626. * (Co-editor) In Science We Trust? Moral and Political Issues of Science in Society. Lund University Press, Lund 1990. * (Editor) Changing Trends in Antarctic Research, Kluwer Ac. Publ. Dordrecht 1993. / 9780792322672 / 0-7923-2267-3 * (Editor with Catharina Landström) Internationalism and Science. Taylor Graham, London and Los Angeles 1996. . * "Objectivity and Partisanship in Science", Ethnos (Stockholm) 1975:1-4: 406–427. http://www.autodidactproject.org/other/aant1.html * "Science Policy in Sweden, sectorization and adjustment to crisis", Research Policy, vol. 9, no. 2 (April 1980): 116 * 146. * "Research, Bureaucracy and the Drift of Epistemic Criteria", in Björn Wittrock and Aant Elzinga, eds. The University Research System. The Public Policies of the Home of Scientist. Almqvist & Wiksell International Stockholm (1985): 191–220. ; ISSN 0280-2988. * "Bernalism, Comintern and the Science of Science: Critical Movements Then and Now", in Jan Annerstedt & Andrew Jamison eds., From Research Policy to Social Intelligence. MacMillan Press, London (1988): 87-113. 0-333-45275-5 (Hardback), (Paperback). * "The interplay of science and politics: the case of Antarctica", in Uno Svedin and Britt Hägerhäll Aniasson, (eds.): Society and the Environment: A Swedish Perspective. Kluwer, Dordrecht (1992): 257 – 283. * (with Andrew Jamison) "Science Studies", in Encyclopedia of Higher Education. Vol. 3. Analytical Perspectives. B. Clark & G.Naeve, (eds.). Pergamon Press, (1992): 1943–1956. . * "Science as the continuation of politics by other means" in Thomas Brante, Steve Fuller and William Lynch, (eds.): Controversial Science. From content to contention. State University New York Press, Albany (1993): 127 * 152. . * "Antarctica: the construction of a continent by and for science", in Elisabeth Crawford et al., (eds.): Denationalizing Science. The Context of International Scientific Practice. Kluwer Ac. Publ. Dordrecht (1993):73 – 106. . with Andrew Jamison "Changing Policy Agendas in Science and Technology", in

Sheila Jasanoff Sheila Sen Jasanoff is an Indian American academic and significant contributor to the field of Science and Technology Studies. In 2021 she was elected to the American Philosophical Society. Her research has been recognized with many awards, inclu ...

et al. (eds) ''Handbook of Science and Technology Studies'', London etc. Sage Publications (1995). . * "Reflections on Research Evaluation", ''Science Studies'' (Helsinki) vol. 8 no. 1, 1995: 5-23. * "Unesco and the Politics of Scientific Internationalism", in Elzinga & Landström eds. (1996): 89-131. . * "Shaping Worldwide Consensus: the Orchestration of Global Change Research", in Elzinga & Landström eds. (1996): 223–255. . * "The Science-Society Contract in historical transformation with special reference to 'epistemic drift'", Social Science Information; Sur les sciences sociales, vol. 36, no. 3 (Sept 1997), pp. 411–446. * "Making Ice Talk: Notes from a Participant Observer on Climate Research in Antarctica", in Sabina Maasen & Matthias Winterhagen eds. Science Studies. Probing the Dynamics of Scientific Knowledge. Transcript Verlag 2001, pp. 181–211. . * "From Arrhenius to Megascience. Interplay between Science and Decisionmaking", Ambio, vol. 26 no. 1 (Feb. 1997), pp. 72–80 (also in Chinese). * "Internationalisation of Science and Technology", in Neil J. Schmelser & Paul B. Baltes eds.

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences The ''International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences'', originally edited by Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes, is a 26-volume work published by Elsevier. It has some 4,000 signed articles (commissioned by around 50 subject editor ...

, Elsevier, Amsterdam 2001, vol. 20: 13633–13638. * "The New Production of Reductionism in Models Relating to Research Policy", in Karl Grandin, Nina Wormbs and Sven Widmalm, eds., The Science-Industry Nexus. History, Policy, Implications, Sagamore Beach, MA, Science History Publications/USA (2004): 277–304. . https://web.archive.org/web/20061202021554/http://www.csi.ensmp.fr/WebCSI/4S/download_paper/download_paper.php?paper=elzinga.pdf * (Editor with Torgny Nordin, David Turner and Urban Wråkberg) Antarctic Challenges. Historical and Current Perspectives on Otto Nordenskjöld's Antarctic Expedition 1901–1903. Göteborg, Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Göteborg 2004. , ISSN 0347-4925. * Einstein's Nobel Prize, A Glimpse Behind Closed Doors. The Archival Evidence (Sagamaore Beach Ma/USA – Science History International 2006). . https://web.archive.org/web/20090216145213/http://shpusa.com/books/einsteinsnobel.html * "Through the lens of the polar years: changing characteristics of polar research in historical perspective",

Polar Record ''Polar Record'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of Arctic and Antarctic exploration and research. It is managed by the Scott Polar Research Institute and published by Cambridge University Press. The journal was ...

45 (235): 313-336 (2009).

Notes

External links