Lecture Series “Art or Science”

2019.04.26-2019.05.10
ACADEMIA

[Venue] Intermediatheque 2F ACADEMIA
[Admission] Free (no reservation required)
The number of seats is limited to 48. Your understanding is appreciated.
[Organizer] The University Museum, the University of Tokyo (UMUT)
[Co-Organizers] Kanazawa University Museum + Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History
[Cooperation] AMANE Lab + Academic Repository Network + Komaba Museum, the University of Tokyo
[Support] SHIMADZU CORPORATION + Hakuto Co., Ltd.

In relation to the special exhibition “Art or Science – The Scientific Instrument Collection of the Fourth Higher School,” we will hold a lecture series. For the first lecture, we will welcome Svante Lindqvist. Svante Lindqvist is a historian of science and technology. He is a visiting professor at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Tokyo during the spring of 2019. He is a former president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (the institution which awards the Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry, and the Prize in Economics). He was the founder and first Director of the Nobel Museum in Stockholm.
The second lecture will be held by Yukio Nagahira, a contributor to the present special exhibition. Also a visiting researcher at the Kanazawa University Museum, Yukio Nagahira published in 2001 Modern Japan and Physical Experimental Apparatus - Physical Experimental Apparatus in the Meiji and Taisho Periods in Kyoto University (Kyoto University Press).

Friday, April 26 17:00-18:30
“A Nobel Prize in Art – What If?”
Svante Lindqvist (Visiting professor, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, the University of Tokyo)
Language: English (with Japanese interpretation)
We will discuss why there is no Nobel Prize in Art – or in Music or in any other form of culture, except for Literature. And what would have happened if there had been a Nobel Prize in Art?


Friday, May 10 17:00-18:30
“Historical Physics Apparatus of Fourth Higher School as Historical Materials of Modernization of Japan”
Sachio Nagahira (Visiting researcher, Kanazawa University Museum / Committee member, Physical Society of Japan)
Language: Japanese (no English interpretation provided)
The experimental physics apparatus from the former Fourth Higher School includes more than 900 items, and is one of Japan’s largest collections. The present lecture will show how this collection is precious in documenting the integration of modern science in Japan during Meiji and beyond. We will also reflect on what type of scientific information can be obtained through this apparatus.

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Related Special Exhibition
“Art or Science” – The Scientific Instrument Collection of the Fourth Higher School”
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