The role of Materials Science in the historical construction of small-scale research

In the mid-20th century, scientists and historians of science acknowledged the rise of a new mode of organization of physical research. Large-scale projects around particle accelerators and nuclear reactors gathered hundreds of scientists and technicians working towards well-defined goals. The term Big Science was coined around 1960 to describe these projects. The term Little Science was introduced too, stressing the contrast with former modes of scientific organization.

This dual categorization took hold and has remained in use despite being vague and controversial. While some scientists extolled the virtues and historical inescapability of big science, others lamented the loss of individual creativity and the burden of administration.

The growth in scale of research appears today less inevitable than it did at the dawn of the Cold War. Recent developments point to the continuing relevance of small-scale research practices and to the complex interdependence of research at different scales. The PhD project aims at tracing the construction and development of the category “small science”, relating it to the social and political dimension of small-scale research, and assessing its present significance.

The project focuses on materials science, a field which “defies 20th century notions of the aims and structure of big physics” (Martin, 2023). In the 1980s materials science was still regarded as largely consisting of “small-scale research carried out by individual scientists located at a large number of universities and national and industrial laboratories” (Congressional Research Service, 1987). The PhD dissertation will assess the role of materials science in the history of small-scale research, focusing on a case study or a related set of case-studies. The specific geographic and chronological scope of the dissertation will be tailored to the candidate’s background, interests, and linguistic skills. The project will also address the social, cultural, and political dimensions of pursuing scientific excellence with humble means.

Academic background

• Ability to combine empirical archival work with historiographical/theoretical approaches.
• Master’s degree in history of science, science and technology studies, or related disciplines.
• Previous research and publications on the topic are valued but not required.

Languages

• Intermediate-high level of English
• Intermediate-high level of a second language other than English

Skills

• Collaborative skills, ability to work with autonomy and willingness to participate in local and international transdisciplinary teams.

The research project “Small science: historical construction of contemporary small-scale research” (PID2023-147710NB-I00; PI: Xavier Roqué) aims at providing the first systematic historical analysis of the category “small science”, as applied to small teams of researchers producing pioneering knowledge with relatively modest means. The project researches the emergence, meanings and values of small-scale research on its own terms, freeing it from the passive, negative signification cast onto it by promoters of large-scale research. The project also critically reexamines the relation of small science with manual labour, the historiography of minor, frugal or slow science, and the scaling features underlying complex research systems entangling small- and large-scale science. Small science appears as a relevant feature of contemporary science, closely related to long-neglected dimensions of the sciences, especially craft, tacit and gendered knowledge. The team comprises historians of science and technology, physicists, and historians.