Saturday, November 29, 2014

THE COGNITIVE REVOLUTION


The cognitive revolution brought back the mind into experimental psychology, after behaviorism had defined it as the science of behavior.

 http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~rit/geo/Miller.pdf

"The cognitive revolution is sometimes described as a paradigm shift in psychology, but it's more accurately described as a synthesis of research in various fields centering around cognitive psychology which came to be called the cognitive sciences (or simply cognitive science). This involves research relevant to the study of the mind in neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence, and anthropology."

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Cognitive_revolution

"In the mid-20th century, psychology was no longer “the science of mental life” (as William James had defined it), but “the science of behavior.” Mentalistic concepts —thoughts, memories, goals, emotions — had been banned as unscientific, replaced by associations between stimuli and responses.


But new ideas about computation, feedback, information, and communication were in the air, and psychologists realized they had enormous potential for a science of mind. Four Harvard scholars used them to launch the “cognitive revolution.”
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/10/the-cognitive-revolution/

"I shall begin my case history by telling you about some experiments that tested how accurately people can assign numbers to the magnitudes of various aspects of a stimulus. In the traditional language of psychology these would be called experiments in absolute judgment. Historical accident, however, has decreed that they should have another name. We now call them experiments on the capacity of people to transmit information. Since these experiments would not have been done without the appearance of information theory on the psychological scene, and since the results are analyzed in terms of the concepts of information theory, I shall have to preface my discussion with a few remarks about this theory."

http://www.musanim.com/miller1956/


Monday, September 22, 2014

A LOOK AT PAST AND PRESENT SCIENTISTS WOMEN

http://focus.tv5monde.com/femmesetsciences/

Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's daughter, was world's first computer programmer:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/53131/ada-lovelace-first-computer-programmer

Emilie du Chatelet studied the nature of light and heat, especially fire:
http://www.humantouchofchemistry.com/emilie-du-chatelet.htm

Marie Curie is one of  the most famous scientists that ever lived and only one that won Nobel Prize twice:
http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/mariecurie.html

Amalie Emmy Noether, Creative Mathematical Genius
https://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/noether.html

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin discovered that the sun is made of mostly hydrogen.
http://berkeleysciencereview.com/the-magnifying-glass-ceiling-the-plight-of-women-in-science/

Marguerite Perey discovered a new element which she named francium in honor of her country
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/magazine/my-great-great-aunt-discovered-francium-and-it-killed-her.html?ref=magazine

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Sexism against women in the world of science


We have been for 14 years deep into the XXI Century and still women suffer because of discrimination in the world of science.  Several examples that have happened over time can be found on this blog.

This article addresses the issue in its current situation:

http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/mar/15/women-science-research-university-discrimination-academics-anonymous

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Women in Science: Dr. Marthe Gautier, French scientist


French Dr. Marthe Gautier discovered in 1957 that trisomy 21 is the cause of Down syndrome, " a genetic problem associated with physical growth delays, characteristic facial features and mild to moderate intellectual disability" (Wikipedia).

Dr. Marthe Gautier has been denied credit for her discovery so far, but at 88 years old, she is still living.  It is still possible to right this old wrong.  You can read on this link the whole story:


 http://rrresearch.fieldofscience.com/2014/02/who-really-discovered-trisomy-21.html


 http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/down-syndrome/basics/causes/con-20020948

Friday, February 14, 2014

Women in science: Emilie, Marquise du Chatelet


This exquisite article by Michelle Legro tells the story of the love and collaboration relationship between the French philosopher Voltaire and a French lady who was also a gifted mathematician, Emilie, Marquise du Chatelet.

The Philosopher and the Prodigy: How Voltaire Fell in Love with a Remarkable Female Mathematician

 

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/02/14/voltaire-in-love/?utm_content=buffer8a00c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer