IMAGES OF SCIENCE
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Luis Miravitlles, the most popular scientist
in Spain in the 1960s, explaining the theory
of relativity on Spanish State Television
versión en español
The evolution of science in Spain and the social impact it has had this century are documented in the more than 150 photographs that make up this exhibition, produced and presented by the Art and Technology Foundation and curated by José Manuel Sánchez Ron and Antonio Lafuente. The show, a collaborative effort with the "Residencia de Estudiantes" in Madrid and using the celebration of the Generation of 98 as a point of reference, aims to see scientific advances in the light of social change in Spain’s recent history.
The photos express how science has affected Spain’s social reality, starting with the elites and moving towards the whole society. This phenomenon unfolds in parallel with the process of the institutionalization and internationalization of Spanish scientific and technological activities.
The exhibition was projected as something which would be of interest to a large public and thus the visual aspect of Spanish scientific history has been emphasized. The material in the show comes from many sources, the "Hemeroteca Municipal", as well as from private and public collections: the "Archivo General de la Administración (AGA)", the "Biblioteca Nacional", the "Centro de Estudios Históricos", Magnum Agency and the banks of images from Documadrid and the "Filmoteca Nacional".
The research and bringing together of materials, which took over one year, was directed by the science historian curator of the show, Antonio Lafuente.
From December 2, 1998 to January 24, 1999
Apprentice School.
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"Dam of the Prince Alfonso reservoir |
| Introduction
Antonio Lafuente and José M. Sánchez Ron Ignoring the importance of science is impossible in these last years of a century which has been witness to spectacular advances in the fields of science and technology - advances which have penetrated practically every area of our lives. For many countries - especially those considered “the most advanced” - the importance of science has been recognized for a long time and is in fact taken for granted. So much so, that we could say that science now forms part of a country’s “national culture”. Nevertheless, there is a common misconception amongst Spaniards that such a familiarity with science in Spain has been non-existent. Because of this perception, Spain’s competence within the fields of scientific teaching and practice has had to be continually defended and science’s importance in general, justified. In our opinion, this unsatisfactory situation owes much to the historical image that is understood by science, especially Spanish science.
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Taking Blood
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A Talk on Seeds |
| Science continues to be ignored by Spanish historiography. The usual method adopted by researchers consists of regarding science as something marginal. Furthermore, the process of modernization is almost always implied simply by referring to a few prominent figures. There is no doubt that a large part of the responsibility for this situation rests with science historians themselves who, apart from being a very recent and small collective, have not made the necessary efforts to disseminate their research beyond the academic niches of their trade. However, general historians are also worthy of some blame. Without batting an eyelash, they have accepted the thesis that there has not been any science in Spain, or the little that existed did not have any major social impact and therefore does not deserve a mention. In effect, this way of thinking is almost an automatic reflex created by the poor results of the many recurring controversies surrounding whether or not Spaniards have contributed to scientific development. The terms of such public debates are easy to resume given that it all comes down to a very politicized and strongly ideological confrontation between two rival positions. On the one side, there are those who, lamenting the deficiencies of the Spanish disposition in the area of science, have drawn up a long list of inventors and precursors in the field of humanities. On the other side, and closer to liberal thinking, are those who blame the incompetence of Spanish leaders unable to sustain any worthwhile intellectual undertaking.
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Eclipse of the Sun
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New Astronomy Association |
| Although this is a recurring debate which we could qualify as typical of Spanish culture, we believe nevertheless that knowledge about Spain’s scientific past has changed greatly. There is now top notch literature available to anyone sincerely interested in becoming informed before expressing an opinion about a subject so central to the cultural identity of a modern country. Not only do we now possess an extensive amount of specialized studies, but new historiographical objects have been constructed as well. In effect, the search for great figures or distinguished precursors has been replaced by the analysis of scientific practice and politics, study in institutions and the exploration of the role of science in the shaping of values and culture. The consequences of this has been very important: the Spaniard’s image of science has been modified substantially. Instead of envisioning a contemplative, isolated scientist, absorbed with incomprehensible abstractions, Spaniards now tend to understand science as a social and cultural practice with a collective character, strongly integrated into their local contexts.
The idea for this project emerged from these premises. and two separate yet connected initiatives came together for this purpose. The “Residencia de Estudiantes”, which regards science as a fundamental part of its tradition and history, had been working on a project of their own. The “Fundación Arte y Tecnología”, interested in everything having to do with the cultural dimension of scientific activity, had received with interest a similar proposal. Those of us who were involved in both projects decided to coordinate them in order to complement the two visions.
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Science Congress Exhibition
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Ramón y Cajal in an anatomy class |
| The remembrance of the crisis of 98 in Spain was the pretext which started the ball rolling and the excuse used to get access to the necessary resources. We started with two convictions. The first was the thesis that Spain this century had enjoyed a very important scientific development, and in some cases spectacular, interrupted by civil war in 1936. The second came from the discovery that this scientific renaissance had existed in parallel to its increasing presence in the sphere of public life. Therefore, not only did the number of scientific practitioners and prestigious institutions multiply, but so did the channels of communication between scientists and the public. Science, besides being a professional activity developed during the first third of this century - principally in the laboratories of the “Junta para Ampliación de Estudios”, renamed “Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas” after the war - was a new element of cultural identity for the ordinary Spaniard. These then are the beginnings of what we imagined to be an exhibition with two main centres. In the “Residencia de Estudiantes”, attention was mainly paid to the presentation of science as it was seen by Spanish biologists, mathematicians, chemists and physicists from the late 1800s to the last decades of this century. Complementarily, in the “Fundación Arte y Tecnología” we proposed to show what were the popular perceptions of scientific activity, employing icons from, amongst other sources, the media and the movies.
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"Red Cross Nuns in Madrid
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Zeppelin over |
| Together, we hope that the effort we have put into this project will result in the realization of some of our humble objectives. The initial aim was to bring an unknown segment of Spain’s recent history to its citizens. We have tried to clearly and simply show the material however without renouncing historical vigor. We hope that visitors to the exhibition will be surprised by the quality and abundance of scientific work carried out in Spain and that at the same time, will understand the nature of some of the limitations - which possible still exist - in the practice and teaching of science. Furthermore, we believe that the theory that the dominant characteristic of Spanish scientific activity has been its discontinuity, is one that has been overly considered. Although we will not insist upon the influence that the up and downs of politics has had on science, we do however believe that continuing to present Spanish history as a sequence of radical ruptures with tradition is wholly unnecessary. Without a doubt, Spain was backward compared to most of its European neighbours, but it is a mistake to confuse the word “backward” with the word “isolated”. This argument can be applied to the problem of public perceptions of science as well, given that although publications were more feeble, informative texts and images are comparable to what appeared in other countries. The public was seduced by the cause of science with the same hopes and fears as in the rest of Europe: on the one hand, the hope in the ability of science to resolve all of the world’s problems and on the other, the fear of the power of this new, influential player. We don’t want to explain more along this line as we hope that visitors to the show will come to their own conclusions about what they see.
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Self-portrait of Cajal,
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"Visit of the Republican Senator
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| We would like however to finish by communicating our conviction that the history of contemporary Spanish science, its successes as well as its failures, has been the result of the effort of many players. The scientists of course, many of whom carry out their work in very difficult circumstances, but Spanish society as a whole as well. And that the advances that have occurred would not have been possible without the complicity and participation of Spain’s citizens. Science, as we have presented it here, is not the exclusive territory of scientists, but rather a common and collective enterprise in which a multiplicity of players are implicated. Efforts which work towards encouraging a commitment from the whole of society to the development of scientific activity are very important and much needed.
Translation of Introduction from catalog by Antonio Lafuente and José M. Sánchez Ron.
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A Family listening to the Radio
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"Professor Einstein with some children
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The Pilots Jiménez and Iglesias,
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Inauguration of the Institute
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"Monument to Fleming
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"Inauguration of automatic telephone
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Pediatrics class
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"Intense agricultural campaign in |
Exhibition
Curator: Antonio Lafuente
Assistant: Tiago Saraiva
Catalog
Imágenes de la ciencia en la España contemporánea
Texts by: Antonio Lafuente, José M. Sánchez Ron and Tiago Saraiva
Spanish
220 Pages
ISBN: 84-89884-05-6
Price: 3.000 Pesetas
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