Profesionalna zajednica i društvena uloga fizike u Hrvatskoj početkom XX. stoljeća
The Professional Community and the Social Role of Physics in Croatia at the Beginning of the 20th century

Summary/Abstract: It is not possible to properly understand the status and the development of physics in a society without the knowledge of the structure of the physics community. As a step toward this end, an account of the suitably defined physics community in the Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia at the beginning of the 20th century is given. The account is based on the complete reconstruction of the community for the years 1901 and 1914 resulting from historical sources, and comprises the discussion of the size of the community as well as of its structure (age, sex, confessional, professional, institutional, etc.). In particular, insight into the structure of the physics community is used as a basis for sketching the social role of physics in Croatia at the beginning of the last century. The analysis of the structure of the community makes the identification of the three components of the social role of physics – educational, scientific and practical – possible. It also shows that the educational component of the social role of physics was dominant in Croatia at the beginning of the 20th century, while the scientific component was of secondary importance, and the practical component of tertiary importance.

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