ORGANON 4(1967) M IS C E L L A N E A
G. Dobrov, V. K lim eniuk, S. Shukhardin (U.S.S.R.)
THESAURUS OF SCIENTIFIC EVENTS *
The historical way of m ankind is to a great ex tent a road of scientific and technical progress. The duty of n a tu ra l science and technology historians and also of chroniclers of technical progress, is to lessen the so-called “oblivion effect” and to preserve th e events and th e developm ent dynam ics of present-day science and technology in peoples’ memory. To solve this task successfully it is necessary to have a reg u lar inform ation exchange betw een historians and this inform ation should be extrem ely simple for intepreting by both scientific institutions and individual investigators. O ur opinion is th a t to draw up a “thesaurus of scientific events” and to ensure effective application of th e richest historical inform ation, one may successfully use edge punch cards. They are duly universal and simple and need not any complicated equipm ent, w hile w orking w ith th e m ;/th eir use is accessible to any n atu ral science and technology historian. The D epartm ent of the H istory of Technology and N atural Science of the U krainian Academy of Sciences and the D epartm ent of C ontem porary Scientific and Technical Revolution a t the In stitu te of th e H istory of N atural Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Sciences w orked out a punch card model for the th esaurus of historical events (see Fig. 1) to be used in different countries. I t pro vides the possibility for fu rth e r detailed differentiation of events w ithin the limits of the investigated branch of science and technology. We based our w ork on the card model for a prospective ch aracter of historical events bu t the model can accum ulate any retrospective m a terial, too.
* The authors are hoping to hear their collègu es’ opinion on the problem s discussed in th is paper. Opinions should be m ailed to: Gennady Dobrov, V alery K lim entiuk, th e Departm ent of H istory of Technology and N atural Sciences of the Ukrainian A cadem y of Sciences, K iev, V orovskogo-Street, 22; Semen Shukhardin, Institute of H istory of Science and Technology of the A cadem y of Sciences of USSR, M oscow K 12, Staropanskij per. 1/5.
2 6 8 G. Dobrov, V. K lim e n iu k, S. Shukhardin
The universal character of th e punch card conditioned choosing the simplest keys to code characteristics: the direct key and th e 1—2—4— 7-key; a m ore com plicated superpositional key was only used for m arking names.
One m arks down (according to the list of descriptor) th e branch of science and technology in w hich the given event took place and the tim e of its occurence.
Srhesauzus of scientific events
LL_ _____ ____________________ _
Countey trasB_______ . . ■ . ... ... In 12 of april in 1961 the first Soviet spaceship "Vostok" with the nan on board, have made its flight ro und the World and safely returned to the sacred earth of our Sosialist Motherland.
The first man, *ho penetrate into cosmos, luriy Alek.sejevich Gagarin is the citisen of the Soviet Union.
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Fig. 1. A sam ple edge punch card (the original dim ensions are ca. 14,5 X 20,5 cm)
The rig h t hand edge of th e punch card is intended for authors’ names. To m ark them one has to find a group of nam es w ith the needed nam e in the list of descriptors and a four—digit num ber denoting this group is cut on the edge of the punch card. The procedure is as follows: if a num ber consists of two equal num bers less than 19 (for example: 11— 11, 17— 17, etc.), m ake a deep cutting instead of two punched holes m arked w ith this num ber and then make a schallow cutting instead of “D ” (double). If a num ber consists of two unequal num bers less than 19 (for exam ple: 12— 18, 14— 10, etc.), make tw o cuttings instead of the punched pairs m arked w ith these num bers. Deep cuttings are for two- -digit num bers going first (12 and 14 in our example) and shallow cuttings are for num bers following them (18 and 10).
Thesaurus of S cien tific Events 2 6 9
If a num ber consists of tw o pairs, one of w hich is a tw o-digit num ber (less th an 19) and the second one is some other tw o-digit num ber, then the first p air is m arked w ith a deep or shallow cutting and the second p air is m arked w ith tw o cuttings: a deep cutting is for tens and a shallow cutting is for ones. Using th e superpositional key one has the possibility of m arking 4—5 nam es on the same edge w itho u t being afraid of any inform ation noise.
The stage of an event and the q u an tity of au th o rs are coded w ith th e d irect key, and the 1—2—4—7-key is used for punching events and countries. The rest of 15 pairs of punches are reserved for supplem entary data which m ay be needed in the future.
The left han d edge of th e card is intended for an individual object index and it gives the possibility to provide more detailed data about events in the lim its of a definite science or technology.
One w rites down inform ation about the historical event or fact, th e card com piler’s nam e and the source on the unpunched edge of th e card. This booking is w ritten in the language of the co u n try in w hich this card has been compiled. It may be duplicated in th e language in w hich the card index is w ritten which should be done on the reverse side of the card. O ur opinion is th a t it is necessary to compile and exchange punch cards on a w orld scale. Each country can send its cards to th e In ternational Union of H istory and Philosophy of Science for publicaition in one of the Union’s periodicals (in the appendix of the Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences for instance). Compiling a card-index is not very labour expensive and it gives the possibility of receiving th e necessary information.
P reparing the “thesaurus of scientific events” is th e way to have a t one’s disposal a rath e r com plete catalogue of im portant events; scientists will be able to m ake research quite easily in the domain of lows and tendencies of the scientific progress in different fields of hum an activities.
