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Robert Marc Friedman

Professor Emeritus

Email r.m.friedman@iakh.uio.no

Mobile phone +47 916 39 068

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Postal address robertfr

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Please see the Norwegian webpage for Professional Background, Honors, and related information.

For an up-to-date list of Selected Publication and other scholarly activity registered in CRISTIN, please consult the Norwegian webpage.

Ongoing and Planned Research and Public-Outreach Projects at IAKH

“Banned in Berlin”: a play about Einstein, the general theory of relativity, and the politics of science

Einstein and the Nobel Prize: a follow-up article on my earlier publications, esp. Nature (1981), related to bias against Einstein and his relativity theories in the Nobel Committee for Physics

“Victor Moritz Goldschmidt (1888-1947): Scientist, Immigrant, and Refugee”: a study of Goldschmidt’s major contributions to geochemistry and crystal chemistry as well as of pettiness, envy, and prejudice in Norwegian academic culture. Support from PROFORSK, Norwegian Research Council

“Lise Meitner and the Struggles of a Moral Researcher” Screenplay for an animation film about science, gender, and values. Support from Communication Project, The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation.

Tags: History, History of Science, History of Universities, Polar Hiistory, Historical Sociology of Knowledge, Diffusing historical scholarship through dramatization

"Nobel physics prize in perspective." Nature, 292 1981. 793-798.
Appropriating the Weather: Vilhelm Bjerknes and the Construction of a Modern Meteorology.
Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1989; 1993.
The Expeditions of Harald Ulrik Sverdrup: Contexts for Shaping an Ocean Science. La Jolla, CA: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1994.
"Civilization and national honour: The rise of Norwegian geophysical and cosmic science." Making Sense of Space: A History of Norwegian Space Activities. ed., J. P. Collett. Oslo: Scandinavian Universities Press, 1995. 3-39.
Integration and Visibility: Historiographic Challenges to University History. Occasional Papers 1/2000 Forum for University History, University of Oslo, 2000. 49 pp.
The Politics of Excellence: Behind the Nobel Prize in Science. New York: Freeman & Times Books, Henry Holt & Co., 2001. 400 pp. Chinese edition: Shanghai, 2005.
"La politica culturale del paesaggio celeste: Riflessioni su nuvole, aurora boreale e identità." Natura, cultura, identità: Le università e l'identità europea. ed., G. Pancaldi. Bologna: CIS-Università di Bologna, 2004. 59-78.
"Nansenismen" og "Å spise kirsbær med de store". Norsk Polarhistorie, Bind II Vitenskapene. eds., E.-A. Drivenes & H.D. Jølle. Oslo: Gyldendal, 2004. 107-174, 331-420.
Remembering Miss Meitner Drama. Göteborgs Stadsteater (2004-2010) og Radioteatern, Sveriges Radio (2004, 2006). Gjestespill, bl.a. Yale University (2009) & Maxim Gorki Theatre, Berlin (2010). Flere profesjonelle forestillinger på engelsk og italiensk.
Ricordando Lise Meitner: Dramma in un atto di scienza e tradimento. Bologna: Edizioni Pendragon, 2005.
Becoming Albert Einstein Drama. Forestillinger i Bergen og Oslo, 2005.

Friedman, Robert Marc (2022). The 100th Anniversary of Einstein's Nobel Prize: Facts and Fiction. Annalen der Physik. ISSN 0003-3804. doi: 10.1002/andp.202200305. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
As the 100th anniversary approaches of Albert Einstein being awarded a Nobel Prize, questions remain about the motivation for the prize and about the absence of any specific mention of his theory of relativity. By revisiting and supplementing earlier scholarly studies, it will be shown that “Einstein did not receive, as often claimed, a prize for his theory of the photoelectric effect and that committee member Allvar Gullstrand's error in comprehending relativity was not the cause for rejecting this strongly nominated achievement.” Rather, in their evaluations of relativity, “Svante Arrhenius (1920) and Gullstrand (1921 & 1922) brought to the task bias, if not prejudice; they incorporated arguments from the German ultranationalist experimental physicists’ politically and racially motivated opposition to Einstein and his theories of relativity and gravitation. Only when Carl Wilhelm Oseen joined the committee in 1922, he nominated, evaluated, and proposed a prize for the discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.” The precise wording and deliberate silence about Einstein's quantum theoretical derivation of the law owes to Oseen's insightful understanding of the challenges facing any effort to award a Nobel Prize to both Einstein and Niels Bohr.
Friedman, Robert Marc (2021). "Vitenskapens kulturarv: Når merkevarebygging og skryt fortier historiske fakta". Fortid. ISSN 1504-1913. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2016). "The Cult of the Nobel: Time for a Change". Georgetown journal of international affairs. ISSN 1526-0054. Full text in Research Archive
Doel, Ronald E.; Friedman, Robert Marc; Lajus, Julia; Sörlin, Sverker & Wråkberg, Urban (2014). Strategic Arctic science: national interests in building natural knowledge – interwar era through the Cold War. Journal of Historical Geography. ISSN 0305-7488. 44, p. 60–80. doi: 10.1016/j.jhg.2013.12.004. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Introduction: The Aurora in History". Acta Borealia. ISSN 0800-3831. 29(2), p. 115–118. doi: 10.1080/08003831.2012.732280. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Making Sense of the Aurora: A Research Project". Nordlit. ISSN 0809-1668. 29, p. 59–68. doi: 10.7557/13.2301. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The article provides an introduction to a on-going research project based at University of Tromsø that seeks to analyze the history of efforts to make sense of the aurora borealis from the early 1700s through to the Cold War. Following brilliant displays of the northern lights in the early eighteenth century, natural philosophers strove to explain this phenomenon that evoked widespread fear and superstition. It was not until well into the twentieth century that consensual explanation emerged for this, one of the great enigmas in the history of science. From the start, the quest to explain the aurora borealis became enmeshed with patriotic science and nationalist sentiments. The history of efforts to understand the nature and cause of the aurora poses a number of thematic problems. Being a fleeting and at times rapidly changing phenomenon, only occasionally seen south of far-northern latitudes, the aurora needed to be constituted as an object able to be brought into the domain of rational science. Observational accounts of the aurora came most often from by personsliving or travelling in the far north or in the Arctic, but these persons were generally not trained scientists: Whose witnessing counted and how was authority negotiated among professional scientists and amateurs?
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Balancing Act: Drama about Science based on History". In Grünzweig, Walter (Eds.), The SciArtist: Carl Djerassi's Science-in-Literature in Transatlantic and Interdisciplinary Contexts. LIT Verlag. ISSN 9783643902313. p. 63–73. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Has the Swedish Academy of Sciences...seen nothing, heard nothing, and understood nothing?" The First World War, Biased Neutrality, and the Nobel Prizes in Science. In Letteval, Rebecka & Somsen, Geert (Ed.), Neutrality in Twentieth-Century Europe. Intersections of Science, Culture, and Politics after the First World War. Routledge. ISSN 9780415893770. p. 90–114. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). Amundsen, Nansen, and the Question of Science: Dramatizing Historical Research on the Polar Heroic. Endeavour. ISSN 0160-9327. 35(4), p. 151–159. doi: 10.1016/j.endeavour.2011.08.004. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). "Fridtjof Nansen and the University, 1896-1911", Fridtjof Nansen Minneforelesninger 50 år. Novus Forlag. ISSN 9788270996476. p. 188–210. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). "'Et forjættende symbol': Aulen,universitetet og folket". In Berman, Patricia G. & Anker, Peder (Ed.), Edvard Munchs aulamalerier. Fra kontroversielt prosjekt til nasjonalskatt. Messel Forlag. ISSN 9788276311167. p. 25–45. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). "Science, populist democracy and honour. The 1911 Centenary Celebration of the Royal Fredrick University in Kristiania". In Dhondt, Pieter (Eds.), National, Nordic or European? Nineteenth-Century University Jubilees and Nordic Cooperation. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9789004216945. p. 267–284. doi: 10.1163/9789004218307_012. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). Making the Aurora Norwegian: Science and Image in the Making of a Tradition. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. ISSN 0308-0188. 35(1), p. 51–68. doi: 10.1179/030801810X12628670445464. Full text in Research Archive

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Friedman, Robert Marc (2021). "Projecte Meitner. Una història de ciència i traïció". Bromera.. ISBN 9788413582153. 86 p. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2021). "Proyecto Meitner. Una historia de ciencia y traición". Editions Algar. ISBN 9788491425311. 86 p. Full text in Research Archive

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Friedman, Robert Marc (2024). "Einstein's Nobel Prize: The Scandal Then and Now - and Why it Matters". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2024). "Et nytt kappløp om Sydpolen - Norges dyreste flaggstang". [Journal]. Morgenbladet. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2023). "Spatial innovation: Laurens Hammond's electric organ". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2023). "Goldschmidt: More than Just a Conference Name - New Insights, New Relevance.". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2022). "The dramatic story behind general relativity's Nobel Prize snub". Advanced Science News. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2022). "The Politics of Nobel Excellence: The Lise Meitner Scandal, Then and Now". Session: "Injustice in Science". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2021). "Recordando a Lise Meitner" (Spansk fremføring av "Remembering Miss Meitner"). Teatro Rialto de Valencia. Mars 2021. Teatro Talia. Sept 2021. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2021). "Mujeres y premios: La política detrás del Nobel"/ "Women pioneers denied recognition: Lise Meitner and the Nobel Prize" (English with simultaneous translation into Spanish). Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2021). "Proyecto Meitner". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2021). Feilaktige påstander og bombastisk skryt: Kristian Birkelands vitenskapelige bidrag er overdrevet. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2021). "Utenlandske akademikere i Norge har vært et stridstema i over 100 år". p. 37–37. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2021). "The Politics of Excellence: Demystifying the Nobel Prizes in Science". Full text in Research Archive
JAKOBSEN, SIW ELLEN & Friedman, Robert Marc (2020). "Hvorfor ligger asken etter en av Norges viktigste naturforskere i en umerket grav i Oslo" (Om Viktor Moritz Goldschmidt). [Internet]. forskning.no. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2019). "Fortid og drama: En balanse kunst. En diskusjon mellom Erik Poppe, Kjetil Bang-Hansen og Robert Marc Friedman". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2019). "Renewing the Legacy: Fridtjof Nansen and the Fram Expedition" Keynote Lecture at the launch of the 19-nation Arctic-climate-research expedition with the German "Polarstern". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2019). The Forum: "Fridtjof Nansen". [Radio]. BBC World Service. London. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2018). Angst og begjær i vitenskapens verden: Anmeldelse av "Losing the Nobel Prize" av Brian Keating. Forskningsetikk. ISSN 1502-6353. p. 28–29. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2018). "From 'Transcendence' to 'Banned in Berlin': Theory and practice in dramatizing history of science". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2018). "Moseley and the politics of Nobel excellence". In Egdell, Russell G.; MacLeod, Roy & Bruton, Elizabeth (Ed.), For Science, King & Country: The Life and Legacy of Henry Moseley.. Uniform Press for Unicorn Publishing Group. ISSN 9781910500712. p. 136–154. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2017). "Birkeland Jubileum: Historie forfalskning i merkevarebyggings navn?". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2017). "How Nobel favorites have fared". [Journal]. Physics today. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2017). "Det er ingen tvil om at Jacob Bjerknes pekte ut mål for atombomben. Men jeg tviler på om han visste hva han var med på". [Journal]. Dagbladet. Full text in Research Archive
Brookshire, Bethany & Friedman, Robert Marc (2017). "Explainer: The Nobel Prize. How the Olympics of Science Got Its Start". [Internet]. Science News for Students. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2017). "Hvorfor Birkeland valgte Haldde?". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2016). 'Banned in Berlin': Harmonizing academic scholarship and dramatic theatricality. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2016). "History of Science on Stage: Beyond Hyperbole and Academic Appropriations". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2016). "Transcendence". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2016). "Creating a Visual Language for the Aurora: An Introduction". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2016). "Henry Moseley and the politics of Nobel excellence". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2016). "Die ewig Nominierten". [Radio]. Deutschlandfunk. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2016). "Close but no Nobel: The scientists who never won" Nature: News. [Journal]. Nature. doi: 10.1038/nature.2016.20781. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2016). "Dei beskjedne heltane". [Journal]. Forskerforum - internett utgave. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2015). "Transcendence: Einstein, Kafka and Planck vs Time, Space and Conventions". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2015). "Wie bringt man Einstein auf die Bühne?". [Journal]. Der Tagesspiegel. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2015). "Dramatizing the history of science: Strategies, consequence, and why it matters". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2015). "Transcendence: Relativity and Its Discontents". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2015). "Making Sense of the Aurora: A Report from the Research Front". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2015). "Transcendence: Relativity and Its Discontents". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2015). "Politisk radikal Einstein på scena: Historieprofessor Robert Marc Friedman lagar teater av vitskap. Snart er han aktuell med teaterstykket «Transcendence», som viser nye sider av Einsteins relativitetsteori.". [Internet]. forskning.no. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2014). "Lectura de un imaginado monologo einsteiniano". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2014). "Remembering Miss Meitner". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2014). "Re-thinking the Nobel Science Prizes". ScienceNordic.com. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2014). Keynote Lecture: "Staging Science: Beyond Hyperbole and Academic Appropriations". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2014). Keynote Lecture: "Contextualizing Science: Migration of Knowledge and Peoples (With Special Attention to Prague)". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2014). "Science on stage, fully rehearsed". [Journal]. Times Higher Education (London). Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2013). "Harald Ulrik Sverdrup: Another Kind of Polar Hero". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2013). "Frozen in the ice - polar research then and now". [Internet]. ScienceNordic. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2013). "På gjensyn med Vilhelm Bjerknes". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2013). "Balancing Acts: Drama about Science based on History". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Environmental science during the Cold War: The need and opportunity for trans-national, multi-disciplinary collaborations". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Do Nobelovy medaile se vrylo mnhoho lidksych slabosti". [Journal]. Dějiny a současnost : kulturně historická revue. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Remembering Miss Meitner: History, Memory, and the Future of Physics". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). Introduction: The Aurora in History. Acta Borealia. ISSN 0800-3831. 29(2), p. 115–118. doi: 10.1080/08003831.2012.732280. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "From the research front to centre stage: Scholarship and artistry in dramatizing history of science". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Is the Nobel Prize a Boys Mostly Club?". [Radio]. National Public Radio; Washington, D.C.. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Et skuespill om Amundsen og Nansen". [Radio]. NRK P-2 Ekko . Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Why do Nobel Prizes Reign Supreme?". [Internet]. Physics Central: American Physical Society. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Imperfect Excellence: The Nobel Prizes and the European Periphery". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Amundsen vs Nansen" Forestilling med bl.a. Hallvard Holmen og Gard Eidsvold spilles på forskjellige teater og kulturhus i Nord-Norge, Sørlandet og Østlandet; Litteraturhuset i Oslo. Manus skrevet av RMF; urfremføring ved Hålogaland Teater des 2011. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Remembering Miss Meitner" Gjestespill ved Liseberg Teater, Göteborg, i forbindelse med European Physical Society møte om atom fysikk. 11.07.2012. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2012). "Amundsen, Nansen, and the Question of Science: Dramatizing Historical Research on the Polar Heroic". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). Keynote Lecture. "The Politics of Excellence: The Meaning of the Nobel Prizes in Science". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). "På sporet etter Amundsen". [Journal]. Dagsavisen. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). "Icy shadows: American Cold-War concerns and the shaping of Norwegian polar research policy". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). "Nansenismen". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). "Mytedannelse om forskningens betydning [om Kr. Birkeland]". [Journal]. Apollon : Forskningsmagasin for Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). "Regionality and multi-disciplinarity: Visions for new collaborative ideals in history of science". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). Keynote Lecture. "Marie Curie's 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: The Politics of Excellence". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). "Making Sense of the Aurora: Themes from a Collaborative Project". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). "Amundsen vs Nansen". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2011). "Om å dramatisere historisk forskning". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). "Making the aurora Norwegian". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). "Dramatisk svik" (om "Remembering Miss Meitner"). [Journal]. Uniforum. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). "Dramatisk stykke om Lise Meitner spilles i Oslo". [Radio]. NRK P2 Søndagsavisa. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). "Arctic visionaries: The case of Harald Ulrik Sverdrup". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). Seeing Science: The Sight/Insight of Scandinavian Art. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. ISSN 0308-0188. 35(1), p. 5–6. doi: 10.1179/030801810X12628670445347. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). Review of "Weather by Numbers: The Genesis of Modern Meteorology" by Kristine C. Harper. Isis. ISSN 0021-1753. 101(1), p. 257–258. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). "The Meaning of Meitner in Sweden: Concluding Remarks". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). "Making the Aurora Norwegian". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). "Meitner: Kvinnen, Fysikken, Sviket" Gjestespill fra Göteborgs Stadsteater. Chateau Neuf. 11-12.04.2010. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). "Minns Ni Fröken Meitner" Göteborgs Stadsteater. 07-08.04.2010 & 01-02.10.2010. Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). "Meitner". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). Keynote Lecture. "Disciplinary dynamics in the geophysical and cosmic sciences: Interdisciplinary agendas and disciplinary fragmentation in Norway.". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). "On the relations between (history of) science and drama.". Full text in Research Archive
Friedman, Robert Marc (2010). "Balancing Act: Reflections on Drama about Science Based on History". Full text in Research Archive

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Published Dec. 14, 2010 2:36 PM - Last modified Nov. 28, 2024 11:24 AM

Projects

V.M. Goldschmidt: Scientist, Immigrant, Refugee

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History of Capitalism

Robert Marc Friedman

Ongoing and Planned Research and Public-Outreach Projects at IAKH

Publications

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Completed projects

Research groups