New sources of life: William Butler Yeats’s “The Gyres”, “Lapis Lazuli” and “Imitated From the Japanese”

The Irish poet William Butler Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923 by the Royal Swedish Academy “for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation”1. The article focuses specifically on three poems from Yeats’s “modernist” period which he included in the cycle New Poems (1938): “The Gyres”, “Lapis Lazuli” and “Imitated from the Japanese”. These later writings emerge as a logical consequence of his previous engagement with philosophy and occultism, mythology and history, art and reality. Yeats’s strenuous efforts to forge mythopoeic stereotypes seem to transcend mere personal versions of myth in an attempt to discover deeper levels of meaning, and to complete the self-image he developed throughout his life. In his later works he managed to make meaningful pronouncements on key moral and philosophical issues relating to the human condition.

STEM Education for Girls and Women

The award of the 2020 Noble Prize in chemistry by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to Dr Emmanuel Charpentier and Dr Jennifer A. Doudna for the development of a method for genome editing does not only highlight the potential and promise that girls and women hold in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, but also that girls and women can excel to the highest level and achieve prominence in these careers. Sadly though, Dr Charpentier and Dr Doudna are only the sixth and seventh women, out of a total of 185 individuals, to have won the Nobel Prize in chemistry since the annual prize was awarded in 1901.i This implies that in the history of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, for every female winner there are 26 male winners. And in the history of all the Nobel Prizes in the sciences, there have been 20 female laureates of the more than 600 prizes awarded in physiology or medicine, chemistry and physics. These ratios reflect the gender disparity and inequality that exists in STEM fields globally.

Places of ‘invention and discovery’ and the Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize has acted as a surrogate record of invention and discovery throughout the twentieth century. Based on this surrogacy, many claims are made regarding both trends in research and claims for places of research excellence. In this paper I propose that any analysis should be weighted by the ‘prize share’ made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to each recipient. In addition, I argue for a focus on the organization and period when the prize-winning research was carried out, rather than when the award was made and the often quoted ‘affiliated organization at the time of award’. I use this to briefly examine types of invention and discovery for all Nobel Prizes in Physics awarded to date (1901–2019). I then use this ‘place’ lens to briefly explore trends in invention and discovery in the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physics. I conclude by drawing attention to the difference between institutions claiming Nobel Laureates and institutions where Nobel Prize-winning discoveries and inventions have been made.

A Reappraisal of the Lurøy, Norway, Earthquake of 31 August 1819

Archives and libraries were visited to find previously unknown documents testifying to the Lurøy, Norway, earthquake of 31 August 1819 in northernmost continental Europe. The focus here is on Sweden, Finland, and Russia, which are important for determining the area of perceptibility east of Norway. The new written sources include 12 notes or entries in original archived documents, six contemporary newspaper reports, and two recollections written down years later. The original documentation uncovered is contributory to establishing the authenticity of the observations in Finland and Sweden. The dates of the original documentation allow tracing of the dissemination of eyewitness accounts in writing from the inner area of perceptibility southward to the larger documentation and population centers. New sources of information include weather reports of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, minutes of its meetings, and correspondence sent to the Senate in Finland. The minutes of meetings of the Academy indicate that ample data were collected in the Swedish province of Västerbotten. We found no original Russian documentation but uncovered national newspapers that are more reliable than the previously used Parisian newspaper. To increase transparency, we provide the first list of macroseismic data points (MDPs) including the respective documentation that testify to the Lurøy earthquake. A macroseismic intensity was assigned to a locality, using the European Macroseismic Scale of 1998, when adequate information was available. Accounting for the uncertainty of intensity assessment, the magnitude was estimated as moment magnitude M=5.9±0.2, reconfirming the ranking as the largest onshore or nearshore earthquake in the historical seismicity record of Fennoscandia. In addition to the reappraisal of the 31 August 1819 earthquake, a macroseismic map is provided for the earthquake of 17 February 1819, which was felt in northern Finland and Sweden. Some of its MDPs were previously associated with the Lurøy earthquake.

An Inquiry to Re-Sources in Economics from the Management Science

A better earth is possible with cooperative advantage model for nature and humanity well being as I introduced in my prior study. I now move to make an inquiry of the economic science. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences call economics as economic science then what is science? The Quarterly Journal of Economics, as the oldest professional journal of economics, by Oxford Academic of Oxford University, Journal is Edited at Harvard University’s Department of Economics, has introduced Religion & Economics Collection with an introduction starts with three questions; 1. Does Religion affect economic growth and happiness? 2. How do societies form moral systems? 3. Do Catholic schools make a difference? Starting with this collection questions; this study make an inquiry to “re-sources in economics from the management science”.

Normal Science

Prizes have been awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from its foundation in 1739 onwards. In the 18th century these were of a kind typical of the period: problems were posed, almost always with a utilitarian bent, and awards (money or medals) were promised to those who could come up with practical solutions. The Academy’s first prize question, in 1739, concerned an improved method for bleaching cloth; the response was zero, a not untypical result. This type of award was never a success, and from around 1810 prizes became more academically oriented and were offered for recent publications or innovations rather than solutions to problems posed beforehand. The Letterstedt Prize was the most important among these awards during the 19th century, and a model for the Nobel Prize. It was awarded mostly for work in the natural sciences, but sometimes also in the humanities or for technological innovations (Alfred Nobel received it in 1868); a special prize was awarded for translations. An analysis of nominations and discussions preserved in the Academy’s archive shows that the Letterstedt science prizes functioned as a kind of benchmarking of national science (foreigners were not awarded on principle); high-quality “normal” science that seemed to put Swedish science on par with research in countries like Germany or France was awarded rather than work of high originality.