Aant Elzinga

Aant Elzinga (born 22 November 1937, Bolsward) is professor emeritus at the University of Gothenburg. In 1984 he set up a unit for science and technology foresight at the Science Council of Canada. From 1991-1997 he was president of the European Association of Science and Technology Studies. Member of Kungliga Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets-Samhället in Gothenburg and affiliated with the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science at Gothenburg University. Founding member of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research's (or SCAR)'s Action group for history of Antarctic science. Member of International Advisory Board of the Netherlands Research Graduate School of Science, Technology and Modern Culture (WTMC)

Studied theoretical physics and applied mathematics, B.A. (1960)University of Western Ontario, history and philosophy of science MSc (1964) University College London (UCL), Fil Lic (1968) and Fil Dr (1971) vetenskapsteori (theory of science and research) at Gothenburg University. Doctoral dissertation on a research program in early modern physics with reference to the work of the Dutch 17th-century physicist, mathematician and astronomer Christiaan Huygens. Has been guest researcher at the Collegium Helveticum of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich, and a Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences (SCASSS), Uppsala University.

Elzinga has written on science policy from both a conceptual-critical and a practical point of view. Introduced (in 1985) the concept of "epistemic drift". The latter denotes a shift from emphasis on internal quality control to external relevance assessments of research in contexts of strong political and commercial pressures. Analysis builds on studies regarding tensions existing between objectivity and partisanship in research as a human activity and its forms of institutionalization in society.

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