"What do you call a Jew with a master's degree?" history and philosophy of science professor Noah Efron asked a rapt audience Wednesday night. "My mother would say, a dropout," he joked.
The visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University used the anecdote as a segue into his lecture, "Physics and Civics: Jews, Science and Citizenship in the 20th Century," analyzing the complexity behind the Jewish "fondness" for science -- and higher education -- in pre-Cold War America.
Efron recounted the origins of the Institute for Advanced Study -- financed originally by Jewish department-store tycoons -- as a frame for understanding the motives underlying the Jewish-American veneration for all things scientific.
According to Efron, Jews have had an overwhelming influence on the American scientific community, from donating millions of dollars to schools and institutes to receiving 38 percent of American Nobel Prizes in Physics and 28 percent in Chemistry.
Describing the "manic creativity" of turn-of-the-century Jewish slums, Efron noted that pursuing a career in science was often seen as a gateway to prosperity and a chance to "get a seat at the [American] table." Scientific inquiry, he postulated, is so important because it is concrete and "value-free," a true meritocracy, where one could extinguish barriers of religion and class.
Additionally, Efron noted that science acted as a bridge connecting the "greenhorn" Russian Jews and their more prosperous, settled German brethren, who feared uneducated immigrants could spike American anti-Semitism.
"Jews found a place in the heart of American science, but more importantly, science found a place in the heart of American Jews," he said. "You'd start off being a Jew and [through education] you became human," he said.
The lecture was well received by the mixed audience of professionals and students.
Shalom Goldberg, a postdoctoral student in Biochemistry, called Efron "engaging," while medical resident Jeff Kohn thought he was "a fantastic speaker." Kohn noted, however, that the idea of value-less scientific study no longer exists, as a consequence of the competitive funding atmosphere.
Efron's appearance was jointly sponsored by Orthodox Jewish group Tradition Confronts Innovation and the non-denominational Metanexus Institute. Both organizations work to promote dialogue on the interface between science and religion.
