Zwicky by John Johnson Jr

Author:John Johnson Jr.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harvard University Press

Zwicky was a tireless advocate of his invented theory of knowledge, which he called “Morphology.” Here he is shown lecturing on the subject at a conference in Athens, in 1970. He claimed the technique, which considered problems from every possible vantage point, without any preconditions, enabled him to make his fundamental discoveries in jet propulsion, exploding stars, dark matter, and rocket fuels.

He was thinking of his work in astrophysics and jet propulsion. Employing morphology, “rank outsiders … have produced results during the past decades” on the chemistry of propellants, on astronomy and in the science of war, “which no specialists in those fields even dreamed of.”

Goethe first advanced this theory of knowledge, but he never attempted to systematize it so that it could be used by anyone. Zwicky attempted to do that with what he called his Morphological Box, which was like a file cabinet. As Fortune magazine described the idea in an article that treated the Swiss professor like a prophet of the new scientific age,25 the box treated every problem in three dimensions. For instance, a morphological box constructed to investigate new combustion engines would consider potential propellants, the motion of engine parts, and means to increase thrust. “Pull out any drawer in the file, and in each compartment reposes a particular engine or one still to be invented,” Fortune wrote. The article suggested that morphological thinking could be key to solving humanity’s greatest challenges, “from new power plants employing atomic energy to radio-electronic devices to cancer research.”

Zwicky’s advocacy of morphology bore some similarities to other utopian philosophies arising in that era, from Ayn Rand’s Objectivism to L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology. And, like the others, Zwicky was a determined proselytizer. Morphologists in the future—“who understand one another and who do not necessarily need to be organized”—were sure to “play a decisive role in the realization of the genius of man.” Various attempts were made in the ensuing years to organize chapters of morphologists. A first symposium on his system was arranged at Caltech in May 1967 by the International Society for Morphological Research. Even earlier, in 1951, the Air Force was interested enough in the approach that it asked him to submit a proposal to teach it to their officer corps. The Swedish Morphological Society is still in existence.

But it never caught on the way other movements did, partly because few people were able to understand the subtler aspects of the process. Rudnicki admitted there was an additional problem: Morphology was particularly adept at giving a general idea where a solution lies, but it often could not produce an unequivocal answer to the problem at hand.

Von Kármán cited an example of the philosophy’s limitations. During the Korean War, Aerojet received a large order for smokeless jatos. When yet another problem arose with the solid propellant, von Kármán suggested bringing Zwicky in. The Swiss morphologist said he would need at least six months to “establish the morphology” of the cracks that were making the propellant unstable.

A few days later

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