Physics for the Believers: The Translation and Reception of Pascual Jordan's Forschung Macht Geschichte in Finland in the 1950s

The German physicist Pascual Jordan (1902-1980) is renown not only for his contributions to the development of quantum mechanics but also for trying to reconcile religious and scientific world views. Science, he thought, had repealed materialism. Aiming at a wider audience, Jordan lectured at Radio Bremen. These lectures were reworked in 1954 into a book Forschung macht Geschichte (Science and the course of history). The book was translated in 1956 into Finnish (Tutkimus luo historiaa) by Dr. Reino Tuokko, who had a PhD in nuclear physics and was the most prominent Finnish popularizer of physics during the early Cold War period. In his book, Jordan argued for a greater role for science in society and culture. He also both defended science from religious criticism, and Christian faith from materialist criticism. In other words, Jordan argued physics for the believers; he attempted to convince a conservative Christian audience of the importance of science and its compatibility with religious faith. His translator Dr. Tuokko subtly commented on Jordan's ideas in his own original works. Jordan's ideas also resonated with the wider intellectual climate in Finland. I present the case of Jordan's Forschung macht Geschichte and its transnational influence from the cross-section of intellectual history, cultural history of science and history of popularization. I also consider theoretical aspects on how people employ knowledge for cultural and ideological purposes.