David M. Scienceman

Dr David M. Scienceman is an Australian scientist; he changed his name from David Slade by deed poll in 1972.

Dr Scienceman has a mathematics and physics degree and gained his PhD from the chemical engineering department at Sydney University (Australia) on a scholarship from the Australian Atomic Energy Commission (Cadzow 1984). He is the author of the emergy nomenclature, and associated concept of Emergy Synthesis.

Additional recommended knowledge

Correct Test Weight Handling Guide: 12 Practical Tips

Daily Visual Balance Check

Don't let static charges disrupt your weighing accuracy

"Scienceman"

J.McGhee (1990) wrote that the change of name from David Slade to David Scienceman was an experiment to create a movement of scientifically-aware politicians. In a world dominated by scientific achievements and problems, the then Dr. Slade believed that there should be a political party that represented the scientific point of view (Cadzow 1984). He envisaged a Scientify Party, where the members would be required to have mastery of one easily available, readable and comprehensible book of general science (ibid). People who did so would need an identifying title, and so the then Dr. Slade proposed the title of "Scienceman", and changed his name accordingly in an experiment to familiarise people with the name, and to gauge its popular appeal.

Sciencemate

At a meeting of the World Future Society in 1976, a group of American feminists told him his new name was unbearably sexist. He saw their point and decided that a better title for members of the Scientific Party would be "Sciencemate" (Cadzow 1984).

The sciencemate book

The book that Dr. Scienceman preferred was Environment, Power and Society by the 'father' of ecosystems ecology, Professor Howard T. Odum (1972 Wiley InterScience). Environment, Power and Society was dedicated to H.T.Odum's father Howard Washington Odum, an American sociologist and technocrat who, "suggested a synthesis of science and society" (1972, p.viii). It looks at humanity from the point of view of energy systems analysis, and systems ecology. In a 1984 interview with Dr. Scienceman, Jane Cadzow wrote in the Australian newspaper that Dr. Scienceman was totally converted to H.T.Odum's idea that everything is based on energy. As H.T.Odum wrote, "Power is a common denominator to all processes and materials" (1972, p.21). For Cadzow

This is to say that political parties, policies, biological and ecological systems can all have kilowatt ratings just like a home electric appliance. From this point of view the best way to understand a country's economic system is to trace, then measure the flow of energy around it. In H.T.Odum's words,

Author of emergy nomenclature

In various, sometimes difficult to obtain, publications Scienceman claimed to be the author of the emergy nomenclature. For example Scienceman began a letter to the editor of the ecological engineering journal (1997, p.209):

Writing in response to this letter H.T.Odum (1997, p.215) wrote:

References

• J.Cadzow (1984) Dr Scienceman's brave new word,The Australian, Newspaper Article, Tuesday, May 15, p. 7.
• H.T.Odum (1997) Letter to the Editor: Emergy terminology. Ecol. Engr. 9: 215-216.
• J.McGhee (1990), Super Scienceman, Extract from the Edinburgh EVENING NEWS, Scotland, April 06, p.1.
• D.M.Scienceman (1987) Energy and Emergy. In G. Pillet and T. Murota (eds), Environmental Economics: The Analysis of a Major Interface. Geneva: R. Leimgruber. pp. 257-276. (CFW-86-26)
• D.M. Scienceman (1989) 'The Emergence of Emonomics'. In Proceedings of The International Society for General Systems Research Conference (July 2-7, 1989), Edinbrough, Scotland, 7 pp. (CFW-89-02).
• D.M. Scienceman (1991) Emergy and Energy: The Form and Content of Ergon. Discussion paper. Gainesville: Center for Wetlands, University of Florida. 13 pp. (CFW-91-10)
• D.M.Scienceman (1995), The Emergy Synthesis of Religion and Science, Center for Environmental Policy, University of Florida. 13pp.
• D.M. Scienceman (1997) Letters to the Editor: Emergy definition, Ecological Engineering, 9, pp. 209-212.
• D.M. Scienceman and B.M. El-Youssef (1993) The System of Emergy Units, in Packham, R. ed. Ethical management of science as a system, International Society for the Systems Sciences, proceedings of the thirty-seventh annual meeting, University of Western Sydney, Hawkwsbury, July 5-9, pp 214-223.
• D.M. Scienceman and F.Ledoux (2000) Sublimation, in M.T.Brown (ed.) Emergy Synthesis:Theory and Applications of the Emergy Methodology, Proceedings of the 1st Biennial Emergy Analysis Research Conference, Center for Environmental Policy, University of Florida, pp. 317-321.