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Von der Entdeckung des Ozons bis zum Ozonloch. Disziplinäre Verankerungen theoretischer Erklärungen

This study reconstructs the development of stratospheric ozone research since the discovery of ozone in 1839 until the proof, the explanation and the aspired stop of catalytic ozone depletion and of the recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole. It resumes the main themes, objects of experience, methods, explanations, models, and theories constituting ozone research, and their historical development. It denominates possible scientific controversies and their resolution, elaborates the basic structure of this problem oriented research and its embedding in climate research, including its social characteristics, and discusses the disciplinary references and anchorages of the theories used and developed in ozone research. The following key structural properties of problem oriented ozone research and its disciplinary anchorages can be identified: For stratospheric ozone research which showed a clear academic orientation for a long time a socially defined practical problem became its main point of reference after 1970, namely the risk of anthropogenicly caused ozone depletion. The explanation of a concrete (socially defined) phenomenon such as the ozone hole, which is considered as sufficient, is reached by a typically problem oriented combination of different scientific theories of differing disciplinary origin. So there was no real specialty of ozone researchers; instead, an externally forced, problem oriented cooperation of varied subject and theme related orientations
developed. The external political pressure towards problem oriented cooperation of ozone researchers to explain and solve a problem, namely UV radiation effects, at the political level had the positive effect that research fields and orientations, which previously worked separately and each followed their own (disciplinary) perspective, had to cooperate in a (at least partly) problem oriented manner. This problem oriented cooperation (implicitly) contributed to push back the influence of certain sociopolitically interested problem interpretations which are presented in at least pseudo-scientific rational terms and in their efficacity depend on the size of scientifically still unexplained questions, by authoritative assessments which were connected with considerable research efforts and cooperative resolution of controversial issues.
As a result (the history of) ozone research confirms the maintenance and dominance of disciplinarily determined theories as well as the feasibility of their problem oriented (finalized) connection and substantiation what is more than mere theory application and contributes to the further development and differentiation of (basic) scientific research according to the norms of these disciplinary theories.