Scientific Practice: Theories and Stories of Doing PhysicsJed Z. Buchwald University of Chicago Press, 1995 - 398 pages Most recent work on the nature of experiment in physics has focused on "big science"—the large-scale research addressed in Andrew Pickering's Constructing Quarks and Peter Galison's How Experiments End. This book examines small-scale experiment in physics, in particular the relation between theory and practice. The contributors focus on interactions among the people, materials, and ideas involved in experiments—factors that have been relatively neglected in science studies. The first half of the book is primarily philosophical, with contributions from Andrew Pickering, Peter Galison, Hans Radder, Brian Baigrie, and Yves Gingras. Among the issues they address are the resources deployed by theoreticians and experimenters, the boundaries that constrain theory and practice, the limits of objectivity, the reproducibility of results, and the intentions of researchers. The second half is devoted to historical case studies in the practice of physics from the early nineteenth to the early twentieth century. These chapters address failed as well as successful experimental work ranging from Victorian astronomy through Hertz's investigation of cathode rays to Trouton's attempt to harness the ether. Contributors to this section are Jed Z. Buchwald, Giora Hon, Margaret Morrison, Simon Schaffer, and Andrew Warwick. With a lucid introduction by Ian Hacking, and original articles by noted scholars in the history and philosophy of science, this book is poised to become a significant source on the nature of small-scale experiment in physics. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Context and Constraints | 13 |
Beyond Constraint The Temporality of Practice and the Historicity of Knowledge | 42 |
Experimenting in the Natural Sciences A Philosophical Approach | 56 |
Scientific Practice The View from the Tabletop | 87 |
Following Scientists through Society? Yes but at Arms Length | 123 |
Why Hertz Was Right about Cathode Rays | 151 |
Is the Identification of Experimental Error Contextually Dependent? The Case of Kaufmanns Experiment and Its Varied Reception | 170 |
Scientific Conclusions and Philosophical Arguments An Inessential Tension | 224 |
Where Experiments End Tabletop Trials in Victorian Astronomy | 257 |
The Sturdy Protestants of Science Larmor Trouton and the Earths Motion through the Ether | 300 |
Conclusion | 345 |
353 | |
Contributors | 385 |
387 | |
Other editions - View all
Scientific Practice: Theories and Stories of Doing Physics Jed Z. Buchwald No preview available - 1995 |
Common terms and phrases
Abraham analysis apparatus argued argument astronomical atoms Buchwald Callon capacitor cathode rays charge claim constraints context cultural deflection device discussion earth's motion effect Einstein electric electrodynamics electromagnetic theory electron energy epistemological error ether example experimental practice experimental results explain fact factors FitzGerald Galison Hertz Hicks Huggins hypothesis Ian Hacking instrument interaction J. J. Thomson Kaufmann's experiment kinetic theory knowledge Kuhn Kuhn's laboratory Larmor Latour Lockyer Lorentz magnetic field mass material realization mathematical Maxwell's Maxwellian measure mechanical ment Michelson-Morley experiment Morpurgo nature normative null result object observatory observed paper particles periment phenomena philosophical philosophy of science physicists physics Pickering Pickering's plates Poincaré possible potential principle principle of relativity problem produced quarks Radder replication reproducibility role Schaffer scientific practice scientists sense Shapin Siemens social sociology sociology of science solar stability structure sunspot theoretical description theoretical interpretation Thomson tion Trouton tube velocity