Patton, Lydia
(2011)
Reconsidering Experiments.
HOPOS, 1 (2).
pp. 209-226.
Abstract
Experiments may not reveal their full import at the time that they are performed. The scientists who perform them usually are testing a specific hypothesis and quite often have specific expectations limiting the possible inferences that can be drawn from the experiment. Nonetheless, as Hacking has said, experiments have lives of their own. Those lives do not end with the initial report of the results and consequences of the experiment. Going back and rethinking the consequences of the experiment in a new context, theoretical or empirical, has great merit as a strategy for investigation and for scientific problem analysis. I apply this analysis to the interplay between Fizeau’s classic optical experiments and the building of special relativity. Einstein’s understanding of the problems facing classical electrodynamics and optics, in part, was informed by Fizeau’s 1851 experiments. However, between 1851 and 1905, Fizeau’s experiments were duplicated and reinterpreted by a succession of scientists, including Hertz, Lorentz, and Michelson. Einstein’s analysis of the consequences of the experiments is tied closely to this theoretical and experimental tradition. However, Einstein’s own inferences from the experiments differ greatly from the inferences drawn by others in that tradition.
| Item Type: |
Published Article or Volume
|
| Creators: |
|
| Keywords: |
Experiment, Einstein, relativity, special relativity, Fizeau, light, optics, electrodynamics, theory change, Hertz, Lorentz, Michelson, physics |
| Subjects: |
Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics
General Issues > Experimentation
General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
General Issues > History of Science Case Studies
Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
General Issues > Theory Change |
| Depositing User: |
Dr Lydia Patton
|
| Date Deposited: |
10 Oct 2017 12:57 |
| Last Modified: |
10 Oct 2017 12:57 |
| Item ID: |
13533 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
HOPOS |
| Publisher: |
University of Chicago Press |
| Official URL: |
https://doi.org/10.1086/660167 |
| DOI or Unique Handle: |
10.1086/660167 |
| Subjects: |
Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics
General Issues > Experimentation
General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
General Issues > History of Science Case Studies
Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
General Issues > Theory Change |
| Date: |
2011 |
| Page Range: |
pp. 209-226 |
| Volume: |
1 |
| Number: |
2 |
| URI: |
https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/13533 |
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Altmetric.com
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/style/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}