Download or read book The Instrument of Science written by Darrell P. Rowbottom and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-25 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Roughly, instrumentalism is the view that science is primarily, and should primarily be, an instrument for furthering our practical ends. It has fallen out of favour because historically influential variants of the view, such as logical positivism, suffered from serious defects. In this book, however, Darrell P. Rowbottom develops a new form of instrumentalism, which is more sophisticated and resilient than its predecessors. This position—‘cognitive instrumentalism’—involves three core theses. First, science makes theoretical progress primarily when it furnishes us with more predictive power or understanding concerning observable things. Second, scientific discourse concerning unobservable things should only be taken literally in so far as it involves observable properties or analogies with observable things. Third, scientific claims about unobservable things are probably neither approximately true nor liable to change in such a way as to increase in truthlikeness. There are examples from science throughout the book, and Rowbottom demonstrates at length how cognitive instrumentalism fits with the development of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century chemistry and physics, and especially atomic theory. Drawing upon this history, Rowbottom also argues that there is a kind of understanding, empirical understanding, which we can achieve without having true, or even approximately true, representations of unobservable things. In closing the book, he sets forth his view on how the distinction between the observable and unobservable may be drawn, and compares cognitive instrumentalism with key contemporary alternatives such as structural realism, constructive empiricism, and semirealism. Overall, this book offers a strong defence of instrumentalism that will be of interest to scholars and students working on the debate about realism in philosophy of science.
Download or read book Instruments of Science written by Robert Bud and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1998 with total page 740 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With over 300 entries from the ancient abacus to X-ray diffraction, as represented by a ca. 1900 photo of an X- ray machine as well as the latest research into filmless x- ray systems, this tour of the history of scientific instruments in multiple disciplines provides context and a bibliography for each entry. Newer conceptions of "instrument" include organisms widely used in research: e.g. the mouse, drosophila, and E. coli. Bandw photographs and diagrams showcase more traditional instruments from The Science Museum, London, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book Building Scientific Apparatus written by John H. Moore and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-25 with total page 663 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unrivalled in its coverage and unique in its hands-on approach, this guide to the design and construction of scientific apparatus is essential reading for every scientist and student of engineering, and physical, chemical, and biological sciences. Covering the physical principles governing the operation of the mechanical, optical and electronic parts of an instrument, new sections on detectors, low-temperature measurements, high-pressure apparatus, and updated engineering specifications, as well as 400 figures and tables, have been added to this edition. Data on the properties of materials and components used by manufacturers are included. Mechanical, optical, and electronic construction techniques carried out in the lab, as well as those let out to specialized shops, are also described. Step-by-step instruction supported by many detailed figures, is given for laboratory skills such as soldering electrical components, glassblowing, brazing, and polishing.
Download or read book Nineteenth century Scientific Instruments written by Gerard L'Estrange Turner and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1983-01-01 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the variety of instruments and equipment used in scientific research in fields such as chemistry, mechanics, meteorology, and electricity
Download or read book How Scientific Instruments Have Changed Hands written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2016-09-12 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays discusses the marketing of scientific and medical instruments from the eighteenth century to the First World War. It features case-studies from the United Kingdom, the Americas and Europe.
Download or read book The Science of Brass Instruments written by Murray Campbell and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-01-19 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an in-depth account of the fascinating but far from simple actions and processes that take place when a brass instrument is played. Written by three leading researchers in brass instrument acoustics who are also experienced brass players, it draws together the many recent advances in our understanding of the subtly interrelated factors shaping the musician's control of the instrument's sound. The reader is introduced to models of sound generation, propagation and radiation. In particular, the current understanding of the behaviour of the player's lips, the modes of vibration of the air column inside the instrument, and the radiation of sound from a brass instrument bell are explained. The functions of the mouthpiece and of mutes are discussed. Spectral enrichment arising from nonlinear propagation of the internal sound wave in loud playing is shown to be an important influence on the timbre of many types of brass instrument. The characteristics of brass instruments in contemporary use (including cornets, trumpets, french horns, trombones and tubas) are identified, and related to those of the great variety of instruments at earlier stages in the evolution of the brass family. This copiously illustrated book concludes with case studies of the recreation of ancient instruments and some of the current applications of electronics and information technology to brass instrument performance. While most of the material presented is accessible by a general readership, the topic of musical instrument modelling is developed at a mathematical level which makes it a useful academic resource for advanced teaching and research. Written by three internationally acknowledged experts in the acoustics and organology of brass instruments who are also experienced brass instrument players. Provides both an accessible introduction to brass instrument science and a review of recent research results and mathematical modeling techniques Represents the first monograph on the science underlying the design and performance of musical instruments of the brass family
Download or read book The Body as Object and Instrument of Knowledge written by Charles T. Wolfe and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-04-07 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was in 1660s England, according to the received view, in the Royal Society of London, that science acquired the form of empirical enquiry we recognize as our own: an open, collaborative experimental practice, mediated by specially-designed instruments, supported by civil discourse, stressing accuracy and replicability. Guided by the philosophy of Francis Bacon, by Protestant ideas of this worldly benevolence, by gentlemanly codes of decorum and by a dominant interest in mechanics and the mechanical structure of the universe, the members of the Royal Society created a novel experimental practice that superseded former modes of empirical inquiry, from Aristotelian observations to alchemical experimentation. This volume focuses on the development of empiricism as an interest in the body – as both the object of research and the subject of experience. Re-embodying empiricism shifts the focus of interest to the ‘life sciences’; medicine, physiology, natural history. In fact, many of the active members of the Royal Society were physicians, and a significant number of those, disciples of William Harvey and through him, inheritors of the empirical anatomy practices developed in Padua during the 16th century. Indeed, the primary research interests of the early Royal Society were concentrated on the body, human and animal, and its functions much more than on mechanics. Similarly, the Académie des Sciences directly contradicted its self-imposed mandate to investigate Nature in mechanistic fashion, devoting a significant portion of its Mémoires to questions concerning life, reproduction and monsters, consulting empirical botanists, apothecaries and chemists, and keeping closer to experience than to the Cartesian standards of well-founded knowledge. These highlighted empirical studies of the body, were central in a workshop in the beginning of 2009 organized by the unit for History and Philosophy of Science in Sydney. The papers that were presented by some of the leading figures in this area are presented in this volume.
Download or read book I Use Science Tools written by Kelli L. Hicks and published by Britannica Digital Learning. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emergent readers explore various scientific tools such as a microscope, magnifying glass, and ruler.
Download or read book Instrumentation Between Science State and Industry written by B. Joerges and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: these. In this book, we appropriate their conception of research-technology, and ex tend it to many other phenomena which are less stable and less localized in time and space than the Zeeman/Cotton situation. In the following pages, we use the concept for instances where research activities are orientated primarily toward technologies which facilitate both the production of scientific knowledge and the production of other goods. In particular, we use the tenn for instances where instruments and meth ods· traverse numerous geographic and institutional boundaries; that is, fields dis tinctly different and distant from the instruments' and methods' initial focus. We suggest that instruments such as the ultra-centrifuge, and the trajectories of the men who devise such artefacts, diverge in an interesting way from other fonns of artefacts and careers in science, metrology and engineering with which students of science and technology are more familiar. The instrument systems developed by re search-technologists strike us as especially general, open-ended, and flexible. When tailored effectively, research-technology instruments potentially fit into many niches and serve a host of unrelated applications. Their multi-functional character distin guishes them from many other devices which are designed to address specific, nar rowly defined problems in a circumscribed arena in and outside of science. Research technology activities link universities, industry, public and private research or me trology establishments, instrument-making finns, consulting companies, the military, and metrological agencies. Research-technology practitioners do not follow the career path of the traditional academic or engineering professional.
Download or read book The Physics of Musical Instruments written by Neville H. Fletcher and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-09 with total page 763 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the history of musical instruments is nearly as old as civilisation itself, the science of acoustics is quite recent. By understanding the physical basis of how instruments are used to make music, one hopes ultimately to be able to give physical criteria to distinguish a fine instrument from a mediocre one. At that point science may be able to come to the aid of art in improving the design and performance of musical instruments. As yet, many of the subtleties in musical sounds of which instrument makers and musicians are aware remain beyond the reach of modern acoustic measurements. This book describes the results of such acoustical investigations - fascinating intellectual and practical exercises. Addressed to readers with a reasonable grasp of physics who are not put off by a little mathematics, this book discusses most of the traditional instruments currently in use in Western music. A guide for all who have an interest in music and how it is produced, as well as serving as a comprehensive reference for those undertaking research in the field.
Download or read book The Science of String Instruments written by Thomas D. Rossing and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-12-15 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas D. Rossing String instruments are found in almost all musical cultures. Bowed string instruments form the backbone of symphony orchestras, and they are used widely as solo inst- ments and in chamber music as well. Guitars are used universally in pop music as well as in classical music. The piano is probably the most versatile of all musical inst- ments, used widely not only in ensemble with other musical instruments but also as a solo instrument and to accompany solo instruments and the human voice. In this book, various authors will discuss the science of plucked, bowed, and hammered string instruments as well as their electronic counterparts. We have tried to tell the fascinating story of scienti?c research with a minimum of mathematics to maximize the usefulness of the book to performers and instrument builders as well as to students and researchers in musical acoustics. Sometimes, however, it is dif?cult to “translate” ideas from the exact mathematical language of science into words alone, so we include some basic mathematical equations to express these ideas. It is impossible to discuss all families of string instruments. Some instruments have been researched much more than others. Hopefully, the discussions in this book will help to encourage further scienti?c research by both musicians and scientists alike. 1.1 A Brief History of the Science of String Instruments Quite a number of good histories of acoustics have been written (Lindsay 1966, 1973; Hunt 1992; Beyer 1999), and these histories include musical acoustics.
Download or read book Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550 1851 written by Gloria Clifton and published by Philip Wilson Publishers. This book was released on 1995 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication lists over 5,000 scientific instrument makers and retailers working in the British Isles, together with a further 10,000 names of apprentices and associates. The directory transforms our understanding of the history of the scientific instrument-making trades in Britain. Each entry includes estimated working dates, specific trades, addresses, training, apprentices, types of instruments made and brief biographical details. As such this volume not only provides essential information for collectors, dealers, museum curators and scholars, but it will also have much to offer economic, social and family historians, with its evidence about master-apprentice links, trade connections and family relationships.
Download or read book Instruments and Experimentation in the History of Chemistry written by Frederic Lawrence Holmes and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume moves chemical instruments and experiments into the foreground of historical concern, in line with the emphasis on practice that characterizes current work on other fields of science and engineering.
Download or read book Scientific Teaching written by Jo Handelsman and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seasoned classroom veterans, pre-tenured faculty, and neophyte teaching assistants alike will find this book invaluable. HHMI Professor Jo Handelsman and her colleagues at the Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching (WPST) have distilled key findings from education, learning, and cognitive psychology and translated them into six chapters of digestible research points and practical classroom examples. The recommendations have been tried and tested in the National Academies Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology and through the WPST. Scientific Teaching is not a prescription for better teaching. Rather, it encourages the reader to approach teaching in a way that captures the spirit and rigor of scientific research and to contribute to transforming how students learn science.
Download or read book Jesse Ramsden 1735 1800 written by Anita McConnell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jesse Ramsden was one of the most prominent manufacturers of scientific instruments in the latter half of the eighteenth century. To own a Ramsden instrument, be it one of his great theodolites or one of the many sextants and barometers produced at his London workshop, was to own not only an instrument of incredible accuracy and great practical use, but also a thing of beauty. In this, the first biography of Jesse Ramsden, Dr Anita McConnell reconstructs his life and career and presents us with a detailed account of the instrument trade in this period. By studying the life of one prominent instrument maker, the entire practice of the trade is illuminated, from the initial commission, the intricate planning and design, through the practicalities of production, delivery and, crucially, payment for the work. The book will naturally be of immeasurable interest to historians of science and scientific instruments but, as it also sheds light on the increasing commercialisation of the scientific trade on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution, should also interest social and economic historians of the eighteenth century.
Download or read book Historical Scientific Instruments in Contemporary Education written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When science’s “black boxes” are pried open, its workings become accessible. Like time-travellers into history but grounded in today’s cultures, learners interact directly with authentic instruments and replicas. Chapters describe educational experiences sparked through collaborations interrelating museum, school and university.
Download or read book Scientific Instruments Between East and West written by Neil Brown and published by Scientific Instruments and Col. This book was released on 2019 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific Instruments between East and West is a collection of essays on aspects of the transmission of knowledge about scientific instruments and the trade in such instruments between the Eastern and Western worlds, particularly from Europe to the Ottoman Empire. The contributors, from a variety of countries, draw on original Arabic and Ottoman Turkish manuscripts and other archival sources and publications dating from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries not previously studied for their relevance to the history of scientific instruments. This little-studied topic in the history of science was the subject of the 35th Scientific Instrument Symposium held in Istanbul in September 2016, where the original versions of these essays were delivered. Contributors are Mahdi Abdeljaouad, Pierre Ageron, Hamid Bohloul, Patrice Bret, Gaye Danışan, Feza G nergun, Meltem Kocaman, Richard L. Kremer, Janet Laidla, Panagiotis Lazos, David Pantalony, Atilla Polat, Bernd Scholze, Konstantinos Skordoulis, Seyyed Hadi Tabatabaei, Anthony Turner, Hasan Umut, and George Vlahakis.
