Do scientific objects have a life (which may end)?. Issue 2 (June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Arabatzis, Theodore
• Editors: Navarro, Jaume
• Is Part Of: Science in context. Volume 34:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 195
• Page End: 208
• Publication Date: 2021-06
• Subjects: biography -- ether -- history of physics -- metaphor -- scientific objects; Science -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 306.4505
• DOI: 10.1017/S026988972200014X
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-8897

Abstract

Argument: The aim of this article is to make a case for the pertinence of a biographical approach to the history of scientific objects. I first lay out the rationale of that approach by revisiting and extending my earlier work on the topic. I consider the characteristics of scientific objects that motivate the biographical metaphor, and I indicate its virtues and limitations by bringing out the positive and negative analogies between biographies of scientific objects and ordinary biographies. I then point out various ways in which scientific objects may pass away and argue that their demise should be conceptualized as a process. Finally, I sketch the history of the concept of "ether" in nineteenth and early twentieth century physics and suggest that it lends itself particularly well to a biographical treatment. To that effect, I discuss the identity, heuristic character, and recalcitrance of the ether and examine the reasons that may have led to its passing.