History Of Experimental Science Research Articles

How to Cope with Gauss’s Errors? Motivation for Teaching Data and Uncertainty Analysis from a History of Science Perspective

Every measurement in science, every experimental decision, result and information drawn from it has to cope with something that has long been named by the term “error”. In fact, errors describe our limitations when it comes to experimental science and science looks back on a long tradition to cope with them. The widely known way to cope with them in nowadays classrooms and introductory laboratories is the so-called traditional “approach to error treatment” dated back by many to the ideas of Gauss. However, this is not exactly true, and as one digs deeper into the history of errors (or: uncertainty) one finds not only surprising stories about the treatment of data and uncertainty but also a lot to learn from for our today’s teaching. The treatment of error did not just appear out of the blue but evolved along side with the history of experimental science, a growing insight into data and sensitivity for its trustworthiness. Virtues that today’s learners are hoped to develop just the same.

Footprints of "Experiment" in Early Arabic Optics

This study traces the early developments of the concept of experiment with a view of extending the subject in both content and approach. It extends the content of the subject slightly backward, prior to the methodological breakthroughs of the Optics of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen or Alhacen, d. ca. 1040), which are credited as a "significant landmark in the history of experimental science." And it extends the approach to the subject slightly forward, from the premise that early science was "largely carried out in books," to a close examination of the books through which the footprints of'experiment' may be traced. The point of departure is the Optics of Ahmad ibn 'Isă, a revealing text for the early developments of concepts such as 'demonstration' and 'experiment', and one through which some modern discussions are examined and extended with reference to this and other historical sources.

A History of Magic and Experimental Science

A History of Magic and Experimental Science By Prof. Lynn Thorndike. Vols. 7 and 8: The Seventeenth Century. Vol. 7: Pp. x + 695. Vol. 8: Pp. viii + 808. (New York: Columbia University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1958.) 80s. net each volume.