The history of the dark matter problem can be traced back to at least the 1930s, but it was not u... more The history of the dark matter problem can be traced back to at least the 1930s, but it was not until the early 1970s that the issue of 'missing matter' was widely recognized as problematic. In the latter period, previously separate issues involving missing mass were brought together in a single anomaly. We argue that reference to a straightforward 'accumulation of evidence' alone is inadequate to comprehend this episode. Rather, the rise of cosmological research, the accompanying renewed interest in the theory of relativity and changes in the manpower division of astronomy in the 1960s are key to understanding how dark matter came to matter. At the same time, this story may also enlighten us on the methodological dimensions of past practices of physics and cosmology.
Influenced by the renaissance of general relativity that came to pass in the 1950s, the character... more Influenced by the renaissance of general relativity that came to pass in the 1950s, the character of cosmology fundamentally changed in the 1960s as it became a well-established empirical science. Although observations went to dominate its practice, extra-theoretical beliefs and principles reminiscent of methodological debates in the 1950s kept playing an important tacit role in cosmological considerations. Specifically, belief in cosmologies that modeled a “closed universe” based on Machian insights remained influential. The rise of the dark matter problem in the early 1970s serves to illustrate this hybrid methodological character of cosmological science.
Author Contributions J.d.S. has conducted the historical research, conducted the interviews, and ... more Author Contributions J.d.S. has conducted the historical research, conducted the interviews, and prepared the manuscript. G.B. and J.v.D. defined the project, supervised the research, gave technical and conceptual advice, and contributed to the writing of the manuscript.
framework of quantum mechanics inspire Carroll to call it the "courageous" approach. Don't worry ... more framework of quantum mechanics inspire Carroll to call it the "courageous" approach. Don't worry about those extra worlds, he asserts-we can't see them, and if the many-worlds theory is true, we won't notice the difference. The many other worlds are parallel to our own, but so hidden from it that they "might as well be populated by ghosts".
The history of the dark matter problem can be traced back to at least the 1930s, but it was not u... more The history of the dark matter problem can be traced back to at least the 1930s, but it was not until the early 1970s that the issue of ‘missing matter’ was widely recognized as problematic. In the latter period, previously separate issues involving missing mass were brought together in a single anomaly. We argue that reference to a straightforward accumulation of evidence alone is inadequate to comprehend this episode. Rather, the rise of cosmological research, the accompanying renewed interest in the theory of relativity and changes in the manpower division of astronomy in the 1960s are key to understanding how dark matter came to matter. At the same time, this story may also enlighten us on the methodological dimensions of past practices of physics and cosmology.
Likely due to an overemphasis in the past, scienti fic theory has not enjoyed much attention of r... more Likely due to an overemphasis in the past, scienti fic theory has not enjoyed much attention of recent philosophers of scienti c practice. This thesis will try to explicitly make sense of theory as a scienti c practice. Concerning the question of what a scienti c theory does, and what its signi ficance in scienti c practice is, I discuss Latour's Actor Network Theory and Barnes, Bloor and Henry's finitism. Both positions are related to a historical case study of the Feynman diagram by David Kaiser. Some central elements of a practice account of theory will be argued for, which includes a reflection on the role that theories play in actual scienti c practice. I argue that the discussed authors' focus on the local features and interactions of theoretical practice makes it unable to fully account for certain non-local aspects of theories. I suggest an emphasis on the importance of the scientists' activity of reconstruction in making sense of how the non-local features of theories come to be.
This paper elucidates the history of the development of a coherent formalism for quantum theory. ... more This paper elucidates the history of the development of a coherent formalism for quantum theory. It aims to describe this passage in the history of physics and reflect upon the mathematical and conceptual steps which were taken. Starting with an incoherent and inconsistent patchwork of theorems and hypotheses concerning the quantum nature of fundamental physics, in 1925 a consistent formalism was constructed independently by both Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger. Heisenberg's Matrix mechanics was formed with the extensive use of Bohr's correspondence principle and led to a new multiplication rule for quantum-theoretical observables. This multiplication rule is later recognised as the multiplication of matrices. Schrödinger's wave mechanics originated from the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, which gave a new variational principle which is later to be justi ed through an analogy between optics and classical mechanics. The well-known Schrödinger wave equation is the result of his work on the variational principle and this analogy.
When both formalisms are compared it appears they are formally equivalent, yet stylistic di fferences give rise to a philosophical interpretation of this interesting historical development.
In this paper I set out to re-evaluate what used to be the prime subject of interest in the philo... more In this paper I set out to re-evaluate what used to be the prime subject of interest in the philosophy of science: scientific theory. Theory and theoretical activities have enjoyed relatively little attention in recent studies of scientific practice, or as Bruno Latour put it: “almost no one has had the courage to do a careful anthropological study of formalism” (Latour, 1987, p. 246). Although there are some interesting exceptions, this 28-year-old observation has still not lost its accuracy. I take this observation seriously and elaborate on some recent ideas of Latour to illustrate that a new and more performative terminology will provide tools to better approach theoretical practices.
These tools, I argue, can be found in Latour’s most recent project, “An Inquiry into Modes of Existence” (2013). Here Latour deploys the notion of scripts – constraining narratives – and Frank Cochoy’s notion of qualculation – quality-based judgements – to make sense of what he refers to as the scruples of organisational, moral and economic action. I seek to demonstrate that the notions of scripts, scruples and qualculations are also most suitable to study theory as a scientific practice. To make this explicit, I introduce an example from early twentieth century physical cosmology: a short paper of Einstein and De Sitter (1932) and their calculation of the mass density of the universe. Using this example, I furthermore argue that the activity of making objects adequate, the process of adequation, plays a central role in the performance of theory.
The history of the dark matter problem can be traced back to at least the 1930s, but it was not u... more The history of the dark matter problem can be traced back to at least the 1930s, but it was not until the early 1970s that the issue of 'missing matter' was widely recognized as problematic. In the latter period, previously separate issues involving missing mass were brought together in a single anomaly. We argue that reference to a straightforward 'accumulation of evidence' alone is inadequate to comprehend this episode. Rather, the rise of cosmological research, the accompanying renewed interest in the theory of relativity and changes in the manpower division of astronomy in the 1960s are key to understanding how dark matter came to matter. At the same time, this story may also enlighten us on the methodological dimensions of past practices of physics and cosmology.
Influenced by the renaissance of general relativity that came to pass in the 1950s, the character... more Influenced by the renaissance of general relativity that came to pass in the 1950s, the character of cosmology fundamentally changed in the 1960s as it became a well-established empirical science. Although observations went to dominate its practice, extra-theoretical beliefs and principles reminiscent of methodological debates in the 1950s kept playing an important tacit role in cosmological considerations. Specifically, belief in cosmologies that modeled a “closed universe” based on Machian insights remained influential. The rise of the dark matter problem in the early 1970s serves to illustrate this hybrid methodological character of cosmological science.
Author Contributions J.d.S. has conducted the historical research, conducted the interviews, and ... more Author Contributions J.d.S. has conducted the historical research, conducted the interviews, and prepared the manuscript. G.B. and J.v.D. defined the project, supervised the research, gave technical and conceptual advice, and contributed to the writing of the manuscript.
framework of quantum mechanics inspire Carroll to call it the "courageous" approach. Don't worry ... more framework of quantum mechanics inspire Carroll to call it the "courageous" approach. Don't worry about those extra worlds, he asserts-we can't see them, and if the many-worlds theory is true, we won't notice the difference. The many other worlds are parallel to our own, but so hidden from it that they "might as well be populated by ghosts".
The history of the dark matter problem can be traced back to at least the 1930s, but it was not u... more The history of the dark matter problem can be traced back to at least the 1930s, but it was not until the early 1970s that the issue of ‘missing matter’ was widely recognized as problematic. In the latter period, previously separate issues involving missing mass were brought together in a single anomaly. We argue that reference to a straightforward accumulation of evidence alone is inadequate to comprehend this episode. Rather, the rise of cosmological research, the accompanying renewed interest in the theory of relativity and changes in the manpower division of astronomy in the 1960s are key to understanding how dark matter came to matter. At the same time, this story may also enlighten us on the methodological dimensions of past practices of physics and cosmology.
Likely due to an overemphasis in the past, scienti fic theory has not enjoyed much attention of r... more Likely due to an overemphasis in the past, scienti fic theory has not enjoyed much attention of recent philosophers of scienti c practice. This thesis will try to explicitly make sense of theory as a scienti c practice. Concerning the question of what a scienti c theory does, and what its signi ficance in scienti c practice is, I discuss Latour's Actor Network Theory and Barnes, Bloor and Henry's finitism. Both positions are related to a historical case study of the Feynman diagram by David Kaiser. Some central elements of a practice account of theory will be argued for, which includes a reflection on the role that theories play in actual scienti c practice. I argue that the discussed authors' focus on the local features and interactions of theoretical practice makes it unable to fully account for certain non-local aspects of theories. I suggest an emphasis on the importance of the scientists' activity of reconstruction in making sense of how the non-local features of theories come to be.
This paper elucidates the history of the development of a coherent formalism for quantum theory. ... more This paper elucidates the history of the development of a coherent formalism for quantum theory. It aims to describe this passage in the history of physics and reflect upon the mathematical and conceptual steps which were taken. Starting with an incoherent and inconsistent patchwork of theorems and hypotheses concerning the quantum nature of fundamental physics, in 1925 a consistent formalism was constructed independently by both Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger. Heisenberg's Matrix mechanics was formed with the extensive use of Bohr's correspondence principle and led to a new multiplication rule for quantum-theoretical observables. This multiplication rule is later recognised as the multiplication of matrices. Schrödinger's wave mechanics originated from the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, which gave a new variational principle which is later to be justi ed through an analogy between optics and classical mechanics. The well-known Schrödinger wave equation is the result of his work on the variational principle and this analogy.
When both formalisms are compared it appears they are formally equivalent, yet stylistic di fferences give rise to a philosophical interpretation of this interesting historical development.
In this paper I set out to re-evaluate what used to be the prime subject of interest in the philo... more In this paper I set out to re-evaluate what used to be the prime subject of interest in the philosophy of science: scientific theory. Theory and theoretical activities have enjoyed relatively little attention in recent studies of scientific practice, or as Bruno Latour put it: “almost no one has had the courage to do a careful anthropological study of formalism” (Latour, 1987, p. 246). Although there are some interesting exceptions, this 28-year-old observation has still not lost its accuracy. I take this observation seriously and elaborate on some recent ideas of Latour to illustrate that a new and more performative terminology will provide tools to better approach theoretical practices.
These tools, I argue, can be found in Latour’s most recent project, “An Inquiry into Modes of Existence” (2013). Here Latour deploys the notion of scripts – constraining narratives – and Frank Cochoy’s notion of qualculation – quality-based judgements – to make sense of what he refers to as the scruples of organisational, moral and economic action. I seek to demonstrate that the notions of scripts, scruples and qualculations are also most suitable to study theory as a scientific practice. To make this explicit, I introduce an example from early twentieth century physical cosmology: a short paper of Einstein and De Sitter (1932) and their calculation of the mass density of the universe. Using this example, I furthermore argue that the activity of making objects adequate, the process of adequation, plays a central role in the performance of theory.
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When both formalisms are compared it appears they are formally equivalent, yet stylistic di fferences give rise to a philosophical interpretation of this interesting historical development.
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These tools, I argue, can be found in Latour’s most recent project, “An Inquiry into Modes of Existence” (2013). Here Latour deploys the notion of scripts – constraining narratives – and Frank Cochoy’s notion of qualculation – quality-based judgements – to make sense of what he refers to as the scruples of organisational, moral and economic action. I seek to demonstrate that the notions of scripts, scruples and qualculations are also most suitable to study theory as a scientific practice. To make this explicit, I introduce an example from early twentieth century physical cosmology: a short paper of Einstein and De Sitter (1932) and their calculation of the mass density of the universe. Using this example, I furthermore argue that the activity of making objects adequate, the process of adequation, plays a central role in the performance of theory.
When both formalisms are compared it appears they are formally equivalent, yet stylistic di fferences give rise to a philosophical interpretation of this interesting historical development.
These tools, I argue, can be found in Latour’s most recent project, “An Inquiry into Modes of Existence” (2013). Here Latour deploys the notion of scripts – constraining narratives – and Frank Cochoy’s notion of qualculation – quality-based judgements – to make sense of what he refers to as the scruples of organisational, moral and economic action. I seek to demonstrate that the notions of scripts, scruples and qualculations are also most suitable to study theory as a scientific practice. To make this explicit, I introduce an example from early twentieth century physical cosmology: a short paper of Einstein and De Sitter (1932) and their calculation of the mass density of the universe. Using this example, I furthermore argue that the activity of making objects adequate, the process of adequation, plays a central role in the performance of theory.