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What role have experiments played, and should they play, in physics? How does one come to believe rationally in experimental results? The Neglect of Experiment attempts to provide answers to both of these questions. Professor Franklin's approach combines the detailed study of four episodes in the history of twentieth century physics with an examination of some of the philosophical issues involved. The episodes are the discovery of parity nonconservation ( or the violation of mirror symmetry) in the 1950s; the nondiscovery of parity nonconservation in the 1930s, when the results of experiments indicated, at least in retrospect, the symmetry violation, but the significance of those results was not realized; the discovery and acceptance of CP ( combined parity-charge conjugations, paricle-antiparticle) symmetry; and Millikan's oil-drop experiment. Franklin examines the various roles that experiment plays, including its role in deciding between competing theories, confirming theories, and calling fo new theories. The author argues that one can provide a philosophical justification for these roles. He contends that if experiment plays such important roles, then one must have good reason to believe in experimental results. He then deals with deveral problems concerning such reslults, including the epistemology of experiment, how one comes to believe rationally in experimental results, the question of the influence of theoretical presuppositions on results, and the problem of scientific fruad. This original and important contribution to the study of the philosophy of experimental science is an outgrowth of many years of research. Franklin brings to this work more than a decade of experience as an experimental high-energy physicist, along with his significant contributions to the history and philosophy of science.

Philosophy of science --- Science --- Physics --- Experiments --- Philosophy --- -Science --- -Natural science --- Science of science --- Sciences --- Natural philosophy --- Philosophy, Natural --- Physical sciences --- Dynamics --- -Philosophy --- Normal science --- Natural science --- Experiments&delete& --- Natural sciences --- Arts and Humanities --- Science - Experiments - Philosophy --- Science - Philosophy --- Physics - Philosophy --- Philosophy. --- #GBIB:CBMER

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Mechanics --- Inertia (Mechanics) --- Science, Medieval --- History --- -Inertia (Mechanics) --- -Science, Medieval --- 53 <09> --- Medieval science --- Acceleration (Mechanics) --- Mass (Physics) --- Classical mechanics --- Newtonian mechanics --- Physics --- Dynamics --- Quantum theory --- Physics--Geschiedenis van ... --- 53 <09> Physics--Geschiedenis van ... --- Physics--Geschiedenis van .. --- Mechanics - History --- Inertia (Mechanics) - History

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In this collection of essays Allan Franklin defends the view that science provides us with knowledge about the world which is based on experimental evidence and on reasoned and critical discussion. In short, he argues that science is a reasonable enterprise. He begins with detailed studies of four episodes from the history of modern physics: (1) the early attempts to detect gravity waves, (2) how the physics community decided that a proposed new elementary particle, 17-keV neutrino, did not exist, (3) a sequence of experiments on K meson decay, and (4) the origins of the Fifth Force hypothesis, a proposed modification of Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation. The case studies are then used to examine issues such as how discord between experimental results is resolved, calibration of an experimental apparatus and its legitimate use in validating an experimental result, and how experimental results provide reasonable grounds for belief in both the truth of physical theories and in the existence of the entities involved in those theories. This book is a challenge to the critics of science, both postmodern and constructivist, to provide convincing alternative explanations of the episodes and issues discussed. It should be of interest to philosophers, historians, and sociologists of science, and to scientists themselves.

-Experiments --- Science --- Experiments --- Philosophy --- Case studies. --- Philosophy. --- Case studies --- Normal science --- Philosophy of science --- Natural science --- Science of science --- Sciences --- Experiments&delete& --- Philosophy&delete& --- Natural sciences --- Philosophy and science. --- Physics. --- History. --- Philosophy of Science. --- History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics. --- History, general. --- Annals --- Auxiliary sciences of history --- Natural philosophy --- Philosophy, Natural --- Physical sciences --- Dynamics --- Science and philosophy

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What makes a good experiment? Although experimental evidence plays an essential role in science, as Franklin argues, there is no algorithm or simple set of criteria for ranking or evaluating good experiments, and therefore no definitive answer to the question. Experiments can, in fact, be good in any number of ways: conceptually good, methodologically good, technically good, and pedagogically important. And perfection is not a requirement: even experiments with incorrect results can be good, though they must, he argues, be methodologically good, providing good reasons for belief in their results. What Makes a Good Experiment? revisits the important question Franklin posed in his 1981 article of the same title in BJPS, when it was generally believed that the only significant role of experiment in science was to test theories. But experiments can actually play a lot of different roles in science, as he explains--they can, for example, investigate a subject for which a theory does not exist, help to articulate an existing theory, call for a new theory, or correct incorrect or misinterpreted results. This book provides details of good experiments, with examples from physics and biology, illustrating the various ways they can be good and the different roles they can play.

Experimental design. --- Science --- Design of experiments --- Statistical design --- Mathematical optimization --- Research --- Statistical decision --- Statistics --- Analysis of means --- Analysis of variance --- Experiments --- Methodology --- Experimental design --- Science - Experiments --- Science - Methodology

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This book provides the reader with a detailed and captivating account of the story where, for the first time, physicists ventured into proposing a new force of nature beyond the four known ones - the electromagnetic, weak and strong forces, and gravitation - based entirely on the reanalysis of existing experimental data. Back in 1986, Ephraim Fischbach, Sam Aronson, Carrick Talmadge and their collaborators proposed a modification of Newton’s Law of universal gravitation. Underlying this proposal were three tantalizing pieces of evidence: 1) an energy dependence of the CP (particle-antiparticle and reflection symmetry) parameters, 2) differences between the measurements of G, the universal gravitational constant, in laboratories and in mineshafts, and 3) a reanalysis of the Eötvos experiment, which had previously been used to show that the gravitational mass of an object and its inertia mass were equal to approximately one part in a billion. The reanalysis revealed that, contrary to Galileo’s position, the force of gravity was in fact very slightly different for different substances. The resulting Fifth Force hypothesis included this composition dependence and also added a small distance dependence to the inverse-square gravitational force. Over the next four years numerous experiments were performed to test the hypothesis. By 1990 there was overwhelming evidence that the Fifth Force, as initially proposed, did not exist. This book discusses how the Fifth Force hypothesis came to be proposed and how it went on to become a showcase of discovery, pursuit and justification in modern physics, prior to its demise. In this new and significantly expanded edition, the material from the first edition is complemented by two essays, one containing Fischbach’s personal reminiscences of the proposal, and a second on the ongoing history and impact of the Fifth Force hypothesis from 1990 to the present. <.

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