In 1614, the physician Sanctorius Sanctorius published his most famous work entitled Ars […] de statica medicina. This is a work composed of aphorisms that present the practical results of a series of weighing procedures, rather than theoretical observations. De statica medicina is the result of a large number of test series that Sanctorius carried out over many years with the weighing chair he constructed himself in order to quantify the so-called perspiratio insensibilis, an insensible perspiration of the human body. (...) Through his weighing experiments, Sanctorius introduced the idea of quantitative research into physiology. Although historical accounts ascribe an important role to Sanctorius as the founder of a new medical science, up until now the design of his weighing chair and the method of measurement have not been closely analysed. The aim of this paper is to close this gap. Through a collaboration between the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and the Technical University of Berlin, Sanctorius’s weighing chair was reconstructed and experiments carried out with it. This opened new perspectives on Sanctorius’s work and led to a reconsideration of the function and purpose of his weighing chair. With his static medicine, Sanctorius repurposed an old instrument. The replication of the weighing chair and the repetition of the experiments demonstrate that this novel application of scales posed some challenges for the mechanical design of the instrument. We recognized that the instrument fulfilled different functions that might in turn have affected its design, precision, and the measuring method applied. Although in the end we could not clarify how Sanctorius actually conducted his measurements, we were nevertheless able to develop an understanding of Sanctorius’s mechanical and practical knowledge that would not have been possible for us to develop solely on the basis of the written sources. (shrink)

This chapter presents the historical-investigative approach used in science teaching. Both history and philosophy of science have come to a sophisticated understanding of the role that experiments play in the generation and establishment of scientific knowledge. This recent development, called the “experimental turn,” is discussed first. Next, this chapter analyzes how practical work has been discussed among science educators in recent decades. Based on such a broad perspective, the historical-investigative approach is linked to recent advancements in history and philosophy of (...) science and in science education. Several modifications of the historical-investigative approach are outlined in order to illustrate their particular objectives, potential, and richness. (shrink)

The focus of this paper is one of James Prescott Joule’s scientific contributions: the laws of heat production by electric currents in conductors. In 1841, the 22 years old Joule published a paper with the title “On the heat evolved by metallic conductors of electricity, and in the cells of a battery during electrolysis” where he presented an experimental study of that phenomenon and proposed two laws that were allegedly supported by his trials. On closer inspection, both his laboratory work (...) and his inferences can be challenged. The emphasis of this article is an attempt to understand Joule’s experimental undertaking, its highpoints and shortcomings, by a detailed analysis of this specific episode and by studying the precedents of his work and subsequent advancements. It is possible to point out several serious deficiencies of that investigation, and Joule’s contemporaries, such as Edmond Becquerel and Heinrich Lenz, did criticize some of his flaws and undertook new experiments to provide a sound basis for those laws. Besides providing a historical examination of that specific episode, this article uses this case study to tackle some features of the nature of science that may contribute to scientific education. (shrink)

This article is a contribution to the history of the Geiger-Müller counter, based on the replication method. Along with a historical analysis of the Geiger-Müller counter I present and discuss my experience with replicas of early counters from 1928. The explicit and tacit knowledge that was gained during my construction und the experimentation process allows a different view of the development process in 1928. Against this background, I discuss Walter Müller’s role in the development and the significance of experimental work (...) in Geiger’s laboratory by illustrating the status of data gained from indirect electrical measurements in the field of early radioactivity research. All things considered it was not the instrument itself, but Geiger’s influence and status that affected its establishment in the scientific community in an authoritative way. (shrink)

In 1911 the Wilson cloud chamber opened new possibilities for physics pedagogy. The instrument, which visualized particles’ tracks as trails of condensed vapour, was adopted by physicists to pursue frontier research on the Compton effect, the positron and the transmutation of atomic nuclei. But as the present paper will show, Wilson's instrument did not just open up new research opportunities, but the possibility of developing a different kind of teaching. Equipped with a powerful visualization tool, some physicists–teachers employed Wilson's instrument (...) to introduce their students to a wide range of phenomena and concepts, ranging from the behaviour of clouds to Einstein's photon, the wave–particle duality and the understanding of the nucleus. This paper uses the notes, books and prototypes of these pioneering physicists–teachers to compose a pedagogical history of the Wilson cloud chamber, documenting an episode of immense ingenuity, creativity and scientific imagination. (shrink)