Eighteenth century river hydraulics used both theory and measurement to address problems of flood safety, navigation and defense related to the rivers. In the late eighteenth century the Dutch overseer of the rivers, Christiaan Brunings, integrated hydraulic theory and meteorological practices, which enabled him to design a unique instrument for measuring river flow. The question is whether the unprecedented detail of measurements fits the putative empirical stance in the eighteenth century. The interactions between theory, instrument, measurement, and other knowledge practices (...) are here assessed using experiences in similar measurement practices. I argue that Brunings had theoretical and embodied understanding of hydrodynamics, as he knew how to design an instrument for flow measurement of sufficient accuracy for his purpose in the sociopolitical context of river management. (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)

To analyze science as practice and culture has become, since the early 1970s, the object of the new history and sociology of science. Hence, historians and sociologists pay now more attention to the role of experiment in science. In order to study experiments we need to think more carefully about instruments, apparatus and their use. In this article I put forward a method which allows to do both, to study the materiality of experiment as well as the activities involved in (...) the production of experimental results: The replication of an experiment, ie. the reworking of historical experiments with a replica as close to the original as possible. A study of the experiments jointly done by James Joule, and William Thomson in 1852 will demonstrate what might be learned by this method about an experiment. The origins of instruments and the apparatus used in these experiments, their historical context and use will be discussed in detail. With the help of this case study I will try to show that the replication of experiments has much to contribute to an enhanced understanding of experimental practices. (shrink)