Representing Electrons: A Biographical Approach to Theoretical EntitiesBoth a history and a metahistory, Representing Electrons focuses on the development of various theoretical representations of electrons from the late 1890s to 1925 and the methodological problems associated with writing about unobservable scientific entities. Using the electron—or rather its representation—as a historical actor, Theodore Arabatzis illustrates the emergence and gradual consolidation of its representation in physics, its career throughout old quantum theory, and its appropriation and reinterpretation by chemists. As Arabatzis develops this novel biographical approach, he portrays scientific representations as partly autonomous agents with lives of their own. Furthermore, he argues that the considerable variance in the representation of the electron does not undermine its stable identity or existence. Raising philosophical issues of contentious debate in the history and philosophy of science—namely, scientific realism and meaning change—Arabatzis addresses the history of the electron across disciplines, integrating historical narrative with philosophical analysis in a book that will be a touchstone for historians and philosophers of science and scientists alike. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Chapter 1 Methodological Preliminaries | 9 |
Chapter 2 Why Write Biographies of Theoretical Entities? | 36 |
Chapter 3 Rethinking the Discovery of the Electron | 53 |
Chapter 4 The Birth and Infacy of the Representation of the Electron | 70 |
Chapter 5 The Genesis of the Quantum Electron | 112 |
Chapter 6 Between Relativity and Correspondence | 145 |
The Chemists Perspective | 175 |
Chapter 8 Forced to Spin by Uhlenbeck and Goudsmit | 200 |
Meaning Variance and the Historicity of Scientific Realism | 236 |
| 265 | |
| 289 | |
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Common terms and phrases
analysis angular momentum antirealist aspects assumption Atomic Structure attributed azimuthal quantum behavior biography Bohr Bohr's theory Buchwald cathode rays chapter charge-to-mass ratio chemical chemists classical classical mechanics concept constraints construction context core model corpuscle corresponding Coulomb's law Development of Quantum doublet elec electricity electromagnetic electron qua theoretical electron's representation electronic orbits emitted empirical energy levels existence experimental situations frequency Furthermore Goudsmit Hacking's Heilbron and Kuhn Heisenberg historiographical hydrogen hypothesis Ibid interpretation ions J. J. Thomson Landé Langmuir Larmor Lewis Lewis's Lorentz magnetic field manipulate mass molecule motion nucleus old quantum theory ontology paper Pauli phenomena Philosophy of Science Physical physicists polarization Press problem situation properties proposal q-Numbers qua theoretical entity Quantum Mechanics quantum numbers radiation realist reference relativistic repr result Rutherford scientific discovery scientific realism scientists Sommerfeld spectral lines spin stationary suggested term electron tion tron Uhlenbeck unobservable entities valence electron velocity Zeeman effect