Apparatus and Experimentation Revisited

Abstract

Those with knowledge about scientific instruments come from many different fields. Prominent among them are (1) collectors and dealers, (2) curators, (3) historians, (4) instrument makers, (5) philosophers, and (6) scientists (the order is alphabetical, not value-laden). The annual symposium of the Scientific Instrument Commission often brings members of each of these groups together, and they learn from one another. What follows are brief reflections on the activities of each group when its members consider instruments.