The promises and pitfalls of precision: random and systematic error in physical geodesy, c. 1800–1910.
This article discusses the ways in which nineteenth-century geodesists reflected on precision as an epistemic virtue in their measurement practice. Physical geodesy is often understood as a quintessential nineteenth-century precision science, stimulating advances in instrument making and statistics,...
| Publicado en: | Annals of Science Vol. 81; no. 1/2; pp. 258 - 285 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jan-Apr2024
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=175233876&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 175233876 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00033790 7J1 jtl: Annals of Science issn: 00033790 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Jan-Apr2024 vid: 81 iid: 1/2 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 175233876 10.1080/00033790.2023.2284335 ppf: 258 ppct: 27 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 2.9MB tig: atl: The promises and pitfalls of precision: random and systematic error in physical geodesy, c. 1800–1910. aug: au: Ohnesorge, Miguel affil: Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom su: History of science Natural history Nineteenth century Geodesy Mathematical instruments sug: subj: History of science Natural history Nineteenth century Geodesy Mathematical instruments keyword: errors geodesy measurement nineteenth century Precision statistics ab: This article discusses the ways in which nineteenth-century geodesists reflected on precision as an epistemic virtue in their measurement practice. Physical geodesy is often understood as a quintessential nineteenth-century precision science, stimulating advances in instrument making and statistics, and generating incredible quantities of data. Throughout most of the nineteenth century, geodesists indeed pursued their most prestigious research problem – the exact determination of the earth's polar flattening – along those lines. Treating measurement errors as random, they assumed that remaining discordances could be overcome by manufacturing better instruments and extending statistical analysis to a larger amount of data. In the second half of the nineteenth century, however, several German geodesists developed sophisticated methodological critiques of their discipline, in which they diagnosed a too-narrow focus on precision among their peers. On their account, geodesists urgently needed to identify and anticipate the causes of the remaining measurement errors that arose from the earth's little understood interior constitution. While mostly overlooked in the literature, these critiques paved the way for many empirical successes in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century geodesy, including the first convergent measurements of the earth's polar flattening. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Annals of Science is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Annals of Science holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2024 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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