Two major questions motivate this study: How do new devices get taken up
as experimental systems by scientists? How does the adoption of new
instruments affect scientific knowledge? Many ramifications emerge from
these two simple questions. Among these are historical questions about
how, by whom, and why new instruments are introduced, or about how
another, different set of instruments might be adopted given alternative
social and cultural circumstances. Philosophical questions include the
ways in which scientific understanding of the world depends on
scientists' instruments and techniques. Sociological questions concern
such issues as how the organization of work within disciplines and
laboratories and other scientific institutions may depend on the
equipment employed.
All these questions are addressed in this book, which draws upon a range
of archival sources as well as published scientific literature, through
a detailed historical treatment of the electron microscope's
introduction and early impact on the life sciences. The author first
describes the introduction of the electron microscope during the World
War II years, and then traces its influence on the subsequent divergence
of several life sciences research traditions, including what came to
constitute cell biology. The historical evidence is discussed in the
light of recent discussions on the origin and nature of molecular
biology, the importance of new instruments in the postwar life sciences,
and the nature of research traditions, among other issues.
Building on the pragmatist tradition, the author also advances an
original philosophical argument on the relation of experimental
technology to scientific change, arguing that matters of scientific fact
(and also matters of the social organization of science) are only
settled through agreement on standardized "methods of inquiry."
