Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Ann Sci. 2024 Jan-Apr;81(1-2):100-123. doi: 10.1080/00033790.2023.2282784. Epub 2024 Feb 2.
This paper examines the role of mathematical instrument makers in establishing a public culture of precision measurement in early-modern England. I argue that this culture was promoted through trials and demonstrations, in the context of which artisans held a privileged position. The trials described here cover land surveying, the measurement of magnetic variation, and standards of measurement for customs and excise. These trials were decisive moments in the 'cultural biographies' of precision instruments. I ask how it was that instrument makers were able to assume positions of authority, and what this means for our understanding of the socio-material system of precision measurement in the early-modern period, and the contemporary rise of 'experimental' and 'philosophical' trials. Because practical mathematics was a self-consciously economic activity - motivated by trade, commerce, exploration and colonization - direct connections to natural philosophy are significant, a point explored in my conclusion.
本文考察了数学仪器制造者在早期现代英格兰建立精密测量公共文化中的作用。我认为，这种文化是通过试验和演示来推广的，在这种背景下，工匠们占据了特权地位。这里描述的试验涵盖了土地测量、地磁变化的测量以及海关和消费税的度量标准。这些试验是精密仪器“文化传记”中的决定性时刻。我想知道仪器制造者是如何能够获得权威地位的，以及这对我们理解早期现代时期精密测量的社会物质系统以及“实验”和“哲学”试验的当代兴起意味着什么。因为实用数学是一种自觉的经济活动——由贸易、商业、探索和殖民推动——与自然哲学的直接联系是重要的，这一点在我的结论中进行了探讨。
