Storming a Citadel: Mathematical Theory and Experimental Practice

Abstract.

Based upon a comparison of the viscosity experiments of James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) and Oskar Emil Meyer (1834–1909) in the 1860s, I argue that mathematical theory plays a significant role in both aspects of experimental practice, the design and construction of an experimental apparatus and the transformation of the observed experimental data into the value of a physical quantity. I argue further that Maxwell’s and Meyer’s evaluation of each other’s theoretical and experimental work depended significantly on the mathematical tools they employed in their theories.