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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.

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Correspondence to Christian Sichau.

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Sichau, C. Storming a Citadel: Mathematical Theory and Experimental Practice. Phys. perspect. 8, 236–254 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-006-0272-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-006-0272-8

Keywords.

  • James Clerk Maxwell
  • Oskar Emil Meyer
  • Franz Ernst Neumann
  • William Thomson
  • George Gabriel Stokes
  • experimental practice
  • experimental errors
  • mathematical theory
  • viscosity
  • kinetic theory
  • transdisciplinarity
  • King’s College London
  • University of Königsberg