Abstract
In Chapter 6 on the kinetic theory of heat, we referred to a common myth about scientists: that they are objective, dispassionate observers of nature, who care only for truth and are willing to discard without a qualm any theory they hold, just as soon as experimental disproof is provided. We pointed out in that chapter how little Rumford fit this myth, and how effective he was precisely because he did not.
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Reference Notes
James D. Watson, The Double Helix: Being a Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA (New York: Atheneum, 1968).
Robert K. Merton, “Behavior Patterns of Scientists,” American Scholar 38 (1969): 197–225. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Attributed to the physicist and Nobel laureate W. L. Bragg.
Suggested Reading
Scientific American. Lives in Science: A Scientific American Book. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957.
Newman, James R. Science and Sensibility. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961.
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© 1984 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Goldstein, M., Goldstein, I. (1984). The Dispassionate Scientist. In: The Experience of Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0384-6_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0384-6_17
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