Quantitative Imperative Versus the Imperative of Presuppositions -- Understanding Scientific Progress: From Duhem to Lakatos -- Kinetic Theory: Maxwell's Presuppositions -- Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements: From Mendeleev to Moseley -- Foundations of Modern Atomic Theory: Thomson, Rutherford, and Bohr -- Determination of the Elementary Electrical Charge: Millikan and Ehrenhaft -- Paradox of the Photoelectric Effect: Einstein and Millikan -- Bending of Light in the 1919 Eclipse Experiments: Einstein and Eddington -- Lewis's Covalent Bond: From Transfer of Electrons to Sharing of Electrons -- Quantum Mechanics: From Bohr to Bohm -- Wave-Particle Duality: De Broglie, Einstein, and Schrödinger -- Searching for Quarks: Perl's Philosophy of Speculative Experiments -- Conclusion: Inductive Method as a Chimera
Summary
Presents methodological guidelines - based on a historical perspective of philosophy of science. This book shows that interpretation of experimental data is difficult and leads to alternative models/theories thus facilitating the understanding of science as a human enterprise
