Physics circa 1900

This project seeks to deliver new perspectives on the material, conceptual and disciplinary foundations of physics in the period from 1870 to the 1920s. A primary focus (and the subject of a book manuscript in preparation) is a new account of the multiple lines of investigation – theoretical, experimental and instrumental – which coalesced, diverged and intersected anew to produce not only the history of relativity we currently recognize, but a more complex, contingent and involved story with a cast of unfamiliar characters and new themes. Why did Michelson and Morley never complete the ether-drift experiment as planned in 1887? How is the history of the screw relevant to the analysis of space and time in 1905? Who invented “ classical” physics?

There are several important methodological underpinnings to the project. The first is to follow the multiple threads of many actors with different trajectories and interests, as they work overlapping but not parallel lines of investigation. This means exploring the research concerns of the originator of the ether-drift experiment, and what he made of his experiment – a new instrument – rather than inquiring solely about crucial experiments or the use theorists made of the Michelson-Morley experiment. It means investigating the material culture of measuring space and time, in experimentalists’ work to track the motion of electrons on minute photographic plates in 1905. It means exploring the formulation of concepts of “ classical physics” in the work of a host of theorists after the arrival of Planck’ s quanta and Einstein’ s relativity in 1900 and 1905.