Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gq7q9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T04:24:29.967Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Observation and Growth in Scientific Knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2023

Robert Nola
Robert Nola*
Affiliation:
University of Auckland, New Zealand
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The first published paper on pulsars was entitled, by its five co-authors, “Observation of a Rapidly Pulsating Radio Source”. (Hewish, et al. 1968). The publication of this paper preceded by some months the coining of the word ‘pulsar’ to refer to such pulsating radio sources. Does it seem odd to talk of observing pulsars? It might seem so since much effort has subsequently gone into identifying pulsars with optically visible stars using conventional light, not radio, telescopes. We can say that the moons of Jupiter are observable since either we can see them through a telescope or, at some future date, astronauts will be able to travel close enough to Jupiter to see its moons without visual aids.

Type
Part IV. General Philosophy Of Science (A)
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1986 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1986 , 1986 , pp. 245 - 257
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Burnell, S.J.B. (1978). “Little Green Men, White Dwarfs, or What?” Sky and Telescope 55: 218–221.Google Scholar
Davies, P.C.W. (1980). The Search For Gravity Waves. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dretske, F.I. (1969). Seeing and Knowing. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Feinberg, G. (1985). Solid Clues: Quantum Physics, Molecular Biology and the Future of Science. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Fritzsch, H. (1984). Quarks: The Stuff of Matter. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Hacking, I. (1983). Representing and Intervening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewish, A.; Bell, S.J.; Pilkington, J.D.H.; Scott, P.F. and Collins, R.A. (1968). “Observation of a Rapidly Pulsating Radio Source.” Nature 217: 709–713. (As reprinted in Pulsating Stars: A Nature Reprint. London: Macmillan, 1968. Pages 5-9.)Google Scholar
Jackson, F. (1977). Perception. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Millikan, R.A. (1924). “The Electron and the Light-Quant from the Experimental Point of View.” Nobel Lecture delivered on May 23, 1924. (As reprinted in Nobel Lectures: Physics: 1922-41. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1965.) Pulsating Stars: A Nature Reprint. London : Macmillan, 1968.Google Scholar
Shapere, D. (1982). “The Concept of Observation in Science and Philosophy.” Philosophy of Science 49: 485–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar