Michele Luchetti: The Origins of Ohm’s Conceptual Apparatus: Understanding the Role of Measurement and Coordination
In this paper, I trace the historical development of Ohm’s core electrical concepts to exhibit a novel approach to the problem of coordination between theory and measurement. Ohm’s scientific practice involved several epistemic activities including instrument calibration, data reduction, measuring, experimental testing, and mathematical theorising. Some of the connections between these activities show how certain epistemic components and in particular the concepts of “exciting force”, “resistance”, and “tension”, had to be constituted, and thus integrated, within Ohm’s empirical inquiry, rather than representing ready-made features of the world to be used in his scientific reflection.
In this paper, I trace the historical development of Ohm’s core electrical concepts to exhibit a novel approach to the problem of coordination between theory and measurement. Ohm’s scientific practice involved several epistemic activities including instrument calibration, data reduction, measuring, experimental testing, and mathematical theorising. Some of the connections between these activities show how certain epistemic components and in particular the concepts of “exciting force”, “resistance”, and “tension”, had to be constituted, and thus integrated, within Ohm’s empirical inquiry, rather than representing ready-made features of the world to be used in his scientific reflection.