Allan Franklin

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Allan David Franklin (born August 11, 1938 in Brooklyn ) is an American physicist , historian of science and philosopher of science .

Franklin studied physics at Columbia University , graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1959, and received his PhD from Cornell University in 1965 . As a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University , he initially dealt with experimental particle physics . In 1966 he became an instructor at Princeton University and an assistant professor in 1967 and a professor of physics in 1982 at the University of Colorado Boulder .

Since the 1970s he has been concerned with the history and philosophy of science, in particular with the role of experiment in physics. Among other things, he analyzed experiments on parity violation and CP violation , neutrinos and, in general, the relationship between theory and experiment in the history of the study of the weak interaction, with experiments on the Fifth Force and with Robert Andrews Millikan's oil drop experiment .

As a philosopher , he dealt with the Duhem-Quine thesis , the theory of confirmation , using a Bayesian statistical approach, and the correctability and reliability of experimental results and the resolution of contradicting observations.

In 2016 he received the Abraham Pais Prize for groundbreaking historical analysis of the role of experiment in physics and the explanation of the nature of evidence and error in scientific discourse (laudation). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (1988) and chaired the Forum for the History of Science there twice. In 2000 he was a Miegunyah Distinguished Fellow at the University of Melbourne .

Fonts

  • The neglect of experiment. Cambridge University Press, 1986 (Covers experiments on CP violation and parity violation and Millikan's oil drop experiments, which he defends against criticism from Gerald Holton ).
  • Experiment. Right or wrong. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
  • The Rise and Fall of the Fifth Force: Discovery, Pursuit, and Justification in Modern Physics. American Institute of Physics, 1993.
  • Are There Really Neutrinos? An Evidential History. Perseus Books, 2000.
  • Selectivity and Discord: two problems of experiments. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2002.
  • Shifting Standards: Experiments in Particle Physics in the Twentieth Century. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013.
  • What Makes Good Experiment? Reasons and Role in Science. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015.
  • Experiment in Physics. In: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , 1998, revised 2015 ( online ).
  • with Jed Z. Buchwald as editor: Wrong for the right reasons. (= Archimedes. Volume 11). Springer, 2005 (therein by Franklin: The Konopinski-Uhlenbeck theory of beta decay: its proposal and refutation ).
  • Can that be right? Essays on experiment, evidence and science ( Boston studies in the philosophy of science ). Springer, 1999 (collection of essays by Franklin).
  • with AWF Edwards ao: Ending the Mendel-Fisher controversy. Pittsburgh University Press, 2008.
Articles (selection)
  • What makes a good experiment? In: British Journal for the Philosophy of Science , Volume 32, 1981, pp. 367-374.
  • with C. Howson: Why Do Scientists Prefer to Vary Their Experiments? In: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science , Volume 15, 1984, pp. 51-62.
  • with others: Can a theory-laden observation test the theory? In: British Journal for the Philosophy of Science , Volume 40, 1989, pp. 229-231.
  • Discovery, Pursuit, and Justification. In: Perspectives on Science , Volume 1, 1993, pp. 252-284.
  • How to Avoid the Experimenters' Regress. In: Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science , Volume 25, 1994, pp. 97-121.
  • Laws and Experiment. In F. Weinert (Ed.): Laws of Nature. Walter de Gruyter, 1995, pp. 191-207.
  • Calibration. In: Perspectives on Science , Volume 5, 1997, pp. 31-80.
  • Millikan's Oil Drop Experiments. In: The Chemical Educator , Volume 2, No. 1, 1997.
  • Doing much about nothing. In: Archive for History of Exact Sciences , Volume 58, 2004, pp. 323-379 (on experiments with zero results such as the Michelson-Morley experiment ).
  • Discovery and Acceptance of CP Violation. In: Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences , Volume 13, 1983, pp. 207-238
  • The appearance and disappearance of the 17 keV neutrino. In: Review of Modern Physics , Volume 67, 1995, pp. 457-490.
  • The resolution of discordant results. In: Perspectives on Science , Volume 3, 1995, pp. 346-420.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Life data according to American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004.
personal data
SURNAME Franklin, Allan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Franklin, Allan David (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American physicist, historian of science, and philosopher of science
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn