Selectivity and Discord

by Franklin, Allan

• ISBN13: 9780822941910
• ISBN10: 0822941910
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Pittsburgh Pr

Summary

Selectivity and Discordaddresses the fundamental question of whether there are grounds for belief in experimental results. Specifically, Allan Franklin is concerned with two problems in the use of experimental results in science: selectivity of data or analysis procedures and the resolution of discordant results. By means of detailed case studies of episodes from the history of modern physics, Franklin shows how these problems can be-and are-solved in the normal practice of science and, therefore, that experimental results may be legitimately used as a basis for scientific knowledge.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(36)
I. Selectivity and the Production of Experimental Results	37	(122)
Measurement of the K+e2 Branching Ratio	41	(12)
Early Attempts to Detect Gravity Waves	53	(14)
Millikan's Measurement of the Charge of the Electron	67	(10)
The Disappearing Particle: The Case of the 17-keV Neutrino	77	(15)
Are There Really Low-Mass Electron-Positron States?	92	(40)
``Blind'' Analysis	132	(27)
II. The Resolution of Discordant Results	159	(80)
The Fifth Force	165	(14)
William Wilson and the Absorption of β Rays	179	(28)
The Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector: Two Different Results from One Experiment	207	(13)
Atomic Parity Violation, SLAC E122, and the Weinberg-Salam Theory	220	(19)
Conclusion	239	(10)
Notes	249	(20)
References	269