An American Scientist on the Research Frontier: Edward Morley, Community, and Radical Ideas in Nineteenth-Century Science (Archimedes) [Hardcover]

Ralph R. Hamerla (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1402040881 | ISBN-13: 978-1402040887 | Publication Date: February 28, 2006 | Edition: 1

An American Scientist on the Research Frontier is the first scholarly study of the nineteenth-century American scientist Edward Williams Morley. In part, it is the long-overdue story of a man who lent his name to the Michelson and Morley Ether-Drift Experiment, and who conclusively established the atomic weight of oxygen. It is also the untold story of science in provincial America: what Hamerla presents as science on the "American research frontier". This important examination of Morley’s struggle for personal and professional legitimacy extends and transforms our understanding of science during a foundational period, and leads to a number of unique conclusions that are vital to the literature and historiography of science. By revealing important aspects of the scientific culture of the American heartland, An American Scientist on the Research Frontier deepens our understanding of an individual scientist and of American science more broadly. In so doing, Hamerla changes the way we approach and understand the creation of scientific knowledge, scientific communities, and the history of science itself.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

An American Scientist on the Research Frontier is the first scholarly study of the nineteenth-century American scientist Edward Williams Morley. In part, it is the long-overdue story of a man who lent his name to the Michelson and Morley Ether-Drift Experiment, and who conclusively established the atomic weight of oxygen. It is also the untold story of science in provincial America: what Hamerla presents as science on the "American research frontier." Hamerla carefully and usefully directs our attention away from more familiar sites of scientific activity during the nineteenth century, such as Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins. In so doing, he expands and reframes our understanding of how—and where—important scientific inquiry occurred during these years: not only in the Northeastern centers of elite academia, but also in the vastly different cultural contexts of Hudson and Cleveland, Ohio. This important examination of Morley’s struggle for personal and professional legitimacy extends and transforms our understanding of science during a foundational period, and leads to a number of unique conclusions that are vital to the literature and historiography of science. By revealing important aspects of the scientific culture of the American heartland, An American Scientist on the Research Frontier deepens our understanding of an individual scientist and of American science more broadly. In so doing, Hamerla changes the way we approach and understand the creation of scientific knowledge, scientific communities, and the history of science itself.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 273 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (February 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402040881
• ISBN-13: 978-1402040887
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,911,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Story of the little guy taking the big boys to school ..., April 27, 2006

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M. Alexander (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An American Scientist on the Research Frontier: Edward Morley, Community, and Radical Ideas in Nineteenth-Century Science (Archimedes) (Hardcover)

I'm interested in the borders of science so I read this book. It's really, really interesting. Hamerla talks about scientific research that takes place away from the traditional (stuffy) centers of science, and how these researchers work differently, sometimes producing incredibly important and paradigm shifting results. Besides the technical history of Morley's famous experiments, it is a book about outsiders, power, legitimacy (and lack thereof), and the pursuit of knowledge.