We will meet fortnightly on Fridays, 11am–12noon in Seminar Room 1. Organised by Costanza Coloni (cc2191) and Niall Roe (nrr32).
Lent Term 2026
This term we will read chapters from the edited volume Wise, M. Norton (ed.), (1995). The Values of Precision, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
30 January
- Introduction, pp. 3–13.
- Golinski J., '"The Nicety of Experiment": Precision of Measurement and Precision of Reasoning in Late Eighteenth-Century Chemistry', pp. 72–92.
13 February
- Olesko K.M., 'The Meaning of Precision: The Exact Sensibility in Early Nineteenth-Century Germany', pp. 103–135.
27 February – Discussion with the author, Simon Schaffer
- Background reading: 'Electromagnetism: Ether and Field' (Chapter 5), in Hunt B., (2010). Pursuing Power and Light: Technology and Physics from James Watt to Albert Einstein, Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Schaffer S., 'Accurate Measurement is an English Science', pp. 135–175.
- Optional: Wise M.N., 'Precision: Agent of Unity and Product of Agreement. Part II – The Age of Steam and Telegraphy', pp. 222–236.
13 March
- Warwick A., 'The Laboratory of Theory or What's Exact about the Exact Sciences?', pp. 311–352.
- Optional: Wise M. N., 'Precision: Agent of Unity and Product of Agreement. Part III – "Today Precision Must be Commonplace"', pp. 352–361.