The 19th Century Success of Physical Science

The new "Newtonian" physical science 

1. Philosophical influences on the direction of research 

   • Newtonian style of mathematical physics 

   • empiricism: emphasis on experimentation and measurement 

   • German Naturphilosophie: 

     • "all is force", more important than matter 

     • unity of force underlying different phenomena 

     • physical action through polarities and tensions 

   • positivism: caution with mechanical models and hypotheses 

2.   Replacement of subtle matter theory 

   • experimental contradictions: 

     • Count Rumford's experiments with cannon boring (1798) 

     • Herschel on heating-rays in solar spectrum (1800) 

     • Young's interference-pattern evidence for wave theory of light (1801) 

   • mathematical treatments of heat: 

     • action without particles 

     • mathematics for heat flow as distribution (1820s) 

     • Fourier, Carnot, and Thomson modeling heat and work (1820s-40s) 

   • successful equations for other subtle phenomena, such as electricity (1820s) 

   • synthesis of mechanical action and heat: 

     • Joule's experiments on mechanical equivalent of heat (1847) 

     • Helmholtz, Thomson (Lord Kelvin), and Clausius on "energy", conservation, thermodynamics (1840s-) 

     • Maxwell's kinetic model of gas particle action (1859) 

3. The search for unification 

   • mathematical treatments of force, distribution, transformation 

   • interconversions: chemical, electrical, magnetic, mechanical, thermal, optical 

   • conservation of force: transformation and convertibility 

   • new theoretical unity with energetics and "conservation of energy" 

Satisfactions of the Newtonian ideal for laws of matter 

1. Chemistry as an atomistic, mechanistic science 

   • unity of theory and observation with elemental atoms 

   • laboratory successes with analysis and synthesis (1820s- ) 

   • geometrical-structure theories of compounds (1840s- ) 

   • support for atoms from physics: gas kinetics (1860)

2. Expanding breadth and depth of "classical" physics 

   • extension of mathematical models, through reductionism and analogies 

   • extension of empiricism, through precision and experimental control 

   • the success of mathematical physics in connecting and predicting phenomena 

     • Faraday's field lines as a model for force (1831) 

     • Maxwell's fluid analogs for field lines: workable models (1855-65) 

     • Thermodynamics and an applied science of work (1850s-60s) 

     • Maxwell's synthetic method of statistical dynamics (1860) 

     • Maxwell's electromagnetic theory for light (1873)

     • wide empirical success and mathematical unity 

     • practical applications of equations to phenomena and technology 

3. The model for modern science 

   • the intellectual appeal of mechanism, reductionism, and unification 

   • the values of precision, work, efficiency, and control 

   • professional societies, academies, and university faculties 

   • promotion of the moral and practical value of science for society 

   • satisfaction and optimism for the future of scientific knowledge 

4. the growth of electrical applications and industry 

5. the values of precision, work, efficiency, and control 

© 2018 Dr. William Kimler