Unification Before Einstein: Systematic and Explanatory Unification in Hermann von Helmholtz’s Epistemology of Science

Unification Before Einstein: Systematic and Explanatory Unification in Hermann von Helmholtz’s Epistemology of Science

Lydia Patton

The great 19th century scientist Hermann von Helmholtz worked for much of his career on both theoretical and experimental physics, in acoustics, optics, fluid (vortex) dynamics, and electromagnetism. His career established, not only seminal results in all these areas, but a fundamental basis for the conceptual and experimental synthesis of these fields under increasingly more general concepts and principles. Helmholtz’s work allowed for a demonstration of how solving problems in electromagnetics could support results in optics, and vice versa, which was a key result in the development of the theory of special relativity. His achievements also provide a basis for analyzing how one might set up a framework for testing 2 proposed laws of nature. My talk will focus on the relationship between two kinds of unification in Helmholtz’s work: first, systematic unification, which then forms the basis for explanatory unification. This development in Helmholtz’s scientific epistemology serves as a significant precursor to contemporary approaches in the philosophy of science.