Article ID: CBB303212866

Pluralizing measurement: Physical geodesy's measurement problem and its resolution (2022)

unapi

Derived measurements involve problems of coordination. Conducting them often requires detailed theoretical assumptions about their target, while such assumptions can lack sources of evidence that are independent from these very measurements. In this paper, I defend two claims about problems of coordination. I motivate both by a novel case study on a central measurement problem in the history of physical geodesy: the determination of the earth's ellipticity. First, I argue that the severity of problems of coordination varies according to scientists' predictive and experimental control over perturbations of the measurement process. Second, I identify a methodology by which scientists can solve hard problems of coordination and gradually increase their predictive control over perturbations. I dub this methodology ‘operational pluralism’ since it is driven by the introduction of alternative measurement operations that involve different physical indicators.

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB303212866/

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Authors & Contributors
Kershaw, Michael
Aubin, David
Carman, Christián Carlos
Décamp, Nicolas
Evans, James
Giacomotto-Charra, Violaine
Journals
Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Journal for the History of Astronomy
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Almagest
Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences
British Journal for the History of Science
Publishers
Brepols Publishers
Les Belles Lettres
Presses Universitaires de Rennes
Reaktion Books
Concepts
Geodesy
Measurement
Earth (planet)
Exactness; precision; accuracy
Astronomy
Longitude and latitude
People
Cleomedes
Eratosthenes of Cyrene
Cassini de Thury, César François
Galilei, Galileo
Selder, Heinrich
Krasovskij, Feodosij Nikolaevič
Time Periods
19th century
Medieval
17th century
18th century
20th century, early
Ancient
Places
Europe
Paris (France)
China
Greece
Italy
Polar regions
Institutions
Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
Académie Royale des Sciences (France)
Convention du mètre (1875)
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