Isobel Falconer
Biographic Data
| ID | 4787167 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Isobel Falconer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Isobel |
| FAMILY NAME | Falconer |
| SIGNATURE | FALCONER I |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of St Andrews |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7076-9136 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 12 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 7 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1987 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
What’s the Point of Authors
In this paper, I want to start to untangle some of the philosophical issues associated with our practices of ascribing authorship for collaborative work, with an eye to formulating better guidelines for authorship. I will focus on the following questions: 1. What epistemic, social, and ethical functions are played by our practices of ascribing authorship for academic papers? 2. What ways of ascribing authorship would best address these functions?…
Phases of physics in J. D. Forbes’ Dissertation Sixth for the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1856)
This paper takes James David Forbes’ Encyclopaedia Britannica entry, Dissertation Sixth, as a lens to examine physics as a cognitive, practical, and social enterprise. Forbes wrote this survey of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century mathematical and physical sciences between 1852 and 1856, when British “physics” was at a pivotal point in its history, situated between a field identified by its mathematical methods – originating in France – and a dis…
No actual measurement … was required
Motives and tensions in the release of open educational resources
Open educational resources (OER) have been promoted as a path to universal education, supporting economic development and intercultural dialogue. However, to realise these benefits requires greater understanding of the factors that influence both OER supply and use. This paper examines an aspect of the supply side of the OER lifecycle – the motives prompting release – and the resultant tensions in the release process. It draws evidence from a maj…
Technological driving forces of Lucc
Charles Augustin Coulomb and the fundamental law of electrostatics
In his famous experiment on the inverse square law of electrostatics, Coulomb neither defined electric charge nor gave reliable measurements of the force–distance relation. Yet the experiment has often been viewed as the basis of the fundamental law of electrostatics. This paper discusses Coulomb's life, showing the context within which he was working, how he arrived at the experiment, and the use he made of it. Physics in France in the late 18th…
Corpuscles, Electrons and Cathode Rays
On 30 April, 1897, J. J. Thomson announced the results of his previous four months' experiments on cathode rays. The rays, he suggested, were negatively charged subatomic particles. He called the particles ‘corpuscles’. They have since been re-named ‘electrons’ and Thomson has been hailed as their ‘discoverer’. Contrary to the accounts of most later writers, I show that this discovery was not the outcome of a concern with the nature of cathode ra…
Corpuscles, Electrons and Cathode Rays
On 30 April, 1897, J. J. Thomson announced the results of his previous four months' experiments on cathode rays. The rays, he suggested, were negatively charged subatomic particles. He called the particles ‘corpuscles’. They have since been re-named ‘electrons’ and Thomson has been hailed as their ‘discoverer’. Contrary to the accounts of most later writers, I show that this discovery was not the outcome of a concern with the nature of cathode ra…
What’s the Point of Authors
In this paper, I want to start to untangle some of the philosophical issues associated with our practices of ascribing authorship for collaborative work, with an eye to formulating better guidelines for authorship. I will focus on the following questions: 1. What epistemic, social, and ethical functions are played by our practices of ascribing authorship for academic papers? 2. What ways of ascribing authorship would best address these functions?…
Technological driving forces of Lucc
Corpuscles, Electrons and Cathode Rays
On 30 April, 1897, J. J. Thomson announced the results of his previous four months' experiments on cathode rays. The rays, he suggested, were negatively charged subatomic particles. He called the particles ‘corpuscles’. They have since been re-named ‘electrons’ and Thomson has been hailed as their ‘discoverer’. Contrary to the accounts of most later writers, I show that this discovery was not the outcome of a concern with the nature of cathode ra…
Charles Augustin Coulomb and the fundamental law of electrostatics
In his famous experiment on the inverse square law of electrostatics, Coulomb neither defined electric charge nor gave reliable measurements of the force–distance relation. Yet the experiment has often been viewed as the basis of the fundamental law of electrostatics. This paper discusses Coulomb's life, showing the context within which he was working, how he arrived at the experiment, and the use he made of it. Physics in France in the late 18th…
Technological driving forces of Lucc
Motives and tensions in the release of open educational resources
Open educational resources (OER) have been promoted as a path to universal education, supporting economic development and intercultural dialogue. However, to realise these benefits requires greater understanding of the factors that influence both OER supply and use. This paper examines an aspect of the supply side of the OER lifecycle – the motives prompting release – and the resultant tensions in the release process. It draws evidence from a maj…
No actual measurement … was required
Phases of physics in J. D. Forbes’ Dissertation Sixth for the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1856)
This paper takes James David Forbes’ Encyclopaedia Britannica entry, Dissertation Sixth, as a lens to examine physics as a cognitive, practical, and social enterprise. Forbes wrote this survey of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century mathematical and physical sciences between 1852 and 1856, when British “physics” was at a pivotal point in its history, situated between a field identified by its mathematical methods – originating in France – and a dis…
What’s the Point of Authors
In this paper, I want to start to untangle some of the philosophical issues associated with our practices of ascribing authorship for collaborative work, with an eye to formulating better guidelines for authorship. I will focus on the following questions: 1. What epistemic, social, and ethical functions are played by our practices of ascribing authorship for academic papers? 2. What ways of ascribing authorship would best address these functions?…
Computer Science (3 works) · Mathematics (3 works) · Physics (3 works) · Political science (3 works) · Chemistry (2 works) · Electron (2 works) · Historical and Literary Studies (2 works) · History (2 works) · Inverse-square law (2 works) · Law (2 works)