Home : Book details : Book description

Description of  Split and Splice: A Phenomenology of Experimentation

An esteemed historian of science explores the diversity of scientific experimentation. The experiment has long been seen as a test bed for theory, but in Split and Splice, Hans-Jrg Rheinberger makes the case, instead, for treating experimentation as a creative practice. His latest book provides an innovative look at the experimental protocols and connections that have made the life sciences so productive. Delving into the materiality of the experiment, the first part of the book assesses traces, models, grafting, and note-takingthe conditions that give experiments structure and make discovery possible. The second section widens its focus from micro-level laboratory processes to the temporal, spatial, and narrative links between experimental systems. Rheinberger narrates with accessible examples, most of which are drawn from molecular biology, including from the authors laboratory notebooks from his years researching ribosomes. A critical hit when it was released in Germany, Read more