Case Studies in Experimental Physics: Why Scientists Pursue Investigation

This book addresses the pursuit and further investigation of experimental results by analyzing classic examples from physics. The authors concentrate on the investigation of experimental results by examining case studies from the history of 20^th and 21^st century physics. Discussions on the discovery of parity nonconservation, the rise and fall of the Fifth Force, the search for neutrinoless double β decay, supersymmetry and the expansion of the Standard Model, and measurements of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muons are provided. Experimental results may achieve acceptance to the point that even well known principles, such as conservation of energy and quantization, lose their status as accepted. Such principles and their options are treated on an equal footing as being pursuit worthy even though there is no plausible explanation as to why and how they might have failed.

Ronald Laymon, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at The Ohio State University where he specialized in the history and philosophy of science. He has published widely, was the recipient of multiple National Science Foundation research grants, and was a fellow at the Center for the Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He currently consults for a biotech, intellectual property firm that facilitates the open source creation of therapeutic technologies. Retirement has also made it possible for Laymon to resurrect his interest and earlier work in the history and philosophy of science. He is co-author, with Allan Franklin, of Measuring Nothing, Repeatedly: Null Experiments in Physics (with Allan Franklin), and Once Can Be Enough, Decisive Experiments No Replication Needed (with Allan Franklin).
Allan Franklin, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics at the University of Colorado. He began his career as an experimental high-energy physicist and later changed his research area to history and philosophy of science, particularly on the roles of experiment. He has twice been chair of the Forum on the History of Physics of the American Physical Society and served two terms on the Executive Council of the Philosophy of Science Association. In 2016, Franklin received the Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics from the American Physical Society. He is the author of thirteen books including most recently Shifting Standards: Experiments in Particle Physics in the Twentieth Century, What Makes a Good Experiment? Reasons and Roles in Science, Is It the Same Result? Replication in Physics, Measuring Nothing Repeatedly: Null Experiments in Physics (with Ron Laymon), and Once Can Be Enough, Decisive Experiments No Replication Needed (with Ron Laymon).