Scrutinizing Science

Theories of scientific change - a call for testing; a programme for testing; findings; 17th-century mechanics; Galileo's Copernicanism and the acceptability of guiding assumptions; Newton's rejection of the mechanical aether; the vortex theory of motion, 1687-1713; chemistry from the 18th to the 20th centuries; the chemical revolution; molecular geometry in 19th-century France; Kekule's Benzene theory and the appraisal of scientific theories; fermentation theory; the polywater episode and the appraisal of theories; 19th century physics; Ampere's electrodynamics and the acceptability of guiding assumptions; Brownian motion and the appraisal of theories; the Michelson-Morley experiment and the appraisal of theories; recent geological theory; plate tectonics and inter- theory relations; the theory of an expanding earth and the acceptability of guiding assumptions; 20th century physics; Planck's quantum crisis and shifts in guiding assumptions; nuclear magnetic resonance and the acceptability of guiding assumptions; electroweak unification and the appraisal of theories.