I love the idea of Philip Ball's book Beautiful Experiments. He gives historical progressions of six categories of experiments, such as “What is light?” and “How do organisms behave?” Each experiment gets 2–4 pages, including pictures, so it is easy to browse through a few at a time. The chronological ordering within each category nicely shows what some of the hardest steps were.
In addition to describing their experiments, Ball humanizes the scientists through sidebars with tidbits about their lives and accomplishments. For example, in the early 17th century, Francesco Stelluti co-founded the scientific society Accademia dei Lincei, which translates as “Academy of the Lynxes”—a reference to that animal's excellent eyesight.
The descriptions of experiments convey at least a rough idea of the new insights and results. However, sometimes a slight elaboration could help a reader make better sense of the setup; for example, including a picture of the geometry used in Eratosthenes' calculation of the Earth's radius using shadow lengths, or a clear statement that, in James Joule's experiment on heat, the liquid heats up as the weight drops. Very occasionally, Ball gets something wrong, like his statement that Foucault's pendulum would only undergo full 360° rotation at the north and south poles. (The pendulum rotates more slowly at other latitudes, but it eventually completes the full rotation unless it is exactly at the equator.) None of this is a major problem with the book though. Readers interested in a fuller understanding of the experiments can easily look up details elsewhere, but the book provides an excellent introduction to a wide range of historically important experiments.
A minor disappointment for me was the treatment of female scientists. Ball notes in the introduction that “the history of science … is no paradigm of diversity,” and indeed, the scientists he includes are mostly White men. That is understandable. My frustration is that Ball deftly illustrates how barriers faced by individuals can be acknowledged without derailing the overall narrative. He notes sympathetically that Robert Hooke's and Michael Faraday's modest socioeconomic backgrounds slowed their paths to the recognition they deserved. Similarly, Joule had extra challenges thanks to his social awkwardness, while Walter Friedrich encountered difficulties because he worked in East Germany. Others would have shared a Nobel Prize except that it was awarded after they died, or in the case of Heinrich Matthaei, “for reasons never made clear.” The lack of any corresponding commentary on gender is a missed opportunity. For example, details from Chien-Shiung Wu's life, from her good fortune in having parents who believed in girls' education to her decades of low pay based on gender and her omission from the Nobel Prize, would highlight some of the obstacles faced by women in physics.
While most of the main text that describes the experiments is excellent, I do wish that Ball philosophized less about experiments. This largely happens through a handful of “interludes,” with occasional related comments in the main text. Ball uses a narrow definition of an experiment: A measurement designed to test a particular theoretical prediction. This definition places the first true experiment in 1648, many centuries after some of his own examples. Worse, he emphasizes “the scientific method,” claiming that some scientists are uncomfortable deviating from it. I have yet to meet such a scientist. Although “the scientific method” can be appropriate, such as when evaluating the effectiveness of new drugs, for many types of experimental work, it simply makes no sense. Physicists and chemists characterize new materials by determining their crystal structure, specific heat, electrical resistivity, and other properties. Some make precision measurements of particular quantities. As Ball mentions, some develop new techniques. This in turn allows exploration of new regimes: microscopes reveal previously invisible length scales, cryostats cool well below the temperature of outer space, and so on. Perhaps most importantly, keen observers may make completely unexpected scientific discoveries in the course of other measurements. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin from the absence of bacteria near a bit of mold; a few years earlier, he had discovered lysozyme by noting how mucus affected bacteria. Among many other serendipitous findings are pulsars, superconductivity, the muon (“Who ordered that?” famously quipped I. I. Rabi, a Nobelist in theoretical physics), and vulcanized rubber. The commonly cited process of question/hypothesis/prediction/data/analysis is a scientific method, but not the only one.
Experimental scientists carry out all of the work described earlier, often moving seamlessly from one type to another. People develop new equipment, then use it. During exploratory work or standard characterization, they may find unusual features and follow up to decipher them. Limiting “experiments” to a small fraction of what experimentalists do is an odd choice, especially since an overemphasis on “the scientific method” can discourage budding scientists. Young children instinctively do exploratory experiments. My toddler son once carefully poured water from a plastic pitcher into a soup bowl. From the look of surprise on his face when the bowl overflowed, he clearly had not grasped the concept of volume. He was just as clearly intrigued by the unexpected outcome and proceeded to test other receptacles. The rigid “scientific method” approach tells children that their explorations are not science. Worse, it makes science seem forbidding and difficult, persuading students that they are no good at the subject. Giving equal place to other types of scientific measurements could go a long way toward demystifying science. In fact, Ball includes plenty of examples across the full spectrum of experimental work, but he misses the chance to celebrate all these approaches as valuable scientific methods.
Setting aside such might-have-beens, the book should still be a fun read for a range of audiences, especially the portions that illustrate how progress is made in experimental sciences. It is carefully researched by an author who is knowledgeable about a wide range of scientific topics and who uses that knowledge to tell compelling stories. Students and professional scientists alike can use it as a starting point for learning more about a fascinating set of experiments.
Rena J. Zieve is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Davis. Her research in experimental condensed matter physics focuses mainly on low-temperature phenomena such as superfluidity, superconductivity, and magnetic order.
