University of Pittsburgh Press
No Easy Answers
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No Easy Answers

Science and the Pursuit of Knowledge

By Allan Franklin
Readers not familiar with the literature will learn through Franklin's book a great deal about the history of the electron, the neutrino, the magnetic monopole, and much else. [He] wisely selects his case studies to illuminate the influence that experiments have had in science . . . physicists will find in it a useful epitome of Franklin's past contributions and will be reassured of the legitimacy of their rationalist conception of science.
Physics Today
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In No Easy Answers, Allan Franklin offers an accurate picture of science to both a general reader and to scholars in the humanities and social sciences who may not have any background in physics. Through the examination of nontechnical case studies, he illustrates the various roles that experiment plays in science. He uses examples of unquestioned success, such as the discoveries of the electron and of three types of neutrino, as well as studies that were dead ends, wrong turns, or just plain mistakes, such as the “fifth force,” a proposed modification of Newton's law of gravity. Franklin argues that science is a reasonable enterprise that provides us with knowledge of the natural world based on valid experimental evidence and reasoned and critical discussion, and he makes clear that it behooves all of us to understand how it works.

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Franklin successfully demonstrates how experimental work supports and corrects scientific knowledge, making science 'a reasonable enterprise that gives us knowledge of the natural world, based on valid experimental evidence and on a reasoned and critical discussion.' Highly recommended.

Choice

Franklin's superb contributions to the history and philosophy of science over many years have provided the foundation for this excellent book, in which he makes the inner workings of science accessible to a broad audience of well-educated nonscientists. By examining wrong experiments as well as correct ones, he shows how scientists make rational arguments and follow reasonable strategies to sort out competing claims. In the process, he answers some of the most serious critics of science.

William E. Evenson, former editor, History of Physics Newsletter

Allan Franklin is considered one of the principal authors who have brought experimentation to the limelight, analyzing the role that experiments play in the making of the science that we know today. With this instructive book, Franklin makes his sophisticated work accessible to the general reader.

Giora Hon, University of Haifa

Allan Franklin's superb work illuminates the essential role of experiment in modern science. Choosing provocative examples, he explores the inner drama of the laboratory and its controversies, where resolutions involve so much reasoning, judgment, and skill. His engaging and lucid book reveals how theories face their trial by experiment.

Peter Pesic, St. John's College, Santa Fe
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272 Pages, 6 x 9 in.

March, 2007

isbn : 9780822959687

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Allan Franklin

Allan Franklin is professor of physics at the University of Colorado. He has twice been chair of the Forum on the History of Physics of the American Physical Society and has served two terms on the Executive Council of the Philosophy of Science Association. He is the author of eleven books, including Are There Really Neutrinos? An Evidential History; Selectivity and Discord: Two Problems of Experiment; No Easy Answers: Science and the Pursuit of Knowledge; Shifting Standards: Experiments in Particle Physics in the Twentieth Century, and coauthor of Ending the Mendel-Fisher Controversy.

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Allan Franklin