ABSTRACT
In a series of recent papers, our research group has been examining a large number of surviving microscope slides and other specimens made in 1856 by Michael Faraday (1791–1867). The research has centered on the way Faraday used these specimens to formulate and guide his research endeavors (Tweney, Mears, & Spitzmtiller, in press). Faraday’s microscope slides were shown to be epistemic artifacts; “agentive” participants in his research (Tweney, 2002). Such a finding extends recent research on cognitive artifacts (e.g., Zhang & Norman, 1994), as well as existing cognitive accounts of Faraday’s experimental practices (e.g., Gooding, 1990).
