Crease on Peirce in Physics Today January 28, 2010

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)

I’d meant to link to this earlier, but something was going on with the Physics Today website, and supposedly free content was getting hidden behind a paywall, but this is now resolved.  In the December issue, workhorse historian of physics Robert Crease had an article on Charles Sanders Peirce’s involvement in 19th-century metrology.  Peirce (pronounced “purse”) is best-known today for his involvement with American pragmatist philosophy.  However, like William Thomson, and in association with Albert Michelson (as recently discussed at length by Richard Staley), Peirce was also a key figure in the development of precision instrumentation and experimentation.  The article is very timely to recent posts here, and upcoming posts as well, so do have a look if you’re at all interested.