open labs Donna Haraway (1997) traced present-day scientific laboratories back to Robert Boyle (1627-1691), the “father of chemistry, and even more importantly, father of the experimental way of life” (p. 24). According to Haraway, Boyle’s revolutionary “open laboratory” redefined the character and places of experimental science. Unlike his contemporaries who conducted private if not secret experiments in guarded locations, Boyle established an “open laboratory”:
In order to legitimate experimental knowledge as authentic, Boyle and his contemporaries opened experimental venues to a limited verifying public. According to Steven Shapin (1999), social standing was the key to accessing open laboratories in mid– to late–seventeenth century England. The most significant laboratories during this period (including Boyle’s) were incorporated into gentlemen’s private residences. Decorum dictated that gentlemen’s residences—and by extension, their laboratories—be open to other gentlemen. Once admitted, these gentlemen participated in the experimentation by acting as “modest” witnesses.
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