Charles Grafton Page's Experiment with a Spiral Conductor
Name
Cavicchi_CGPage_Experiment_Technology_and_Culture_2008.pdf
Size
1.18 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
29b417933ec1537f1ada4ddc3053b721
Author(s)
Cavicchi, Elizabeth
Date Issued
2008
Journal
Technology and Culture
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press
Citation
Cavicchi, Elizabeth. "Charles Grafton Page's Experiment with a Spiral Conductor." Technology and culture 49, no. 4 (2008): 884-907. https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.0.0165
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
In the 1830s, American experimenter Charles Grafton Page pioneered electromagnetism, developing instruments, experimental practice, and understandings that were foundational for nineteenth-century technologies such as the telegraph and induction coil. While a student, Page detected electricity in a spiral conductor where direct current had not passed and no one expected current to be. He felt bodily shock and saw sparks. This paper explores that experiment through historical accounts and my own reconstruction of it. Page opened up boundaries in the physical circuit and cultural outlook that others treated as closed. New possibilities emerged; by tolerating the ambiguity that accompanied them, Page improvised fluidly and was able to make further discoveries. In recreating his experiment, I encountered variable signals. Like Page, I developed lab techniques that generated unexpected effects and questions. This study shows how opening up physical and cultural boundaries brings to light investigative possibilities not apparent before, possibilities which can become entry points for further exploration.
MIT Department
Edgerton Center (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.0.0165
