<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Arabatzis, T.</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Do scientific objects have a life (which may end)?</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Science in Context</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2021</style></year></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/science-in-context/article/abs/do-scientific-objects-have-a-life-which-may-end/5F27A50206F2A1A7A58F05C4ABC33E31</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">34</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">195-208</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The aim of this article is to make a case for the pertinence of a biographical approach to the history of scientific objects. I first lay out the rationale of that approach by revisiting and extending my earlier work on the topic. I consider the characteristics of scientific objects that motivate the biographical metaphor, and I indicate its virtues and limitations by bringing out the positive and negative analogies between biographies of scientific objects and ordinary biographies. I then point out various ways in which scientific objects may pass away and argue that their demise should be conceptualized as a process. Finally, I sketch the history of the concept of “ether” in nineteenth and early twentieth century physics and suggest that it lends itself particularly well to a biographical treatment. To that effect, I discuss the identity, heuristic character, and recalcitrance of the ether and examine the reasons that may have led to its passing.</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2</style></issue></record></records></xml>