The online project Virtual Laboratory. Essays and Resources on the Experimentalization of Life, 1830-1930, located at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, is dedicated to research in the history of the experimentalization of life. The term experimentalization describes the interaction between the

life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, ...

the arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of m ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

and

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

within the experimental paradigm, ca. 1830 to 1930. The Virtual Laboratory is a platform that not only presents work on this topic but also acts as a research environment for new studies.

History

In 1977, the first version of the Virtual Laboratory was presented, titled Virtual Laboratory of Physiology. At this time, the main focus lay on the development of technological preconditions of physiological research in the 19th century. Therefore, a database with relevant texts and images was created. In 1998, the concept still used today was created after a series of modifications, followed by the publication of a cd-ROM in 1999. At this time, the focus had been expanded from

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

to the

in general, as well as the arts and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

. As the project had been extended from a sole database to a platform for historiographical research, it was presented at the conference ''Using the World Wide Web for Historical Research in Science and Technology'' organized by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. In 2000, the project was incorporated into the research project ''The Experimentalization of Life'', funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. This was followed by another presentation at the conference ''Virtual Research? The impact of new technologies on scientific practices'' at the

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

. In 2002, the first version of the Virtual Laboratory went online. Since 2008, the Virtual Laboratory is listed as a journal under the

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...

number 1866-4784.

Structure

The Virtual Laboratory consists of two parts: The archive holds a large number of

digitized Digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-readable) format.Collins Dictionary. (n.d.). Definition of 'digitize'. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english ...

texts and images as well as data sheets compiled from these resources, the laboratory holds historiographical work on the experimentalization of life as well as a working environment to enable new ways of writing history. The Virtual Laboratory is composed of 8 sections: *Essays: this section holds the historiographical papers that are in turn linked to the source material of the archive. *Experiments: contains data sheets on classical experiments from 19th century life sciences, e.g. on blood circulation, muscle contraction, verve conduction and reaction time. *Technology: deals with the technological aspects of experimentalization, hence the instruments. *Objects: this section is still under construction. It will contain the actual objects of the experiments, hence organisms. *Sites: contains data sheets on institutions at which experimental work was conducted. *People: this sections holds short biographies of the protagonists of experimentalization. *Concepts: is dedicated to central concepts like reflex, function and consciousness and their respective histories. *Library: this is the core section of the Virtual Laboratory. Besides digitized texts, journals and trade catalogues, it holds manuscripts, audio files and excerpts of movies. The printed texts are in the process of being ocr-ed and are already partly accessible via fulltext search. All materials are available as pdf downloads. Apart from these thematical sections, ''tools'' and ''myLab'' offer the possibility to use the Virtual Laboratory as a research environment. It is possible to create specific collections from the available materials, work on them and share them with other users.

Literature

* Schmidgen, Henning; Evans, Rand B.: ''The Virtual Laboratory: A New On-Line Resource for the History of Psychology.'' ''History of Psychology'', 6 (2), p. 208-213, 2003 * Dierig, Sven; Kantel, Jörg; Schmidgen, Henning
''The Virtual Laboratory for Physiology.'' Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science Preprint 140, 2000
(pdf)

External links

Virtual Laboratory. Essays and Resources on the Experimentalization of Life, 1830-1930
Historiography of science Scientific databases History of psychology History of medicine Online databases