Editing Scientific instrument (section)

==History==
Historically, the definition of a scientific instrument has varied, based on usage, laws, and historical time period.<ref name="HackmannReaders13" /><ref name="Warner">{{cite journal | title=What Is a Scientific Instrument, When Did It Become One, and Why? | author=Warner, Deborah Jean | journal=The British Journal for the History of Science | volume=23 | number=1 | date=March 1990 | pages=83–93 | jstor=4026803 | doi=10.1017/S0007087400044460 | s2cid=145517920 }}</ref><ref name="FR71USvsPresb">{{cite journal |title=United States v. Presbyterian Hospital |journal=The Federal Reporter |volume=71 |pages=866–868 |year=1896}}</ref> Before the mid-nineteenth century such tools were referred to as "natural philosophical" or "philosophical" apparatus and instruments, and older tools from antiquity to the [[Middle Ages]] (such as the [[astrolabe]] and [[pendulum clock]]) defy a more modern definition of "a tool developed to investigate nature qualitatively or quantitatively."<ref name="HackmannReaders13" /><ref name="FR71USvsPresb" /> Scientific instruments were made by [[mathematical practitioner|instrument maker]]s living near a center of learning or research, such as a university or research [[laboratory]]. Instrument makers designed, constructed, and refined instruments for purposes, but if demand was sufficient, an instrument would go into production as a commercial product.<ref name="TurnerEarly87">{{cite book |title=Early Scientific Instruments: Europe, 1400-1800 |author=Turner, A.J. |publisher=Phillip Wilson Publishers |year=1987}}</ref><ref name="BediniEarly64">{{cite book |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39141 |title=Early American Scientific Instruments and Their Makers |author=Bedini, S.A. |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |year=1964 |access-date=18 January 2017}}</ref>

In a description of the use of the [[eudiometer]] by [[Jan Ingenhousz]] to show [[photosynthesis]], a biographer observed, "The history of the use and evolution of this instrument helps to show that science is not just a theoretical endeavor but equally an activity grounded on an instrumental basis, which is a cocktail of instruments and techniques wrapped in a social setting within a community of practitioners. The eudiometer has been shown to be one of the elements in this mix that kept a whole community of researchers together, even while they were at odds about the significance and the proper use of the thing."<ref>Geerdt Magiels (2009) ''From Sunlight to Insight. Jan IngenHousz, the discovery of photosynthesis & science in the light of ecology'', page 231,  VUB Press  {{ISBN|978-90-5487-645-8}}</ref>

By World War II, the demand for improved analyses of wartime products such as medicines, fuels, and weaponized agents pushed instrumentation to new heights.<ref name="MukhopadhyayTheRise08">{{cite journal |title=The Rise of Instruments during World War II |journal=Analytical Chemistry |author=Mukhopadhyay, R. |volume=80 |issue=15 |pages=5684–5691 |year=2008 |doi=10.1021/ac801205u|pmid=18671339 |doi-access= }}</ref> Today, changes to instruments used in scientific endeavors—particularly analytical instruments—are occurring rapidly, with interconnections to computers and data management systems becoming increasingly necessary.<ref name="McMahonAnal07">{{cite book |title=Analytical Instrumentation: A Guide to Laboratory, Portable and Miniaturized Instruments |author=McMahon, G. |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2007 |pages=1–6 |isbn=9780470518557 }}</ref><ref name="KhandpurHandbook15">{{cite book |title=Handbook of Analytical Instruments |author=Khandpur, R.S. |publisher=McGraw Hill Education |year=2016 |isbn=9789339221362}}</ref>