A scientific instrument is a device or tool used for

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

purposes, including the study of both natural phenomena and theoretical research.

History

Historically, the definition of a scientific instrument has varied, based on usage, laws, and historical time period. Before the mid-nineteent
century
such tools were referred to as "natural philosophical" or "philosophical" apparatus and instruments, and older tools from antiquity to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

(such as the

astrolabe An astrolabe ( grc, ἀστρολάβος ; ar, ٱلأَسْطُرلاب ; persian, ستاره‌یاب ) is an ancient astronomical instrument that was a handheld model of the universe. Its various functions also make it an elaborate inclin ...

and

pendulum clock A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is a harmonic oscillator: It swings back and forth in a precise time interval dependent on it ...

) defy a more modern definition of "a tool developed to investigate nature qualitatively or quantitatively." Scientific instruments were made by instrument makers living near a center of learning or research, such as a university or research

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...

. Instrument makers designed, constructed, and refined instruments for purposes, but if demand was sufficient, an instrument would go into production as a commercial product. In a description of the use of the

eudiometer A eudiometer is a laboratory device that measures the change in volume of a gas mixture following a physical or chemical change. Description Depending on the reaction being measured, the device can take a variety of forms. In general, it is s ...

Jan Ingenhousz Jan (or John) Ingenhousz or Ingen-Housz FRS (8 December 1730 – 7 September 1799) was a Dutch-born British physiologist, biologist and chemist. He is best known for discovering photosynthesis by showing that light is essential to the process ...

to show

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...

, 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."Geerdt Magiels (2009) ''From Sunlight to Insight. Jan IngenHousz, the discovery of photosynthesis & science in the light of ecology'', page 231, VUB Press By World War II, the demand for improved analyses of wartime products such as medicines, fuels, and weaponized agents pushed instrumentation to new heights. 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.

Scope

Scientific instruments vary greatly in size, shape, purpose, complication and complexity. They include relatively simple

laboratory equipment A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, line gauge, or scale, is a device used in geometry and technical drawing, as well as the engineering and construction industries, to measure distances or draw straight lines. Variants Rulers have long ...

chronometer A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and th ...

thermometer A thermometer is a device that temperature measurement, measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a merc ...

s, etc. Other simple tools developed in the late 20th century or early 21st century are the

Foldscope A Foldscope is an optical microscope that can be assembled from simple components, including a sheet of paper and a lens. It was created by Manu Prakash and designed to cost less than one USD to build. It is a part of the " frugal science" move ...

(an optical microscope), the SCALE(KAS Periodic Table), the

MasSpec Pen The MasSpec Pen, or the precìso MasSpec Pen System, is a mass spectrometry (MS) based cancer detection and diagnosis system that can be used for ''ex vivo'' and ''in vivo'' tissue sample analysis. The system collects biological molecules from a t ...

(a pen that detects cancer), the

glucose meter A glucose meter, also referred to as a "glucometer", is a medical device for determining the approximate concentration of glucose in the blood. It can also be a strip of glucose paper dipped into a substance and measured to the glucose chart. ...

, etc. However, some scientific instruments can be quite large in size and significant in complexity, like

particle collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators. Colliders are used as a research tool in particle ...

s or

radio-telescope A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency ...

antennas. Conversely,

microscale The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Un ...

and

nanoscale The nanoscopic scale (or nanoscale) usually refers to structures with a length scale applicable to nanotechnology, usually cited as 1–100 nanometers (nm). A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. The nanoscopic scale is (roughly speaking) a lo ...

technologies are advancing to the point where instrument sizes are shifting towards the tiny, including nanoscale

surgical instrument A surgical instrument is a tool or device for performing specific actions or carrying out desired effects during a surgery or operation, such as modifying biological tissue, or to provide access for viewing it. Over time, many different kinds of ...

s, biological

nanobots Nanoid robotics, or for short, nanorobotics or nanobotics, is an emerging technology field creating machines or robots whose components are at or near the scale of a nanometer (10−9 meters). More specifically, nanorobotics (as opposed to mi ...

, and

bioelectronics Bioelectronics is a field of research in the convergence of biology and electronics. Definitions At the first C.E.C. Workshop, in Brussels in November 1991, bioelectronics was defined as 'the use of biological materials and biological architectu ...

The digital era

Instruments are increasingly based upon

integration Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...

with

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

s to improve and simplify control; enhance and extend instrumental functions, conditions, and parameter adjustments; and streamline data sampling, collection, resolution, analysis (both during and post-process), and storage and retrieval. Advanced instruments can be connected as a

local area network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or office building. By contrast, a wide area network (WAN) not only covers a larger ...

(LAN) directly or via

middleware Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement co ...

and can be further integrated as part of an

information management Information management (IM) concerns a cycle of organizational activity: the acquisition of information from one or more sources, the custodianship and the distribution of that information to those who need it, and its ultimate disposal throug ...

application such as a

laboratory information management system A laboratory information management system (LIMS), sometimes referred to as a laboratory information system (LIS) or laboratory management system (LMS), is a software-based solution with features that support a modern laboratory's operations. K ...

(LIMS). Instrument connectivity can be furthered even more using

internet of things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...

(IoT) technologies, allowing for example laboratories separated by great distances to connect their instruments to a network that can be monitored from a workstation or mobile device elsewhere.

Examples of scientific instruments

List of scientific instruments manufacturers

List of scientific instruments designers

* Jones, William * Kipp, Petrus Jacobus * Le Bon, Gustave * Roelofs, Arjen * Schöner, Johannes * Von Reichenbach, Georg Friedrich

History of scientific instruments

Museums

* Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments (CHSI) *

Boerhaave Museum Rijksmuseum Boerhaave is a museum of the history of science and medicine, based in Leiden, Netherlands. The museum hosts a collection of historical scientific instruments from all disciplines, but mainly from medicine, physics, and astronomy. Th ...

Chemical Heritage Foundation The Science History Institute is an institution that preserves and promotes understanding of the history of science. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it includes a library, museum, archive, research center and conference center. It was fo ...

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...

Royal Victoria Gallery for the Encouragement of Practical Science The Royal Victoria Gallery for the Encouragement of Practical Science was an adult education institution and exhibition gallery in Victorian era, Victorian Manchester, a commercial enterprise intended to educate the general public about science and ...

Whipple Museum of the History of Science Whipple may refer to: People *Whipple (surname) (including a list of people with the surname) *Whip Jones (1909–2001), American ski industry pioneer, founder, developer and original operator of the Aspen Highlands ski area in Aspen, Colorado * W ...

Historiography

Paul Bunge Prize The Paul Bunge Prize is an international award for seminal and lasting contributions to the history of scientific instruments. Endowed in 1993 by the late Hans R. Jenemann (1920–1996), glass chemist at Schott AG in Mainz, and collector and histori ...

Types of scientific instruments

Optical instrument An optical instrument (or "optic" for short) is a device that processes light waves (or photons), either to enhance an image for viewing or to analyze and determine their characteristic properties. Common examples include periscopes, microscopes ...

Electronic test equipment Electronic test equipment is used to create signals and capture responses from electronic devices under test (DUTs). In this way, the proper operation of the DUT can be proven or faults in the device can be traced. Use of electronic test equipmen ...

References

{{Authority control Science-related lists