Biographies of scientific objects : [... papers presented at a conference on The Coming into Being and Passing Away of Scientific Objects held in september 1995 at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin] This book explores the ways in which scientific objects are both real and historical. Whether discovered or invented objects of inquiry broaden and deepen in meaning growing more real as they become entangled in webs of cultural signficance material practices and theoretical derivations. Thus their biographies will matter to anyone concerned with the formation of scientific knowledge and with the reconciliation of ontology and history. Back cover