Scientific practices in South America. Experiments with the speed of sound in Santiago, Chile at the end of the 18th century

Abstract

The renovation that science history has been experiencing for some time now, has allowed the beginning of inquiry into the process of expansion and diffusion of European science in other geographical spaces. From this point of view, which has highlighted the central role that scientific practices have had on ways of producing knowledge, this article addresses the experiments carried out in Santiago, Chile regarding the speed of sound by the enlightened scientists Jose Espinoza y Tello and Felipe Bauza in January of 1794. Through a study of this experiment we analyzed the methods, procedures and tools used by both Spanish officers, in order to reconstruct and understand the forms of elaboration and validation of scientific knowledge in colonial Spanish America, along with demonstrating that Chile was not exempt from scientific activity as of the end of the 18th century.