Introduction: Laboratory times

Abstract

In this introduction to the Special Section ‘Laboratory Times', the editors argue that a focused body of scholarship at the intersection of time and the laboratory has yet to materialize. To contextualize the papers that comprise the Special Section, we survey the role of the lab within time studies, as well as the place of temporality within Science and Technology Studies (STS). We show how time is made to structure and shape scientific practice and how scientists work with and create time to suit the frames and needs of experimentation. While one might expect to find as many forms of scientific time as there are branches of science, the specific temporalities of bench science have been largely overlooked by scholars. We introduce the arguments of the papers in this Special Section - observing their shared interest in the ways that time is materialized, negotiated and produced in laboratory settings. We conclude by imagining a future in which a research trajectory focused on ‘Laboratory TImes’ brings scholars in time studies and STS further into conversation.