The science of science: A physicist reads Barnes, Bloor and Henry

In Scientific Knowledge, Barry Barnes, David Bloor and John Henry (BBH) explicitly repudiate the notion that the physical environment prays no role in the creation of scientific knowledge, thereby removing a major bone of fruitless and heated contention between scientists and practitioners of the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK). There remain, however, many aspects of BBH's view of scientific knowledge that clash with my own experience as a practitioner of (theoretical) physics. I offer some examples of ways in which BBH seem to get things wrong, in the hope of starting a more constructive dialogue, leading to a better understanding of sociology by scientists, and perhaps even vice-versa.