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Bruno Latour (born June 22, 1947 , Beaune , France ) is a French Sociologist Of Science best known for his books '' We Have Never Been Modern ,'' '' Laboratory Life ,'' and '' Science In Action .'' Although his studies of scientific practice were at one time associated with Social Constructionist approaches to the sociology of science, Latour has diverged significantly from such approaches. Along with Michel Callon and John Law , Latour is one of the primary developers of Actor-network Theory (ANT), a constructionist approach influenced by the Ethnomethodology of Harold Garfinkel , the generative Semiotics of Algirdas Julius Greimas , and the maverick sociology of Durkheim 's rival Gabriel Tarde . BIOGRAPHY As a student Latour originally aggregated in . In the book, the authors undertake an Ethnographic study of a Neuroendocrinology research laboratory at the Salk Institute . This early work demonstrated that naïve descriptions of the Scientific Method , in which theories stand or fall on the outcome of a single experiment, are inconsistent with actual laboratory practice, in which a typical experiment produces only inconclusive data that is attributed to failure of the apparatus or experimental method, and that a large part of scientific training involves learning how to make the subjective decision of what data to keep and what data to throw out; a process that to an untrained outsider looks like a mechanism for ignoring data that contradicts scientific orthodoxy. After a research project examining the sociology of ). In it, he reviews the life and career of one of France's most famous scientists Louis Pasteur and his discovery of microbes, in the fashion of a political biography. Latour highlights the social forces at work in and around Pasteur's career and the uneven manner in which his theories were accepted. By providing more explicitly ideological explanations for the acceptance of Pasteur's work more easily in some quarters than in others, he seeks to undermine the notion that the acceptance and rejection of scientific theories is primarily, or even usually, a matter of experiment, evidence or reason. Another work, '' Aramis, Or, The Love Of Technology '' focuses on the history of an unsuccessful mass-transit project. More recently Latour has turned to more "theoretical" and programmatic works. In the late 1980s and 1990s, he was one of the key thinkers in Actor-network Theory . His more theoretical books include ''Science in Action'', ''Pandora's Hope,'' and perhaps his most popular work, ''We Have Never Been Modern''. Latour and Woolgar produced a highly heterodox and controversial picture of the sciences. Drawing on the work of . After spending more than 20 years at the Centre De Sociologie De L'innovation at the École Des Mines in Paris , Latour moved in 2006 to the Institut D'Etudes Politiques De Paris , where he is the first occupant of a Chair named for the aforementioned Gabriel Tarde. Latour is related to a well-known family of winemakers from Burgundy and is not associated with the similarly-named estate in Bordeaux . In recent years he has also served as one of the curators of successful art exhibitions at the Zentrum Für Kunst Und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe , Germany , including "Iconoclash" (2002) and "Making Things Public" (2005). CENTRAL CONCEPTS SEE ALSO
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