Computer Image Processing: An Epistemological Aid in Scientific Investigation

摘要

In recent years, the production of scientific images has been changed in a drastic way by the combination of instruments delivering numeric data and computers. The latter permit scientists to display numeric data in image form, but also to develop a variety of computational procedures to enhance image data. This paper aims to discuss these practices of image processing and to defend several theses regarding the epistemological role of data processing, especially with respect to the interpretation of images produced by instruments.