STS THW

On science

 “The history of science is often told as a series of

breakthroughs, revolutions and moments of genius
from scientific heroes. But in reality, there is always
a before, an after and a historical context.”

–Michael Mosley and John Lynch, The Story of Science

Science from Plato to Einstein
The Good (Bonum)
Truth
Truth (Veritas)
and
One (Unum)
Numbers

Beauty

Pythagoras
Plato
Galileo Galilei

ca. 570 – ca. 495 BC 424/423 BC – 348/347 BC 15 Feb 1564 – 8 Jan 1642

Sir Isaac Newton

James Clerk Maxwell
Albert Einstein

25 Dec 1642 – 20 Mar 1727

[4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727] 13 Jun 1831 – 5 Nov 1879 14 Mar 1879 – 18 Apr 1955
3
5 Diagnostic Features
of Science
book: E.O. Wilson Consilience
Repeatability
Economy
Mensuration
Heuristics
Consilience Two biases in scientific research
e.g. conservation principles
son
rea
conclusion: Truth depends on agreement of theory withs observation.
n se
se
Repeatability

The same phenomenon is sought again and again, preferably

by independent investigation, and the interpretation given to it
is confirmed or discarded by means of novel analysis and
experimentation
Economy

Scientists attempt to abstract the

information into the form that is both
simplest and most pleasing - the
combination called elegance - while
yielding the largest amount of
information with the least amount of
effort
wikipedia.org
Mensuration

If something can be properly measured using universally

accepted scales: generalizations about it are rendered
unambiguous
Heuristics

The best science stimulates further discovery, often in

unpredictable new directions, and the new knowledge
provides an additional test of the original principles that led to
the discovery.
Consilience

The explanations of physical

phenomena most likely to
survive are those that can be
connected and proved
consistent with one another