Professional Documents
Culture Documents
How Scientific Theories Are and Early History of Science: Invented
How Scientific Theories Are and Early History of Science: Invented
and
Early history of Science
IFEL 8000
Part 1
by
Per Arne Bjrkum *
Spring 2010
NTNU
*Dean at the Faculty of
Science
and Technology,
University of Stavanger
per.a.bjorkum@uis.no
Litterature
A Selected Hisotory of Science
TAPIR, 165 pages
100 NOK
By
Per Arne Bjrkum
Annerledestenkerne
Kreativitet i vitenskapens historie
av
Per Arne Bjrkum
Universitetsforlaget,
2009.
3. utgave
439 NOK
420 pages
Current debate.
culture
1600-1800 AD
1800-1950 AD
72% of the significant people in science from 1400 -1950 are from Britain,
France, Germnany and Italy (four countries!)
Whether meassured in people or events, 97% of accomplishment in scientific
inventories occured in Europe and North America
8
Human Accomplishment, C.Murry, 2003
9
Human Accomplishment, C.Murry, 2003
Why did the Chinese, the Arabs (Muslims..600 AD), and the Indians
not make any significant contribution to science up until 1900 AD?
There were sufficient interaction.
entangled
Religion
Philosophy
Metaphysics
Mystics..
Goverment.?
genius
..and the
..people that make a
difference
10
Talent(s)
"nerds"
much more selfstudy (not on the
syllabus)
..fascinated by
alternative
reading
11
On being talented
Maxwell
was flabbergasted by the fact
that so
many talented or learned
individuals
did NOT (!!)
contribute to something new in
science.
12
An enigma
The history of science (.) has to
explain unsuccessful inquiries, and
why some of the ablest men have
failed to find the key to (new)
knowledge
J. C. Maxwell
14
A new theory
Ohms Law (1826)
U = R I
15
separate
related*
17
Deeper/underlying
relations
Magnetism
Electricity
Electromagnetism
18
Leibniz (1646-1716)
20
A mechanical
invisible
something!
- they were no less intelligent 400 years ago, and they worked
22
in accordance with the modern scientific method ...
Science
Sadi Carnot
1796-1832
Emipircal approach
What is
the status of
scientific facts?
On facts in science..
"When great breakthroughs are made, a
truly great discovery, it means that the
experts were wrong and that the facts,
the objective facts, were different
from what the experts believed they
were.
K. Popper, A World of Propensities, 1995
Facts are theorybiased,
and theory is a
temporary
"truth".
Theory determines
what one can see
25
(Einstein)
Atom
Electron,
Mass
Pressure
Velocity
Acceleration
Gravitation
Space
Proton (particle)
Neutrino
Ions
Air
Viscosity
Current
Resistance
Heat
Energy quantum
EM wave
Photon
Electromagnetism
Quarks
Superstrings
Ether
Crystalline shell
Epicircles/cycles
Natural habitat
Centre of the
Universe
Dark energy
Concepts
Ball
Stone
House
Water
new concepts!
Atom
Electron,
Mass
Pressure
Velocity
Acceleration
Gravitation
Space
Proton (particle)
Neutrino
Ions
Air
Viscosity
Current
Resistance
Heat
Energy quantum
EM wave
Photon
Electromagnetism
Quarks
Superstrings
Ether
Crystalline shell
Epicircles/cycles
Natural habitat
Centre of the
universe
Ball
Stone
House
Water
Close to
our
senses
More
abstract
and not
supported
by the
senses
28
Because they
are part of the
logical
structure
which is
empirically
supported
In different ways
30
31
32
Euclid
Non-Euclid
33
34
35
Scientific publications
"Make it appear unavoidable
Pasteur
36
37
38
Paradigm
logics
Value choice
Controlling principles
Metaphysics
39
logics
Metaphysical values
Nature
40
Paradigm
logics
?
New island (paradigm)
Value choice
Controlling principles
Metaphysics
41
Paradigm
logics
Value choice
Controlling principles
Metaphysics
42
The paradigm
information
irrelevant
information
logics
It is a filter on information/data
43
information
?
logics
44
45
A Theory
elements and its structure
46
but
what about the
routes of thought
and
the activities involved?
47
and
is a
theory
Discovered?
or
Invented?
48
May 7, 1952
A theory is invented.
Because there is no logical
route from observation to a
theory
49
50
May 7, 1952
Where he explain with reference to this figure (in black) how scientific theories are inventet.
This outline is based on G. Holtons The Advancement of Science, and Its Burdens, 1998, p. 28-56).
A theory is invented.
51
(axioms)
P ( predictions)
(a-logical/creative jump)
E (experience)
Einstein. Inner perfection(the structure and elements in the theory),
and external validation (observations)
52
May 7, 1952
Inner perfection
(the structure and
elements in the
theory),
?
E1
E2
E3
E4
Experience
Einstein: It starts with experience, and ends with it
54
E1
E2
E3
E4
Experience
55
A-logical
step
(a jump)
A1
A2
An
A3
Filter
(personal)
E1
E2
E3
E4
Experience
56
A1
A-logical step
(a jump)
Filter
(personal)
A2
An
A3
Einstein:
We pay attention on certain repetedly occuring complexes of sense
impressions and relating them to a concept , mental knots or mental
connections between sense impressions, and is primary if close to sense
experience. But we select the concepts without some logical necessity.
All concepts,even those which are closest to our experience, are (from a
the point of wiev of) logical freely chosen conventions
E1
E2
E3
E4
Experience
57
A1
A-logical step
(a jump)
A2
An
A3
Basic elements
NB:There is no logical
relation between
the basic elements!
?
Filter (personal)
Basis:
Metaphysical
Philosophical
(Paradigm)
E1
E2
E3
E4
Experience
58
A1
A-logical step
(a jump)
?
Filter (personal)
Basis:
Metaphysical
Philosophical
(Paradigm)
A2
An
A3
Basic elements
NB:There is no logical
relation between
the basic elements!
Assumptions
E1
E2
E3
E4
Experience
59
A1
A-logical step
(a jump)
A2
An
Basic elements
A3
Logical/analytical/
mathematical
deductions
?
Filter (personal)
NB:There is no logical
relation between
the basic elements!
P1
P3
P2
E1
E2
E3
E4
Experience
60
A1
A-logical step
(a jump)
A2
An
A3
?
Filter (personal)
P1
P3
P2
E1
E2
E3
Experience
E4
A1
A-logical step
(a jump)
A2
An
A3
?
Filter (personal)
P1
P3
P2
E1
E2
E3
E4
Experience
The theory must not contradict empirical facts (external validation).
62
Theory
Experience
A1
A2
An
A3
If NO!!!,
-one solutions could be to add the number
of assumptions,
P1
P3
P2
E1
E2
E3
Experience
E4
E3 = NO!!!
64
A1
A2
An
A3
a1
a2 a3
P1
P3
P2
E1
E2
E3
Experience
E4
E3: NO!!!
65
A*1
A*2
An
a1
A3
a3
a2
P1
P3
P2
E1
E2
E3
Experience
E4
E3: NO!!!
66
A2
A1
A-logical step
(a jump)
An
A3
?
Filter (personal)
P1
P3
P2
E1
E2
E3
E4
Experience
Popper: this is a good theory
Pn
Predictions of
unseen/unobserved
fenomena (relations).
67
Logical routes
Yes
No
68
A2
An
a1
A3
Basic elements
NB:There is no logical
relation between
the basic elements!
Logical/analytical/
mathematical
deductions
?
Filter (personal)
a2
P1
P3
P2
Pn
E1
E2
E3
Experience
E4
Preditions of
unseen/unobserved
fenomena
69
70
A1
A2
An
A3
Implications:
It is therefore not possible to present a logical justification for
neither each assumption/definition nor the whole set of
assumptions/definition (why these and not others)
Note: there is no knowledge in a definitions, it serves in combination
with other definitions and assumptions as a starting point for possible
knowledge
71
A1
An
NB:
A3
logic
P1
P3
P2
E1
E2
E3
Experience
E4
Paradigim
logics
Value choice
Controlling principles
Metaphysics
73
The trunk
Methaphysical foundations
74
Trunk
Methaphysical foundations
75
76
Observations
You cannot watch
the world and move
(logically) down the
braches and down
to the trunk
- and discover the
connected branches
that way..
77
Observations
Concepts
Definition
78
Observations
A scion?
79
80
Paradigm shifts
New basic assumptions and definitionst (the roots)
Einstein
Newton
A1, A2,.
A*1, A*2, .
81
logic
Value choice
Controlling principles
Metaphysics
82
Einstein:
a theory is invented
and
Invention
is not the product
of logical thought,
even though the final product
is tied to a logical structure
Einstein, Autobiographische Skitzze, 1956
(8 pages, an additional to his Autobiographical
Notes, 1953)
83
84
A basic conpsept
What about the
cause and effect
(causality)
relationships
in science?
87
The doctors were not willing to clean their hands properly and the death rates
during birth at hospitals could reach up to 30% (and only ca. 1% at home!)
Why did they not wash their hand with clorine as suggested by Semmelweiss?
Well, they had god reasons.
bacteria were thought to be an effect of being sick, and not
the cause of it and besides: how could the small bacteria kill a big man?
So why should the doctors have to wash their hands thoroughly?
88
The doctors were not willing to clean their hands properly and the death rates
during birth at hospitals could reach up to 30% (and only ca. 1% at home!)
Why did they not wash their hand with clorine as suggested by Semmelweiss?
Well, they had god reasons.
bacteria were thought to be an effect of being sick, and not
the cause of it and besides: how could the small bacteria kill a big man?
So why should the doctors have to wash their hands thoroughly?
89
90
The paradigm
informmation
logics
It is a filter on information/data
and what you can see (with the theory)
91
vice versa?
92
Magnetism
Electricity
Electromagnetism
94
95
A1
A2
An
A3
P3
P2
E1
E2
E3
E4
Experience
96
To remind you..
It is the theory or the law that constitutes the
logical link
between cause and effect
Popper, Objective Knowledge, 1968
98
Thompson, 1798
Drilling on metal
The caloric theory (the heat was a substance - with some mas - hidden within
the body, by ut was liberated upon agitation. But Thompson saw that the energy
liberated appearde to be unlimited. As long as agitation continued,
heat was produced.
He writes:
1753-1814
99
The light that is emitted from the eye, moves in a straight line
Euklid, Optica)
HENCE: Speed of light must be extremely fast because when we open our
eyes, far away objects like the stars - are seen at the same time as the
100
closer objects!!
Creativity
Leonardo da Vinci
(1452 -1519)
Lateral thinking
101
Innovative combination
(of explanations and drawings)
New relations.
Leonardo da Vinci
(1452 -1519)
102
How it started
103
Thales
radical
How it started
Perhaps an even more important and lasting
feature of the culture Thales introduced, also
called the Ionic culture, was that the pupils
were encouraged to critique what the master
had presented.
Thales: flat earth
Flat Earth (a drum)
Floating on water
105
107
108
The problem of
change.
Tha basic question
was:
can we
trust
our
senses?
109
The problem of
change.
Heraclitus maintained that everything in
110
The problem of
change.
Parmenides went to the opposite extreme. He
rejected
111
The problem of
change.
112
their senses.
The problem of
change.
Pythagoreans
117
118
Now one was leaving this the best period of the cycle
This was a development (i.e. decay) nobody could prevent.
decay
120
1)
Thales ( 640-540)
Anaximander (611-540)
2) Parmenides (540480)
Heraclitus (540-470)
4) Pythagoras (560-480)
To be read
These philosophers were "the first"(?) rationalists, i.e. the first to believe in the feasibility of thought being able to
121
understand nature (it was not seen as mystical), and they sought the simple answers (as modern science does).
18.01.2006
Modern natural science builds on these philosophers of nature in addition to Plato, but not Aristotle!
Plato and Aristotle (brief summary with emphasis on what is important for knowledge on nature)
Plato (427-347)
Aristotle (384-322)
To be read
The actual substance, primary matter", what is immutable/eternal, is not material, or relations between
integers, but ideas. What we sense is merely a pale and fleeting shadow of the ideas. Knowledge is insight
into the ideas, and they can be viewed through thinking/contemplation. Prior to birth the soul has knowledge
about everything (i.e. the ideas, because the soul was one with the ideas before birth). This knowledge is lost
at birth when the soul is divorced from the ideas and dwells in the perishable body. Recognition of thoughts is
proof of new contact with "the forgotten" ideas. Learning therefore concerns recognition through intuition.
Examples of ideas are perfect geometrical shapes (triangle, circle, cube etc. which we can only make or
draw approximations of). Knowledge about what is true is thus insight into the perfect and immutable ideas,
and we seek this knowledge because we have inherent yearning causing us to seek what is ideal and
valuable. Only a few, however, are able to achieve true knowledge. Plato was not interested in the material
and sensory world. Plato was important for Augustine's teachings (400s) , but was "forgotten" from around
the 13th century (Aristotle gained importance due to Aquinas)), but he had his renaissance in the 16th
century and was important for the emergence of modern science.
Aristotle, Plato's student, rejects Plato's teaching about ideas, and claims that only individual objects (matter)
exist. The important thing is the shape of objects (not what they are made from). The idea of a horse as an
abstract phenomenon arises after many sensory impressions of individual horses (what is common, the
essence of horse, becomes its shape). We abstract what is general (the shape of the horse) from what is
incidental (the colour of the horse). Knowledge is insight into what is general. Aristotle observed parts of
nature (animals), but did not carry out physical experiments (that would be forcing motion on nature, and
would give no information about natural motions). He rejected the idea that mathematics (numbers) had
anything to do with the material world (hence mathematical physics as introduced by Galileo was impossible
for him). He rejected the existence of a vacuum ("nature abhors a vacuum"), thus he rejected Democritus'
idea of atoms which required a vacuum. Aristotle believed that the material/sensory world consisted of
different mixes of the elements (he had this idea from Empedocles) earth, water, air and fire (on earth), and
what was outside the moon's sphere consisted of a substance he called ether (without mass!). The material
world was animist, i.e. it had properties such as eagerness (a stone would be urged toward earth because
this was its natural habitat). Time was cyclical (circular idea of time, everybody would be born again and live
the same life again forever). According to Aristotle his period was "the Golden Age", the peak of
technology. Further development was impossible! Thus knowledge was not sought to exploit nature (more
than what was already the case). The world was not created, but had always existed, and had been put into
motion (but was not created) by a prime mover" (an "impersonal" God). He believed that the earth was the
centre of the world and at rest (did not spin around its own axis) and that the planets and the sun travelled at
constant speeds and in circles (an idea from Plato!) around the earth. Aristotle replaces Plato from122
the 13th
to the 17th century as the authority on natural philosophy (Aristotle's writings were studied to gain knowledge
about nature).
There is no scientific rationale for this principle, but it has been a very useful principle.
Earth
Ether
Platons order
to Aristotle:
Use circles and
constant speed
for the plantes
Keep it simple
Earth/stone
Moon
(made of
ether and
it was a perfect
Sphere).
Vertical movement
aiming at the
geometrical centre of
the world was the natural
125
movement
NB!
Immutable universe: beyond
the moon (made of ether)
A dual
universe
Earth
Ether
Sublunar
spheres:
The four
Elements:
(Earth, water
Air, fire)
Complications
Earth
stars
Dual universe
Ether
Earth
Sublunar
spheres:
Made of
the four
elements
Ca 50
circles in total
Earth
Heaven
Retrograde
movements
Were explained in
a (ad hoc) complicated
way
Planet Mars
129
Aristotle on motion
"Everything
Fn = k x v
Aristotle
Aristotle
Fn = k x
VS.
Physics
Newton
"As air resists motion, a body will either be left standing still
when the air is removed because there is nothing
Impossible!!
131
Aristotle
132
A paradigm.
Gods perspective
on the world
Augustine
354-430
Notice the
absence of
a depth
perspective
WHY?
The world must be drawn as God saw it,
and He saw everything equally well ! 133
A new paradigm.
15th century
Individual perspective
on the world
Aquinas
13th century
opened for the idea that an
individual
might recognise God's truth
by studying nature
as it was perceived personally,
i.e. using
Senses and Reason
Aquinas
1225-1270
Individualism!!
1413
Aquinas ~ 1200 AD
Each person might make his or her
own attempt to understand the laws,
which meant that there was a culture
encouraging the role of the
individual. With Aquinas we see the
individualism
dawn of
,
a new phenomenon which came into
full bloom in Galileo's time.
135
136
A fruitful metaphore
The world as a machine
became a commonly used
metaphor
from 1200 AD and onwards.
A mechanical metaphor
(only to be found in the western culture)
137
139
The pre-Sorcates
A1
A2
A3
An
logic
P1
P3
P2
E1
E2
E3
E4
Experience
140
A2
An
A3
logic
P1
P3
P2
E1
E2
E3
Experience
E4
A1
A3
- The approach is
logic
P1
E1
P3
P2
E2
E3
quantitative.
E4
Experience
143
The Universe
From
Aristotle
to
Copernicus
Simple version
A dual
universe
Platon to Aristotle:
Use circles and
constant speed
Dual universe
The Island knowledge metaphore
Ether
Earth
Sublunar
spheres:
The four
elements
Earth
Heaven
Ca 50 circles in total!
145
Retrograde
movements
Planet Mars
Not so well
explained by
Aristotle
146
Ptolemey (Ptolemaios)
New ad hoc circles were added to get a more precise model
(a 100% match was not required! - why?)
+1500
+150
Ptolemy
(100-178)
more
epicycles
arth
A new invention
Ad hoc solutions
+1500
Ptolemy
(100-178)
Ad hoc solutions
More epicycles (circles)
149
150
Comets
+
new
stars?
(supernova)
Comets
Kometer
152
Earth
153
fire
air
water
Moon
It had to be so
because the
heaven was immutabel
Earth/stone
v
Ad-hoc assumption
154
T. Brahe
Before 1600
The eyes
only,
and
mechanical
equipment
155
The
naked
eye
156
A new paradigm
1800
1670
157
1700
158
From
Almagest
159
Copernicus..
He made the Sun the
centre of the Universe
Copernicus
1473-1543
planet
161
Simpler.?
164
A nest of circles
impossible to follow
and to draw,
but here is a hint
165
Retrograde
movements in
Copernicus
model
Elegantly explained by
166
167
About reality
Or a modern question (The Big Bang): where does the energy come from?
Ockham
Buridian
Oresme,...
1400
Suggestion that
the earth turned on
its axis and around
the sun.
Modern ideas of
motion. Attempts
to link
mathematics and
physics (in
a "primitive"
coordinate system
(Oresme)
Extensive use of
thought
experiments, ie.
experiemts
without
observations.
Copernicus
1500
Copernicus
made a system
for celestial
bodies with the
sun in the
centre.
Inspired by
previous ideas
of the same.
The first to
make a
mathematical
model based
on this idea.
Seen as not
harmful by the
Catholic
church.
Brahe
Galileo
Kepler
Descartes
1600
New
observations
of planets
(Brahe)
Theory of
motion
(Galileo)
Planets
travelling in
ellipses
(Kepler)
The modern
coordinate
system
(Descartes)
Boyle
Huygens
Hooke
Leibniz
Newton
Bernoulli
Euler
Laplace
Linne
Lavoisier
Priestley
1700
Law of gases
(Boyle).
Newton's
three laws of
motion
plus
gravitation
(Newton).
Mathematics
:
dx/dy, ,
(Newton/
Leibniz).
Light
consists of
particles
(Newton).
Light
consists of
waves
Developmen
t of Newton's
physics via
dx/dy
(Euler;
Laplace,
etc.)
Biology is
systematized
(Linne)
Modern
chemistry
(Lavoisier
Priestley)
X-rays
SuperBequerell
string
Dalton
Thomson
theory
rsted, Joule
Planck
("unifies
Faraday, Mendel
M. Curie
everyOhm,
Mendeleev Einstein
thing")
Young, Maxwell
Rutherford
Fresnel Darwin
Bohr
Human
Schrdinger genome
Heisenberg mapped
1800
1900
Modern
atomic
theory
(Dalton)
Law of
electricity
(Ohm).
Relation
between
magnetism
and
electricity
(rsted)
Induction
(Faraday)
Light has
wave nature
(Young/
Fresnel)
Law of heat
(Joule),
laws of
inheritance
(Mendel),
periodic
system
(Mendeleev),
Evolution of
species
(Darwin)
Electrodynamics
(Maxwell)
X-rays
(Rntgen),
Electrons
(Thomson)
Radioactivity/
splitting atoms
(Becquerel, Curie),
Energy is quantized
(Planck)
Photoelectric effect
and theories of
relativity
(Einstein)
Atoms have cores
(Rutherford)
Structure of atoms
(Bohr)
170
Quantum mechanics
Schrdinger/Heisenberg
-500
1000
Augustine (around 400)
PreSocratics
(Rational
world)
Plato
(Theory of
ideas)
Aristotle
(Theory of
matter)
Archimedes
Pab.19.08.2008
Modern science
Discovery/invention of
the scientific method
formed the basis for
explosive development
of science,- and from
around 1850 also of
technology.
1600
171
To be looked at
Arkimedes, Demokrit,
Euklid, Platon and
Phytagoreerne
rediscovered
Kopernikus
Kepler,
Galilei,
Descartes,
Newton
Ny-platonisme
Pre-sokratene
-500
Tales
Anaximander
Empedokles
Heraklit(es)
Parmenides
Demokrit
Pyhtagoreerne
etc.
Platon
Aristoteles
Augustin
0
400
Ptolemaios
(Heliosentriske modell)
1200
Aquinas
1600
aristotelismen
172