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"Progress in science proceeds in fits and starts. Some periods are filled with great breakthroughs, in other times researchers experience dry spells. Scientists put forward results, both theoretical and experimental. The results are debated by the community, sometimes they are discarded, sometimes they are modified, and sometimes they provide inspirational jumping-off points for new and more accurate ways of understanding the physical universe. In other words, science proceeds along a zigzag path toward what we hope will be ultimate truth, a path that began with humanity's earliest attempts to fathom the cosmos and whose end we cannot predict." - Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe, p. 20

Perhaps you feel a little confused at this point. That's probably a good thing. Hopefully you no longer have the notion that science is a simplistic, monolithic, five-step process. That would be really good!

But what is science, anyway? Well, science is a huge, varied human enterprise - wildly successful in unraveling the secrets of nature - but hard to "pin down" to a simple definition.

How does science work? In many, many ways! One of the best statements I have is the following:

"The success of science has more to do with an attitude common to scientists than with a particular method. This attitude is one of inquiry, experimentation, and humility before the facts."

Paul Hewitt, Conceptual Physics, Third Edition, p.2

 

One thing can be said for sure - science does work! Perhaps the best way to find out about science is to do some for yourself!

 

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last update August 16, 2005 by JL Stanbrough