The Scientific Method and Its History

Lecture 1 of HSI 1000 is about the founding of modern science and the scientific method.
The intended learning outcomes include understanding what science is, the role of scientific observations, and the importance of anomalous phenomena.
Science is the activity of furthering our understanding of the natural world through the scientific method.
The scientific method involves observing nature, isolating a facet that is not well understood, proposing and testing possible explanations.
Science is self-correcting and involves testing and refinement of knowledge and understanding.
Troubleshooting is an example of the scientific method.
The scientific method can be used to discover brand new things about nature.
Science is self-correcting, and every time we loop through the process, we gain new information about the world around us.
The teabag experiment is an example of the scientific method in action.
The scientific method is a powerful tool for discovering and understanding the natural world.

The scientific method involves observing, explaining, and testing.
The scientific method can lead to discovering new things.
Tea bags float when boiling water is poured on top due to trapped air.
Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis studied mortality rates in hospitals to find a solution to childbed fever.
Childbed fever was deadly and had no known cause at the time.
Dr. Semmelweis noticed a higher mortality rate in clinics attended by doctors compared to midwives.
Student doctors who performed autopsies on infected corpses transferred "cadaver matter" to mothers during childbirth.
Dr. Semmelweis speculated that "cadaver matter" was the cause of childbed fever.
Dr. Semmelweis' explanation was pure speculation and needed testing.
The scientific method can lead to unexpected twists and turns in discovering new knowledge.

Dr. Semmelweis discovered that hand washing with chlorinated lime solution reduced mortality rates in his clinic.
His explanation went against the accepted scientific theories of the time.
Cadaver matter was not actually discovered until 30 years later by Louis Pasteur.
Observation is crucial to conducting any kind of scientific inquiry.
Observations identify relevant facts and provide clues for explanations.
Observations provide evidence to determine whether explanations succeed or fail.
Making useful observations can be tricky and requires addressing five main concerns.
Galileo discovered that an object's nature being stationary was a belief, not a fact.
He realized that the slowing down of objects was due to an extraneous effect, not the nature of the object itself.
Galileo set up experiments with inclined planes to reveal the underlying fundamental truth about the motion of objects in the world.

The scientific method involves making observations, forming hypotheses, and testing them through experiments.
Galileo Galilei conducted experiments to study the motion of objects and discovered that any object, if given a push, will continue moving forever with the same speed unless something acts to slow it down.
Galileo's observations contradicted the Aristotelean view about the motion of objects.
Galileo's success in discovering a fundamental law of nature was due to his clear sense of relevant and irrelevant phenomena, careful observation, knowledge of fact and conjecture, and lack of contamination by expectation or belief.
The Scientific Revolution was a fundamental change in the way people thought about knowledge acquisition as a whole and the subsequent adoption of this approach by newly formed scientific societies.
Thomas Kuhn wrote about scientific revolutions in his book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions."
Nicolaus Copernicus published a book in 1543 proposing that the planets orbited the Sun and not the Earth, in direct opposition to the accepted idea at the time.
Copernicus knew his idea could get him executed and published his book posthumously.
Copernicus stated in his book that his proposal shouldn't be thought of as real, but was just another way of predicting where the planets would be during the year.
Astronomy was considered part of the state religion's "turf," and questioning their beliefs was considered heresy.

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