unexplained geologic phenomenon now make perfect sense in
the light of Plate Tectonics.
Other Earth science–related discoveries that caused major
conceptual changes in the way humans view their world were
the discovery that Earth is spherical and not fl at; that all the
planets revolve around the sun, not around Earth; and that fossils
give us a detailed, logical record of the evolutionary development
of biological organisms on Earth. Today, incredible
discoveries are being made in the fi eld of astronomy, all based
again on circumstantial evidence and observation with increasingly
more powerful and varied telescopes.
Conclusion
Percy W. Bridgman, author of Refl ections of a Physicist in
1955 and winner of the 1946 Nobel Prize in physics, perhaps
most clearly states in “On Scientifi c Method” how the use of
the scientifi c method by scientists does not often follow a set
formula or recipe, nor should it, since that may stifl e human
innovation and creativity, often necessary in producing new and
revolutionary hypotheses:
Scientifi c method is what working scientists do, not what other
people or even they themselves may say about it. No working
scientist, when he plans an experiment in the laboratory, asks
himself whether he is being properly scientifi c, nor is he interested
in whatever method he may be using as method. When the
scientist ventures to criticize the work of his fellow scientist, as
is not uncommon, he does not base his criticism on such glittering
generalities as failure to follow the “scientifi c method,” but
his criticism is specifi c, based on some feature characteristic
of the particular situation. The working scientist is always too
much concerned with getting down to brass tacks to be willing
to spend his time on generalities.
But to the working scientist himself all this [the steps of scientifi
c method] appears obvious and trite. What appears to
him as the essence of the situation is that he is not consciously
following any prescribed course of action, but feels complete
freedom to utilize any method or device whatever, which in the
particular situation before him seems likely to yield the correct
answer. In his attack on his specifi c problem he suffers no inhibitions
of precedent or authority, but is completely free to adopt
any course that his ingenuity is capable of suggesting to him.
No one standing on the outside can predict what the individual
scientist will do or what method he will follow. In short, science
is what scientists do, and there are as many scientifi c methods
as there are individual scientists.
Bibliography and Additional Resources
The following were used in writing this synopsis or are
listed as sources for additional information: