DEFINITIONS OF SCIENCE:
Attempts at a one-sentence description
Science
is the search for the perfect means of
attaining any end
The whole of science is after all nothing but a
refinement of everyday thinking.
Science is organized knowledge
Science is a method for the description, creation
and understanding of human experience
Science
is distinguished by
testing ideas with measurements
– the “scientific method”
The character of science
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Science is a social enterprise
o “I am among those who think that science has a
great beauty. We should not allow it to be
believed that all scientific progress can be
reduced to mechanisms, machines, gearings,
even though such machinery also has its own
beauty.”
Marie Curie
Ignorance of science
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American high school students perform
worse than 21 other countries
 Spending on research declines
 Fewer scientists are produced
 50 % of the population dismiss evolutionary
biology in favour of a “special” creation
Fear of science and embracing
“magic”
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Scientific developments under siege
o Useful applications of nuclear power
o Stem cell research
o Genetic engineering of crops

The book “Natural Cures ‘They’ Don’t
Want You to Know About” was a top ten
seller for more than a year
Attitudes of the scientist
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Curiosity
Open mind
Interest in knowledge
Courage of convictions
Capability of abandoning beliefs in the light of
new knowledge
Skeptical
Critical
Tools of the trade
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Ways of dealing with information and
thinking scientifically:
Laws
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and Theories
HYPOTHESIS: an educated guess derived
from various assumptions which can be
tested using a range of methods; a
proposition put forward for proof or
discussion
LAW
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A rule which describes specified natural
phenomena within the limits of experimental
observation (LDST)
Ohm’s Law, Gravity, Boyle’s Law…
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Scientific laws are precise, can be reduced to mathematical
expressions
Laws have limited regions of application - don't always
work in all situations
Laws do not provide understanding of why things happen
Laws cannot be extrapolated
THEORY

Confirmed explanation of phenomena; a
hypothesis tested and confirmed with facts
(scientific evidence) not previously known
(CCTD)
 A scheme or system of ideas or statements held as
an explanation or account of a group of facts or
phenomena; a hypothesis that has been confirmed
or established by observation or experiment, and is
accepted as accounting for the known facts (OED)
Features of theories
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Is a theory ever true?
o Difficult to say that a theory is true after some predictions are
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proved, because further predictions may be untrue.
New results may falsify the theory.
Theory of relativity demonstrated limitations in Newtonian
mechanics.
Relativity is being challenged by new results.
Theories tend to be modified to improve their performance.
Theories have predictive power
o Prediction of existence of subatomic particles from quantum theory
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Theories provide understanding of why things happen
Law and Theory contrasted using
gases
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Boyle’s Law (17th century)
o Experimental observation of relationship between
pressure and volume of a gas
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Kinetic theory of gases (19th century)
o Mathematical derivation of observed gas law using
postulate that a gas consists of molecules which can be
treated like small hard spheres in random motion. The
behaviour of the gas is predicted using known
mechanics of spheres
Scientific “method”
Observation vs imagination
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Imagination plays an increasingly important role in
science.
Inductive approach relies wholly on observation to develop
a theory (“And God forbid we should offer the dreams of
fancy for a model of the world”) Newton offered:
“…hypotheses ... have no place in experimental
philosophy.”
Deductive relies on imagination. More important today.
Hypothesis may originate purely in the realm of the
imagination, using also some known mathematical
relations. Kekule’s dream about the structure of benzene
Technology
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Technology is human activity directed toward satisfaction
of human needs by more effective use of environment
Technology is obtaining a better living from resources making gadgets and tools
Technology is not a contemplative activity, except where it
is used in the design of new things; the pondering is
directed towards a specific practical goal, not
contemplation for its own sake
Technology also gives rise to science as its tools and things
are invented
Technology is older than science: early man made a club to
get food, not because it seemed like an interesting thing to
do
RELATIONS BETWEEN
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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The relationship between science and technology in history has not
always been clear, and it has not been easy to say which influenced
which.
STEAM ENGINE DEVELOPMENT:
Science had nothing to do with the invention of the steam engine; no
theory was apparently employed in its development. In fact, science
benefited from its invention. On the other hand, the process for
perfecting the steam engine was not made by engineers/technologists
but by a basic scientist (Carnot). His work on heat flow was
foundational to thermodynamics.
Thus: technology developed a steam engine, which lead to scientific
thought and discovery of new scientific relationships thermodynamics.
Research and Technology
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Electromagnetism is an opposite example. Faraday was a
scientist who demonstrated that magnetism generated
electricity. This led to development of electrical supply
industry and electrical generation, in which, Faraday had
no significant part. It had further consequences for science
and technology. (Edison)
There is a relation between basic research and the ability to
develop new technology; from basic research comes
unpredictable and unknown information that enable new
things; magnetic domains from the study of magnetism for
example, which resulted in new magnetic materials.
TENSION BETWEEN BENEFITS
AND COSTS – Risks and rewards
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Technology has meant a vast increase in the
production and consumption of energy.
 Technology has enabled massive growth in
population: greater competition for resources.
 Technology has brought benefits and problems.
 Solutions to problems depend on greater
investment in technology, not a reversal of the
process.