Basic and applied research
Although some scientific research is applied research into specific problems, a great deal of our understanding comes from the curiosity-driven undertaking of basic research. This leads to options for technological advance that were not planned or sometimes even imaginable. This point was made by Michael Faraday when, in response to the question «what is the use of basic research?» he responded «Sir, what is the use of a new-born child?» For example, research into the effects of red light on the human eye's rod cells did not seem to have any practical purpose; eventually, the discovery that our night vision is not troubled by red light would lead militaries to adopt red light in the cockpits of all jet fighters. Basic research is the search for knowledge. Applied research is the search for solutions to practical problems using this knowledge. Finally, even basic research can take unexpected turns, and there is some sense in which the scientific method is built to harness luck. The Bohr model of the atom, like many ideas in the history of science, was at first prompted by (and later partially disproved by) experimentation.
Based on observations of a phenomenon, scientists may generate a model. The models need not be completely abstract: when modeling, the problems can be simplified. Once a mathematical solution is known, it can be re-used elsewhere in science. This is an attempt to describe the phenomenon in terms of a logical physical or mathematical representation. As empirical evidence is gathered, scientists can suggest a hypothesis to explain the phenomenon.
Once a hypothesis has survived testing, it may become adopted into the framework of a scientific theory. This is a logically reasoned, self-consistent model or framework for describing the behavior of certain natural phenomena. A theory typically describes the behavior of much broader sets of phenomena than a hypothesis; commonly, a large number of hypotheses can be logically bound together by a single theory. Thus a theory is a hypothesis explaining various other hypotheses. Theories are formulated according to most of the same scientific principles as hypotheses.
While performing experiments, scientists may have a preference for one outcome over another, and so it is important to ensure that science as a whole can eliminate this bias. After the results of an experiment are announced or published, it is normal practice for independent researchers to double-check how the research was performed, and to follow up by performing similar experiments to determine how dependable the results might be.
What do you think about when you hear the words «science», «technology», «achievement»? A man or a woman who sits at the desk and investigates the cell structure of life forms in an attempt to penetrate the mystery of creation? An engineer who tries to work out a design of cars which run on solar energy? Or maybe you think about mobile phones, computers, television and other technological advances we enjoy in a modern society?
1. But science became the science in the modern sense only some centuries ago. The history helps us follow different stages in the development of science. This is very important otherwise we cannot be sure that one day past inventions will not be repeated.
Read the text and:
Find two or more definitions of science.
2. Answer the questions:
a) What are the reasons that made people study the surrounding world?
b) What senses is Nature known through?
c) What instruments are mentioned in the text? What are their functions?
d) What does the progress of science follow?
Text C
SCIENCE, ITS HISTORY
On the simplest level, science is knowledge of the world of nature. There are many regularities in nature that mankind has had to recognize for survival since the emergence of Homo sapiens as a species. The Sun and the Moon periodically repeattheir movements. Some motions, like the daily "motion" of the Sun, are simple to observe; others, like the annual «motion» of the Sun, are far more difficult. Both motions correlate with important terrestrial events. Day and night provide the basic rhythm of human existence; the seasons determine the migration of animals upon which humans depended for millennia for survival. With the invention of agriculture, the seasons became even more crucial, for failure to recognize the proper time for planting could lead to starvation. Science defined simply as knowledge of natural processes is universal among mankind, and it has existed since the dawn of human existence.
The mere recognition of regularities does not exhaust the full meaning of science, however. In the first place, regularities may be simply constructs of the human mind. Humans leap to conclusions; the mind cannot tolerate chaos, so it constructs regularities even when none objectively exists. True regularities must be established by detached examination of data. Science, therefore, must employ a certain degree of skepticism to prevent premature generalization. Regularities, even when expressed mathematically as laws of nature, are not fully satisfactory to everyone. Some insist that genuine understanding demands explanations of the causes of the laws, but it is in the realm of causation that there is the greatest disagreement. Modern quantum mechanics, for example, has given up the quest for causation and today rests only on mathematical description. But even if causation and explanation are admitted as necessary, there is little agreement on the kinds of causes that are permissible, or possible, in science.
Science, then, is to be considered as knowledge of natural regularities that is subjected to some degree of skeptical rigour and explained by rational causes. One final caution is necessary. Nature is known only through the senses, of which sight, touch, and hearing are the dominant ones, and the human notion of reality is skewed toward the objects of these senses. The invention of such instruments as the telescope, the microscope, and the Geiger counter has brought an ever-increasing range of phenomena within the scope of the senses. Thus, scientific knowledge of the world is only partial, and the progress of science follows the ability of humans to make phenomena perceivable.
Text D