What is Science?

Science, Carl Sagan noted, is "a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge" (Sagan 15). I'm inclined to agree. The scientific mind is an entity in and of itself, and none of the great discoveries in science could have been achieved without it. The reason science works is because of the unique characteristics of scientific thought—and the brains thinking it. It's a habit of questioning, of trying to understand, of wanting to know the whys and wherefores and the ooh-what-nexts—without bias, but without preconceived notions, either.

Science is a mindset based on what we see and hear and observe - not by what we imagine, or suppose, or would like to be true. Philosopher of science Alan Francis Chalmers famously wrote that the special thing about science is that it comes from the facts and only the facts (Chalmers xx). It's measurable, in other words—quantifiable.

At the same time as it concerns itself with verifiable truths, science assumes nothing. It keeps an open mind, dismisses nothing out of hand. It truly is "a way of viewing the world, of facing reality square on but taking nothing on its face" (Angier 19).

But there's more to science than a dry recitation of facts: it requires a keen and curious brain. In On Being a Scientist, Inez Fung retells the story of her discovery that clouds can be explained via equations. It is in its purest sense, as Dyson says, the "satisfaction of understanding nature" (1 ).

It also demands a sense of wonder. Nuclear physicist winner Lise Meitner began her scientific career when, as a child, she was struck by the beautiful iridescence of oil in a mud puddle and determined to find out what made it so colorful (McGrayne 38). She never lost her feelings of excitement when making a new discovery or breakthrough, and she went on to win a Nobel Prize.

That's why we love science: mysteries abound. New epiphanies are always just around the corner, each building on the one before it. We invent something, and "it leads to new and unexpected discoveries" (Dyson 18) made by sharp-minded scientific innovators. Oddities, weirdnesses, the unsolved—all are grist for the mental mill.

True science is a manifestation of thought. Science historian Sherwood Taylor once wrote, in a chapter aptly titled What is Science? that "science is in our minds" (Taylor 338).

Indeed. This scientific mindset is one of observation, measurement and facts, but it holds room for growth and change and adventure too. Like Sagan, I believe that what we have learned is not as important as how we have come by—and continue to come by—that knowledge. That, for me, is the purest essence of science.

 References

Angier, Natalie. The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. Print.

Chalmers, A.F. What Is This Thing Called Science? Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1999.

Print.

Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. On Being a Scientist: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in Research. Washington: The National Academies Press, 2009. Print.

Dyson, Freeman. The Scientist As Rebel. New York: New York Review of Books, 2006. Print.

McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch. Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and

Momentous Discoveries. Seacaucus: Citadel Press, 1998. Print.

Sagan, Carl. Broca's Brain. New York: Random House Publishing Group, 1979. Print.

Taylor, F. Sherwood. A Short History of Science and Scientific Thought. New York: W. W.

Norton and Company, 1949. Print.

© Shaii Stone 2012