Of Science and Scientists; Are Scientists Dogmatic?

Walker, David · March 2, 1957

"Tin melts at 450* Fahrenheit." Professor LeCorbeiller, by means of apparatus more complicated than you might imagine, shows that this statement constitutes a scientific fact. In every field of science, he indicates, researchers have built up an enormous backlog of such facts. Reviewing and using these facts, scientists sometimes give the impression of being cocksure of their knowledge of the universe. For example, they may design radio stations on the supposition that there are, at any point in the air between transmitter and receiver, two arrows representing the electric field and the magnetic field. For most of us this seems a dogmatic statement. Has the scientist been measuring these quantities at all points in the air between his transmitter and receiver? And further, as LeCorbeiller points out, "Science has gained for us a number of scientific truths and a great deal of power over nature. But it is clear that these answers and these achievements are not those we are most interested in...the fact remains that precisely the most important statements in love, in art, in religion, do not allow of numerical measurement." Unable to cope with these questions, is the scientist not cocksure about the power of his facts...facts such as the seemingly mundane: "Tin melts at 450* Fahrenheit." Americans tend to think of the sciences as potentially useful (air-conditioning) or potentially troublesome (Strontium-90). We accept or marvel at the revolutionary products of science while giving little thought to the basic ideas, concepts, techniques and logic that have gone into exploring, understanding and explaining our universe or in building our technical civilization. Such an understanding of science does not come easily. Limited by time and opportunity, scientists do not often explain themselves to non-scientists. Also, the quality of science is most difficult to the layman to understand is its indirect approach to the discovery of truths. Robert Frost summed up the problem by commenting that to his mind all science rested on the question, "How she differs from what she's like."Without attempting to teach physics or chemistry or geology, these programs suggest the qualities and outlook of science. By analogy and demonstration, they reveal the ideas which guide scientific research and the truths that research uncovers. They give an appreciation of what the scientist can and cannot do. As one speaker says, "The important thing about science is not merely that it gives rise to technological miracles, but that it provides us with one of many guidebooks we need to find our way in this universe." Today, as non-scientists are called upon to make decisions or concur in decisions that may affect the future of scientific research and even the future of life, a knowledge of "how she differs from what she's like," may not only be useful, but necessary. By explaining and demonstrating the guiding principles of science and scientists, these programs attempt to convey that increasingly necessary knowledge. Produced by WGBH-TV, Boston, the producer-director was David Walker and the executive producer Lawrence Kreshkoff.Dr. Phillipe Le Corbeiller is Professor of Applied Physics and of General Education at Harvard University. He is host and program editor for Harvard in the television series, "Of Science and Scientists." A leader in Harvard's general education program since its beginning in 1946, when he started the course, "Principles of Physical Science," Dr. Le Corbeiller was the first to be appointed professor of General Education in 1949, in addition to being professor of Applied Physics. Throughout the series Dr. Le Corbeiller is joined by other scientists. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)