Scientific+Method

§ c. 1600 BC — An Egyptian medical textbook, the Edwin Smith papyrus, applies the following components: examination, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis, to the treatment of disease which display parallels to basic empirical methodology. § c. 400 BC — In China, Mozi and the School of Names advocate using one's senses to observe the world, and develop the "three-prong method" for testing the truth or falsehood of statements. § c. 400 BC — Democritus advocates inductive reasoning through a process of examining the causes of sensory perceptions and drawing conclusions about the outside world. § c. 800 AD — An early experimental method begins emerging among Muslim chemists beginning with Geber who introduces controlled experiments; other fields introduce the methods of citation, peer review and open inquiry leading to development of consensus § 1021 — The Iraqi Muslim physicist and scientist Alhazen introduces the experimental method and combines observations, experiments and rational arguments in his //Book of Optics// to show that his intromission theory of vision is scientifically correct, and that the emission theory of vision supported by Ptolemy and Euclid is wrong § c. 1025 — The Persian scientist, Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, develops the earliest experimental methods for mineralogy and mechanics, and is one of the first to conduct elaborate experiments related to astronomical phenomena § 1025 — In //The Canon of Medicine//, Avicenna describes the methods of agreement, difference and concomitant variation which are critical to inductive logic and the scientific method § 1027 — In //The Book of Healing//, Avicenna criticizes the Aristotelian method of induction, arguing that "it does not lead to the absolute, universal, and certain premises that it purports to provide", and in its place, develops examination and experimentation as a means for scientific inquiry § 1220-1235 —, Robert Grosseteste, published his Aristotelian commentaries, which laid out the framework for the proper methods of science. § 1265 — Roger Bacon, inspired by the writings of Grosseteste, described a scientific method, which he based on a repeating cycle of observation, hypothesis, experimentation, and the need for independent verification. He recorded the manner in which he conducted his experiments in precise detail so that others could reproduce and independently test his results. § 1590 — Controlled experiments by Francis Bacon § 1620 — //Novum Organum// published, (Francis Bacon) *1 § 1637 — First Scientific method (René Descartes) *2 § 1638 — Galileo's Two New Sciences published, containing two thought experiments, namely Galileo's Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment and Galileo's ship, which are intended to disprove existing physical theories by showing that they have contradictory consequences. § 1650 — Society of experts (the Royal Society) § 1650 — Experimental evidence established as the arbiter of truth (the Royal Society) § 1665 — Repeatability established (Robert Boyle) § 1665 — Scholarly journals established § 1675 — Peer review begun § 1687 — Hypothesis/prediction (Isaac Newton) § 1739 — David Hume's //Treatise of Human Nature// argues that the problem of induction is unsolvable. § 1753 — First description of a controlled experiment using two identical populations with only one variable. James Lind's research into Scurvy among naval ratings § 1815 — An optimal design for polynomial regression is published by Joseph Diaz Gergonne. § 1877-1888 — Charles Sanders Peirce publishes "Illustrations of the Logic of Science", popularizing his trichotomy of Abduction, Deduction and Induction. Peirce explains randomization as a basis for statistical inference. § 1885 — C. S. Peirce with Joseph Jastrow invents blinded, randomized experiments, which become established in psychology. § 1897 — Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin proposes the use of multiple hypotheses to assist in the design of experiments. § 1926 — Randomized design popularized and analyzed by Ronald Fisher (following Peirce) § 1934 — Falsifiability as a criterion for evaluating new hypotheses is popularized by Karl Popper's //The Logic of Scientific Discovery// (following Peirce) § 1937 — Controlled placebo trial § 1946 — First computer simulation § 1950 — Double blind experiment § 1962 — Meta study of scientific method (Thomas Kuhn's //The Structure of Scientific Revolutions//) § 1964 — Strong inference proposed by John R. Platt § 2009 — Adam - First working prototype of a "robot scientist" able to perform independent experiments to test hypotheses and interpret findings without human guidance.
 * Done by : Ling Ying, Brillia Soh, Caitlan Miew, Desiree and Madeline Yeow**

*2 The first Scientific Method could be found in **//Discourse on the Method//**, p hilosophical and mathematical treatise published by René Descartes in 1637. Its full name is //Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences.// The //Discourse on the Method// is one of the most influential works in the history of modern science. It is a method which gives a solid platform from which all modern natural sciences could evolve. In this work, Descartes tackles the problem of scepticism which had been revived from the ancients such as Sextus Empiricus by authors such as Al-Ghazal and Michel de Montaigne. Descartes modified it to account for a truth that he found to be incontrovertible. Descartes started his line of reasoning by doubting everything, so as to assess the world from a fresh perspective, clear of any preconceived notions.
 * 1 In the //Novum Organum//, Bacon details a new system of logic he believes to be superior to the old ways of syllogism. This is now known as the Baconian method.


 * __Summary of scientific methods used/introduced by various philosophers/scientists__**

Inductive reasoning begins with observations and derives generalizations (axioms) from the observations; whereas deductive reasoning, the method of the Greeks, begins with generalizations and proceeds to predict observations. During the Renaissance, people realised that no amount of deductive reasoning can render a generalization completely and absolutely valid that turned the Greek philosophy upside down. Even though many, many observations may confirm a generalization, there is no assurance that the next observation will not be inconsistent, requiring, at least, a re-examination of both observation and the generalization.

Aristotle thought that a science should be demonstrated from first principles, Galileo had used experiments as a research tool but presented his treatise in the form of mathematical demonstrations without reference to experimental results, losing the usefulness of obtaining scientific results.

Bacon attempted to describe a rational procedure for establishing causation between phenomena based on induction. Bacon's induction was, however, a radically different than that employed by the Aristotelians. For Bacon, finding the essence of a thing was a simple process of reduction, and the use of inductive reasoning to ensure that the foundation of a theory/scientific work is essentially empirical.

Also, i n 1619, René Descartes provided a metaphysical foundation for knowledge and set down four rules for applying his method for finding truth: 1. Never to accept anything for true which I do not clearly know to be such. 2. Divide each of the difficulties under examination into as many parts as possible. 3. Begin with the simplest and easiest and then work step by step to the more complex. 4. Make enumerations so complete and reviews so general that I might be assured that nothing is omitted.

Isaac Newton outlined his four "rules of reasoning" in the //Principia//,
 * 1) //We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.//
 * 2) //Therefore to the same natural effects we must, as far as possible, assign the same causes.//
 * 3) //The qualities of bodies, which admit neither intension nor remission of degrees, and which are found to belong to all bodies within the reach of our experiments, are to be esteemed the universal qualities of all bodies whatsoever.//
 * 4) //In experimental philosophy we are to look upon propositions collected by general induction from phænomena as accurately or very nearly true, notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses that may be imagined, till such time as other phænomena occur, by which they may either be made more accurate, or liable to exceptions//

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novum_Organum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_on_the_Method http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_history_of_scientific_method [] []