{"id":3755,"date":"1975-02-01T01:00:00","date_gmt":"1975-02-01T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/vol-56-no-2-february-1975-science-and-people\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T00:26:46","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T00:26:46","slug":"vol-56-no-2-february-1975-science-and-people","status":"publish","type":"rbc_letter","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/vol-56-no-2-february-1975-science-and-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Vol. 56, No. 2 &#8211; February 1975 &#8211; Science and People"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"layout-column-main\">\n<p class=\"boldtext\">History is the story of great discoveries                     and great inventions. These make the human scene an exciting                     one. Science seems more fantastic than fiction.<\/p>\n<p> Some persons are challenged by the mysteries of the moon                     and stars; some by the mysteries of the atoms; others by the                     mysteries of living things, including themselves. Seldom do                     we come upon a person who is not, at some time or another,                     interested in one of these mysteries, a person who does not                     feel the challenge of the unknown.<\/p>\n<p>To the scientist anything that is unknown is important.                     Science is an imaginative and exploratory activity. It is                     also critical and analytical. The scientist requires evidence                     before delivering an opinion. He is impersonal and dispassionate.<\/p>\n<p>Critical thinking is an important aspect of the scientific                     attitude. In solving a problem we need to ravel out some of                     the contributing factors and work with those we can control.                     Science consists of a body of related and verifiable statements                     of the type: &#8220;if&nbsp;&#8230;.. then&nbsp;&#8230;..&#8221; All discoveries                     of truth in science are reached by people going around the                     new truths in ever-narrowing circles, drawing nearer and nearer                     to them, until some bold and gifted person seizes the very                     centre of the new truth and makes it visible to everyone.<\/p>\n<p>There are people who credit all scientific discoveries to                     chance and accident. The truth is far otherwise. Discoveries                     are made by scientists who observe an unexpected phenomenon,                     an inexplicable result, an impossible occurrence. That is,                     to them, a pointing finger, and they plunge into research                     to find the why and the how and the meaning.<\/p>\n<h3>Methods of science<\/h3>\n<p>A scientist may not be the first person ever to see a curious                     phenomenon, but he is the first to <em>observe <\/em>it. He looked                     twice at an unusual occurrence, was dissatisfied with his                     inability to account for it, and sought persistently for an                     explanation. People in business can with profit follow his                     lead: observe coolly, analyse without emotion, collect the                     evidence and examine it critically.<\/p>\n<p>The scientist seeks to see things together so that he may                     make comparisons. He develops skill in turning to profitable                     account previously undetected relationships among the things                     and conditions in his environment.<\/p>\n<p>Physical science rests upon verified hypotheses. In science,                     truthfulness is an essential condition for success. What was                     true yesterday may not be true today, or only partly true.                     The truth of Aristotle was replaced by the truth of Newton                     which was replaced by the truth of Einstein. A scientist is                     not interested in finding something that is popular, or that                     fits in with his ideas, but only in finding out what is true.<\/p>\n<p>It is well for everyone, in whatever line of work he may                     be engaged, to apply detailed analysis to wholesale or hypothetical                     assertions, and to substitute specific inquiry for temperamental                     convictions, and to prefer a small new fact to a cloud of                     opinion.<\/p>\n<h3>Research is work<\/h3>\n<p>Non-scientists tend to believe that a laboratory is swarming                     with eye-popping discoveries every week, but no knowledge                     is gained and no theory is developed without a great deal                     of labour. Both the &#8220;pure&#8221; scientist and the &#8220;applied&#8221; scientist                     work arduously.<\/p>\n<p>Theoretical research seeks to know things better; applied                     research seeks to learn how to do things better. In one case                     knowledge is sought for her own sake; in the other case the                     desire is to find ways of applying a newly discovered fact                     or theory to solution of practical problems.<\/p>\n<p>Research workers in pure science are vastly enlarging our                     field of knowledge. In John Milton&#8217;s memorable words they                     are &#8220;still searching what we know not by what we know, still                     closing up truth to truth as we find it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Asking questions<\/h3>\n<p>Aristotle, son of a physician at the court of King Philip                     of Macedon, organized the first scientific inquiry in the                     world. He was so curious about nature that he had a thousand                     men collecting material for his natural history.<\/p>\n<p>What would happen in Canada if every person started collecting                     specimens and asking questions about things that they have                     up to now taken for granted? These two activities led to the                     great advances in scientific discovery and understanding.                     The twilight zone between what we know and the vast range                     of what we do not know presents us with innumerable frontiers                     for exploration.<\/p>\n<p>Scientific exploration has some of the attributes of good                     housekeeping. To be a good scientist you need to have a tidy                     mind that keeps thoughts and facts in their proper place;                     you must discriminate so as to discern what evidence should                     be accepted and to discard what is irrelevant; you have to                     pay attention to small details in your research to prevent                     something vital from slipping away unnoticed; you are called                     upon to recover quickly after your work has been interrupted;                     you need to keep an eye on what your neighbours are doing                     in the way of finding out and doing new things.<\/p>\n<p>The most valuable of all the perceptions we use in scientific                     research is the perception of cause and effect. This is the                     most important natural law that we have. Too often we say                     &#8220;in the beginning&#8221; and imagine that we have pinned down a                     vital point from which. everything else follows. But before                     long we find ourselves asking: &#8220;what was there before the                     beginning to make it possible for the beginning to begin?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Insofar as science accepts the principle of causality, and                     inasmuch as the universe cannot be self-caused, we are led                     inevitably to the conclusion that there must be a causal factor                     not comprised within our present view of the universe. Thomas                     Aquinas put this principle in a nutshell: &#8220;No thing is its                     own cause, for then it would precede itself, which is impossible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Science and progress<\/h3>\n<p>Science is one field in which progress should be measured                     and given credit. We should not withhold praise from famous                     men and women of the past because their concepts have been                     outdated: our important duty is to improve on what they did.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists and inventors do not work in vain, even though                     the products of their minds may be superseded. Consider Newton                     and Icarus. Newton has been acknowledged as the greatest scientist                     in history: he discovered the law of gravitation, the laws                     of motion, the principles of optics, the composite nature                     of light, and with Leibnitz he invented the calculus.<\/p>\n<p>There is not, however, any concept of the Newtonian physics,                     believed at one time to be the whole truth, that has not been                     displaced. As Professor Alfred North Whitehead remarked: &#8220;The                     Newtonian ideas are still useful, as useful as they ever were,                     but they are no longer true in the sense in which I was taught                     that they were true.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Icarus, whose airplane wings fell off and dropped him into                     the sea when the heat of the sun melted the wax that fastened                     them together, performed a useful service. Sir Arthur Eddington                     said: &#8220;I prefer to think of him as the man who brought to                     light a serious constructional defect in the flying machines                     of his day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The first crude microscope was focused on the hidden minutiae                     of life by the Dutch microscopist Leeuwenhoek, in the 17th                     century. Three men, Professor E. F. Burton of Toronto University,                     James Hillier and Albert Prebus, produced the electron microscope                     in 1936 opening up a whole new world to investigation. Roger                     Bacon discovered the explosive possibilities in a combination                     of saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal and produced gunpowder                     in the 13th century: the present century saw the birth of                     the atom bomb.<\/p>\n<p>These are fragments extracted from the score-sheet of science,                     typical of thousands of discoveries and developments that                     have contributed, alone or with improvement, to the advancement                     of human beings in peace and in war.<\/p>\n<h3>Important advances<\/h3>\n<p>Nobody can deny that science and invention have raised mankind                     to a higher material level than the one occupied a hundred                     years ago. They have increased the output of work per man-hour,                     so that we are able to cope in some measure with the increased                     demands of a greatly enlarged population. Science has added                     to the kinds of products that cater to our comfort. It has                     increased the number of occupations at which men and women                     may work.<\/p>\n<p>Two of the greatest advances of our age are the production                     of drugs like penicillin, insulin and sulpha, which have prolonged                     our lives by many years, and labour-saving machinery which                     has made work easier and provided more leisure.<\/p>\n<p>What really constitutes a high standard of living? Fundamentally,                     nutrition, literacy and health. Science has given these to                     people in the developed nations, and they are being extended,                     though slowly, to the developing peoples of the world.<\/p>\n<p>Science and technology change not only our material environment                     but our institutions, and this is a good reason for everyone                     to keep up with what is happening, to learn about, or try                     to anticipate, the social implications of scientific discoveries                     and attainments. Every newly discovered process and every                     invention has brought with it unpredictable uses, created                     new obstacles to be overcome, and uncovered new problems and                     frustrations to be resolved.<\/p>\n<p>The discoveries of science cannot be put to practical use                     without the services of the technologist. He makes inventions                     by interpreting something, adding or taking away or dividing                     or multiplying something. Every invention that proves useful                     stimulates further scientific studies which lead to improvements                     and to more inventions.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, everything that is invented is not a memorable                     addition to our lives. Nearly everyone has said at least once:                     &#8220;Necessity is the mother of invention&#8221; but it remained for                     Herbert A. Leggett, Vice-President of the Valley National                     Bank in Arizona, to say in one of his monthly letters: &#8220;We                     live in an era when invention is mother of the unnecessary.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Automation is the technological revolution of the second                     half of the 20th century, just as mass production was of the                     first half. The late Norbert Wiener, distinguished mathematician                     of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, did much of the                     conceptual thinking that underlies the new technology. He                     predicted that automation will lead to the &#8220;the human use                     of human beings&#8221;; that we shall experience a phasing-out of                     the type of factory labour that is engaged in performing repetitive                     tasks. This will release men and women to use their specifically                     human qualities &#8211; their ability to think, to analyse, to synthesize,                     to decide and act purposefully &#8211; instead of wasting their                     talents on the dreary work that machines can do better.<\/p>\n<h3>The application of energy<\/h3>\n<p>The development of energy is not a new process and a new                     problem. James Watt improved the steam engine made by Thomas                     Newcomen and Richard Trevithick adapted the engine to transport.                     No one on the platform at Darlington on the day the first                     railway was opened for traffic would have dared to predict                     that 150 years later, in October 1974, the pulling of freight                     cars along a track would have progressed to the point that                     a train two and a half miles long, with seven diesel locomotives,                     the successors of steam, would carry grain from Moose Jaw,                     Saskatchewan to Thunder Bay, Ontario.<\/p>\n<p>In physics, an outstanding event was the publication of                     William Gilbert&#8217;s <em>De Magnete <\/em>in 1600, introducing the                     word &#8220;electricity&#8221; for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>The simple phenomena associated with static electricity,                     such as sparks from rubbing a cat&#8217;s fur, were known for 2,000                     years before systematic research was undertaken. Lady Dufferin,                     wife of Canada&#8217;s Governor General, tells us in <em>My Canadian                     Journal <\/em>(Longmans Canada Ltd., 1969, edited by Gladys                     Chantler Walker): &#8220;February 28, 1874. I held a piece of wire,                     or a needle, in my hand, rubbed my feet on the carpet, and                     touched the [gas] burner; a spark was emitted, and the gas                     instantly blazed up.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Electricity was first turned on for the regular supply of                     light in New York on September 4, 1882. Had it not been for                     an armed revolt, that ceremony might have taken place in Canada.                     Thomas Edison&#8217;s father, Samuel, who was born in Digby, Nova                     Scotia, married Nancy Eiliott, a teacher in the high school                     in Vienna, Ontario. He became a captain of William Lyon MacKenzie&#8217;s                     insurgents, and when the rebellion of 1837 failed he fled                     across the border. Thomas was born in Milan, Ohio, on February                     11, 1847.<\/p>\n<p>To non-scientists, &#8220;electronics&#8221; often suggests vague impressions                     resembling science fiction and mysterious invisible power.                     &#8220;An electron is a rare bird whose behaviour is unpredictable,&#8221;                     said Whitehead. &#8220;Our information about electrons mostly concerns                     flocks, numbering millions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sir J. J. Thomson showed that the cathode rays produced                     by an electric discharge in a vacuum tube are really streams                     of particles thousands of times smaller than atoms. Electronic                     vacuum tubes had just reached the height of their importance                     when a new discovery led to the development of the transistor,                     and the field of solid-state electronics came into existence.<\/p>\n<p>In these days of electronic checking of passengers boarding                     airplanes to detect potential hijackers it is interesting                     to recall that the Moon Gate of the imperial palace near Peiping,                     China, built 2,300 years ago, was made of solid lodestone,                     a magnetic iron ore. This was done to prevent assassins from                     entering the imperial residence carrying weapons concealed                     in their clothing.<\/p>\n<h3>Splitting the atom<\/h3>\n<p>Then we split the atom, or, in the more scholarly language                     of Sir James Jeans: &#8220;Thanks mainly to the researches of [Sir                     Ernest] Rutherford, it has now been established that every                     atom is built up entirely of negatively charged electrons,                     and of positively charged particles called protons.&nbsp;&#8230;                     With one turn of the kaleidoscope all the sciences which deal                     with the properties and structure of matter have become ramifications                     of the single science of electricity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The credit of the first definite proof of atomic transformation                     belongs to McGill University, Montreal, where Ernest Rutherford,                     the greatest of all nuclear physicists, came in 1898 (the                     same year that Marie Curie discovered radium) to a post in                     the Macdonald Laboratory.<\/p>\n<p>In 1903, at McGill, he wrote in his book <em>Radio-activity<\/em>:                     &#8220;There is reason to believe that an enormous store of latent                     energy is resident in the atoms of radioactive elements. If                     it were ever possible to control at will the rate of disintegration                     of the radio-elements, an enormous amount of energy could                     be obtained from a small quantity of matter.&#8221; In 1911 Rutherford                     announced his nuclear theory.<\/p>\n<p>Albert Einstein entered the scene in 1905 with discoveries                     that have had the most profound and direct effect on the present-day                     world. The release of the tremendous force of atomic energy                     could be achieved, he said, according to a formula which he                     offered, the most important equation in history: E = mc2.                     The utter destruction of civilization lay within its possibilities.                     Einstein estimated that in an all-out atomic world war, with                     both sides thoroughly equipped, two-thirds of all mankind                     might be slaughtered.<\/p>\n<p>In face of this melancholy possibility people as a rule                     pass over the more laudable peaceful uses of atomic energy.                     In a controlled chain reaction, the atom can be made to give                     up its vast store of energy slowly and usefully, to drive                     a steam turbine, to produce electricity, to purify sea water,                     to preserve food, to facilitate research in biology, to treat                     diseases, and in a hundred other ways.<\/p>\n<h3>The place of mathematics<\/h3>\n<p>Mathematics is referred to as &#8220;the queen of sciences&#8221; because                     it enters into and governs almost every other department of                     knowledge. It is the systematic treatment of magnitude, relationships                     between figures and forms, and relations between quantities                     expressed symbolically. Plato wrote that among all the liberal                     arts and contemplative sciences the science of numbering is                     supreme. Asked why man is the wisest of animals, he replied                     &#8220;because he knows how to count.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Euclid, the first professor of geometry in the university                     of Alexandria, wrote a textbook called <em>Elements of Geometry                     <\/em>which has shown great staying power. It has remained in                     service for twenty centuries. Its thirteen books represent                     one of the greatest intellectual achievements of mankind.<\/p>\n<p>It has been said that more new mathematics has been created                     during the past fifty years than in the whole previous history                     of the human face. The gap between the old and the new mathematics                     fathomed by creative mathematicians has widened rapidly.<\/p>\n<p>From abacus to computer is a long jump. The abacus is a                     frame set with rods on which balls or beads are moved by hand                     in the process of calculating. The computer is a mechanical                     or electronic apparatus capable of carrying out highly complex                     mathematical operations at high speed.<\/p>\n<p>The other sciences have moved ahead with similarly impressive                     speed. At the beginning of this century one was likely to                     be told &#8220;The universe is a spider&#8217;s web&#8221; of vibrations on                     which the fire-flies of stars and atoms hang trembling.&#8221; That                     was pretty poetry, but we like to be more specific today,                     and so we consult observatories like the one on Mount Palomar                     in California. Its 200-inch telescope has a range taking in                     about a thousand million galaxies.<\/p>\n<p>The biological sciences are not, as some people suppose,                     merely utilities in medicine and agriculture. The diversity                     in structure and habit of living things is remarkable, and                     this variety gives biology a richness in special problems.                     Nearly two million different species of animals, of which                     half are insects, have been scientifically described and named.                     The biologists are helping mankind to continue to preserve                     its existence in an increasingly distorted environment.<\/p>\n<p>Medicine, the art of understanding diseases and preventing                     them or curing them or relieving them is of interest to every                     person. Medical research has given great benefits to mankind.<\/p>\n<p>Between 3000 and 2000 B.C. a doctor-priest in Egypt set                     down a detailed record of cases he considered worthy of preservation.                     There, for the first time so far as we know, man started to                     rear the foundation of true medical science. Medicine today                     has entered the microfilm age where knowledge is so vast and                     changing that it can no longer be bound within the confines                     of one single cranium.<\/p>\n<p>Genetics, the study of heredity, has been combined with                     the study of mutations to form a science of impressive stature.                     In 1900 the laws of heredity, stated by the Abb\u00e9 Mendel                     in 1865, were rediscovered and established.<\/p>\n<p>Anthropology is the scientific study of the physical, social                     and cultural development and behaviour of human beings since                     their appearance on earth. It traces the rise and development                     of civilization.<\/p>\n<p>Geology is logic applied to explaining the formation of                     the earth&#8217;s crust. Besides its undoubted academic interest,                     geology is prominent in the practical affairs of life, as,                     for example, the energy crisis. Nature&#8217;s operations in laying                     down the world&#8217;s mineral deposits have been proceeding over                     a span of probably two billion years. In one century of active                     exploitation man has dug well down toward the bottom of some                     of the mineral bins.<\/p>\n<p>We have not yet solved conservation problems. While analysing                     more closely than we did up to a few years ago the condition                     of stocks and operating results, all we have succeeded in                     doing is to keep two swift running paces ahead of the grim                     accountant.<\/p>\n<p>Every person who has reached the scientific stage of development                     &#8211; and resource conservationists are among them &#8211; realizes                     that success in living does not depend upon coaxing or forcing                     nature to do what we want. It depends upon understanding nature&#8217;s                     laws, and in making use of them to serve human purposes in                     perpetuity.<\/p>\n<h3>In everyday life<\/h3>\n<p>Many people are apprehensive about changes they see in their                     environment and in their customary way of living. It is well                     to remember, when thinking of changes in the future, that                     enormous changes have taken place in the past.<\/p>\n<p>We need to think of change as part of the process of living;                     to prepare for it, to accept it, and to make the best of it.                     We cannot simply be: we must become.<\/p>\n<p>Many point out that man&#8217;s spiritual development has not                     kept pace with his material progress. &#8220;This is obviously true,&#8221;                     said George Russell Harrison in his book <em>Atoms in Action<\/em>,                     &#8220;but blame for the situation can as justly be attached to                     the slowness of spiritual development as to the rapidity of                     material progress.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We are moving toward unknown horizons. The scientist knows                     that the great art of research lies less in solving problems                     than in discovering problems to be solved. Most research people                     dwell in the present only long enough to finish a job: thereafter                     their minds leap into the future.<\/p>\n<p>This is a strange and wonderful universe whose ultimate                     secrets we may never quite confine within a scientific equation,                     but it is nevertheless interesting and beneficial to learn                     as much about them as we can.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"rbc_letter_theme":[],"rbc_letter_year":[55],"class_list":["post-3755","rbc_letter","type-rbc_letter","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","rbc_letter_year-55"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Vol. 56, No. 2 - February 1975 - Science and People - RBC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/vol-56-no-2-february-1975-science-and-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vol. 56, No. 2 - February 1975 - Science and People - RBC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"History is the story of great discoveries and great inventions. These make the human scene an exciting one. Science seems more fantastic than fiction. Some persons are challenged by the mysteries of the moon and stars; some by the mysteries of the atoms; others by the mysteries of living things, including themselves. 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These make the human scene an exciting one. Science seems more fantastic than fiction. Some persons are challenged by the mysteries of the moon and stars; some by the mysteries of the atoms; others by the mysteries of living things, including themselves. 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