Abstract
UP to the beginning of the present century, one of the main goals of science was to discover natural laws. This was usually accomplished by making experiments under carefully controlled conditions and observing the results. Most experiments when repeated under identical conditions gave the same results. The man of science, through his own experiments, or from previous knowledge based on the work of others, usually developed some theory or explanation of the results of his experiments. In the beginning, this might be a mere guess or hypothesis which he would proceed to test by new types of experiments. If a satisfactory theory is obtained which seems in accord with all the data and with other known facts, the solution or goal of the investigation was considered to have been reached.
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LANGMUIR, I. SCIENCE, COMMON SENSE AND DECENCY*. Nature 151, 266–270 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151266a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151266a0
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