From the Editor’s Desk: on the Nature of Scientific Progress

Excerpt

In the twelfth century, John of Salisbury wrote “we are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more...not because our sight is superior or because we are taller…but because they raise us up.” In 1676, Newton wrote, “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” This prompts the question of whether scientific advancement is incremental, we progress by building on what previous scientists have done or whether it’s revolutionary, we progress by remarkable inspiration. The latter is the romantic notion of the scientist, working alone in darkness until a sudden flash of insight yields profound understanding. From the outside, it can often appear that this is what happens. But, in reality, usually an aberration in existing theory prompts someone to look at the problem from a different angle or with new tools; they use their understanding of existing theory to advance knowledge. Sometimes, that advancement is dramatic and provides the foundation for subsequent generations of scientists. For example, Newton, as a mathematician and a physicist, was keen to explain physical phenomenon. Newton was well grounded in the works of Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, and Keppler and was troubled by empiric observations that demonstrated that Keppler’s rules for planetary motion yielded inaccurate results; by examining physical phenomena and applying his deep understanding of mathematics, Newton developed new physical principles, grounded in empirical observation that comprised his seminal work, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. The truth is not quite as good a story as an apple falling from the tree prompting Newton to ponder on the nature of gravity. In order to help understand his new laws of motion, Newton developed a new form of mathematics, calculus (an honor he shares with Leibniz who independently developed it at the same time), both men were aware of the work of earlier mathematicians (such as Descartes) who had discussed the concept of the derivative and Newton himself wrote that calculus was informed by Pierre de Fermat’s “way of drawing tangents.” While Newton’s genius advanced both physics and mathematics considerably, his work was built, as he put it, “on the shoulders of giants.” …