Hello my friends, mes amis, mis amigos, watakushi no tomodachi, meine Freunde,
I had promised you some interesting and curious statements from Lord Kelvin, but he will have to wait just a bit. This evening I wish to give you the wisdom of Max Planck, originator of quantum theory and 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics:
“Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: ‘Ye must have faith.‘”
There has been a resent resurgence in the concept Professor Planck is implicating here, namely the exposing of and elimination of myths of science. There is a very good discussion of the same here: http://amasci.com/miscon/myths10.html
Of the ten myths of science described on that website, the third is one of my favorites and reads thusly:
Myth 3: A General and Universal Scientific Method Exists
You can read the discussion on the site I gave earlier, but this myth is so commonly held as absolute truth that, well, in somewhat less than sophisticated terms, it blows me away.
