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    Caption: A schematic diagram of the scientific method.

    The diagram shows the scientific method is a cyclic process of theory and experimentation/observation.

    In terms of content, the results of the scientific method can be regarded as a spiral---UPWARD/INWARD/OUTWARD---choose the appropriate metaphor.

    Astronomy is a slightly special case in that it is primarily limited to detailed observation.

    We cannot experiment on most astronomical objects.

      Spacecraft can do limited experimentation, of course.

      And of course, Earth-based experimentation is vital to understanding the nature of astronomical objects.

    The scientific method is at least vaguely distinct from the trial-and-error method in that it aims at theoretical understanding, NOT just a limited solution to a problem.

    Now the scientific method was vaguely practiced by people going far back in history. Aristotle (384--322 BCE) is a key example practitioner (Wikipedia: History of scientific method: Aristotle). However, as the rule for doing science, it had to be discovered. This discovery was in the 17th century, first through example and then by clear statement. For example, we can cite Galileo (1564--1642) and Johannes Kepler (1571--1630). For clear statement, maybe the first is:

      ... the Understanding ... is to begin with the Hands and Eyes, and to proceed on the through the Memory, to be continued by the Reason; nor is it to stop there, but to come about to the Hands and Eyes again, and so, by a continual passage round from one Faculty to another, it is to be maintained in life and strength, as much as the body of man is by the circulation of the blood.

        ---Robert Hooke (1635--1703) discovers the scientific method---quoted from How Modern Science Came into the World, 2011, p. 487 by H. Floris Cohen (1946--). Note the circulation of the blood was discovered in 1628 by William Harvey (1578--1657) Wikipedia: Circulatory system: History, and so Hooke's simile was in his day modern, newfangled, and sciency. There seems NO record that Hooke ever met Harvey, who was a much older person, but they probably had acquaintances in common---so maybe 2 degrees of separation.

    In fact, yours truly believes that the scientific method can be proven to work in the ideal limit: i.e., to give truth. The proof follows from Bayesian analysis in the ideal limit since Bayesian analysis is, in fact, the scientific method quantified. See An Educational Note on Bayesian Analysis in Dialogue Form (2024).

    Credit/Permission: © David Jeffery, 2004 / Own work.
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