Scientific Quotations

Of course, if one ignores contradictory observations, one can claim to have an 'elegant' or 'robust' theory. But it isn't science ... The crucial quality of science is to encourage, not discourage, the testing of assumptions.
- Halton Arp, 1991, from Science News, Jul 27.

A few years after the resignation of Sir Fred Hoyle, Halton Arp was dining at high table in one of Britain's most noted Colleges :
The don on my left enquired during dinner whether I knew Fred Hoyle. When I said that I did and that I thought highly of him, this professor looked around furtively, lowered his voice to a whisper, and said, "He is a great scientist who was treated very badly around here." The statement did not surprise me, but I can never forget the fearful whisper in which it was spoken, as if we were some kind of occupied country.
- Halton Arp, 1987, from 'Quasars, Redshifts and Controversies'

If many years go by in a field in which no significant new facts come to light, the field sharpens up the opinions and gives the appearance that the problem is solved ... It is now virtually impossible to do any research outside the widely accepted position. If a young man with no scientific standing were to attempt this, however brilliant he might be, the wouldn't have a hope.
- Thomas Gold, 1989, J. of Sci. Exploration, 3, No. 2, 103.

Shortly after the discovery of pulsars I wished to present an interpretation of what pulsars were, at this first pulsar conference - namely that they were rotating neutron stars. The chief organizer of this conference said to me, "Tommy, if I allow for that crazy an interpretation, there is no limit to what I would have to allow." I was not allowed 5 minutes of floor time, although I in fact spoke from the floor. A few months later, this same organizer started a paper with the sentence, "It is now generally considered that pulsars are rotating neutron stars."
- Thomas Gold, 1989, J. of Sci. Exploration, 3, No. 2, 103.

Some of the topics covered by Thomas Gold in :
'New Ideas in Science'

Carrying several 'parallel' equally viable interpretations of data.
Carreerism (herd instinct) in the scientific community.
Peer review conflict of interest.
'patching in' (shoehorn) discordant observations, in order to build inverted pyramid (weak foundation)

What is distinctly missing from his paper is the fundamental fact that belief is stronger than reason, this is at the root of closeminded science with its many symptoms such as the herd instinct, the inverted pyramid and pathological skepticism.

Once one has accepted the fundamental precept that belief is stronger than reason, it becomes a little easier to recognize this tendency in oneself and in others, and possibly to minimize its nefarious effects. The real 'truth seeker' is a rare animal and an endangered species in the current environment of 'big science' and 'careerism'. The following quote describes his true motivation:

Knowledge is an attitude, a passion, actually an illicit attitude. For the compulsion to know is just like dipsomania, erotomania, homicidal mania, in producing a character that is out of balance. It is not true that the scientist goes after truth. It goes after him.
-Robert Musil, 1930, Der Mann ohne Eigenschafen, London: Picador.

Because belief is stronger than reason it is important to seek out the original raw data, untarnished by interpretation.
Y.P. Varshni, 1990, Lecture, University of Ottawa

Looking through 'Medawar's keyhole'

With twentieth-century scientists, it is more often possible to compare their published work with the raw material on which it was based. The comparision is necessary because it often reveals serious discrepancies between appearance and reality in the laboratory:
It is no use looking to scientific 'papers', for they do noy merely conceal but actively misrepresent the reasoning that goes into the work they describe ... Only unstudied evidence will do - and that means listening at a keyhole
- Peter Medawar, biologist. (in Fraud and Deceit in Science, 1982).

Scientific Biographies and Quotations.