Inseparability of Science History and Discovery

Progressing along a logical path of discovery is rather like following a path through the wilderness.  Occasionally the path splits, presenting a choice; the correct logical interpretation leads to further progress, the wrong choice leads to confusion. 

Used only with express written permissionThis work can only be used with the express written permission of the original author. 

AttributionOthers may distribute, change and build on your work as long as they attribute you for your original work.  Others can use your work for commercial use. 

Attribution Share AlikeOthers may distribute, change and build on your work as long as they attribute you for your original work, and they license their resulting work in these same terms.  Others can use your work for commercial use. 

Attribution No DerivativesOthers may distribute your work in both commercial and non-commercial use as long as they attribute you for your original work.  However, your work cannot be changed and must be used in whole. 

Attribution Non-commercialOthers may distribute, change and build on your work as long as they attribute you for your original work.  However, others cannot use your work for commercial use. 

Attribution Non-commercial Share AlikeOthers may distribute, change and build on your work as long as they attribute you for your original work, and they license their resulting work in these same terms.  However, others cannot use your work for commercial use. 

Attribution Non-commercial No DerivativesOthers may distribute your work as long as they attribute you for your original work.  However, your work cannot be changed, must be used in whole and cannot be used for commercial use. 

Description:
Show Description
Figure 4.  Relative abundances of the major and minor elements in the Abee enstatite chondrite, normalized to iron, showing their relative amounts in the alloy and silicate portions.  Note that calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and silicon (Si), normally lithophile elements, occur in part in the alloy portion. 

Description:
Show Description
Figure 1.  Photograph of Inge Lehmann beside a scan of her original diagram showing discovery of the Earth’s inner core (Lehmann, 1936).  For improved clarity, the circles representing the inner core and the fluid core have subsequently been traced over in red and purple, respectively.  The shadow zone, not specifically marked on her original diagram, is indicated in blue.  Note the reflection of ray #5 into the shadow zone. 

We will be undertaking website infrastructure upgrades and operating system updates throughout the Aug 1 and 2 weekend that may cause occasional downtime for BestThinking.com.  Be ye not concerned, we'll be back online better than ever ASAP. 

A recurrent theme of science fiction is to travel backward in time to change the present by correcting errors or events in the past.  While physical time-travel is impossible, through an understanding of science history, one can progress backward in time, in a manner of speaking, to discover, and...

SAN DIEGO, March 23, 2010 – For decades, an unsuspected geological blunder has limited crucial technical understanding of how, where and why petroleum and natural gas deposits form.  Exposing and correcting that vital mistake offers the promise of new insights and potentially vast new...

From a pragmatic standpoint, the proposal I am making could be phased in gradually and would be voluntary.  Those so choosing would be able to participate directly to the extent of their tax payments and thus exercise a new level of civic responsibility. 

The purpose of science is to discover the true nature of Earth and Universe and convey that knowledge truthfully to people everywhere.  Beneath the surface lies a system which has been corrupted and evolved to support a ‘politically correct’ consensus ¬view, while stifling challenges by individuals.