History of the Scientific Method

• Greek (400 BC): Used logic and observation to explain the world
• Socrates-> Plato-> Aristotle
• William Ockham (14th century): Ockham's Razor-> "Keep it simple."
• Use in historical linguistics
• Francesco Redi (1688): Challenged the belief of spontaneous generation.

History Links

• History of the Scientific Method
• From Antiquity to Einstein
• Ockham's Razor
• The Skeptic's Dictionary
• More History

The Scientific Method

1. Observe and description of a phenomena.
2. Formulation of hypothesis to explain or make predictions about the phenomena or problem.

• make a decision about a problem

3. Test the hypothesis

• make a plan
• implement plan

4. Evaluate data

5. Reject or fail to reject hypothesis

• The Scientific Method