The limitations of science; first impressions can disappear (The limitations of science)

by romansh , Sunday, February 06, 2011, 23:40 (4819 days ago) @ David Turell

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/12/13/101213fa_fact_lehrer?currentPage=1-The article above while interesting has a limitation.-But it does remind me of when I started my PhD. My supervisor got me to replicate an undergraduate experiment to make sure my techniques were accurate. The experiment was supposed to produce a graph with a line of slope 2.0. I got a slope of 1.8. All previous similar PhDs had got 2.0, most papers seem to get 2.0 for this family of experiments. I went to my supervisor and he got me to reproduce the the experiment and find the problem for three months. I could replicate other families of experiments but not this one. Wasted three months, but eventually gave up and got on with my studies.-For a couple years supervised the undergraduate prac class only one time did an undergraduate complain they were getting 1.8 rather than 2. The final straw came when a fellow PhD student also noticed he was getting 1.8 rather than 2. At this point I went through the chemistry/math of what was going on and realized the theory was incomplete, the slope should be nearer 1.8.-Now my point - sure people will tend to give the expected answer/interpretation (I may have fallen into the same trap, I don't know). But science sorts things out over time. Tariq, the New Yorker and I suspect David are into an instant gratification mode?