Para.21:If to compare science to art seems-in the last quarter of this century-to undervalue what science does,that must be,at least partly,because we now expect art to do so little.Before our century, everyone naturally supposed that the artist imitates nature.Aristotle had said so;the idea was obvious,it had flourished and evolved for 2000 years;those who thought about it added that the artist imitates not just nature as it accidently happens but as it has to be.Yet today that describes the scientist."Scientific reasoning,"Medawar also said,"is a constant interplay or interaction between hypotheses and the logical expectations they give rise to:there is a restless to-and-fro-motion of thought,the formulation and reformulation of hypotheses,until we arrive at a hypothesis which,to the best of our prevailing knowledge, will satisfactorily meet the case."Thus far,change only the term "hypothesis"and Medawar described well the experience the painter or the poet has of his own work."Scientific reasoning is a kind of dialogue between the possible and the actual,between what might be and what is in fact the case,"he went on-and there the difference lies.The scientist enjoys the harsher discipline of what is and is not the case.It is he, rather than the painter or the poet in this century,who pursues in its stringent form the imitation of nature. Para.22:Many scientists-mathematicians and physicists especially-hold that beauty in a theory is itself almost a form of proof.They speak,for example,of"elegance."Paul Dirac predicted the existence of antimatter (what would science fiction be without him?)several years before any form of it was observed. He won a share in the Nobel Prize in physics in 1933 for the work that included that prediction."It is most important to have beauty in one's equation than to have them fit experiment,"Dirac wrote many years later. "It seems that if one is working from the point of view of getting beauty in one's equations,and if one has really a sound insight,one is on a sure line of progress." Para.23:Here the scientist parts company with the artist.The insight must be sound.The dialogue is between what might be and what is in fact the case.The scientist is trying to get the thing right.The world is there Para.24:And so are other scientists.The social system of science begins with the apprenticeship of the graduate student with a group of his peers and elders in the laboratory of a senior scientist;it continues to collaboration at the bench or the blackboard,and on to formal publication-which is a formal invitation to criticism.The most fundamental function of the social system of science is to enlarge the interplay between imagination and judgment from a private into a public activity.The oceanic feeling of well-being, the true touchstone of the artist,is for the scientist,even the most fortunate and gifted,only the midpoint of the process of doing science. Notes 1.The structure of DNA was discovered by James Watson and Francis Crick. 2.Francois Jacob(1920-),French biologist who,with Andre Lwoff and Jacques Monod,won the 1965 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in recognition for discoveries concerning regulatory activities in bacteria. 3.Isaac Newton (1642-1727),English mathematician and natural philosopher whose scientific discoveries include the method of fluxions,which forms the basis of modern calculus;the law of the composition of light;and the law of universal gravitation. 4.Albert Einstein(1879-1955),German-born,Swiss-educated American physicist. Question about the contentPara. 21:If to compare science to art seems—in the last quarter of this century—to undervalue what science does, that must be, at least partly, because we now expect art to do so little. Before our century, everyone naturally supposed that the artist imitates nature. Aristotle had said so; the idea was obvious, it had flourished and evolved for 2000 years; those who thought about it added that the artist imitates not just nature as it accidently happens but as it has to be. Yet today that describes the scientist. “Scientific reasoning,” Medawar also said, “is a constant interplay or interaction between hypotheses and the logical expectations they give rise to: there is a restless to-and-fro- motion of thought, the formulation and reformulation of hypotheses, until we arrive at a hypothesis which, to the best of our prevailing knowledge, will satisfactorily meet the case.” Thus far, change only the term “hypothesis” and Medawar described well the experience the painter or the poet has of his own work. “Scientific reasoning is a kind of dialogue between the possible and the actual, between what might be and what is in fact the case,” he went on—and there the difference lies. The scientist enjoys the harsher discipline of what is and is not the case. It is he, rather than the painter or the poet in this century, who pursues in its stringent form the imitation of nature. Para. 22:Many scientists—mathematicians and physicists especially—hold that beauty in a theory is itself almost a form of proof. They speak, for example, of “elegance.” Paul Dirac predicted the existence of antimatter (what would science fiction be without him?) several years before any form of it was observed. He won a share in the Nobel Prize in physics in 1933 for the work that included that prediction. “It is most important to have beauty in one’s equation than to have them fit experiment,” Dirac wrote many years later. “It seems that if one is working from the point of view of getting beauty in one’s equations, and if one has really a sound insight, one is on a sure line of progress.” Para. 23:Here the scientist parts company with the artist. The insight must be sound. The dialogue is between what might be and what is in fact the case. The scientist is trying to get the thing right. The world is there. Para. 24:And so are other scientists. The social system of science begins with the apprenticeship of the graduate student with a group of his peers and elders in the laboratory of a senior scientist; it continues to collaboration at the bench or the blackboard, and on to formal publication—which is a formal invitation to criticism. The most fundamental function of the social system of science is to enlarge the interplay between imagination and judgment from a private into a public activity. The oceanic feeling of well-being, the true touchstone of the artist, is for the scientist, even the most fortunate and gifted, only the midpoint of the process of doing science. Notes 1. The structure of DNA was discovered by James Watson and Francis Crick. 2. Francois Jacob (1920— ), French biologist who, with Andre Lwoff and Jacques Monod, won the 1965 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in recognition for discoveries concerning regulatory activities in bacteria. 3. Isaac Newton (1642—1727), English mathematician and natural philosopher whose scientific discoveries include the method of fluxions, which forms the basis of modern calculus; the law of the composition of light; and the law of universal gravitation. 4. Albert Einstein (1879—1955), German-born, Swiss-educated American physicist. Question about the content