The Wonder of Science
There are misconceptions about science that we need to tackle. One is a public perception that science is “difficult” or even dull. Recently I had a letter from a television viewer who poignantly began: “I am a clarinet teacher whose only memory of science at school was a long period of studying the Bunsen burner.” One can enjoy a Mozart concerto without being able to play the clarinet. One can be a discerning and informed concert critic without being able to play a note. Of course music would come to a halt if nobody learned to play it. But if we all left school thinking we had to play an instrument before we could appreciate music, think of how impoverished many lives would be.
Couldn’t we treat science in the same way? Yes, we must have Bunsen burners and dissecting needles for those drawn to advanced scientific practice. But perhaps the rest of us could have separate classes in science appreciate appreciation, the wonder of science, scientific ways of thinking, and the history of scientific ideas, rather than laboratory experience.
Science is an uplifting subject. It is full of wonder. Einstein himself was openly ruled by an aesthetic scientific axiom: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”–Richard Dawkins
1. Summarize
2. Compare with the ‘When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer’ by Walt Whitman , do they have the same or different perspective, what dothey have in common?
