Chapter 3

What Scientists Call Good Science

If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. It doesn’t make a difference how beautiful your guess is, it doesn’t make a difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is. If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong.

—Richard Feynman 1

Imagine that an earthquake strikes your town. Your home shakes, exactly as if a giant shook it for his amusement. Windows rattle, books fall from bookshelves. You jump under a table, wondering when it will end, wondering whether your house will crash around you. At last it stops. You survey your house, call your friends and family—everyone is okay. You hear on the radio that the quake’s epicenter was ...

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