NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Pathological science

Pathological science is the process in science in which "people are tricked into false results ... by subjective effects, wishful thinking or threshold interactions".^[1] The term was first used by Irving Langmuir, Nobel Prize-winning chemist, during a 1953 colloquium at the Knolls Research Laboratory. Langmuir said a pathological science is an area of research that simply will not "go away" —long after it was given up on as 'false' by the majority of scientists in the field.^{[citation needed]} He called pathological science "the science of things that aren't so" (Park 2000:40-41) Irving Langmuir Source: http://perso. ... Irving Langmuir Source: http://perso. ... Irving Langmuir at home (c. ... Irving Langmuir at home (c. ... The Nobel Prizes (Swedish: ) are awarded for Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or Medicine. ... A chemist pours from a round-bottom flask. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Bart Simon lists it among practices pretending to be science: "categories [.. such as ..] pseudoscience, amateur science, deviant or fraudulent science, bad science, junk science, and popular science [..] pathological science, cargo-cult science, and voodoo science ..".^[2] On the other hand, Professor Emeritus Henry H. Bauer has noted that "'pathological science' is not scientific misconduct (nor is it pathological)".^[3] Phrenology is regarded today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ... Bad science usually refers either to substandard scientific methods or to findings that have been arrived at by such methods. ... Junk or bunk science is a term used to describe purportedly scientific data, research, analyses or claims which are perceived to be driven by political, financial or other questionable motives. ... This article is not about the magazine, Popular Science Popular science is interpretation of science intended for a general audience, rather than for other scientists or students. ... Cargo cult science is a term used by Richard Feynman in his 1974 Caltech commencement address to describe work that has the semblance of being scientific, but is missing a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty. // The speech is... Voodoo Science, another term for pseudoscience, was popularized in a book of the same title (ISBN 0195147103) written in 2001 by Robert L. Park. ... Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in professional scientific research. ...

Such examples may include N-rays, polywater, water memory, cold fusion, and homeopathy.^[4] The so-called N rays (or N-rays) were a phenomenon described by French scientist Ren -Prosper Blondlot but subsequently shown to be illusory. ... Polywater was a hypothetical polymerized form of water that was the subject of much scientific controversy during the late 1960s. ... Water memory is a concept, basic to homeopathy, which holds that water is capable of containing memory of particles dissolved in it. ... Doctor Who novel, see Cold Fusion (Doctor Who). ... Homeopathy starring at the horrors of Allopathy by Alexander Beydeman, 1857 Homeopathy (also spelled homÅ“opathy or homoeopathy), from the Greek words ÏŒÎ¼Î¿Î¹Î¿Ï‚, hÃ³moios (similar) and Ï€Î¬Î¸Î¿Ï‚, pÃ¡thos (suffering, disease),[1] is a highly controversial type of alternative medicine that aims to treat like with like. ...

Definition

Pathological science, as defined by Langmuir, is a psychological process in which a scientist, originally conforming to the scientific method, unconsciously veers from that method, and begins a pathological process of wishful data interpretation (see the Observer-expectancy effect cognitive bias). Some characteristics of pathological science are:^[3] Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. ... The observer-expectancy effect, in science, is a cognitive bias that occurs in science when a researcher expects a given result and therefore unconsciously manipulates an experiment or misinterprets data in order to find it. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Langmuir never intended the term to be rigorously defined, it was simply the title of his talk on some examples of "weird science". As with any attempt to define the scientific endeavor, examples and counterexamples can always be found. Ad hoc is a Latin phrase which means for this [purpose]. It generally signifies a solution that has been tailored to a specific purpose, such as a tailor-made suit, a handcrafted network protocol, and specific-purpose equation and things like that. ...

Langmuir's examples

N-rays

Langmuir discussed the issue of N-rays as an example of pathological science. The so-called N rays (or N-rays) were a phenomenon described by French scientist Ren -Prosper Blondlot but subsequently shown to be illusory. ...

The discoverer, René-Prosper Blondlot, was working on X-rays (as were many physicists of the era) and noticed a new visible radiation that could penetrate aluminium. He devised experiments in which a barely visible object was illuminated by these N-rays, and thus became considerably "more visible". Blondlot claimed that N-Rays also produced a small visual reaction, which could only be seen when most "normal" light sources were removed and the target was just barely visible to begin with. RenÃ©-Prosper Blondlot (July 3, 1849 - November 24, 1930) was a French physicist, best remembered for his mistaken identification of N rays, a phenomenon that subsequently proved to be illusory. ... In the NATO phonetic alphabet, X-ray represents the letter X. An X-ray picture (radiograph) taken by Röntgen An X-ray is a form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength approximately in the range of 5 pm to 10 nanometers (corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 PHz... General Name, Symbol, Number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Standard atomic weight 26. ...

After a time another physicist, Robert W. Wood, decided to visit Blondlot's lab, where he had since moved on to the physical characterization of N-rays. The experiment passed the rays from a 2 mm slit through an aluminum prism, from which he was measuring the index of refraction to a precision that required measurements accurate to within 0.01 mm. Robert Williams Wood (May 2, 1868 - August 11, 1955) was a physicist. ... If a shaft of light entering a prism is sufficiently narrow, a spectrum results. ... The refractive index (or index of refraction) of a medium is a measure for how much the speed of light (or other waves such as sound waves) is reduced inside the medium. ...

Wood asked how it was possible that he could measure something to 0.01 mm from a 2 mm source, a physical impossibility in the propagation of any kind of wave. Blondlot replied, "That's one of the fascinating things about the N-rays. They don't follow the ordinary laws of science that you ordinarily think of."

Wood then asked to see the experiments being run as usual, which took place in a room required to be very dark so the target was barely visible. Blondlot repeated his most recent experiments and got the same results—despite the fact that Wood had reached over and covertly removed the prism.

Other examples

Langmuir offered additional examples of what he regarded as pathological science in his original speech:

Alexander Gurwitsch, Alexander Gavrilovich Gurwitsch (1874 - 1954), a famous Russian biologist. ... The text below is generated by a template, which has been proposed for deletion. ... UFO redirects here. ...

Newer examples

Since Langmuir's original talk, a number of newer examples of what appear to be pathological science have appeared.

Polywater

Certainly the example of polywater is one of pathological science. In this case, however, the problem spread beyond a single lab; largely as a result of much better publishing and international talks, polywater experiments were being carried out around the world. Moreover polywater made some scientific sense as, although unlikely, it was certainly within the realm of possibility. With considerably more time and energy invested in the concept, polywater took much longer to die than N-rays, which basically had a single supporter. Polywater was a hypothetical polymerized form of water that was the subject of much scientific controversy during the late 1960s. ...

Cold fusion

From its inception in 1989 through the 1990's, cold fusion was seen by many to be an example of pathological science. However in 2004, a US Department of Energy panel identified several areas where more research might resolve the continuing scientific issues. Doctor Who novel, see Cold Fusion (Doctor Who). ... In 2004, the US Department of Energy (DoE) has set up a panel of 18 scientists to review the status of cold fusion research. ...

Scientific theories that are not pathological science

As with any definition, it is useful to consider examples that do not apply but have features that may be in common. This can be a useful filter to separate closely related concepts.

For instance, according to the "scientist's account" of the progress of science, theory generally follows from experiment, and those theories are always open to change when new evidence is presented.

The cubical atom

Langmuir himself was at one time a supporter of the cubical atom, a simple model of atomic theory. This model was later abandoned in favor of the Bohr atom, which offered a much simpler and richer understanding of the collected experimental results. There was no "pathology" taking place; when Bohr's model came along the supporters of the cubical atom had no particular interest in it anymore, and it quickly disappeared. The cubical atom was an early atomic model developed by Gilbert N. Lewis in 1916 to account for the phenomenon of valency. ... The Bohr model of the atom The Bohr Model is a physical model that depicts the atom as a small positively charged nucleus with electrons in orbit at different levels, similar in structure to the solar system. ...

Continental drift

The theory of continental drift was proposed in 1912 by Alfred Wegener but not taken seriously by geologists until well into the 1960s. While it sounded fantastic in the first half of the last century it did make clear predictions about the movement of the continental plates, and as soon as the mechanisms driving plate tectonics (the theory which replaced continental drift) and seafloor spreading were elucidated, the theory gained wide acceptance. There was no pathology involved — the evidence appeared, grew, and was eventually accepted. So simply "not being accepted" at a point in time also proves not to be a useful demarcation line. Plates in the crust of the earth, according to the plate tectonics theory Continental drift refers to the movement of the Earths continents relative to each other. ... Alfred Wegeners theory of continental drift was widely ridiculed in his day Alfred Lothar Wegener (Berlin, November 1, 1880 â€“ Greenland, November 2 or 3, 1930) was a German interdisciplinary scientist and meteorologist, who became famous for his theory of continental drift (die Verschiebung der Kontinenten in his words). ... The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. ... Age of oceanic crust. ...

Lysenkoism

Lysenkoism is named after Trofim Lysenko and refers to a period of Soviet science in which political ideas superseded scientific rigour. Lysenko was an influential political figure, but his ideas were devoid of scientific merit; many scientists of the time were forced into publicly recanting politically unacceptable ideas such as genetics and heredity (those that refused were imprisoned or executed). Once again, there was no pathology involved in the legitimate scientific community. Rather, it was imposed by the political system. Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (Russian: Ð¢Ñ€Ð¾Ñ„Ð¸ÌÐ¼ Ð”ÐµÐ½Ð¸ÌÑÐ¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð›Ñ‹ÑÐµÌÐ½ÐºÐ¾) (September 29, 1898â€“November 20, 1976) was a Soviet politician who made pretense of being a biologist. ... DNA, the molecular basis for inheritance. ... Heredity (the adjective is hereditary) is the transfer of characteristics from parent to offspring through their genes, or the transfer of a title, style or social status through the social convention known as inheritance (for example, a Hereditary Title may be passed down according to relevant customs and/or laws). ...

Criticisms

Whenever a subject is branded as pathological science, its supporters flock to its defense. In general the arguments claim that in the past "people didn't consider effect x to be real, but it was later proved to be true". However these arguments tend to miss the point. The issue is not whether an effect actually exists, nor whether people "believe in it"; the issue is how the support for the claim is given.

Nevertheless the term remains a difficult one to use. Most of the problem appears to be the use of the word "pathological", which to many people implies mental illness. A more neutral term may be seen as more acceptable.

Critics sometimes assert that a pathological science can only be shown to be one in retrospect. Supporters of Langmuir's idea, however, point to explicit principles, such as the first three cited above. The radical and inexplicable discovery of radioactivity, for instance, could never have been classed as pathological science precisely because the observations were not at the limit of detection and could be easily reproduced. To give a modern example, many people consider cold fusion to be pathological, yet research continues. The possibility certainly exists that one of these experiments will suddenly prove the effect exists—but the same is true for N-rays. In fact, the test of pathological science is not whether a reported discovery turns out to be true, but the nature of the claims and the evidence for them.

Notes

^ Irving Langmuir, "Colloquium on Pathological Science", held at The Knolls Research Laboratory, December 18, 1953. A recording of the actual talk was made, but apparently lost, though a recorded transcript was produced by Langmuir a few months later. A transcript is available on the Web site of Kenneth Steiglitz, Professor of Computer Science, Princeton University. But see also: I. Langmuir, "Pathological Science", General Electric, (Distribution Unit, Bldg. 5, Room 345, Research and Development Center, P. O. Box 8, Schenectady, NY 12301), 68-C-035 (1968); I. Langmuir, "Pathological Science", (1989) Physics Today, Volume 42, Issue 10, October 1989, pp.36-48
^ Bart Simon, "Undead Science: Science Studies and the Afterlife of Cold Fusion" (2002) ISBN 0-8135-3154-3. Simon refers to: Thomas F. Gieryn, "Cultural Boundaries of Science : Credibility on the Line" (1999) University Of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-29262-2
^ ^a ^b Henry H. Bauer, "'Pathological Science' is not Scientific Misconduct (nor is it pathological)" HYLE--International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry, Vol. 8, No.1 (2002), pp. 5-20
^ http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~ken/Langmuir/langmuir.htm
^ For a review and bibliography, see Hollander and Claus, J. Opt. Soc. Am., 25, 270-286 (1935).
^ F. Allison and E.S. Murphy, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 52, 3796 (1930). (b) F. Allison, Ind. Eng. Chem., 4, 9 (1932). (c) S. S. Cooper and T. R. Ball, J. Chem Ed., 13, 210 (1936), also pp. 278 and 326. (d) M. A. Jeppesen and R. M. Bell, Phys. Rev., 47, 546 (1935). (e) H. F. Mildrum and B. M. Schmidt, Air Force Aero Prop. Lab. AFAPL-TR-66-52 (May 1966).

References

Oxford University Press (OUP) is a highly-respected publishing house and a department of the University of Oxford in England. ...

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