Scientific MethodPart I Scientific Method

1.From Myths to Science

Early Concepts of the

Universe

2. Thales and the Scientific

Method

3. Scientific method

4. Occam's Razor

4. Examples

Motion of the Earth

Cydonia Aliens on Mars

Part 2 Have we been Visited?

1.Are UFOs Real?

2. Kinds of Sightings

3. What would be convincing

evidence?

4. Sightings

Roswell UFO Crash - 1947

Abductions?

5. Crop Circles

In ancient Egypt the dome ofthe sky was represented by thegoddess Nut, who arched herback over the earth so that onlyher hands and feet touched theground. She was the night sky,and the sun, the god Ra, wasborn from her every morning.

Hindu representation ofthe Sky

Sec 1

Myths

Thales of MiletusThales of Miletus He tried to predict eclipses of the Sunand Moon using periodicities, rather thanthe usual explanation that the Sun god wasangry

On May 25, 585 BC, during a war between the

Medes and the Lydians, a solar eclipse

occurred. The darkness was so intense that it

interrupted the hostilities. Surprisingly enough,

the eclipse had been predicted by Thales of

Miletus. He had predicted the date, as well as

shape of the shadow on the earth.

Unfortunately, no written account of Thales'

methods exists. Accounts come to us from

Aristotle.

Power of the Scientific Method Thales of Miletus 624- 547: First attempt to provide an explanation to

the patterns that emerged from astronomical observations

Thought that natural phenomena - including the heavens - could be discussed asprocesses governed by natural laws, rather than relying on supernaturalexplanations.

!Thales Model of the Universe

!In the beginning there was only

water, that the world and all things

were composed of water. “Water”

in this context was some unifying

principle.

!The Earth was a large (flat) disk

floating on an infinite ocean of

water, and that earthquakes

resulted from disturbances in this

ocean that shook and cracked the

Earth.

Thales Model of the Universe

The ScientificThe Scientific

MethodMethod! Observations

! Identifying Patterns &formulate Hypothesis

! Prediction

! Testing Hypothesis (more observations)

! Formulate Theory

Testing a theory doesn't guarantee that it's

true, no matter how many times you get the

right answer.

But not testing the theory means that there's

no way at all of separating good ideas from

nonsense

Occam's Razor

The principle of Occam's razor is a cornerstone of

modern scientific thought. Named for William of

Occam (also spelled Ockham), a 14th century

philosopher.

Given a choice between two or more viable

explanations for some phenomenon, Occam's razor

cuts away the more complex explanations in favor of

the simplest.

The Razor doesn't tell us anything about the truth of a

hypothesis, but rather it tells us which one to test first.

``Science is what we have learned about not fooling``Science is what we have learned about not fooling

ourselves.'ourselves.'’’ - Richard Feynman - Richard Feynman

the Sun is the center of the

universe and that the Earth had

a double motion around this

center.

The orbit of the moon separated the

imperfect terrestrial realm from the perfect

heavens

Heavenly bodies are perfect spheres and

move on circles

Celestial motion is perfect and caused by

Prime Mover acting from outside sphere of

stars

Which

Model is

“Correct”?

Hypothesis

Are UFOs alien spacecraft piloted by extraterrestrial

beings, or are they terrestrial objects that just haven't

been properly identified?

Thousands of people around the world have

reported occurrences of strange, unidentified flying

craft that hover in the air or land on the ground.

Are these unidentified flying objects -- UFOs, as

they're called -- alien spaceships visiting us from

faraway planets?

Or are they simply high-tech military craft, weather

balloons or other easily explainable sightings?

Evidence

1 Close Encounters of the First Kind

any UFO reported to have been within a

maximum of 500 feet or less of the witness.

2 Close Encounters of the Second Kind

a UFO that leaves markings on the ground,

causes burns or paralysis, frightens animals,

or interferes with engines or TV or radio

reception.

3 Close Encounters of the Third Kind

a purported sighting of the occupants of a

UFO.

4 Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind

a human is abducted

5 Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind

contact events produced through the

conscious, voluntary and proactive human-

initiated

Kinds of Sightings Roswell UFO Crash - 1947

http://www.alienationsam.com/historic_ufo/roswell/roswell.html

http://www.area51central.com/aliens/evidence/AlienAutopsyPhotographs.html

Aliens supposedly crashed in Roswell

“Suspicious debris” recovered

• The stuff in the photo waspieces of the actual stuff wefound. It was not a stagedphoto."-Maj. Jesse Marcel

“Alien bodies”

supposedly

found

http://science.howstuffworks.com/ufo.htm

1965 hundreds of witnesses saw a strange

object crash into the woods in Michigan

1980, two U.S. Air Force security patrolmen

saw a glowing metallic object hovering above a

Forest in Suffolk, England ...

1989 and 1990, hundreds of triangular objects

were reported in the skies over Belgium ...

2000, a business owner and several police

officers in Illinois saw a huge, brightly lit object

dart across the sky ...

Evidence

for flying

saucers

Problems

Sightings are hard to

explain after the fact with

incomplete information

based on eyewitness

accounts

http://www.ufoevidence.org/

Evidence Crop CirclesMarked landing sites of UFOs

Are they made by humans?

Are they a natural phenomenon?

Are they made by Aliens?

Pyramids of Egypt

The apparent explanation is

that the Egyptians 2500 BC

built this enormous structure.

Man Made?

Or Alien

Assisted….

Could these Pyramids be

beacons for extraterrestrial

beings to find this spaceport.

Evidemce

The image shows that the

layout of the pyramids aligns

with the stars of Orion's belt as

it appeared before 10,450 BC.

Occam's Razor

Given a choice between two or more viable explanations for some

phenomenon, favor the simplest. http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_1_2.htm

Or The etchings made

over 2,000 years ago by

Indians who cleared the

stony surface, exposing

the whitish soil

underneath.

Or a calendar, a map of

underground water

supplies,

Hypothesis

Built by an

extraterrestrial race

for the future landing

strips for space aliens.

Nazca Lines are geoglyphs etched in the surface

of the desert pampa sand about 300 hundred

figures made of straight lines, geometric shapes

and pictures of animals and birds - and their

patterns are only clearly visible from the air.

Nazca

Lines

Occam's Razor

"the simplest explanation that satisfies all the evidence is the

best”

Occam's Razor leads to the conclusion that reported UFO's

are not extraterrestrial life

Claims of sightings and journeys

"None strongly substantiated

"Most sightings are explained by optical illusions

"Many sightings turn out to be fraud

"No sign that extraterrestrials want to contact

authorities - like the President

What are Flying

Saucers?

"I think that it is much more likely that the reports of flying

saucers are the results of the known irrational characteristics of

terrestrial intelligence than of the unknown rational efforts of

extra-terrestrial intelligence." — Richard Feynman