Page 32 - Becoming Metric Wise

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Scientific Research and Communication

Although in reality most scientists are probably a mixture of the four
prototypes, many may prefer one of the four stages and scientific attitudes
that go with them.
Shneider’s four stages in scientific research.
Stage 1: Introduction of new subject matter, based on a new scientific
language and often including new observations and/or experimental
results. First stage scientists are not only those who discover new facts,
but as stated above, can be among the first to study these new facts.
First stage scientists often need to be somewhat imprecise or
inaccurate because not all necessary facts are known or properly
understood. At this point the theory often contains uncertainty.
Philosophical, aesthetic and cultural views, analogies and literature are
instrumental to the first stage scientists’ mode of thinking. Such scien-
tists are real scientific pioneers.
Example: The double helix structure of DNA as proposed by
Watson and Crick.
Stage 2: Development of major techniques. This includes the re-
application of methods previously developed in another discipline
(plus rethinking and adjustments to new tasks). The main characteris-
tics of second stage scientists are ingenuity and inventiveness, an ability
to implement ideas and a high risk-tolerance. Shneider mentions here
that the two most noticeable changes to Newtonian mechanics were
introduced by Joseph Lagrange and by William Hamilton. He consid-
ers both of them to be great second stage scientists.
Stage 3: Most of the actual data and useful knowledge is generated in
stage 3. This includes the re-description of subject matter, creation of
new insights and questions. Difficulties and unexplained phenomena
often give birth to new first stage work. Most useful personal qualities
of third stage scientists are being detail-oriented and hard-working.
An extensive knowledge of philosophy or art is not required.
Example: Engineers and scientists such as Heaviside redefining
their knowledge in mathematical terms in the 19th and early 20th
centuries.
Another example is the work of Samuel Eilenberg and Saunders
Mac Lane who introduced category theory as a general framework for
all of mathematics.
Stage 4: Communication of knowledge; organization of knowledge.
These scientists write reviews and organize what is known.
Without the fourth stage scientists, the explosion of new data gener-
ated at the third stage would be chaotic. Their work leads to the