Рубрика:
40
light years from us, demand extremely intense efforts on the part of physicists and
astrophysicists, the continuous modernization of laboratories with experimental
facilities becoming more and more grandiose and costing enormous sums. Moreover,
it should be stressed that scientific equipment rapidly becomes obsolete.
Consequently, the pace of scientific development in the areas of greatest theoretical
significance is drastically limited by the rate of building new research facilities, the
latter depending on a number of economic and technological factors not directly
linked to the aims of the research.
Task 1. Be ready to answer the following questions in class.
1. What are the two motive forces behind synthetic and analytic research?
2. What is the main idea of the 4
th
paragraph?
3. What problems are scientists faced with?
4. Does the pace of scientific development depend on the rate of building new
research facilities? Prove your point of view.
Task 2. Translate paragraph 5 in writing.
Topics for discussion
1. The present-day relation between science and technology.
2. Favourable and harmful effects of scientific and technological discoveries on
human life.
Text 2
WHAT SCIENCE IS?
1. It can be said that science is a cumulative body of knowledge about the
natural world, obtained by the application of a peculiar method practiced by the
scientist. It is known that the word science itself is derived from the Latin "scire", to
know, to have knowledge of, to experience. Fundamental and applied sciences are
commonly distinguished, the former being concerned with fundamental laws of
nature, the latter engaged in application of the knowledge obtained. Technology is
the fruit of applied science, being the concrete practical expression of research done
in the laboratory and applied to manufacturing commodities to meet human needs.
2. The word "scientist" was introduced only in 1840 by a Cambridge professor
of philosophy who wrote: "We need a name for describing a cultivator of science in
general. I should be inclined to call him a scientist". "The cultivators of science"
before that time were known as "natural philosophers". They were curious, often
eccentric, persons who poked inquiring fingers at nature. In the process of doing so
they started a technique of inquiry which is now referred to as the "scientific
method".
3. Briefly, the following steps can be distinguished in this method. First comes
the thought that initiated the inquiry. It is known, for example, that in 1896 the
physicist Henri Becquerel, in his communication to the French Academy of
Sciences, reported that he had discovered rays of an unknown nature emitted
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