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What the professor was really doing was warning these new doctors not to accept the information he had given them as final. Professors, scientists, and engineers have come a long way since Galileo's time - and so has the World. But we are all faced with the fact that some formulas, based on good information at the time, must change in the light of new information. Modern research laboratories have accelerated the need for these changes - not through any sleight-of-hand or secret magic, but because research men are willing honestly to question some of our man-made rules. By adopting that mental attitude, they place themselves in a position where they are willing to try things. In my opinion, an ounce of experimentation is worth a pound of untried theory. Looking forward, it often seems as if all of the worth-while things have been done. But if we re-examine the World around us with a fresh outlook-raise our sights above our man-made limitations, as Galileo did - I am sure we shall be surprised to learn how little we really know. Or - if you want to look at it another way - as a philosopher once said, "It is not the things we don't know that get us into trouble - it is the things we know for sure that are not so." ● |
