"Accidental discoveries of which popular histories of science make mention never happen except to those who have previously devoted a great deal of thought to the matter. Observation unilluminated by theoretic reason is sterile. […] Wisdom does not come to those who gape at nature with an empty head. Fruitful observation depends not as Bacon thought upon the absence of bias or anticipatory ideas, but rather on a logical multiplication of them so that having many possibilities in mind we are better prepared to direct our attention to what others have never thought of as within the field of possibility." (Morris R Cohen, "Reason and Nature", 1931)
"[…] an independent reality in the ordinary physical sense can neither be ascribed to the phenomena nor to the agencies of observation." (Niels H D Bohr, "Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature", 1931)
"It goes without saying that the laws of nature are in themselves independent of the properties of the instruments with which they are measured. Therefore in every observation of natural phenomena we must remember the principle that the reliability of the measuring apparatus must always play an important role." (Max Planck, "Where is Science Going?", 1932)
"A scientist commonly professes to base his beliefs on observations, not theories [...] have never come across anyone who carries this profession into practice. [...] Observation is not sufficient [...] theory has an important share in determining belief." (Arthur S Eddington, "The Expanding Universe", 1933)
"A scientific observation is always a committed observation. It confirms or denies one’s preconceptions, one’s first ideas, one’s plan of observation. It shows by demonstration. It structures the phenomenon. It transcends what is close at hand. It reconstructs the real after having reconstructed its representation." (Gaston Bachelard, "The New Scientific Spirit", 1934)
"A scientist, whether theorist or experimenter, puts forward statements, or systems of statements, and tests them step by step. In the field of the empirical sciences, more particularly, he constructs hypotheses, or systems of theories, and tests them against experience by observation and experiment." (Karl Popper, "The Logic of Scientific Discovery", 1934)
"As soon as we inquire into the reasons for the phenomena, we enter the domain of theory, which connects the observed phenomena and traces them back to a single ‘pure’ phenomena, thus bringing about a logical arrangement of an enormous amount of observational material." (Georg Joos, "Theoretical Physics", 1934)
"The great extension of our experience in recent years has brought light to the insufficiency of our simple mechanical conceptions and, as a consequence, has shaken the foundation on which the customary interpretation of observation was based." (Niels Bohr, "Atomic Physics and the Description of Nature", 1934)
"A scientist, whether theorist or experimenter, puts forward statements, or systems of statements, and tests them step by step. In the field of the empirical sciences, more particularly, he constructs hypotheses, or systems of theories, and tests them against experience by observation and experiment." (Karl Popper, "The Logic of Scientific Discovery", 1935)
"A scientist, whether theorist or experimenter, puts forward statements, or systems of statements, and tests them step by step. In the field of the empirical sciences, more particularly, he constructs hypotheses, or systems of theories, and tests them against experience by observation and experiment." (Karl Popper, "The Logic of Scientific Discovery", 1934)
"As soon as we inquire into the reasons for the phenomena, we enter the domain of theory, which connects the observed phenomena and traces them back to a single ‘pure’ phenomena, thus bringing about a logical arrangement of an enormous amount of observational material." (Georg Joos, "Theoretical Physics", 1934)
"The great extension of our experience in recent years has brought light to the insufficiency of our simple mechanical conceptions and, as a consequence, has shaken the foundation on which the customary interpretation of observation was based." (Niels Bohr, "Atomic Physics and the Description of Nature", 1934)
"A scientist, whether theorist or experimenter, puts forward statements, or systems of statements, and tests them step by step. In the field of the empirical sciences, more particularly, he constructs hypotheses, or systems of theories, and tests them against experience by observation and experiment." (Karl Popper, "The Logic of Scientific Discovery", 1935)
"Mathematical theories have been of great service in many experimental sciences in correlating the results of observations and in predicting new data afterward verified by observation. This has happened particularly in geometry, physics, and astronomy. But the relationship between a mathematical theory and the data which it is designed to relate is often misunderstood. When such a theory has been successful as a correlating agent, the conviction is likely to become established that the theory has a unique relationship to nature as interpreted for us by the observations. Furthermore, it is sometimes inferred that nature behaves in precisely the way which the mathematics indicates. As a matter of fact, nature never does behave in this way, and there are always more mathematical theories than one whose results depart from a given set of data by less than the errors of observation."
"Science is the attempt to discover, by means of observation, and reasoning based upon it, first, particular facts about the world, and then laws connecting facts with one another and (in fortunate cases) making it possible to predict future occurrences." (Bertrand Russell, "Religion and Science, Grounds of Conflict", 1935)
"Science is the attempt to discover, by means of observation, and reasoning based upon it, first, particular facts about the world, and then laws connecting facts with one another and (in fortunate cases) making it possible to predict future occurrences." (Bertrand Russell, "Religion and Science, Grounds of Conflict", 1935)
"When an induction, based on observations, is made, it is not intended that it shall be accepted as a universal truth, but it is advanced as a hypothesis for further study. Additional observations are then made and the results compared with the results expected from the hypothesis. If there is more deviation between the experimental results and the computed results than can be expected from the inaccuracies of observation and measurement, the scientist discards the' hypothesis and tries to formulate another."
"[…] in the world of immediate experience, the world of things is there. Trees grow, day follows night, and death supervenes upon life. One may not say that relations here are external or even internal. They are not relations at all. They are lost in the indiscreptibility of things and events, which are what they are. The world which is the test of all observations and all scientific hypothetical reconstruction has in itself no system that can be isolated as a structure of laws, or uniformities, though all laws and formulations of uniformities must be brought to its court for its imprimatur." (George H Mead, "The Philosophy of the Act", 1938)
"[…] science conceived as resting on mere sense-perception, with no other source of observation, is bankrupt, so far as concerns its claim to self-sufficiency. Science can find no individual enjoyment in nature: Science can find no aim in nature: Science can find no creativity in nature; it finds mere rules of succession. These negations are true of Natural Science. They are inherent in it methodology." (Alfred N Whitehead, "Modes of Thought", 1938)
"An observation, strictly, is only a sensation. Nobody means that we should reject everything but sensations. But as soon as we go beyond sensations we are making inferences." (Sir Harold Jeffreys, "Theory of Probability", 1939)
"Starting from statistical observations, it is possible to arrive at conclusions which not less reliable or useful than those obtained in any other exact science. It is only necessary to apply a clear and precise concept of probability to such observations. " (Richard von Mises, "Probability, Statistics, and Truth", 1939)
"[…] in the world of immediate experience, the world of things is there. Trees grow, day follows night, and death supervenes upon life. One may not say that relations here are external or even internal. They are not relations at all. They are lost in the indiscreptibility of things and events, which are what they are. The world which is the test of all observations and all scientific hypothetical reconstruction has in itself no system that can be isolated as a structure of laws, or uniformities, though all laws and formulations of uniformities must be brought to its court for its imprimatur." (George H Mead, "The Philosophy of the Act", 1938)
"[…] science conceived as resting on mere sense-perception, with no other source of observation, is bankrupt, so far as concerns its claim to self-sufficiency. Science can find no individual enjoyment in nature: Science can find no aim in nature: Science can find no creativity in nature; it finds mere rules of succession. These negations are true of Natural Science. They are inherent in it methodology." (Alfred N Whitehead, "Modes of Thought", 1938)
"An observation, strictly, is only a sensation. Nobody means that we should reject everything but sensations. But as soon as we go beyond sensations we are making inferences." (Sir Harold Jeffreys, "Theory of Probability", 1939)
"Starting from statistical observations, it is possible to arrive at conclusions which not less reliable or useful than those obtained in any other exact science. It is only necessary to apply a clear and precise concept of probability to such observations. " (Richard von Mises, "Probability, Statistics, and Truth", 1939)
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