Discovery (observation)(Redirected from Discovering)
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Discovery is the act of detecting something new, or something "old" that had been unrecognized as meaningful. With reference to sciences and academic disciplines, discovery is the observation of new phenomena, new actions, or new events and providing new reasoning to explain the knowledge gathered through such observations with previously acquired knowledge from abstract thought and everyday experiences. A discovery may sometimes be based on earlier discoveries, collaborations, or ideas. Some discoveries represent a radical breakthrough in knowledge or technology.
New discoveries are acquired through various senses and are usually assimilated, merging with pre-existing knowledge and actions. Questioning is a major form of human thought and interpersonal communication, and plays a key role in discovery. Discoveries are often made due to questions. Some discoveries lead to the invention of objects, processes, or techniques. A discovery may sometimes be based on earlier discoveries, collaborations or ideas, and the process of discovery requires at least the awareness that an existing concept or method can be modified or transformed. However, some discoveries also represent a radical breakthrough in knowledge.
Within scientific disciplines, discovery is the observation of new phenomena, actions, or events which helps explain knowledge gathered through previously acquired scientific evidence. In science, exploration is one of three purposes of research, the other two being description and explanation. Discovery is made by providing observational evidence and attempts to develop an initial, rough understanding of some phenomenon.
Discovery within the field of particle physics has an accepted definition for what constitutes a discovery: a five-sigma level of certainty. Such a level defines statistically how unlikely it is that an experimental result is due to chance. The combination of a five-sigma level of certainty, and independent confirmation by other experiments, turns findings into accepted discoveries.
Discovery can also be used to describe the first incursions of peoples from one culture into the geographical and cultural environment of others. Western culture has used the term "discovery" in their histories to subtly emphasize the importance of "exploration" in the history of the world, such as in the "Age of Exploration".
- Bold hypothesis
- Creativity techniques
- List of German inventors and discoverers
- List of multiple discoveries
- Lists of inventions or discoveries
- Multiple discovery
- Role of chance in scientific discoveries
- Scientific priority
- Timeline of scientific discoveries
- USSR' state registry of discoveries
This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. (December 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
- General references
- B Barber (1 September 1961). "Resistance by scientists to scientific discovery". Science. 134 (3479): 596–602. doi:10.1126/science.134.3479.596. PMID 13686762.
- Merton, Robert K. (December 1957). "Priorities in scientific discovery: a chapter in the sociology of science". American Sociological Review. 22 (6): 635–659. doi:10.2307/2089193. ISSN 0003-1224. JSTOR 2089193.
- Carnegie Mellon University Artificial Intelligence and Psychology Project; Yulin Qin, Herbert A Simon (1990). "Laboratory replication of scientific discovery processes". Cognitive Science. 14 (2): 281–312. doi:10.1016/0364-0213(90)90005-H. OCLC 832091458. (preprint)
- A Silberschatz; A Tuzhilin (December 1996). "What makes patterns interesting in knowledge discovery systems". IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering. 8 (6): 970–974. doi:10.1109/69.553165.
- Tomasz Imielinski, Heikki Mannila (November 1996). "A database perspective on knowledge discovery". Communications of the ACM. 39 (11): 58–64. doi:10.1145/240455.240472.
- Specific references
- Rincon, Paul (12 December 2011). "Higgs boson: Excitement builds over 'glimpses' at LHC". BBC News. Retrieved 2011-12-12.