History’s Pillars of Science & Analytics
A Take Five Primer — with extra Bacon!
Take Five Primers were first released in one of our other magazines. This article uses the banner in a slightly different format. I have written at length about the history of both science and analytics. I have even made it a block chain. But this article is a stab at synthesis. Can we boil the history of science down to a five minute article? How about just five people? Let’s give it a try.
We need to start with Aristotle. When it comes to science and analytics, he started it all. Two and a half millennia ago (~340 BCE) — his book (The Organon), his teaching (peripatetic), and his school (The Lyceum) started it all. He was not the first, but he was the beginning. The rest they say — is history.
Aristotle was the student of Plato, who was a student of Socrates. He was a study of Thales of Miletus, the true first philosopher (at least according to Aristotle). He also studied Sophocles, one of the first great storytellers. As noted, he traveled and taught. He was the teacher of Alexander the Great — who credited him above his own father for his success in life (short as it was). Name nearly any science — Aristotles’ thoughts and concepts have helped to shape it.
Our next stop is a millennia and half away (1200’s CE), but it includes Bacon. Friar Bacon to be exact, but some call him Roger. Others call him Doctor Mirabilis, which means wonderful. His works, his experiments, and his research made him the first Scientist. He may also have invented Artificial Intelligence… although that is a bit brazen.
Like Aristotle, Bacon’s hand is in nearly every modern science. His analytic endeavors brought gun powder to the west, optics to a major science, and returned the attention of western scholars to the works of Aristotle. He changed education, created science as we know it, and set the plate for more Bacon!
Only a century and a half later, the world was ready for more Bacon. Lord Bacon, or Francis, was a yet another polymath in our story. He is the creator of the scientific method. His own great work — Novum Organum, or new method, built on the works of our earlier two pillars. Popular legend has him a great story teller in his own right, but that is likely just a Bard’s tale.
Lord Bacon was no Friar, which in terms of Bacon seems a bit of a shame. He was a knight and a politician. He lived a life not lacking for political and financial intrigue. In fact, his life seems to be a swirl of it. He also died as a result of being locked in a meat locker… which in terms of Bacon seems oddly fitting.
A century later, enters Thomas Bayes — which is close to Bacon but certainly not as fun. He is a bit of a shadowy figure in history. His major works and theorems were published after his death. The Minister Bayes was not exactly a quiet man, but even his public debates were done anonymously. It seems it took the world a while to catch on to this mathematical genius. Much of him has been lost to history. His works translated and transformed by others. Arguably Price or Laplace deserves this place more.
His theorem however lives on, with his name affixed to it. It is the corner stone of modern science, computing, statistics, artificial intelligence and science. So while the man and his history may live in the shadow, his mathematical formulas have helped to create greater visibility and certainty in our world.
As we leap into this last century, we turn to Karl Popper. It would be fun to learn what Lord Bacon would have thought of Sir Popper. Inductively speaking, we might never know the truth. Popper believed in critical rationalism, falsification, and verisimilitude. In other words, he was obsessed with the truth and the realization that obsession could never be satisfied. Things can only be proven false, never true.
Like Bayes, Popper provided a mathematical formula. It was evolutionary, literally. Popper recast science as an evolutionary progression through time. A vast array of possibilities slowly disproven and culled. He would put a new perspective on science as we know it.
These five gentleman, or more importantly, their work encapsulates the long history and progression of science and analytics. From the Agora of Greece on a peripatetic journey through time, if not geography (most of these folks hung out in London). A journey we covered in just five minutes, but we encourage you to learn more. Thanks for reading!
For more Take Five Primers consider:
Take Five Primers are an article format created by Corsair’s Institute to increase the reader’s comprehension of key concepts by providing learning opportunities that are tailored to the amount of time the reader wishes to engage with a particular subject.
