vol I chap 2 sect 3
Previous: 2.2. Physics Nobel Lectures by Thomson, Millikan, Franck, Hertz, and Compton.
2.3. Knowledge domains for understanding.¶
Galileo Galilei (1564 -1642) once wrote that “mathematics is the language in which the book of nature is written”. To read that book as any other one, we need to follow at least three steps: to open the book with an intention of learning and understanding (to be prepared), to read it with interest and delight (to be attentive and have had some experience in reading) and then to think about what has been read and understood (to reflect on the knowledge derived from the information that has been read).
Reading information and understanding the knowledge it conveys is a meaningful process consisting of four knowledge domains:
In this Section 2.3, the three regions considered in the experiments previously discussed in the Chapter (Preparation, Transformation and Detection and Measurement) are related in the following way to the four described knowledge domains: the Preparation region involves the Factual and Analytic knowledge domains, the Transformation region refers to the Analytic and Conceptual knowledge domains, and the Detection and Measurement region concerns the Conceptual and Operational domains.
The knowledge obtained from analyzing the information described previously in Section 2.1 is now concentrated in two Tables where the rows correspond to the knowledge domains and the columns refers to the experiments considered in this Chapter. Table 2.6 concerns the calculation of electronic properties and refers to the experiments made by Thomson and Millikan. Table 2.7 deals with the description of electronic interactions and is about the experiments made by Franck-Hertz and Compton.
REFERENCES.¶
FEYNMAN, R. P., LEIGHTON, R. B., and SANDS, M. The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Mainly Mechanics, Radiation and Heat. Volume I, Chapter 2. Reading, Massachusetts, Addisson Wesley. (1963).