Article 51A of our Constitution which deals with fundamental duties makes it a duty of every citizen to develop a scientific temper. This is a good enough reason for young citizens to, first of all, find out what exactly is scientific temper, and then to try and cultivate it. But, even though it is important to carry out the duties laid down in the Constitution, there are reasons other than formal and legal for understanding and plasticizing scientific temper. If you have a scientific temper, you can understand and solve your problems with much less difficulty or stress, and you would be reasonable in your decisions and creative in your activities. However, scientific temper is no magical formula for success in life; or can it be acquired suddenly by going through a lesson; it may take a life time of careful attention and examination of your own motivations and actions to acquire it.

Since a number of those reading this course would not be very familiar with science, we will first discuss - of course, very briefly - what is science? Even though we may not arrive at a clear cut definition of science, we should have some idea of the scope of this term. This will lead us to the second step of explaining what is called "scientific method" - and then, what may be called scientific temper. You will again find, perhaps to your surprise, that neither science nor scientific method are cut and dried simple terms possessing attributes which we can enumerate (and reproduce in an examination!). In fact, there can be differences of opinion, and even disagreement about the meaning of these terms – and

Can we define science? A layman or even an illiterate person has some vague idea about science. Perhaps, in his mind such marvels as transmission of music and pictures to great distances, or huge airplanes transporting hundreds of people from one place to another,! Brilliant man-made satellites crossing the sky at night are in some way related to science, if some may rightly think of life saving drugs being related to science, and others may think! of all the materials which we use everyday, from the bath mug to the ball-point pen, which have something to do with science. In fact, how intensely our life depends on modern discoveries is brought out very well in a small paragraph in a book by Neil Postman and Charles Weingarten entitled Teaching as a Subversive Activity. This is the quotation: *
*'•..... a lot of things have happened in this century and most of them plug into the wall. ...Imagine that your home, and all other homes and buildings in your neighborhood have been cordoned off, and from them will be removed all the electric and electronic
Inventions that have appeared in the last 50 years.....But there won't be any (movies). Nor
Will there be L.P. records, tapes, radio, telephone, or telegraph. If you are thinking that the absence of the media would only affect your entertainment and information, remember that, at some point, your electric lights would be removed, your refrigerator and your heating system, and your air conditioner. In short, you would have to be a totally different person from what you are, in order to survive for more than a day"
But, this feel for science or the dependence of our life on science, does not constitute a definition of science. Science and related technology have so seeped through every aspect of our life that we sometimes take them for granted and do not think of how the things we use are produced. How many of you wonder how black lead is put inside the pencils we use, or how the tiny round balls used in ball point pens are produced so perfectly? We notice that all processes as well as products involve science.
If, in search of a definition we examine history and see when "science" was born, we will again not be successful because no sooner had the human species evolved about a hundred thousand years ago then, men and women started looking at their environment and doing things to procure food and shelter. The earliest science, perhaps, consisted of differentiating between edible and non-edible fruits, leaves, barks and roots. Man was driven by necessity as well as curiosity to explore, discover, experiment and explain thing that happened to be around him. Thus, scientific activity was an integral part of human existence. No doubt some specialization must have started quite early so that some becam craftsmen of different kinds, some were attracted by priesthood, while others became healers and later medical men, astrologers and later astronomers, or alchemists and their modern versions. But, today, we are again witnessing, through the pervasion of science in every aspect of life, that every one of us is engaged in some activity related to science. Naturally, such a wide ranging human activity can hardly be confined or described in few lines or defined.
In fact, one of the most outstanding scientists and historians of science, Prof. J.D. Bernal says in his book Science in History*: "My experience and knowledge have convinced m that any attempted definition, and there have been many, can only express more or less inadequately one of the aspects, often a minor one, that it has had at some period of its
Growth......to a human activity which is itself only an inseparable aspect of the unique an
Unrepeatable process of social evolution, the idea of a definition does not strictly apply."

ASPECTS AND APPLICATION OF SCIENCE

In order to have a better grasp of what we might mean when we use the word science, we can look at various aspects of science.
The first and the most obvious aspect is that science is the name of a tremendous fund of knowledge that-the human race has built up over the entire period of its existence, but perhaps, more so in the ten thousand years of civilization. In fact, the most dramatic advances have been made in the last few hundred years. This knowledge covers everything from particles smaller than the atom to the great system of planets, stars and galaxies in the sky. It covers all plants and animals, everything about health and disease, about food and medicine. It encompasses extensive knowledge of the human body and the mind. Since the test of the pudding is said to be in the eating, the dependability of scientific knowledge and the wonderful generalizations and "laws" made there from is tested by the applications of science - in flying airplanes, growing food, producing thousands of articles used by us in daily life, harnessing energy in a great variety of forms. A remarkable feature of this wealth of knowledge is that it is incomplete! The more we know, the more questions arise about things which are on the boundary line between the known and the unknown. New facts are, thus, continuously discovered, and new theories are often needed to explain these new facts together with the old ones. Knowledge is, therefore, growing fast, in proportion to the existing body of knowledge. It is said that the growth of scientific knowledge is "exponential". Some estimates express the idea differently, they say at present knowledge is doubling itself in about ten years.

Dynamic Nature of Science

It is obvious that scientific knowledge is not at a standstill, it is dynamic. And the best scientific workers are those who are doing the most to alter, modify, or totally re-explain scientific knowledge. This is called creative activity and is much valued. Such is not the case in other kinds of know ledge - where being stationary or immutable may be considered a virtue; in religious knowledge, those who are constantly trying to alter or modify it may indeed get into trouble.

Research as an Aspect in Science

The second aspect is related to the first, because the unending search for new knowledge, which cannot be carried on without taking into account what knowledge already exists, requires a vast network of institutions devoted to scientific education and research. For an individual, getting into the scientific stream means many years of education, and those human qualities which may be called dedication and commitment to learning. Those who superficially know a few facts, or perhaps cram them in order to pass examinations can really not learn science, they cannot get into its spirit, and of course, they can hardly apply it for the betterment of society.
Education and research require communication. Therefore, scientific publication of books and journals (carrying research information) is a big industry. Millions of books and tens of thousands of journals are published in all languages every year. And now, for the education of the public, video and audio cassettes are made an broadcast in practically by in every country. Millions of scientists are involved in this activity, this trade or this profession. Furthermore, scientific equipment is needed for the class room as also for the research establishments. Some of the sophisticated equipment is extremely expensive and it is increasingly the practice to set up cooperative laboratories - for example, large telescopes, machines to accelerate charged particles, or to develop high power lasers - with the participation of several countries on several research agencies. In Geneva, for example, the European countries have a common centre for nuclear research (CERN); in India the University Grants Commission has created a centre for research in nuclear science by the universities of the countries - this Nuclear Science Centre is in Delhi. This vast network of communication of results of scientific research, and of cooperation in performing expensive or special experiments gives an international character to scientific activity -and requires freedom of transferring scientific information and knowledge.