Re: Newton's impact on modern science

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: : : I need to : : : specifically about how Newton's work affected : : : that of the 20th century scientists. : : The first thing I'd say is that in the 20th century, : : Newton provided something to react against, and : : to disagree with, more than anything else. : : : I saw : : : somewhere mentioned that he developed a research : : : method that replaced the one that was currently : : : used. : : Sort of. Newton was often presented as advocating : : the "Inductive Method" - that means making observations : : here and then trying to make general theories from : : that - for example, it would be inductive to say : : that, since apples drop off trees in England, : : apples will drop off trees _everywhere_ (and this : : is false, since I could take an apple tree up in : : the space shuttle and the apples won't drop off : : it.) : : Nevertheless, this method is at least rooted in : : experiment and is an improvement on much of the : : science of his time which was done by argument : : rather than observation. : : In the 20th century, Karl Popper's philosophy : : of science (which is the dominant philosophy among : : practicising scientists) is itself a reaction : : to Induction. In brief, Popper views theories as : : sources of testable predictions. We extract predictions : : from theories under test, compare them with experiments and : : observations and either (a) disprove the theory if they : : disagree or (b) say that the theory has survived and is : : corroborated (not proved) by the the successful prediction. : : (It is interesting to note that some of Newton's behaviour : : is quite Popperian: eg checking to see if there was indeed a : : gravitational attraction between Saturn and Jupiter which was : : a completely unexpected phenomenon before Principia.) : : : If someone could flesh this out that would : : : be greatly appreciated. Any other things about : : : how he affected the work of 20th century : : : scientists would be greatly appreciated. : : Has anyone else got any more suggestions for 20th : : century influence that Newton had? : : Andrew : We could say that structural design and most all of civil engineering owe their origins to newton's principia wouldn't you say?