Reflection 3 CAD and the Scientific Method

Great science does more than define a theory and test its validity; it predicts something that has not been observed.

From the Book

North Charleston, South Carolina Copyright by written permission only

I was accepted into a Mathematics program at Michigan State University where I ran into two seventeen year olds with IQs that could not be measured. It 's very depressing to discover that I was a minor and not a major league thinker.

I did, however, demonstrate enough capability to be the dumb guy in a research and development group at the General Motors Technical Center.

Intellectual limitations notwithstanding, in order to be a part of that community, I still needed certain credentials, which came into being when I obtained advanced degrees (MS and Doctorate) studying  the course work below.

Mathematics

1] Pure Mathematics Algebra Algebraic Geometry Analysis Discrete Mathematics Dynamics Geometry & Topology Harmonic Analysis Logic & Foundations Number Theory Set Theory

2] Applied Mathematics Control Theory Dynamic Systems Non-linear Dynamics Numerical Analysis & Computation Partial Differential Equations Ordinary Differential Equations Applied Dynamics

3] Statistics & Probability Applied Statistics Probability Statistical Methodology Statistical Theory

 Engineering (partial)

4]Mechanical Engineering Applied Mechanics Computer-Aided Engineering & Design Electro-Mechanical Systems Energy Systems Heat Transfer Manufacturing

5 Operations Research, Systems Engineering & Industrial Engineering Industrial Engineering Operational Research Systems Engineering

6] Emerging Fields: Computational Engineering Information Science

I spent my first 15 years of employment at General Motors as a Mathematician/Programmer developing Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing software now labeled as (CAD/CAM).  

GM, MIT, and The Boeing Corporation were first to develop Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. GM then exported that system to Adam Opel in Germany to design automobiles for Europe. The work done to develop this system is an example of the scientific method which is crucial in developing solutions that work.

The Nature of Science

Science evolves when a scientist looks at a bunch of data or seemingly very different events and develops a theory that explains them all. She then submits her work to the scientific community (associated with her discipline) with suggestions as to how to prove her theory WRONG.

If, after the entire community looks at her work and cannot prove it wrong and provides additional proofs, it is accepted and used by the community as CORRECT.

In his book: "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", Thomas S. Kuhn says sciences progress in a way that other fields do not:

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• There is a relative scarcity of competing schools, members of a given community provide its primary audience,
• Members are the only judges of the community 's work,
• The nature of scientific education is about puzzle solving,
•  The value system of a scientific group deploys in crisis and decision making. To be a member of GM 's CAD/CAM community I met Kuhn 's criteria:

Membership

• How does one become a member? Knowledge in Applied Mathematics and Engineering was required as demonstrated by my Education
• What is the process and what are the stages of socialization to the group? I had to develop theory and software that demonstrated that I was proficient in programming and Mathematics.
• What does the group collectively see as its goals? Our goal was to design free form car surfaces and computer tool positions to machine dies that stamped out automobile surface parts (e.g. fender, hood, roof, outer door, bumper).
• What deviations, individual or collectively will it tolerate? I was considered almost normal in this group.
• How does it control the impermissible aberration? If one could defend his proposed solution before the team, the proposal was approved for further work.

After approval, progress reports were submitted to management and the team to insure the actual solution was reasonably close to the proposed solution.

Thomas Kuhn was working on his Ph.D. at MIT when he decided to look at the structure of science rather than become a member of the physics community. His study required a strong scientific background, but his subsequent work is considered to be social, cultural, archaeological, biological, physical, and linguistic anthropology.

For further reading see Charles Wynn and Arthur Wiggins book where they describe what are arguably "The Five Biggest Ideas in Science: "

• Big Idea #1: Physics  Model of the Atom -- Do basic building blocks exist, and if so what do they look like?
•  Big Idea # 2: Chemistry 's Periodic Law -- What relationships exist among different kinds of atoms?
• Big Idea #3: Astronomy 's Big Bang Theory -- Where did the atoms of the Universe come from, and what is their identity?
• Big Idea #4: Geology's Plate Tectonics Model -- How is the matter of the Universe arranged on planet Earth?
• Big Idea #5: Biology 's Theory of Evolution -- How did life on planet Earth originate and develop?

Great science does more than validate ideas; it predicts something that has not been observed. For example, Einstein predicted that light would be bent by a large mass and space time would be curved. He had not observed this.

With his famous E = mc² he was just taking the old E=mv² and pushing the velocity to the speed of light thereby showing that Energy is nothing other than mass times a conversion factor. In the case of the atom, it happens to release fantastic energy. This had not been observed, but predicted by him.

Ed. Note.  Dr. Jone's big idea that science must not only be a theory, it has to predict was borne out in his own work.  The mathematical theory had to produce things in a brand new way.  This mathematics and technology had never been done before in the history of science and technology.  The men and women who worked in that small and select field are proud of that.