HPS100H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Boiling Point, Inductive Reasoning, Deductive Reasoning
3 Oct 2016
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Chapter 4 - confirming and disconfirming evidence and reasoning. Albert einstein proposed the general theory of relativity, which was a controversial one and it conflicted with other accepted theories in a way. Using relativity theory, one could make unusual predictions - other theories did not make the same predictions. Einstein"s theory predicted that the gravitational effect of a large body, such as the sun, would bend starlight. Would be possible to observe such bending of starlight during a total solar eclipse, so the solar eclipse that was to occur in may 1919 provided an opportunity to test the prediction. Turned out the predictions were correct, and this was taken as evidence supporting einstein"s relativity theory. Fact that einstein"s theory made correct predictions, and notable, predictions that were not made by competing theories, was taken as evidence that the theory was correct.
