Galileo, the famous Italian scientist, is often called the father of modern science. He has been given this name because he showed scientists a new way of finding things out. He showed them the method of experimenting.
Experimenting means simply testing or trying things out. Today it seems a perfectly natural thing to do. Boys and girls carry on many experiments in their science classes. But in Galileo's time most scholars thought that ancient writers had said all that there was to say about the different sciences. The scholars did not test the old ideas. They did not try to find out anything new by experimenting.
Galileo showed that some of the old ideas were wrong and that much could be learned through experiments. Today experiments are an important part of a great many sciences. And some experiments can be called milestones in the story of science. Galileo's experiments with falling bodies, Pasteur's work with disease germs, and Mendel's experiments with heredity are a few.
Experimenting must be done very care-fully if it is to be worthwhile. And no one should depend too much on just one experiment. A scientist repeats an important experiment time after time and keeps careful records of his results.
No experiments today are carried on more carefully than experiments with new drugs. In newspapers from time to time there is a report of a wonderful new drug. But almost always something is said about trying the drug out for several months before letting it be sold.
Experiments in the field of medicine are among the most important experiments now being carried on. Other important experiments have to do with everyday uses of atomic power and with space travel.
