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The rules of scientific discovery demonstrated from examples of the physics of elementary particles

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Abstract

The rules of scientific discovery as formulated by K. Popper are briefly reviewed. Historical examples such as the prediction of planets and outstanding events in elementary particle physics are used to show how these rules are applied by the working physicist. Thus these rules are shown to be actual tools rather than abstract norms in the development of physics.

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This article is an extended version of the Inaugural Lecture as Honorary Member of the Hungarian Physical Society, delivered in Budapest, May 31, 1976.

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Pietschmann, H. The rules of scientific discovery demonstrated from examples of the physics of elementary particles. Found Phys 8, 905–919 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00715062

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00715062

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