IN STARRY SKIES

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 19, 22 July 1933, Page 5

IN STARRY SKIES

SCIENTIFIC USE OF THE

IMAGINATION

(By "Omega Centauri.")

Our knowledge of the universe is very largely due to a proper use of the imagination. And the world is in great danger today because this essential faculty has been repressed. Its use has been discouraged until its power has been destroyed. Children are naturally very imaginative, but the exercise of such power is systematically discouraged until the majority become as dull and unimaginative as their elders. When Alice exclaimed, "Let's pretend we're kings and queens," her sister, who liked being very exact, argued that they couldn't because there were only two of them. You remember how delightfully Alice solved the difficulty with her ready reply, "Well, you can be one of them,'then', and I'll be all the rest." To make any progress v.-c must work" with some kind of theory to guide us. It is not even necessary that the theory should be correct. It is enough if, for the time being, it appears reasonable, and affords sufficient hints to direct research. It must, of course, be held lightly so that, as facts accumulate by which it can be tested, it may bo amended, or, if necessary, abandoned. In every science we. find

direction. He draws the asymptotes of the curve, and shows its main characteristics, whilst the other is finding a few unimportant points on it. The use of graphs in school work is a recognition of the value of forming a clear mental picture of what we are doing. In solving simultaneous quadratic equations, for example, what a help it is to form a mental picture of the graphs (circles, ellipses, parabolas, hyperbolas, or straight lines), represented by the equations. We can, then predict at once how many solutions there must be, and we are saved from the clangor of giving too many or too few. Again, in solving a pair of simultaneous equations, representing a circle and a straight line respectively, we get always ■ two solutions. 'A straight lino must therefore meet a circle in two points. But a straight lino drawiy on paper often appears to miss altogether a circle drawn on the same page. We are thus introduced to imaginary points and imaginary numbers, and have the satisfaction of finding that, whilst dealing with imaginary quantities, we are often led to real results. Imaginary numbers turn up also in finding cube roots. In solving the equation which states that' the cube of x is unity, we find in addition to the evident root unity, two remarkable imaginary numbers, each one of.which is the square of the other, and whose cubes are each equal to one. In science much more than in mathematics the value of imagination is evident. It is not only that every great advance has been due to a new departure- in. imaginative thought, but, in each one's personal experience, the

that those who make their- mark- are those who make good use of their imagination. If we refuse the help of this faculty we miss the discoveries that should have been ours, besides losing half the joy of our work. When exploring an unmapped river how cheerfully all carry loads they would stagger under at home, and gladly toil from dawn to dark lured on by the imagination of the unknown that lies before them. To perform the samo tasks on an oft-trodden road would bring weariness unbearable. This should be borne in mind in education much more than it is. Children should be allowed to feel the joy of tho pioneer. They should bo encouraged to discover as much as possible for themselves; Their eyes Nshpuld not be fixed on the rough path beneath their feet, but on'the enticing prospect ahead.

Elementary mathematics might be considered one of. the most prosaic subjects, but even in it there is some opportunity for the free play of tho imagination. If you ask a class of young boys, who have learnt to add and multiply, to add up all the numbers from 1 to 1000, one will generally give the answer at once. Ho immediately forms a mental picture of the numbers on a long strip of imaginary paper. Doubling this, still in imagination, the 1 falls in the thousand, the 2 on the 999, and so on. So that evidently there are 500 groups of 1001. If you ask them next to add all the numbers from 23 to 251 inclusive, they sco that there may be a little difficulty about a number in the middle that will have no mate. But if one boy has shown the way, half a dozen others will realise that it is as easy to imagine two strips as one.' These are placed together with tho second one reversed, and twice the required siim is seen r.o be equal to 229 groups of 274. Again in -such a simple matter as drawing a graph of an algebraical function we see the difference between an imaginative and an unimaginative treatment. One boy will plot laboriously a number of points and finally join them up. His graph will probably misrepresent some of the main features of the curve. Another will see at a glance for what values of x the function vanishes or becomes infinite, and what happens to it as we approach infinity in either

dawning of some interest which dominates one's life may be traced to some simple work written in an imaginative style. Botanical ' terms left me cold and unmoved, until a book, that I have not seen for very many years, opened up a new world full of delightful interest, a world that may bo overlooked, although, closo around us all our lives. This book w&s Taylor's "Sagacity and Morality of Plants." In chemistry a similar effect was produced by a book now generally forgotten, "The New Chemistry," by Professor J. P. Cookc. The same set of facts may be presented in two books and yet, though both are accurate, one may leave us bored, the other fascinated.

In astronomy the imaginative writings of B. A. Proctor led numbers to take a life-long interest in the science. As an instance of the fact that a. theory need not necessarily be truo to bo of value, wo might take L/>woll's views with regard to engineering works on Mars.. It is probable that very few accept Professor Lowell's theories entirely, but even the most sceptical will agree that his studies have been of groat use to astronomy. They aroused an unusual amount of public interest, and focused attention on our neighbouring planet, thus leading to a fuller knowledge of its conditions than would have'been obtained for another century without the aid of some such stimulus. This enabled thousands to look at things, as Lowell wished them to do, "from a standpoint raised above our local point of view, and to free our minds at least from the shackles that of necessity tether our bodies.". Through all preceding centuries we might show that imagination guided science. Even Lord Kelvin acknowledged that he could not really understand anything until ho could make a model (image) of it. Now mathematical physics has outstripped imagination. Even the leaders of scientific thought- cannot imagine what they are writing about, much less can. their readers. It may be a generation before curved space, a finite but unbranded universe, and such abstractions can bo mentally conceived, and it is not unlikely that before this is possible present ideas may be replaced by something more in line with popular common sense. •