Skepticism as energy in Oxygen

             One-hundred years after the first Nobel Prize was awarded a new category known as the "retro Nobel Prize" is instituted. The task of awarding this prize fell upon a committee who must choose a worthy scientist who made great advancements before the first Nobel was issued. Written by chemists, Carl Djerassi of Stanford University and Roald Hoffmann of Cornell University, the play "Oxygen" focuses on the competitive nature of scientists, and how that competitive spirit and inherent skepticism can further science as a whole.
             "Oxygen" focuses more on the human aspect of science, a role which is often overlooked in importance. Without human curiosity experiments would never take place. After these initial experiments are conducted the human nature of skepticism comes in to play to question these results. If the results differ the skeptic could then draw his or her own conclusions and further the research, and if the results were the same it would only support the original theories findings.
             An example of this of which we have studied previously comes from The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner. Darwin previously disregarded the finches as being anything of significance. Many years later Osbert Salvin looked over the finches Darwin had entrusted to a museum and determined they shared common features yet he did not think they were a part of natural selection. Later, David Lack, a young scientist much like Darwin on his first voyage determined that the finches had selective mating, rising in sharp contrast to what Lowe had said before of the finches merely being a "hybrid storm". Without each man building upon the others failures or successes one of the main building blocks which propelled Darwin's theory of natural selection to widespread acceptance may have been delayed many years.
             Within "Oxygen" one can truly grasp this concept by the way t
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Skepticism as energy in Oxygen. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 10:20, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/17714.html