What is Scientifically Based Research?

Early in the 17th century, two astronomers competed to describe the

nature of our solar system.
Galileo built a telescope and found new planets and moons.
Francesco Sizi ridiculed Galileo’s findings. There must be only seven
planets, Sizi said. After all, there are seven windows in the head—two
nostrils, two ears, two eyes, and a mouth. There are seven known
metals. There are seven days in a week, and they are already named
after the seven known planets. If we increase the number of planets,
he said, the whole system falls apart. Finally, Sizi claimed, these socalled
satellites being discovered by Galileo were invisible to the eye.
He concluded they must have no influence on the Earth and,
therefore, do not exist.
Sizi’s most valuable contribution to history may have been to remind
us that true understandings of the world, and how it works, cannot
be based on pure thought alone, no matter how logical, creative, or
contemporary such thought may seem.
True understandings require some measure of science and the
willingness to seek information when making decisions.