• Question: what was the first ever scientific investigation

    Asked by Ryan88 to Clare, Glafkos, Paul, Samantha on 9 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Paul Booker

      Paul Booker answered on 9 Mar 2015:

      That’s a really good question! I’m not sure exactly, but there is some evidence in the bible of an early clinical trial (the book of Daniel), where somebody tests different diets on their servants to see which worked best. That’s probably one of the first ever documented scientific tests, although the ancient Greeks did a lot around the same time too.

    • Photo: Samantha Terry

      Samantha Terry answered on 9 Mar 2015:

      I have no idea! But a scientific investigation really only requires a logical approach to answering a question and following the data.

    • Photo: Clare Devery

      Clare Devery answered on 9 Mar 2015:

      I can’t really answer this accurately because I believe there isn’t really an exact answer. I think that perhaps the problem solving nature of science emerged very early in time, as soon as problems started arising. For example, making fire is often credited as one of the first actions that set us apart from animals about 2 million years ago. I imagine it was figured out pretty quickly that rain or wind would extinguish the fire, and so people may have thought to shelter their fire from the elements. This is basic problem solving and an example of process refining. These are the things that drive science. So people were ‘doing science’ before science was even a thing!

    • Photo: Glafkos Havariyoun

      Glafkos Havariyoun answered on 9 Mar 2015:

      I’m half greek ! So I have to give credit to Eratosthenes! He made measurements of the earth’s circumference around 200 BC!

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 10 Mar 2015:

      I would believe the ancient greeks – after all they first thought about the atom!

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