Prof. Keith S. Taber's site
Comparisons with science concepts / phenomena
An example of a scientific analogy being over-interpreted:
"When Rutherford (following Nagoka) conceived of the atom as a miniature solar system – electrons circling the nucleus as planets circle the sun – some philosophers suggested that electrons might really be planets with mountains, oceans and even living creatures."
Norwood Russell Hanson
Hanson, N. R. (1958). Patterns of Discovery: An inquiry into the conceptual foundations of science. Cambridge University Press.
An example of an analogy from the history of science:
"In the sixteenth century, [network] originally applied to woven goods with a structure formed by intersecting lines. By the next century, anatomists began analogising from these craft goods to the structures of the body. Networks were wet before they were mechanical."
Michael Pettit
Michael Pettit 'Social networks in the history of psychology' in O'Doherty, K. C., Osbeck, L. M., Schraube, E., & Yen, J. (Eds.). (2019). Psychological Studies of Science and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan.
An example of analogy used to progress science:
"Donald J. Cram at U.C.L.A. extended [Charles J.] Pedersen's work to establish a new field that he called 'host-guest' chemistry, in which the host is the receptor molecule and the guest is the substrate received."
Royston M. Roberts
Royston M. Roberts (1989) Serendipity. Accidental discoveries in science
An exmple of using analogy and metaphor in explaining science
"…the geometry of [Isaac] Newton was like the bow of Ulysses, which none but its master could bend; and that, to render his methods available beyond the points to which he himself carried them, it was necessary to strip them of every vestige of that antique dress in which he had delighted to clothe them"
Sir John Frederick William Herschel
Herschel, J. F. W. (1830/1851/2017). Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy.
A metaphor used in explaining science
"Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is a close relative of polyethylene."
Royston M. Roberts (1989) Serendipity. Accidental discoveries in science
An example of an analogy (and a non-analogy) to explain a scientifc idea:
"An adherent of the theory of abstraction or induction might call our layers [of the conceptual system] 'degrees of abstraction': but I do not consider it justifiable to veil the logical independence of the concept from the sense experiences. The relation is not analogous to that of soup to beef but rather of check number to overcoat."
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (1936) Physics and Reality
An example of an analogy to explain a scientifc idea:
"In the cold-drawing process, the long polymer molecules [of nylon-6,6] are lined up with one another in such a way that every oxygen atom on one polymer chain can form a hydrogen bond with a nitrogen atom on an adjacent chain. This binds the the individual polymer molecules together in much the same way separate strands in a rope, when twisted together, form a cable, and this association of linear polymer molecules through hydrogen bonding is responsible for the greatly increased strength of the nylon fibres."
Royston M. Roberts
Royston M. Roberts (1989) Serendipity. Accidental discoveries in science
An example of an analogy used to exlpain a scientific idea:
"…it is due to the fact that an unelectrified [neutral] atom is so elusive that unless more than a million million are present we have no means sufficiently sensitive to detect them, or, to put it in another way, unless we had a better test for a man than we have for an unelectrified molecule, we should be unable to find out that the earth was inhabited."
J. J. Thomson
J. J. Thomson (1914) 'The Atomic Theory'
An example of an extended simile used to explain a scientific concept:
"Every subject spins out, like the spider's threads, its relations to certain qualities of things and weaves them into a solid web, which carries its existence."
Jakob von Uexküll (1934/2010). A Foray into the Worlds of Animals
An analogy used to explain a science concept:
"The name 'triplex' coined for the new safety glass referred to the design of the material: it consisted of a sandwich in which two sheets of glass acted as the bread and the meat as a sheet of cellulose nitrate between them; the three sheets of transparent material were bonded together by heat."
Royston M. Roberts (1989) Serendipity. Accidental discoveries in science
An example of a simile used to explain a natural phenomenon:
"But even after someone is infected, the host actually mounts, for all these [respiratory] viruses, a really dramatic immune and inflammatory response. So it sort of lights a fire. And even when the virus stops replicating, you know that fire continues to burn, and in a lot of cases that's what lands people in the hospital. And so you want to prevent the virus from igniting that fire, that is what really ends up causing a huge amount of damage to the patient.
…the greatest benefit [of the antiviral drug being tested] is in the outpatient setting before that fire gets ignited."
Dr Daria Hazuda
Dr Daria Hazuda (Vice President of Infectious Disease and Vaccines at Merck Research Labs and Chief Scientific Officer of MRL Cambridge) was interviewed on an episode ('New evidence for Sars-CoV-2's origin in bats') of the BBC Radio programme/podcast 'Science in Action'.
An example of a simile, where a science concept is used to explain a non-scientific concept:
"We are not in a complete trust crisis, trust is in a complete state of decline, it's more that trust is like energy, it's changing form, so, yes, we don't trust institutions, we can talk about lack of trust in politicians, but in many ways, in other areas of our lives, we're way too trusting – if you think about you know how quickly, we swipe, we tap, we make connections on line, we give our trust away quite easily….
It's more powerful to think of trust in directions or flows…so we used to sort of trust upwards, right, we used to trust authorities and experts and CEOs and people in power, and we were quite deferential to that trust, and instead of an upwards flow of trust it's now flowing sideways."
Rachel Botsman
Rachel Botsman (Associate Fellow, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford) was interviewed on the Radio 4 news and current affairs programme 'Today' on 21st March, 2024.
Read about examples of science similes
Many examples of science similes are listed in 'Creative Comparisons: Making Science Familiar through Language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.