“Trying and trying again” was the motto of the Accademia del Cimento, founded in Florence in 1657 by Leopoldo de’ Medici. It was chosen to indicate the irreplaceable role of experimentation in scientific research. Experimentation means engaging with reality, recognizing only that reality has the authority to determine the reliability or falsity of a statement. We can freely formulate hypotheses, but these, however attractive and gratifying, cannot disagree with the facts and, if they do, must be rejected. Any other principle of authority has no value in science. It is precisely its intrinsic humility and its constant willingness to modify erroneous hypotheses and theories that allow science to correct its errors and progressively improve our knowledge of reality.
Through stories, curiosities, and experiments that can be easily performed at home, this book seeks to explain what science is and why it represents an extraordinary tool for understanding the world.