ABSTRACT
Science is concerned with seeking out genuine invariants in nature. Scientific method has a number of phases: discovery, which by means of the logical process of induction based on observation leads to justified explanation, this in turn brings about theories which themselves, if sufficiently confirmed, lead to laws of nature. The development of Teflon could therefore be said to have been an outcome more of circumstances than of the discovery itself, in other words, without the circumstances it may never have come to anything. Francis Bacon, who himself saw the advancement of science as a social activity, said that scientific knowledge is gained and justified by induction. Theories are devised from observed information or are dependent on other theories so they have a restricted information base. The fact that many theories previously held by science have been overturned is, however, little comfort for the holders of any contemporary theory.
