First, it is necessary to study the facts, to multiply the number of observations, and then later to search for formulas that connect them so as thus to discern the particular laws governing a certain class of phenomena. In general, it is not until after these particular laws have been established that one can expect to discover and articulate the more general laws that complete theories by bringing a multitude of apparently very diverse phenomena together under a single governing principle.
Interpretation
Study and observe facts before seeking the underlying laws that connect them.
Augustin-Louis Cauchy's quote emphasizes the importance of systematic observation in scientific inquiry. He suggests that one must first gather and analyze specific data before attempting to formulate general laws that explain a range of phenomena, highlighting the methodical progression from observation to theory in the scientific method.
In practice
In a scientific presentation, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of empirical research.
Long intervals frequently elapse between the discovery of new principles in science and their practical application... Those intellectual qualifications, which give birth to new principles or to new methods, are of quite a different order from those which are necessary for their practical application.
We were staring at the origin of a piece of our own bodies inside this 375-million-year-old fish. We had a fish with a wrist.
All of my life, I have been fascinated by the big questions that face us, and have tried to find scientific answers to them. If, like me, you have looked at the stars, and tried to make sense of what you see, you too have started to wonder what makes the universe exist.
For me, the level at which natural selection causes the phenomenon of adaptation is the level of the replicator - the gene.
The true scientific understanding of the nature of existence is so utterly fascinating; how could you not want people to share it? Carl Sagan, I think, said 'when you're in love, you want to tell the world.' And who, on understanding a scientific view of reality, would not, as it were, fall in love and want to tell the world.
All exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation.
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