On Fri, 17 Mar 2006 03:53:25 GMT, Tank Fixer
wrote:
In article ,
on Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:13:33 GMT,
TRUTH attempted to say .....
What is there to discuss? It is already admitted. Jones' is a physicist
with a PhD.
That is nice that he has a PHD in physics.
That was not my point since he is neither an engineer nor materials scientist.
Two separate and only marginally related fields.
Although I have agreed in several posts of my own with Tank Fixer and
other posters who have objected to Truth's argument that because Jones
holds a Ph. D. in physics his hypothesis cannot be questioned, I did
want to address the question below, which is similar to those I've
seen from other posters.
Since he has this PHD in physics is he qualified to say discuss oceanography ?
My answer would have to be yes. At best, a Ph.D. is a degree that
teaches you how to do scholarly research. There are many Ph.D.'s who
have made important contributions in fields outside the one in which
they were initially educated. As an example using the two fields about
which Tank Fixer asked, D. James Baker holds a Ph. D. in experimental
physics and was Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration during the Clinton Administration.
For my money, the real issue is a bit more nuanced. A Ph.D. in one
field also gives one an intimate knowledge of the questions one should
ask in that field and the tools available to seek the answers. The
real risk for Ph.D.'s as they go out of their initial disciplines is
that they will miss key questions or be ignorant of key tools. Some
Ph.D.'s exercise an appropriate degree of caution as they venture
outside their fields, others don't. A major beef that structural
engineers have with Jones is his reliance on a single equation for
movement due to gravitational acceleration in a vacuum, apparently
ignoring tools that the engineers have developed to analyze the
complexities of failure in a large structure. Much of Jones' argument
boils down to "it fell too fast" without any consideration of "how
fast would it be expected to fall?"
I have stated before that Jones' arguments should be evaluated on
their merits. His credentials do not entitle those arguments to any
special deference, but neither do they disqualify those arguments
because his discipline is less relevant to the issue than some other
disciplines.
Regards,
George
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Dr. George O. Bizzigotti Telephone: (703) 610-2115
Mitretek Systems, Inc. Fax: (703) 610-1558
3150 Fairview Park Drive South E-Mail:
Falls Church, Virginia, 22042-4519
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