We've all seen a movie (or Numb3rs) where suddenly a scientist says "Eureka!" and a great discovery is made. Those of us who are scientists know that those "Eureka!" moments are rare,1, and so does The Economist. In writing about the Large Hadron Collider and the discoveries that could be made there, they had this to say:
Scientific discoveries are only occasionally eureka moments. More often, the data have to be collected, reviewed, analysed statistically, found wanting, collected again and re-analysed. Eventually, if all has gone well, a clear result will emerge. It then has to be written up, reviewed by critical peers and, if it passes review, published in a scientific journal.
1So rare that most of us never have one, or at least not one that does more than solve a minor problem in an obscure corner of an arcane field.
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