| Astrobiology Magazine presents 'Gedanken', or thought experiments - musings on scientific mysteries in a series of "what if" scenarios. Gedanken experiments, which have been used by scientists and philosophers to ponder thorny problems, rely on the power of one's imagination to project these scenarios to logical conclusions. They usually do not involve lab equipment or even experimental data. They can be thought of as focused daydreams. Yet, as in the famous case of Einstein's Gedanken experiment about what it would be like to hitch a ride on a light wave, they have often led to important scientific breakthroughs. |
