Spectral lines: An idea whose time may never come

The concept of a “science court” has now gained a sufficiently high profile to, at least, prompt serious discussion of a formal experiment. However, although few question the concept´s ultimate objectives, many question it as a viable means of reaching those objectives. As a modest test, a task force of the Presidential Advisory Group on Anticipated Advances in Science and Technology has proposed such a court, in which the idea, in the committee´s own terms, would be to “develop adversary proceedings and test their value in resolving technical disputes over questions of scientific fact.” The members of the group admit that, more often than not, they define “scientific fact” as the anticipated result of an experiment or an observation of nature — a definition that some find unconventional.