The first step to understanding scientific progress is uncovering that new methods and tools consistently spark new discoveries and fields. The second step is now tackling the essential question: how do we actually develop our best tools of discovery? To answer this, we begin by tracing the extraordinary stories behind the top ten most influential toolmakers—from Ernest Lawrence's particle accelerator to Theodor Svedberg's centrifuge. Yet remarkably, no theory explaining how we make major innovations in tools across fields exists. Even for the first step, where researchers have proposed factors that can support breakthroughs, we still have no general theory of scientific discoveries. Here we introduce a general theory of science—the new methods-driven discovery theory —that explains how we trigger science's new discoveries and fields by creating new methods and tools. These are placed at the centre of understanding scientific progress. The evidence here challenges conventional belief: we find that hundreds of major discoveries have emerged without additional funding or larger teams, but by leveraging recently invented tools that provide the completely new perspective. We illustrate that—without effective tools to detect or measure—more funding and collaborations are not enough, our scientific theories cannot be meaningfully developed or tested, and unexpected or serendipitous observations cannot be made. New tools are commonly the most central factor because they directly trigger new breakthroughs and enable otherwise entirely unattainable insights. So what if we no longer wait for new discovery tools to emerge by chance but begin deliberately prioritising their development? How many big breakthroughs are we missing because we have not yet strategically focused on designing the needed tools? In this foundational chapter, we map out the crucial pathways to create new tools—the discovery engine. We introduce a taxonomy of scientific methods and the idea of setting up methods labs and hubs—as incubators of innovation—that catalyse tool creation. This theory and these pathways can provide a foundation for a new field targeted to developing methods that can accelerate new advances: theMethodology of Science.
'The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them' , the physicist Lawrence Bragg said anecdotally. The novelist Marcel Proust noted that 'The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes' . And the biochemist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi mentioned that 'Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought' . Yet Bragg's nobel-winning discovery of the structure of crystals in 1913 was only possible by developing a new x-ray spectrometer the previous year. Szent-Gyorgyi's nobel-winning discovery of isolating vitamin C in 1932 was made possible by applying recently created assay techniques and the ultracentrifuge. Here we move from personal anecdotes about an individual discovery to systematically analysing the greatest discoveries across science. This broader lens enables us to draw a broader insight: Major discoveries consist of creating new tools that see and measure the world in ways that nobody has before . By constructing microscopes and telescopes, we have uncovered a world of microorganisms in our intestines, nanoparticles and molecules, and have peered into the depths of the universe to rewrite our understanding of its origins. By creating advanced statistics and high-speed computers, we have reduced the limits of human cognition, allowing us to process vast data about basically any phenomenon in science and reveal previously hidden relationships. A general principle of discovery emerges across science: every scientific breakthrough is, at its core, a breakthrough in how we observe, measure and understand the world using a new method. New tools are key to unlocking the mysteries of life and the universe by fundamentally reshaping our perception. But despite their impact and completely transforming our world, we still have not yet answered crucial questions: how do we actually develop these powerful tools of discovery? How can we upgrade them faster? And how can we better use them to their fullest potential? Extending our scientific toolbox is about tackling the very constraints of our mind, senses and current methods to perceiving the world—opening realms of knowledge otherwise hidden from view. Our scientific methods and tools not only reduce human constraints, errors and biases but also chance and luck in how we make sense of the world (Chapters 1–2). They are what enable us to experiment, measure and control our environment, human biology and the world around us in ways that we never imagined. Without them, discoveries—whether the invisible forces of quantum mechanics to the neural circuits that give rise to human thought—would remain out of reach. This is why the best researchers at sparking new advances are generally those who are best at recognising and seizing the power of new tools. In fact, about half of science's major discoveries are triggered by researchers who develop a novel method themselves, while the other half rely on cutting-edge methods pioneered by others. Why is it so crucial for researchers to be aware of the methodological limits, challenges and opportunities of their research? Because these researchers are better able to push these limits, tackle these challenges and take advantage of these opportunities. They are better able to design, experiment with and leverage new tools that often redefine what is possible in science. In this foundational chapter, we cover a lot of ground and provide many of the central explanations in the book. We reveal how the leading, extraordinary tools of discovery were developed. We then examine how these powerful tools stack up against supporting factors like funding and larger teams—and often make science's major theories and much of scientific imagination possible in the first place. This sets the stage for introducing the new methods-driven discovery theory. From this perspective, we map out a taxonomy of discovery tools—and we propose the creation of global methods labs and hubs for catalysing tool innovation. We then lay out the practical steps we can take to design and innovate tools—whether within such labs or through individuals. The opportunities are huge, and understanding this process is key to accelerating scientific progress. What emerges is a foundation—grounded in evidence and theory—for a new field we introduce here: theMethodology of Science— a field that fundamentally shifts the focus from what we discover to how we discover and how we can discover faster. Together, the insights offer a roadmap for speeding up progress. With new tools driving groundbreaking discoveries, what then drives how we develop our remarkable tools of discovery?