Simulation as the 3rd Way of Doing Science

Within DOE they have developed a new perspective on the importance of modeling and simulation. They call M&S “the third way of doing science”. The first way is through observation. The second is through direct experimentation. Faced with so many significant problems for which they cannot do experimentation or perform observation, they are turning to M&S as the tool to understand the behaviors of all of their systems. In their community a “simulation” is an exact, physics-based representation of the real system; a “model” is an aggregate or stochastic representation that estimates behaviors at a higher level because they do not understand exactly what is happening. M&S is the primary method of conducting energy research.

The origins of the phrase “the third way of doing science” seem to be in one of the two documents below

• DOE Publication
  
• Science Magazine