Most scientists don't know what science actually is, but Occam's razor can bring clarity

In a paper published by Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Professor Johnjoe McFadden argues Occam's razor – attributed to the Surrey-born, Franciscan friar, William of Occam (1285 – 1347) – is the only feature that differentiates science from superstition, pseudoscience or fake news.

Factors often cited as being the essence of science, such as experimentation or mathematics, are widely used in disciplines as diverse as gardening, accounting, cooking or astrology. Alchemists performed thousands of experiments attempting to transform base metal into gold but got nowhere, whereas astrologers use mathematics to calculate horoscopes. Neither is considered science. But why?

William of Occam insisted that science is the search for the simplest solutions. Occam's razor was adopted by Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Newton to, for example, argue that Earth orbits the sun, not the other way around, because it is simpler. They used the razor to clear a path through mysticism, superstition, and religion to found modern science. The razor continues to be invaluable, helping to predict, for example, the Higgs boson.