cargo cult science

English

Etymology

Coined by American physicist Richard Feynman in 1974 in his commencement address at Caltech, in reference to cargo cults.[1]

Noun

cargo cult science (uncountable)

  1. Practices which have the appearance of being scientific, but do not actually follow the scientific method.

References
  1. Richard Feynman (1974) “Cargo Cult Science”, in Caltech commencement address‎:
    I think the educational and psychological studies I mentioned are examples of what I would like to call Cargo Cult Science. […] So I call these things Cargo Cult Science, because they follow all the apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but they’re missing something essential, because the planes don’t land.

Further reading
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