" The team measured the accelerated expansion of the universe using observations of distant supernovae."
Whenever I hear statements like that I am in complete awe that these scientists can make such profound claims and conclusions. I puzzle how one could "simply" look at the data in a particular plot and conclude that our universe has an accelerated expansion. I think to myself that they must be incredibly intelligent people who are capable of just seeing this. I hope one day that I can be like them. I would take good quality data and it would be completely obvious to me that the deep underlying meanings of physics will just pop out at me.
You know what? There is a huge, huge problem with that. Its not the stand alone data that leads you to these conclusions. It is the synergistic relationship between data and theory that allow scientists to make a claim. There is no possible way that by simply looking at how photons arrived on your detector you would be able to conclude this. You need to see if a theory can fit your data points. And this is what you search for. You are looking to find a connection between a theory and the data that you have collected.
Only when you find that the predictions from you theory match your data THEN you can make a real life scientific claim. You need the theories AND you need the data. They are simply nothing without each other.
And that is what a true measurement is.
