PrepTest 128, Section 4, Question 17
In the early 1900s, most astronomers mistakenly believed(458 more words not shown)
Based on the information in(16 more words not shown)
- AThe fact that(23 more words not shown)
- BPrevious to Payne,(16 more words not shown)
- CThe "iron" hypothesis(19 more words not shown)
- DThe resistance to(16 more words not shown)
- EThe discovery of(23 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The author clearly regards Payne's work as sound and eventually vindicated. For this broader inference question, keep that favorable assessment in mind, but make each answer earn its support. We can't turn one account of scientific resistance into a general history of how science works.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
The opening says her claim was “substantiated by the evidence,” and the later account explains how rigorous review and eventual understanding of fusion supported it. The resistance is tied to other astronomers' preconceptions and the missing accepted energy mechanism, not a major mistake in her reasoning.
- B
Skewed interpretation doesn't establish deliberate disregard. Scientists can read evidence through a mistaken expectation without consciously suppressing contrary data.
- C
Kelvin is described as eminent, but we aren't told that his prestige was necessary to keep the iron hypothesis alive for so long. Other support for that view is also described.
- D
The author doesn't compare this resistance with the way science generally operates. We can't determine whether it was typical from this example alone.
- E
The later understanding of fusion confirmed Payne. That doesn't establish that discovering fusion depended on her or would otherwise have been delayed for decades.
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