 An original hypothesis is made that accounts for unexplained experimental observations; the consequences of this hypothesis are worked out, leading to predictions that are tested by experiment.In this case, the key hypothesis was that the cyclol form of the peptide group could be favored over the amide form.This hypothesis led to the predictions of the cyclol-6 molecule and the cyclol fabric, which in turn suggested the model of semi-regular polyhedra for globular proteins.