3 ms·
Actually he is correct, the phenomenon that experimental physics seems to be lagging theoretical physics is a quite recent one. It's also largely based on a sma
by cycomanic 5y ago
Actually he is correct, the phenomenon that experimental physics seems to be lagging theoretical physics is a quite recent one. It's also largely based on a small subset of fields that seem to get most of the attention. There are a lot of fields (such as nonlinear dynamic systems) where our theoretical understanding still significantly lags experimental observations.
- dspillett 5y ago> the phenomenon that experimental physics seems to be lagging theoretical physics is a quite recent one Yes, and in this example theoretical physics is providing the new tools for experimental physics to attempt to find ways to work with. And sometimes pure mathematics people are off making new tools that the theoretical physicists can later use to expand their playground. “It's maths all the way down” is the modern “it's turtles all the way down”!
- rimliu 5y agoWell, not so sure about "quite recent one". Take e.g. parallax of the stars. It took a few hundred years to finally detect it.