Born on Theoretical & Experimental Physics

In 1934 Max Born, Tait Professor of Natural Philosophy, who had occupied the Chair previously taken by Darwin, gave a famous address at the King's College, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with the title of: " Experimental and Theoretical Physics". It begins with:

"It is natural that a man should consider the work of his hands or his brain to be useful and important. Therefore nobody will object to an experimentalist boasting of his measurements and rather looking down on the 'paper and ink' physics of his theoretical friend, who on his part is proud of his lofty ideas and despises the dirty fingers of the other. But in recent years this kind of friendly rivalry has changed into something more serious. In Germany a school of extreme experimentalists, led by Lenard and Stark, has gone so far as to reject theory altogether as an invention of the Jew and to declare experiment to be the only genuine 'aryan' method of science. There is also a movement in the opposite direction which - though not racial - is not much less radical, claiming that to the mind well trained in mathematics and epistemology the laws of Nature are manifest without appeal to experiment. Two distinguished astronomers, Milne and Eddington, follow this philosophy, though it seems to lead them in rather different directions.

It is not my purpose here to discuss any of the fascinating theories of these men; but I wish to direct your attention to Eddington's philosophy, which proclaims the triumph of theory over experiment. I am a theoretical physicist (of Jewish origin) and might be expected to rejoice in this philosophy. But I do not rejoice. On the contrary, I consider these ideas to be a considerable danger to the sound development of science. ..."

Born ends his presentation with:

"My advice to those who wish to learn the art of scientific prophecy is not to rely on abstract reason, but to decipher the secret language of Nature from Nature's documents, the facts of experience."