Abstract
IN watching the advance of science, and particularly of the physical sciences to-day, one cannot fail to be struck by the very close connexion between theory and experiment—a relation which is probably more intimate than at any other period of scientific history. Every new experimental observation is at once seized upon to test whether it can be explained by existing theories, and if not, to find the modifications necessary to include it in the general theoretical scheme of natural processes. The mathematical analysis often suggests the possibility of unexpected relations which can be made the subject of fruitful experimentation. These two, in a sense, complementary branches of physics profoundly react and interact with each other, and their united efforts lead to a greatly accelerated rate of advance in knowledge and understanding of the essential principles involved. The rapidity of advance in physics, which has been so marked a feature in the last decade, is mainly due to this close combination of theory with experiment.
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RUTHERFORD, E. Recent Reactions between Theory and Experiment. The Raman Effect: The Constitution of Hydrogen Gas. Nature 124, 878–880 (1929). https://doi.org/10.1038/124878a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/124878a0
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