Physics and natural philosophy

For nearly a century we physicists have complacently thought of ourselves as being the philosophers of nature. While the biologists and astronomers expanded their interminable classifications and the chemist did heavens‐knows‐what with his grubby beakers, we were, in our own estimation at least, constructing rational pictures of the universe aided by artfully chosen experiments. It is true, of course, that at times these self‐consistent and rational pictures did not agree with each other; but, when this happened, we became true philosophers in the Greek sense and in a mist of polemics and sophistry demonstrated that nothing could be more rational than the disagreement which was only apparent after all.

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