Methodology of Modern Physics

Abstract

Methodology might be understood to mean a description of various individual procedures which have led to the successful solution of specific problems. In studying the subject of physics from this point of view, i.e. with special emphasis on method, one would naturally turn his attention to the traditional divisions of experimental and theoretical physics, the former with its measuring devices and the latter with its mathematical techniques. In no other sense than this does the term methodology make any direct appeal to the working physicist, and if you would ask him to define his methods he would probably answer with a description of experiemental technique or the methods of setting up and solving differential equations. His answer would tell you how he solves his problems, but hardly how he finds them and why he solves them.