Suman Seth, “Crafting the Quantum: Arnold Sommerfeld and the Practice of Theory, 1890-1926” (MIT Press, 2010)
New Books in Science, Technology, and Society
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The Resilience and Flexibility of Principles
Next chapter looks at the post-war years, sort of what's happening after the war. The book lays in this period in the capacity of the word principle and the concept of principle to embrace very different philosophical positions. In many ways, Plank and Einstein would agree on what a principle is. That's an absolute truth. Neil Boren doesn't really think about principles as absolutes. But we see more recently Stephen Weinberg in his dreams of a final theory. There's a long history going forward from this point that sees finding fundamental principles is what you do with your best.
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