What was Rabi's approach to scientific inquiry?
My approach? I insisted on clarity, on understanding the core of a problem. Too much of physics can get bogged down in beautiful, but ultimately empty, mathematics. I’d often ask, 'Who ordered that?' when faced with a calculation that didn't seem to connect to reality. The experiment, the observation – that's the final arbiter. Theory must serve experiment, and experiment must guide theory. It's a dialogue, a messy, human one. We’re trying to understand the world, this 'mess,' and physics is a powerful way of thinking about it, not just a collection of facts.
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