Where did the original scope of physics in our modern scientific age come from?   Galileo, the founder of modern physics, laid down the rules which governed the scientific method to be used.  These rules were based in the first place on Galileo’s conviction that he, as the observer of physical phenomena, had no connection whatever [...]

If we could get into one of those wonderful Wellsian time machines, all shining oak and glass, with polished brass handles and instruments, and ride it back to some time in the latter half of the nineteenth century, we would encounter a very different world from the one of today.  Especially for Americans, it is [...]