It may seem that Einstein could create wonderful theories without going to any laboratory as Newton or Maxwell just by using their minds. Might this be possible overall nowadays with the huge amount of knowledge that we have?
The General Relativity seems to be one of the most pure creations in Physics. Applying the Riemann geometry it was possible to generalize de gravitation of Newton and conceptually it was a tremendous change of its scope. The curvature of the space-time is directly related with energy-momentum of matter creation the gravitational field. Experiments as the anomalous perihelion advance of the planet Mercury or the measurements made by Eddington for the deflection of starlight by the Sun during the total solar eclipse of May 29, 1919. Which opens really the new field of knowledge called Cosmology. This is for me the most paradigmatic example for justifying the creation part of the physical theories.
On the other side are the phenomenological theories as the Weiss mean field of the inner magnetic field to explain the ferromagnetic phase of a material, which have turned to be very advanced for the conceptual means of its age. But it was a clear consequence of the experimental work.
What do you think about these two extremes? Do you think that there is another science which could be enable to have theories so advanced as there are in Physics?
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