The Logic of Modern Physics is a 1927 philosophy of science book by American physicist and Nobel laureate Percy Williams Bridgman. The book was widely read by scholars in the social sciences, in which it had a huge influence in the 1930s and 1940s,[1] and its major influence on the field of psychology in particular surpassed even that on methodology in physics, for which it was originally intended.[2] The book is notable for explicitly identifying, analyzing, and explaining operationalism for the first time,[3] and coining the term operational definition.
Operationalism can be considered a variation on the positivist theme, and, arguably, a very powerful and influential one.[1] Sir Arthur Eddington[4] had discussed notions similar to operationalization before Bridgman, and pragmatic philosophers[5] had also advanced solutions to the related ontological problems. Bridgman's formulation, however, became the most influential.[2]