Theory and experiment
The culture of physics has a higher degree of separation between theory and experiment than
many other sciences. Since the twentieth century, most individual physicists have specialized in either
theoretical Physics or experimental physics. ln contrast almost all the successful theorists in biology and
chemistry (c-g- American quantum chemist and biochemist Linus Pauling) have also been
experimentalists, although this is changing as of late. Theorists seek to develop mathematical models that both agree with existing experiments and successfully predict future results, while cxperimentalists devise and perform experiments to test theoretical predictions and explore new phenomena Although theory and experiment are developed Separately, they are strongly dependent upon each other. Progress in physics frequently comes about when exprimentalists make a discovery that existing theories cannot explain, or when new theories generate
experimentally testable prediction, which inspire new experiments.