Percy W. Bridgman, author of Refl ections of a Physicist in
1955 and winner of the 1946 Nobel Prize in physics, perhaps
most clearly states in “On Scientifi c Method” how the use of
the scientifi c method by scientists does not often follow a set
formula or recipe, nor should it, since that may stifl e human
innovation and creativity, often necessary in producing new and
revolutionary hypotheses: