1896 Prediction • A prominent physicist announced it likely that no new grand underlying principles of physics would be discovered in the future
Predicted by Physicist Albert A. Michelson See Article A few years before classic physics was overturned by Einstein’s theories, Michelson made his prediction at the dedication of the Ryerson Physics Laboratory at the University of Chicago. The failed prediction has been falsely attributed to Northern Irish physicist Lord Kelvin. However, it’s Michelson who said: “While it is never safe to affirm that the future of Physical Science has no marvels in store even more astonishing than those of the past, it seems probable that most of the grand underlying principles have been firmly established and that further advances are to be sought chiefly in the rigorous application of these principles to all the phenomena which come under our notice. It is here that the science of measurement shows its importance — where quantitative work is more to be desired than qualitative work. An eminent physicist remarked that the future truths…