So, today I spent most of the day reading a book by Oliver Heaviside.
"Now the real object of true naturalists, in
Sir W. Thomson's meaning of the word, when they employ
mathematics to assist them, is not to make mathematical exercises
(though that may be necessary), but to find out the connections
of known phenomena, and by deductive reasoning, to
obtain a knowledge of hitherto unknown phenomena."
good data, bad logic = wrong conclusion
bad data, good logic = wrong conclusion
good data, good logic = correct conclusion
"It goes without saying that there are numerous phenomena
connected with electricity and magnetism which are very
imperfectly understood, and which have not been reduced to formulas"
pg 16 Oliver Heaviside Electromagnetic Theory Vol 1
"Start with a very long solenoid of fine wire in circuit with a
source of electrical energy. Let the material inside the solenoid
be merely air, that is to say, ether and air. If we examine the
nature of the fluctuations of current in the coil in relation to
the fluctuations of impressed force on it, we find that the current
in the coil behaves as if it were a material fluid possessing
inertia and moving against resistance. The fanatics of Ohm's
law do not usually take into account the inertia. It is as if the
current in the coil could not move without simultaneously
setting into rotation a rigid material core filling the solenoid,
and free to rotate on its axis."