The role and effects of scientific inquiry

Re “Physics strings us along,” Opinion, Oct. 11

Margaret Wertheim’s characterization that theoretical physics is proceeding without empirical verification is misleading. Scientific inquiry proceeds by proposing hypotheses that are then subject to empirical test through experimentation and observation. String theory is the latest in a series of astoundingly successful “grand hypotheses.”

Einstein’s theory of general relativity was motivated by mathematical insight, not empirical observation, and predicted many unforeseen but surprising and important phenomena. Particles such as neutrinos and the top quark were predicted decades before their discovery.

String theory will remain a speculative hypothesis until there is compelling empirical evidence. Meanwhile, theorists continue to work out the consequences, and many experiments are in progress to test predictions based on these theories.

That is the process of science.

ROBERT D. MCKEOWN

Professor of Physics

Caltech, Pasadena