“If science is not to degenerate into a medley of ad hoc hypotheses, it must become philosophical and must enter upon a thorough criticism of its own foundations.” – Alfred North Whitehead in Science and the Modern World

Jay Arthur Pritzker of Chicago (1922-1999) was a practical and courageous man with a strong interest in mathematics and science. After studying mathematics at university, he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy, serving in WW II as a naval aviator instructor pilot. Later, he became a businessman trained in law and built a large portfolio of diversified corporations.

The Jay Pritzker Fellowship in Theoretical Physics was established in 2006. Recognizing deficiencies in postmodern theoretical physics, the fellowship requires that practical results be produced in contrast to vague abstract mathematical concepts that cannot be empirically proven. This unique fellowship supports scholarship independent of the auspices and political influence of any specific institution, rather allowing free association with any number of institutions. The fellowship continues a tradition of esteemed academic support by the Pritzker Family that includes the Pritzker Architecture Prize, considered the most prestigious honor in the field, and the Pritzker Professor of Physics chair at Illinois Institute of Technology held by Leon M. Lederman, 1988 Nobel Laureate in Physics and Director Emeritus of Fermilab.

One reads the following on page 1-1 of The Feynman Talks on Physics, Volume I:

The principle of science, the definition, almost, is the following: The test of all knowledge is experiment. Experiment is the sole judge of scientific “truth.” But what is the source of knowledge? Where do the laws that are to be tested come from? Experiment, itself, helps to produce these laws, in the sense that it gives us hints. But also needed is imagination to create from these hints the great generalizations—to guess at the wonderful, simple, but very strange patterns beneath them all, and then to experiment to check again whether we have made the right guess. This imagining process is so difficult that there is a division of labor in physics: there are theoretical physicists who imagine, deduce, and guess at new laws, but do not experiment; and there are experimental physicists who experiment, imagine, deduce, and guess.

And one may even read “the inconvenient truth of physics” in The New Yorker (14 May 2007, p. 76):

… at a certain point, speculations about the nature of the universe that can’t be put to the test cease to be physics. – E. Kolbert

Alex Mayer is the current Pritzker Fellow. He is a graduate of MIT and has pursued an unconventional career for a theoretical physicist, having worked primarily in the private sector. Theoretical physics was a passion pursued independently and without contributing to the literature over a period of time. In July 2010 he will have completed On the Geometry of Time in Physics and Cosmology. This revolutionary book introduces new ideas in theoretical physics and cosmology that challenge and indeed promise to overthrow several foundational elements of 20th-century science. A comprehensive integrated dissertation, Mayer’s book is a scientific tour de force accessible to a broad technical audience that includes anyone trained in the foundations of mathematics and physical science. Thus, in addition to academic professionals in such fields of physics, chemistry, mathematics and astronomy, the new ideas have been made accessible to a broad range of people engaged in a variety of scientific, engineering and other technical professions and interests.