There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.
(edit: looks like this question was based on a false impression of history, so nvm)
That Lord Kelvin apocryphal quote has always stuck out to me. I remember hearing from some other source that this was a general attitude at the time.
Does anyone have good book recommendations to get a feel for what the intellectual / scientific zeitgeist of this moment in history in Europe was like?
The Alchemy of Air (Hager):
+ did well when I fact checked it
+ is at about the right time period
+ is a very good case study of how science changed during that time period
_ is not about “welp, we’ve solved science” in particular
(Retracted)