Originally Posted By: finiter
But, of late, physicists tend to be mathematicians. 'Mathematics with a dash of physics' is the stuff that they put forth as physics.

Like Newton's Principia?...but:

Originally Posted By: finiter
I think, it is time that we changed back to the classical Newtonian style.

That's already been addressed in posts above.

Mathematical physicists can produce self-consistent models that may or may not apply to the world in which we live. That's why experiment and observation are required. But mathematical theory so often necessarily precedes observation. Examples: General Relativity and Quantum Theory. Such discoveries would otherwise be impossible.

At the heart of physical science is physics, and at the heart of physics is mathematics. Mathematics, applied to one of its progeny, the computer, is the basis of a logarithmic progression of science and technology.

"Time is what prevents everything from happening at once" - John Wheeler