Is Reading a Signal on a PMT "Direct" or "Indirect" Measurement?

[T_aquaticus]

@BruceS

I think you have an important concept right: we build instruments based on a theory that is well confirmed, and then use those instruments to test less confirmed theories. (But as the article details, sometimes things are more complicated, with the link between theory and measurement being one iteratively improving the other).

That’s a very good description of how science works. The concept is rather straightforward. You start with a set of facts and theories that people accept as true, and then build towards a conclusion. It is the art of creating unavoidable conclusions.