I just spent a wonderful weekend at my Aunt's house in Cork (I really recommend her guest house). As well eating the exceptional food in West Cork, one of my favorite ways to spend time is at the Time Traveller's Bookshop. On my last visit I picked up an early collection of papers on wave mechanics, and this time I bought the transcript of a lecture by Max Born delivered to the Durham Physical Society in 1943.
"Experiment and Theory in Physics" is a nice essay on the scientific process in the context of the birth of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century. Examples of inductive and deductive developments are given, but he really emphasises how the rapid progress at the time was driven by the abundance of reliable experimental data and a handful of very intuitive scientists.
He concludes the lecture with: "My advice to those who wish to learn the art of scientific prophecy is not to rely on abstract reason, but to decipher the secret language of Nature from Nature's documents, the facts of experience". Strong words from a theoretical physicist.