[pliptvo]

Could you explain what you mean by no one understanding thermodynamics? As in Maxwell, Einstein, Wiener, and so on - none of them understood thermodynamics? I think at stake here is what you mean by understanding.

And what is a 'pragmatic scientist'? Someone who doesn't take interest in the reasons things are as they are, but only operatively that they are as they are?

[robthebrew]

Sorry for that late reply. My Thermodynamics Prof, Max McGlashan (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-professor... this to me personally. It has been many decades since I used thermodynamics in any no-trivial way, so I am no expert: but in chemistry (not physics) you just learn the rules to get results. That is the pragmatism: I was never researching thermodynamics, but using the theories to advance Chemistry.