In ancient days two aviators procured to themselves wings. Daedalus flew safely through the middle air across the sea, and was duly honoured on his landing. Young Icarus soared upwards towards the Sun till the wax melted which bound his wings, and his flight ended in fiasco. In weighing their achievements perhaps there is something to be said for Icarus. The classic authorities tell us that he was only "doing a stunt," but I prefer to think of him as the man who certainly brought to light a constructional defect in the flying-machines of his day. So, too, in Science. Cautious Daedalus will apply his theories where he feels most confident they will safely go; but by his excess of caution their hidden weaknesses cannot be brought to light. Icarus will strain his theories to the breaking-point till the weak joints gape. For a spectacular stunt? Perhaps partly; he is often very human. But if he is not yet destined to reach the Sun and solve for all time the riddle of its constitution, yet he may hope to learn from his journey some hints to build a better machine.
Towards the end of his life Eddington worked on a strange, doomed attempt to unify quantum mechanics, relativity and particle physics. Summarised in a book called just, Fundamental Theory these efforts have not had any lasting impact on science. I wonder if he thought of Icarus as he worked on that book.
