John von Neumann

The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena. The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work – that is correctly to describe phenomena from a reasonably wide area. Furthermore, it must satisfy certain aesthetic criteria – that is, in relation to how much it describes, it must be rather simple