A theoretical physicist should at minimum come up with quantification of an experimental result, if he / she cannot design the full experiment. Running experiments involves metrology, and a solid history on what setups work or don't work, and why.
It all depends on the physicist, design yes many of them can, run, again some can and some cannot. Some can not even wire a table lamp! But it all depends on individual personalities.
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A theoretical physicist should at minimum come up with quantification of an experimental result, if he / she cannot design the full experiment. Running experiments involves metrology, and a solid history on what setups work or don't work, and why.
It all depends on the physicist, design yes many of them can, run, again some can and some cannot. Some can not even wire a table lamp! But it all depends on individual personalities.
Yep, I did that at one point in my PhD research period and fortunately the experimental results confirmed my theoretical predictions :-)
Sure - it happens all the time.