Full Idea
The link between temperature, heat, work and energy is at the root of our historical ability to construct theories of matter, such as Newton's dynamics, while ignoring, and indeed being ignorant of - atomic dimensions.
Gist of Idea
Modern theories of matter are grounded in heat, work and energy
Source
Frank Close (Theories of Everything [2017], 3 'Arrow')
Book Reference
Close,Frank: 'Theories of Everything' [Profile Books 2017], p.32
A Reaction
That is, presumably, that even when you fill in the atoms, and the standard model of physics, these aspects of matter do the main explaiining (of the behaviour, rather than of the structure).