Governing equations, experiments, and the experimentalist

It is argued that the most important test of the understanding of any experiment is whether or not the results are consistent with the equations and boundary conditions believed to govern the flow. If they are not, then either the measurements are incorrect, the equations or boundary conditions are wrong, or the experiment performed was not the one believed to have been done. It is suggested that many apparently contradictory experimental results are, in fact, the result of the latter and have not been recognized as such because of a failure to apply the governing equations to the data. The arguments are supported by examples from turbulent shear flow experiments.