I don't know, I think the grandparent post could be interpreted either way.
Usually, "physical modelling" is the term I'm used to seeing for synthesis methods that simulate physical effects, whereas "hardware synths" are what people tend to call synthesizers that are physically tangible (as opposed to pure software). Physical synths can themselves be digital or analog, or a mix of the two.
"Physically based" refers to the synthesis method, you model the resonance mechanism. The EaganMatrix, Nord Modular, Kronos... are all examples of this technique, and are also available in 100% software. It is in contrast to subtractive, additive or fm based synths.