Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The conceptual differences between physics theories discussed in the 19th century and those that were most historically prominent in the first decades of the 20th century lead to a characterization of the earlier sciences as "classical physics" while the work based on quantum and relativity theories became known as "modern physics".
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. [1] Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines. [2] [3] [4] A scientist who specializes in the field of physics is called a physicist.
4th century BC – Aristotle describes the composition of matter in terms of the four classical elements, founding Aristotelian physics. [10] 1st century AD – Pliny the Elder in his Natural History records the story of Magnes the shepherd who discovered the magnetic properties of some iron stones. [6]
This timeline lists significant discoveries in physics and the laws of nature, including experimental discoveries, theoretical proposals that were confirmed experimentally, and theories that have significantly influenced current thinking in modern physics. Such discoveries are often a multi-step, multi-person process.
Entries beginning with "History of " or "List of " are ordered by the rest of their names. (For example: History of special relativity is listed under "S".) For information on how to reorder entries to adhere to this rule, please see this Categorization FAQ entry and/or view the relevant [[Category:...]] tag in one of the reordered entries.
Einstein would later receive the Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery, which launched the quantum revolution in physics. 1911 – Superconductivity is discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who was studying the resistivity of solid mercury at cryogenic temperatures using the recently discovered liquid helium as a refrigerant. At the ...
In physics, mechanics is the study of objects, their interaction, and motion; classical mechanics is mechanics limited to non-relativistic and non-quantum approximations. Most of the techniques of classical mechanics were developed before 1900 so the term classical mechanics refers to that historical era as well as the approximations.
astrophysics, the physics in the universe, including the properties and interactions of celestial bodies in astronomy; atmospheric physics is the application of physics to the study of the atmosphere; space physics is the study of plasmas as they occur naturally in the Earth's upper atmosphere (aeronomy) and within the Solar System