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Despite the close relationship between math and physics, they are not synonyms. In mathematics objects can be defined exactly and logically related, but the object need have no relationship to experimental measurements. In physics, definitions are abstractions or idealizations, approximations adequate when compared to the natural world.
Research in physics is continually progressing on a large number of fronts. In condensed matter physics, an important unsolved theoretical problem is that of high-temperature superconductivity. [52] Many condensed matter experiments are aiming to fabricate workable spintronics and quantum computers. [53] [54]
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.
The following is a list of notable unsolved problems grouped into broad areas of physics. [1]Some of the major unsolved problems in physics are theoretical, meaning that existing theories seem incapable of explaining a certain observed phenomenon or experimental result.
Wigner argues that mathematical concepts have applicability far beyond the context in which they were originally developed. He writes: "It is important to point out that the mathematical formulation of the physicist's often crude experience leads in an uncanny number of cases to an amazingly accurate description of a large class of phenomena."
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
Important applications of quantum theory include quantum chemistry, quantum optics, quantum computing, superconducting magnets, light-emitting diodes, the optical amplifier and the laser, the transistor and semiconductors such as the microprocessor, medical and research imaging such as magnetic resonance imaging and electron microscopy. [4]
Around the same time Huygens' research in horology resulted in the invention of the pendulum clock; a breakthrough in timekeeping and the most accurate timekeeper for almost 300 years. The theoretical research of the way the pendulum works eventually led to the publication of one of his most important achievements: the Horologium Oscillatorium.