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"To use the given examples, Newtonian physics, quantum physics and Information Theory began in 1687, 1930 and 1948." Some things that we consider significant t
by kevinpet 14y ago
"To use the given examples, Newtonian physics, quantum physics and Information Theory began in 1687, 1930 and 1948."
Some things that we consider significant today won't seem significant from the perspective of centuries. Similarly, someone in 1750 would be able to list significant new fields developed recently that we would omit. For example, Newton also did work in optics, which we pretty much forget about today.
- heja2009 14y agoWhile I would consider Newtionian physics to be much more fundamental, I would challenge the notion that it had the most impact. Compare the ~1900 feeling that almost everything had already been invended. Newtonian physics impact to technology was mainly mechanics. Then came thermodynamics which gave us (steam &) combustion engines and more. Nuclear & quantum physics lead to bombs, reactors and finally seminconductors and so on. I would say todays thnological relevance of thermodynamics and quantum physics is at least as high as that of Newtonian physics. Also: most of todays physicists do not look for Bosons, they do things like advancing semiconductor masking technology, liquid crystal physics and the like - i.e. they are not "fundamental" but "applied" physicists. Also - with respect to the original article - isn't the much faster exponential growth of the resources invested in science since around 1900 mostly an indicator of expected technological returns by society at large? Science is a huge economy success story since about a century ;-) The question then would be how long can we afford to sustain the current exponent?