The scientist must order. Science is made with facts as a house with stones;
but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house!
Henri Poincaré, La Science et l'Hypothèse, Flammarion,
Classification and relations between the Nature sciences
As it is well-known, the science Physics appeared in antiquity - as a unique science of Nature (the Greek word "physis" means "nature"). Later, appeared also other Nature sciences, as Chemistry, Metallurgy, Biology, and more recently - Electrical Engineering, etc. All nature sciences study the material systems, trying to establish some correlations between their parameters.
We have to remark that all Nature science have 3 common goals: a) the derivation of some general (at least valid for a non-limited number of types of material systems) correlations, which lead to some physical laws, b) the derivation of some correlations valid only for a limite (finite) number of material systems types, called semiempirical correlations, c) applications (in humankind benefit) of the obtained scientific knowledge.
Depending on the priority awarded to the first, to the second, or to the last common go 10210m1218k al (from the above indicated), the corresponding nature sciences are named: a) physical sciences (as the physical mechanics, the physical chemistry, the biophysics, the astrophysics, etc., the Physics remaining of course the most representative discipline of these sciences), b) the technological sciences (as Chemistry, Metallurgy, Biology, etc), c) the technical sciences (as Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Control Systems sciences and Computer Sciences, Medicine, etc).
Taking
into account the remarkable importance of the Nature sciences studies, the
corresponding number of published works is huge: approx. 654,000 scientific works published in
international journals in 2000, and even more published scientific works in the
domestic journals (e.g.
only in
For
this reason, the number of recognized scientific fields is also extremely
large; e.g. according to the Physics
Abstracts classification a (sub)domain of Physics is given by a combination
of 4 digits and a letter. It results that the magnitude order of the number of
sub-domains of Physics is 
! Between the Physics
and the technical sciences there is a strong connection, and for this reason
the Physics Abstracts review became a
part of the INSPEC database, coordinated by the IEE (
Taking into account the huge number of the scientific and technical domains (even of the main domains), and of the published scientific and/or technical works, the teaching of the basic elements of Physics requires the selection of the most important results, namely of those elements that were generally recognized for their particular importance. Though we cannot assert that any scientific results awarded by Nobel prizes are more important than any other results that didn't obtain a Nobel prize, we consider that all most important scientific (and even technical) results were recognized by Nobel prizes. That is why, we will use the brief analysis of the results recognized by Nobel prizes in order to point out: a) the strong connection between Physics, Chemistry and Technical Sciences, b) the development of Physics in the last century.
Table 1 points out the strong connection between Physics and the technical sciences, while the strong connection between Physics, Chemistry and Biology is illustrated by the obtainment of: a) Nobel prizes for Chemistry by some physicists, as Ernst Rutherford (1908), Marie Curie (1911), Peter Debye (1936), Walter Kohn (1998), etc., b) the Nobel prize for Physics awarded in 2002 to the chemist Raymond Davies jr., c) the Nobel prize for Chemistry awarded in 2003 to the biophysicist Roderick McKinnon, d) the outstanding scientific results obtained both in Physics and Chemistry by Ilya Prigogine (Nobel prize laureat for Chemistry, in 1977), etc.
Table 1.
|
Nr. |
Laureate name & award year of the Physics Nobel |
Level of the Engineering studies |
Main accomplishments |
|
1st |
Röntgen, Wilhelm Conrad, 1901 |
|
X rays discovery (Würzburg, 1895) |
|
4th |
Becquerel, Antoine Henry, 1903 |
|
Natural radioactivity( |
|
10th |
Michelson, Albert Abraham, |
Alumni of the Navy |
Michelson's interfero-meter & Mich.-Morley experiment, 1887 |
|
16th |
Dalén, Nils Gustaf, 1912 |
ETH Zürich, 1 year |
Automatic regulators and Gas Accumulators for lighthouses&buoys |
|
24th |
Guillaume, Charles-Édouard, |
PhD |
Metrology materials: invar, elinvar,etc, 1899 |
|
25th |
Einstein, Albert, 1921 |
|
Theories of: relativity & gravitation, photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, Stimulated emission, Einstein - de Haas exp., Bose - Einstein statistics |
|
39th |
Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice, 1933 |
BSc Electrical
Engineering, |
New productive
forms of the atomic theory 1928, 1930 ( with |
|
40th |
Chadwick, Sir James, 1935 |
Postuniv.:
Physikalisch-Tech-nische |
Experimental disco-very of neutron, 1932 |
|
41st |
Anderson, Carl David, 1936 |
B.Sc. (1927) & PhD
(1930): |
Experimental disco-veries of positron, 1932 & lepton μ, 1937 |
|
55th |
Cockroft, Sir John Douglas, 1951 |
M. Sc.Techn.: |
Artificial Transmutation of Atomic Nuclei, 1932 |
|
62nd |
Lamb, Willis Eugene jr., 1955 |
B. Sc. Chemistry: |
Fine structure of H spectrum, 1947 |
|
63rd |
Kusch, Polycarp, 1955 |
B. Eng.: Case Institute of Technology,
|
Accurate determina-tion of e- magnetic momentum, 1948 |
|
64th |
Shockley, William Bradford, 1956 |
|
Design (with phys. John Bardeen and W. H. Brat-tain) of transistor, 1948 |
|
74th |
Glaser, Donald Arthur, 1960 |
B. Eng.: Case Inst. Technol.,
|
Invention of the cham-ber with bubbles, 1952 |
|
76th |
Mössbauer, Rudolf Ludwig, 1961 |
B. |
Mössbauer effect, 1958 |
|
78th |
Wigner, Eugene Paul, 1963 |
|
Theory of atomic nucleus and elemen-tary particles (1931→) |
|
81st |
Townes, Charles Hard, 1964 |
Dr.
|
(experimental part) |
|
86th |
Feynman, Richard Philips, 1965 |
B. Eng.: MIT, |
Quantum electro-dynamics (1947→) |
|
90th |
Gell-Mann, Murray, 1969 |
Dr. |
Classification of elementary particles and fundamental interactions |
|
93rd |
Gabor, Dennis, 1971 |
B. & Dr. |
Invention of holography, 1948 |
|
96th |
Schrieffer, John Robert, 1972 |
B. Eng.: MIT, |
BCS theory of super-conductivity, 1957 |
|
97th |
Giaever, Ivar, 1973 |
B. Eng.: Norway Inst.
Technol., 1952; Dr. |
Experim. Discovery of tunneling in semi- & superconductors, 1960 |
Rainwater, Leo James, 1975 |
B. Eng.: Caltech, 1939 |
Combined nuclear model, 1950 |
|
Richter,
|
B. |
Discovery of ψ/J particle→ charm quark |
|
|
Kapitza, Piotr Leonidovich, 1978 |
B. Eng.: Polytechnic Institute Sankt-Petersburg, 1918 |
Liquid He super-fluidity, 1938 & thermo-nuclear plasma (Tokamak), 1970 |
|
|
Wilson, Robert Woodrom, 1978 |
Dr.
|
Discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation, 1978 |
|
Fitch, Val Longsdon, 1980 |
B. Eng.: Univ. Mc Gill, |
Violation of fundamental symmetries principles in neutral K mesons disintegration, 1964 |
|
|
Siegbahn, Kai Manne Boerge, 1981 |
Dr. |
Development of the high-resolution electronic spectroscopy, 1957 |
|
|
Wilson, Kenneth Geddes, 1982 |
Dr.: Caltech, 1961 |
Theory of critical pheno-mena in connection with phase transitions, 1971 |
|
|
Fowler, William Alfred, 1983 |
Phys. |
Formation of the chemical elements in Universe by star explosions, 1957 |
|
Van der Meer, Simon, 1984 |
Phys. |
Discovery of W & Z bosons - agents of weak interactions, 1983 |
|
Klitzing, Klaus von, 1985 |
Phys. Diplomat: |
Discovery of the quantum Hall effect, 1969 |
|
Ruska, Ernst, 1986 |
|
Electronic Microscope, 1931 . 1937 |
|
Rohrer, Heinrich, 1986 |
|
Design (with phys. Gerd Binnig) of the scanning tunneling microscope, 1981 |
|
|
Bednorz, Johannes Georg, 1987 |
Dr. |
Ceramic Superconductors with high critical temperature, 1986 |
|
Müller, Karl Alexander, 1987 |
M. ETH, Zürich |
Ceramic Superconductors with high critical temperature, 1986 |
|
Paul, Wolfgang, 1989 |
M. Sci. (1937) and PhD
(1939): |
Development of the ion trap technique, 1954 |
|
Kendall,
|
PhD: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1955 |
Development of the quark model, 1968 |
|
Charpak, Georges, 1992 |
|
Invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber, 1968 |
|
Reines,
|
M. Eng.: Stevens Institute of Technology, N. J., 1939 |
Detection of the (elec-tronic) neutrino, 1956 |
|
Perl, Martin Lewis, 1995 |
Chem. |
Discovery of the tau lepton, 1975 |
|
Osheroff, Douglas D., 1996 |
B. Sc.: Caltech, 1967 |
Discovery of super-flui-dity in helium-3, 1971 |
|
Richardson, Robert C., 1996 |
B. Physics & Electr. |
Discovery of super-flui-dity in helium-3, 1971 |
|
Phillips, William D., 1997 |
PhD: |
Development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light, 1988 |
|
|
Laughlin, Robert B., 1998 |
PhD: |
Theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect, 1983 |
|
|
Alferov, |
Electr. |
Development (with phys. H. Kroemer) of semicon-ductor hetero-structures used in high-speed electro-nics and opto-electronics |
|
Kilby, Jack S., 2000 |
Electr. |
Invention of the integrated circuits, 1958 (TI, Dallas) |
|
Cornell, Eric A., 2001 |
PhD (Physics): Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990 |
Achievement of Bose-Ein-stein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, 1995 |
|
Wieman, Carl E., 2001 |
B.Sc.: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1973 |
Achievement of Bose-Ein-stein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, 1995 |
|
Davis, Raymond jr., 2002 |
Chem. BSc (1938), Phys.
Chem. PhD (1942): |
Contributions to astro-physics & detection of cosmic neutrinos, 1971 |
|
Hall, John L., 2005 |
BSc (1956), MS (1958), PhD
(1961): Carneggie |
Development of the laser-based precision spectro-metry & optical frequency comb. technique, 1972..84 |
Average percentages of the Physics Nobel Prize laureats who had Engineering studies,
or who studied in some Technical Universities, on decades
23.1% (1901-1909), 10% (1910-1919), 16.7% (1920-1929), 27.3% (1930-1939), 0% (1940-1949), 20% (1950-1959), 35.3% (1960-1969), 28% (1970-1979), 50% (1980-1989), 36.4% (1990-1999), 28.4% (2000-2005), and:
29% = the general (average) percentage for the whole interval 1901-2005
§1.2. Evolution of Physics development in the last century
Table 2 presents the classification (on the corresponding Physics field and the topics character) of the main results obtained by the Physics Nobel prizes laureats (1901-2005). One finds that while at the beginning of the 20th century the majority of the recognized important Physics works referred to some topics of Thermodynamics, Electromagnetism, Optics (involving the matters of Microscopy and Diffractometry), Spectroscopy, Atomic and molecular Physics, even the Theoretical Physics field beginning with some works of Albert Einstein (mainly from the
|
maser, 1954