From the beginning,
human is eager to learn about everything around; the nature. It is this urge of
human intellect that led the human society to know about, and control the things
around. For example, human has been able to control the wild animals, and put
them to use.
Curiosity of human doesn’t rest to the bounds of this planet
alone. In the 20th century, this curiosity lead mankind to tear the
face of sky and look into the vast space. Mankind has come a long way since the
first manned flight into the space, human has marked its feet on the moon,
which was thought to be impossible for any being. The thoughts of many renowned
physicists, were put to practice and were proved, disproved and modified.
Now human is searching for its neighbors, another
intelligent life form in the universe. For which huge amounts of resources are
being utilized. An expedition called Mission Mars, has sent a robot called the Mars Rover to the neighboring planet, Mars, in search of life. It is
interesting to know that the planet claims to be an excellent contender to
support life is at a distance of millions of kilometers from earth.
Physics is the
science of everything, from microscopic world to giants of the cosmos,
everything just fits in. That’s the beauty of physics. From the earlier times,
the scientists are mesmerized by this subject. Aristotle, Galileo Galilei,
Isaac Newton, Maxwell, Madame Curie and Einstein are the well-known scientists
of physics, who have made huge contribution towards the advancement of physics.
Aristotle (384-322
BC) was a Greek scientist, a theoretical scientist who gave many theories
in science, with the passage of time, some of his theories were proved wrong,
and some made through and today hold the bases of study of physics.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
an Italian man with the love of physics, played an important role towards
the advancement of physics. He worked in the fields of Astronomy, Mathematics
and Philosophy. His work in astronomy has led towards many discoveries.
Isaac Newton
(1643-1727) is well pictured as a magician of physics. His ground breaking researches,
are leading the scientists even today.
He was fascinated by the laws of the universe. He devised
many methods to explain those laws, and one of the most famous amongst them is
“The Calculus”. Today calculus is employed to solve many of the problems
encountered in physics and mathematics.
Newton worked in the fields of Mathematics, Optics,
Mechanics and Gravitation. His work enlightens the minds of many students and
leads them to discover more.
Another hero in physics, named Maxwell (1831-1879), combined a set of equations which explained
the phenomena of electricity, magnetism and optics. Previously those equations
were used to describe electricity and magnetism separately.
His efforts in physics led to the discovery of electromagnetic
waves, traveling at the speed of light. Electromagnetic waves are used in
communication and gathering information from farthest of the cosmos.
Madame Curie (1867-1934) worked in the field of radioactivity,
isolating radioactive Isotopes
[i],
which are used to treat tumors. She also discovered two new elements.
Einstein (1879-1955),
a genius,
developed the law theory of relativity, which explains
the short comings in the laws presented previously. He is famous for his
Mass-Energy equation
”. In the light of this equation human has devised
methods to extract huge amount of energy from the smallest particles. He
presented the law of photoelectric effect, for which he was awarded noble
prize, playing an important role in development of a new branch of modern
physics The Quantum Mechanics.
The discoveries by these scientists have led others to
extract and invent new methods and gadgets for the betterment of human life.
The greatest tool ever invented is the “Wheel”, a simple result of mechanical physics, if you look around
you will see that every gadget has a wheel in it, from the watch in your hand
to the washing machine, and from trains to the planes. The idea behind the
wheel was given by the earliest humans lived on earth, yet it is used till
today.
Human, a social animal, needs to interact with other humans,
not only with the humans around, but also with the humans around the world. By
using laws of mechanics, human invented the “Ship”. The ships today transport millions of tons of cargo around
the world, which include machinery, food, fuel and human themselves.
Transportation makes businesses expand beyond boundaries and boosting
economies.
Of course, there are many other notable inventions for
transportation, trains, airplanes and road trucks, doing the same job as ships.
They also employ the principles of mechanics.
For the social human, there was another invention, “The Radio”. Which is the major
breakthrough in communication, today we have mobile phones, television,
internet and GPS, working on the principle of radio, making our lives easier
and bringing the companies around the world closer and help expand their
businesses. Apart from boosting the economy, these inventions play a noteworthy
role in bringing lives together.
These inventions are the results of hard work of numerous
scientists around the world.
The story of physics is the story of life itself, we cannot
separate physics from the human life. In the light of above mentioned points,
it is concluded that physics plays vital role in our lives, and advancement in
physics is the advancement in human life, both socially and economically. In
short, advancement in science over the years has made the earth a better place
for human beings to live and enjoy life.
[i]
Isotopes are
atoms of elements with different numbers of neutrons.
