In order to attempt to trace the origins of the modern science that we now refer to as physics, we must begin with the origin of the term itself. Taken from the Greek word physika meaning growth or nature, physics most obviously began as the intelligent study of the human environment (Webster 393). From superstition and religious practices, the foundation of all other sciences was born. These concepts have subsequently grown into what we regard today as physics. It can be easily argued that the earliest evidence of mankinds scientific assessment of the physical world can be traced to the Babylonians.
In all probability, the Babylonians had the first written language (Neugebauer 7). If for no other reason then these written records, we consider Babylonians to exhibit the first known efforts to understand things in a scientific method. The ancient Babylonians developed standards of weights and measures to ensure fair trade. They implemented a system of counting that was in many ways superior to our present system. Ancient Babylonians are credited with originating the studies of the sun, moon and stars that we base our calendars on to this present day (Spangenburg 5).
Most mportant to this discussion of the origins of modern physics is the fact that some ancient Babylonian math tablets show that the Babylonians had ideas about Pythagoras Theorem one-thousand years before Pythagoras lived. Archeological evidence certainly supports that physics as an intelligent, scientific study of matter and energy dates back to the earliest existences of human civilization. As long as human beings have been organizing themselves, they have apparently been studying the physical world in which they lived. Because much of what we know about ancient civilizations like Babylon, Egypt,
Maya and Aztec was rediscovered after a certain amount of western development, a more traditional view of modern physics might begin in early Greece. The discovery of the studies and technologies of these previous cultures does in some regard require a A Greek philosopher named Herodotus supposedly reported that Pythagoras lived in both Egypt and Babylon where he studied mathematics (Lindberg 13). It is impossible to determine whether this is historical fact or merely legend. It would be extremely difficult to ascertain exactly how much of the Greeks thinking was influenced by such ultures; if in fact it was influenced at all.
Many texts choose the ancient Greek port of Miletus as the beginning of the discovery of nature that we commonly think of as the original physics. The town of Miletus is credited as the home of a Greek philosopher named Thales and what is know of Thales is taken from the writings of Aristotle (Spangenburg 8). Thales is considered to be the first example of a person leaving supernatural explanations in an effort to better understand the natural world (Lindberg 29). If Thales of Miletus recorded any of his own ideas, none have survived. At least none have yet been discovered.
Anaximander, another Greek philosopher, was a student of Thales and expressed a belief that all life originated in the sea (Lindburg 29). He was also the first person in recorded history to recognize the curvature of the earth. Anaximander attempted to write an account of the history of the universe and surmised that the earth was cylinder The most significant of all Greek philosophers was Aristotle (Spangenburg 13). Aristotle is most often remembered as the student of Plato and the teacher of a young student known as Alexander the Great (Lindberg 47).
The cosmological ideas of Aristotle include the notion that the planets, moon and stars were in constant circular motion (Bynum 26). Although Aristotle was not the first person to purpose that the earth was more spherically shaped, he was reportedly the first to purpose that the sun was at the center of a collection of rotating spheres (Spangenburg 16). The ideas and writings of Aristotle survived and influenced scientists well into the The next great advancements in the areas of natural science (especially those dealing specifically with matter and energy) would be discovered by a Sicilian scientist named Archimedes.
Archimedes is credited with numerous inventions, ideas and the perfecting of previous theories. Among his credits is the catapult, the use of mirrors to focus the suns rays, and the concept that submerged bodies displace their own volume of liquid and have their weight diminished by an amount that is equal to the weight of the water that is displaced (Spangenburg 25). He was the first to conceptualize the center of gravity and perfected the use of the lever. The history of science experienced a lull of advancement between the 3rd century and the 15th century.
During this period (most commonly referred to as The Middle Ages), the disciplines that have since grown into what we now know as modern physics were preserved and passed along in many cultures like the Arabic, Indian and Asian cultures. These studies resurfaced in a big way during the 15th century with such famous names as Copernicus, Tycho and Kepler. However, it was a scientist by the last name of Galilei in the late 16th century who made the greatest strides in the areas of motion and Galilei was referred to by his first name even in his prime.
It is his first name that is remembered even to this day. Where many people might not be able to recall much ork by Mr. Galilei, most will be able to tell you something about the amazing efforts of a scientist named Galileo. Galileo Galilei is credited with the first combination of mathematics and physics (Spangenburg 53). Beginning with observations of pendulum movements, Galileo observed that as a pendulums swings become shorter, the time of each swing remains the same. The number of swings would not change unless he changed the length of the string.
Arguably, this discovery would be the literal dawn of what we currently describe as physics. It is the first scientific endeavor that is devoted Galileo also conducted experiments involving constant acceleration in falling objects and the previously held belief that the velocity of a falling object was directly related to the objects mass (Crombie 107). By timing balls as they rolled down an incline, Galileo proved that the weight of the individual ball had no effect on the speed with which it rolled down (Spangenburg 58).
From here, Galileo discovered the principle ideas that would later become known as Newtons First Law of Motion. The 17th century brought a whole new collection of scientists with many new leaps in discovery. During the 17th century, scientists and philosophers like Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, Christiaan Huygens, Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren and Edmond Halley made significant contributions to sundry areas of scientific thought. For the specific science of physics, it was Isaac Newton who was the predominant figure.
Isaac Newton developed laws of motion and in general used many of the ideas from previous generations of scientists (like Archimedes, Galileo and Kepler) to generate many of the foundations for the physics that we still use today. Beyond pulling ideas from earlier scientists and expanding these ideas into concepts that were far more useful, Newton also began to do experiments with light. Newtons experiments with light began with his discovery that white light was not the absence of the colored bands of light but rather the sum of these colored bands.
Newton continued his exploration of the nature of light and began to set the stage for the physicists of the 19th and 20th centuries including Albert Einstein (Spangenburg 75). In November of 1895, a physicist named Wilhelm Rontgen discovered the X- ray. Rontgen called it the X-ray because it was an unknown ray that his experiments showed could pass through solid objects. This discovery marked a turning point in modern physics. This discovery would prove to be the pivotal turning point from classical physics into the modern age (Spangenburg 4).
Rontgens discovery of the X-ray spurred new and exciting ideas about the atom. The X-ray also opened up the door to nuclear power. For his efforts in the discovery and initial research with X-rays, Wilhelm Rontgen became the first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Among the physicists that participated in this revolution with Rontgen were such noteworthy names as Henri Becquerel, Ernest Rutherford, and Marie Curie. Becquerel used this new idea from Rontgens X-rays to discover a new form of radiation from uranium salts. Rutherford has been called the Newton of atomic physics because of his discovery of atomic structure.
Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for physics and she also won a Nobel Prize for chemistry (Spangenburg 8-17). With the beginning of the 20th century, physics was changing at an incredible pace. New discoveries were being made that were rapidly changing the way we viewed time, space and the universe. It was truly the dawn of a new and exciting time for During the transition from the 19th to the 20th century, Albert Michelson and Edward Morley conducted experiments with light in an effort to learn about a substance alled ether. Ether was the theoretical substance in which light was supposed to travel.
Their experiments proved conclusively that ether did not exist at all! This placed the question before them of how light could travel in wave form with out a medium in which to travel. It further put into motion a series of experiments that would conclude that light did not require a medium in which to travel in wave form. Light was also proven to travel at a constant speed under any conditions and from any perspective (Spangenburg 21). At the onset of the 20th century, physics reached a new level of complexity, anging from a deeper understanding of quantum physics to the newly innovative nuclear physics.
Physicists such as Einstein, Oppenheimer and Bohr made their mark in scientific history. Each of these paradigm pioneers left behind landmark inventions such as the atomic structure, theory of relativity and the atomic bomb. More accurate documentation of these discoveries will surface as time progresses. As we are just beginning this promising 21st century, there are endless possibilities waiting on the horizon. It is difficult to guess what exciting changes are in store for us in our great big beautiful tomorrow.
