Closing the Gap

| Posted: 23-04-2007 | Comments: 0 | Views: 21 | Rating: (50)

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There have been numerous books over the past twenty years, which have attempted to popularise physics. However, despite their number, the Queen of the sciences has refused to surrender to the dumbing down and in many respects maintains its regal mystification. Amidst its many equations and laws there appears another: the more fundamental the theory, the more detached it becomes from our understanding. There exists an enormous gap between physics and the public.

Physics is too often viewed with disquiet and as a subject best avoided. This is especially true of modern physics (as distinct from classical), which first took hold with the work of Einstein and Plank at the beginning of the twentieth century and blossomed under Bohr, Heisenberg and Schrödinger in the two decades that followed. The twin towers of modern physics, relativity and quantum theory was their gift. Yet which of us really understands the quantum duality of wave and particle, black holes, other worlds and string theory? Who of us really bothers to take the time to discover their meaning? Who of us, deep down, really wants to understand them? It all appears to be too hard and too counter intuitive.

This lack of understanding and lack of will to understand is a shame. In maintaining the gap, we ignore the fundamental and pervasive influence that physics has over all our lives. The world we live in is truly the world created by the modern physics of the last century and of those scientists who pioneered such exotic theories. Having a clearer view of the connections between science and its practical application helps us understand our world and break down the barriers between us and physics.

So how has physics forged our world? Well, much of the framework of the extraordinary lives we now live can be traced back to those great theories. The whole of the electronics industry and so computers, the internet and just about everything else we use almost every minute of the day rely on quantum theory through its crucial contribution to the development of the transistor. The laser is directly attributable to the work of Einstein in 1918 and as a result great swathes of our communications industry and health treatments have developed at almost unimaginable speed. And as if that list is not impressive enough there is the significant contribution of quantum to an understanding of chemistry and so DNA and all that genetic engineering offers in the future. Oh, and there is nuclear energy and the bomb.

As we face the threat of global warning and a future energy crisis, surely it is not too great a leap in imagination to believe there is a high probability that some of the answers to our future problems will come from the advances made in physics and its contribution to our technology and engineering capabilities; the more fundamental our understanding, so the richer the opportunities that come by way of technological advances.

An understanding of the importance of physics to our lives might in some small way help close the gasp between us and the sciences and the more the understanding – so there is the chance of greater participation by us in physics. It might help us all in the future – surely that isn’t too much to ask.

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Article Tags: Science, Technology, Computer, Energy, Laser, Physics, Quantum, Einstein, Relativity

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About the Author:

Alan Goodwin is a New Zealand writer. Read his novel Gravity’s Chain http://www.gravityschain.com/ which explores the themes of modern science and its effects on our world in the context of a modern drama.

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Closing the Gap

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