History of physics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

History of physics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As forms of science historically developed out of philosophy, physics (from Greek: φύσις physis "nature") was originally referred to as natural philosophy, a term describing a field of study concerned with "the workings of nature".

Contents [hide] 1 Early history 2 Galileo Galilei and the rise of physico-mathematics 3 The Cartesian philosophy of motion 4 Newtonian motion versus Cartesian motion 5 Rational mechanics in the 18th century 6 Physical experimentation in the 18th and early 19th centuries 7 Thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and electromagnetic theory 8 The emergence of a new physics circa 1900 9 The radical years: general relativity and quantum mechanics 10 Constructing a new fundamental physics 11 The physical sciences 12 Time Line 13 See also 14 Notes 15 References 16 Further reading History of science Background Theories/sociology Historiography Pseudoscience By era In early cultures in Classical Antiquity In the Middle Ages In the Renaissance Scientific Revolution Romanticism in science By culture Islamic Medieval Byzantine Chinese Indian African By topic Natural sciences Astronomy Biology Botany Chemistry Ecology Geology Paleontology Physics Mathematics Algebra Calculus Combinatorics Geometry Logic Probability Statistics Trigonometry Social sciences Anthropology Economics Geography Linguistics Political science Psychology Sociology Sustainability Technology Agricultural science Computer science Materials science Medicine Navigational pages Timelines Portal Categories This box: view · talk · edit