{"id":7982,"date":"2020-11-26T13:59:15","date_gmt":"2020-11-26T13:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=7982"},"modified":"2020-11-27T17:35:32","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T17:35:32","slug":"role-of-physics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/role-of-physics\/7982\/","title":{"rendered":"The fundamental role of physics in understanding the universe"},"content":{"rendered":"
Let me start with some obvious statements. Firstly, science in general and physics in particular are vitally important to our society. The technological developments of the 20th and 21st centuries are built on the understanding of the fundamentals of physics. The microelectronics chips, present in each computer or cell phone, would not have been developed if it were not for the development of quantum mechanics, which seems so abstract and philosophical. Secondly, it is not always clear to scientists what practical applications would come from the basic science. Yet, it is important to push our understanding of the Universe ever so further, which seems like a plausible reason for the human existence. If it were not for the practical applications, it should be done for the vitality of the scientific and academic community. And this is my third point: good education goes hand-in-hand with research. Physics is a corner stone of the majority of the university curricula targeted to educating medical doctors, engineers, and data scientists. While it is possible to envision physics professors who just teach, I would argue that after a while a community without active research would stagnate and start losing expertise.<\/p>\n
And finally, science is a truth-finding mission. It is not about the discovery of the next unexpected phenomena; it is about generating a better understanding of the world we live in. In a rare instance, an explanation of an observed phenomenon requires the introduction of new concepts, yet the majority of the phenomena can be explained using the existing theories. The latter route is the first one to be taken, while the former should be the last resort, taken only when every possible way to explain a particular phenomenon using conventional theories has been exhausted. Yet, the latter route delivers much fewer rewards than the former. Jobs in academic community tend to go to theorists working on the development of new models, and grants are given to people searching for new phenomena. Prizes are awarded for the discoveries.<\/p>\n