What was the last discovery in pure physics that influenced (eg. improved) our way of life?

Same question for astronomy.

I’m not talking about accidental “spin-offs” here.

mollwollfumble said:

What was the last discovery in pure physics that influenced (eg. improved) our way of life?

Same question for astronomy.

I’m not talking about accidental “spin-offs” here.

Eh? Most of the ways physics has improved our lives has been through spinoffs.
Usually there’s about a 60 year lag.

dv said:

mollwollfumble said:

What was the last discovery in pure physics that influenced (eg. improved) our way of life?

Same question for astronomy.

I’m not talking about accidental “spin-offs” here.

Eh? Most of the ways physics has improved our lives has been through spinoffs.
Usually there’s about a 60 year lag.

I think the definition of “spin-offs” is sufficiently vague that we can ignore that.

I’m going for the physics that allowed the development of electrical devices we can use in our everyday lives.

A hell of a lot of spinoffs from the discovery of electricity.

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

mollwollfumble said:

What was the last discovery in pure physics that influenced (eg. improved) our way of life?

Same question for astronomy.

I’m not talking about accidental “spin-offs” here.

Eh? Most of the ways physics has improved our lives has been through spinoffs.
Usually there’s about a 60 year lag.

I think the definition of “spin-offs” is sufficiently vague that we can ignore that.

I’m going for the physics that allowed the development of electrical devices we can use in our everyday lives.

So electricity.. 1752

Ian said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

Eh? Most of the ways physics has improved our lives has been through spinoffs.
Usually there’s about a 60 year lag.

I think the definition of “spin-offs” is sufficiently vague that we can ignore that.

I’m going for the physics that allowed the development of electrical devices we can use in our everyday lives.

So electricity.. 1752

I suppose radio waves could be a contender.

Ian said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

Eh? Most of the ways physics has improved our lives has been through spinoffs.
Usually there’s about a 60 year lag.

I think the definition of “spin-offs” is sufficiently vague that we can ignore that.

I’m going for the physics that allowed the development of electrical devices we can use in our everyday lives.

So electricity.. 1752

I suppose radio waves could be a contender.

The Rev Dodgson said:

Ian said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

I think the definition of “spin-offs” is sufficiently vague that we can ignore that.

I’m going for the physics that allowed the development of electrical devices we can use in our everyday lives.

So electricity.. 1752

I suppose radio waves could be a contender.

Would you count field effects in semiconductors at least?

The Rev Dodgson said:

Ian said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

I think the definition of “spin-offs” is sufficiently vague that we can ignore that.

I’m going for the physics that allowed the development of electrical devices we can use in our everyday lives.

So electricity.. 1752

I suppose radio waves could be a contender.

Also the photo-electric effect.

(From the same guy in the same year).

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Ian said:

So electricity.. 1752

I suppose radio waves could be a contender.

Would you count field effects in semiconductors at least?

Maybe.

Up to moll though I suppose.

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Ian said:

So electricity.. 1752

I suppose radio waves could be a contender.

Would you count field effects in semiconductors at least?

I think that was back in the 20s.

CRISPR gene editing.

Witty Rejoinder said:

CRISPR gene editing.

Physics?

Witty Rejoinder said:

CRISPR gene editing.

Country trap music

sibeen said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

CRISPR gene editing.

Physics?

it’s not really stamp collecting

sibeen said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

CRISPR gene editing.

Physics?

Yeah i thought that after posting. Still science is science.

Witty Rejoinder said:

sibeen said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

CRISPR gene editing.

Physics?

Yeah i thought that after posting. Still science is science.

It could reasonable be argued that all the sciences are branches of physics. Except perhaps taxonomy.

Maybe nuclear fission, it has helped with electricity generation but has also influenced the so far avoidance of ww3.

Pretty sure taxonomy is physics

dv said:

Pretty sure taxonomy is physics

You sound confident.

we don’t know. physics is an ongoing exploration of the unknown and even though we have come far the end still is not in sight.

Bogsnorkler said:

we don’t know. physics is an ongoing exploration of the unknown and even though we have come far the end still is not in sight.

THE ANCIENTS KNEW

Witty Rejoinder said:

Bogsnorkler said:

we don’t know. physics is an ongoing exploration of the unknown and even though we have come far the end still is not in sight.

THE ANCIENTS KNEW FUCK ALL!

the very last discovery in astronomy might be that asteroid headed our way

Witty Rejoinder said:

Bogsnorkler said:

we don’t know. physics is an ongoing exploration of the unknown and even though we have come far the end still is not in sight.

THE ANCIENTS KNEW

What a pity that they didn’t bother to write it down then.

captain_spalding said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

Bogsnorkler said:

we don’t know. physics is an ongoing exploration of the unknown and even though we have come far the end still is not in sight.

THE ANCIENTS KNEW

What a pity that they didn’t bother to write it down then.

Oh i dunno. People have been burning books since time immemorial.

Witty Rejoinder said:

captain_spalding said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

THE ANCIENTS KNEW

What a pity that they didn’t bother to write it down then.

Oh i dunno. People have been burning books since time immemorial.

They could have carved it in stone.

‘What should we carve here? All that superb physics stuff, or some guff about what a shit-hot pharoah this bloke was?’

Arts said:

the very last discovery in astronomy might be that asteroid headed our way

And once earth is destroyed the universe will all but cease to exist as well since there will be no one to observe it.

Peak Warming Man said:

Arts said:

the very last discovery in astronomy might be that asteroid headed our way

And once earth is destroyed the universe will all but cease to exist as well since there will be no one to observe it.

it’s cold outside, there’s no kind of atmosphere…

Peak Warming Man said:

dv said:

Pretty sure taxonomy is physics

You sound confident.

Thank you!

I checked through the latest Nobel prizes in physics.

“Optical tweezers” comes from 1987 and uses lasers to safely pick up small objects such as bacteria .

A little esoteric perhaps, but at least it’s practical.

I would like to say lithium ion battery but that really counts as chemistry. The Nobel prize committee thinks it’s chemistry. The penultimate version (only changes in anode carbon construction after that) was in 1987.

Before 1987. MRI perhaps.
The theory of MRI was published in 1973. Won a Nobel prize for medicine.

I often find that “peak theoretical science” occurred in the 1970s. After that there was heaps of theory but none of it was confirmed by experiment. (Eg superstrings and supersymmetry and axions don’t exist). In actual theoretical astronomy, only slow roll cosmic inflation came after that, in 1982.

As for practical applications of astronomy. Um, none since GPS.

Arts said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Arts said:

the very last discovery in astronomy might be that asteroid headed our way

And once earth is destroyed the universe will all but cease to exist as well since there will be no one to observe it.

it’s cold outside, there’s no kind of atmosphere…

fires up me trusty Plagiarism Checker. Hmmmmm.

Bogsnorkler said:

Arts said:

Peak Warming Man said:

And once earth is destroyed the universe will all but cease to exist as well since there will be no one to observe it.

it’s cold outside, there’s no kind of atmosphere…

fires up me trusty Plagiarism Checker. Hmmmmm.

it was less than 20% and I’m not making a profit from it… so suck it

Peak Warming Man said:

Arts said:

the very last discovery in astronomy might be that asteroid headed our way

And once earth is destroyed the universe will all but cease to exist as well since there will be no one to observe it.

If we die, then does God die with us?

Arts said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Arts said:

the very last discovery in astronomy might be that asteroid headed our way

And once earth is destroyed the universe will all but cease to exist as well since there will be no one to observe it.

it’s cold outside, there’s no kind of atmosphere…

That’s we need to simp for Elon Musk so he’ll set up martian colonies

Arts said:

Bogsnorkler said:

Arts said:

it’s cold outside, there’s no kind of atmosphere…

fires up me trusty Plagiarism Checker. Hmmmmm.

it was less than 20% and I’m not making a profit from it… so suck it

OK, so what (precisely and correctly) are the words to the line often taken as ‘golfing shoes nipping at my toes’?

CT scans could either be regarded as a mathematical or physics development

dv said:

Arts said:

Peak Warming Man said:

And once earth is destroyed the universe will all but cease to exist as well since there will be no one to observe it.

it’s cold outside, there’s no kind of atmosphere…

That’s we need to simp for Elon Musk so he’ll set up martian colonies

Simp was a Clarke invention.

In Rendezvous With Rama, Arthur C Clarke introduces a race of genetically engineered “Superchimps” whose tails & low IQ make them suitable to menial tasks in the zero gravity of space. They are sexless vegans easily sated by TV & games. Their name is usually shortened to “simps”

captain_spalding said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Arts said:

the very last discovery in astronomy might be that asteroid headed our way

And once earth is destroyed the universe will all but cease to exist as well since there will be no one to observe it.

If we die, then does God die with us?

I think the Son and the Holy Ghost could be in trouble.

captain_spalding said:

Arts said:

Bogsnorkler said:

fires up me trusty Plagiarism Checker. Hmmmmm.

it was less than 20% and I’m not making a profit from it… so suck it

OK, so what (precisely and correctly) are the words to the line often taken as ‘golfing shoes nipping at my toes’?

I’m not allowed to type that because we’ve got a nark amongst us…

captain_spalding said:

Arts said:

Bogsnorkler said:

fires up me trusty Plagiarism Checker. Hmmmmm.

it was less than 20% and I’m not making a profit from it… so suck it

OK, so what (precisely and correctly) are the words to the line often taken as ‘golfing shoes nipping at my toes’?

Goldfish shoals
Nibbling at my toes

Bogsnorkler said:

captain_spalding said:

Arts said:

it was less than 20% and I’m not making a profit from it… so suck it

OK, so what (precisely and correctly) are the words to the line often taken as ‘golfing shoes nipping at my toes’?

Goldfish shoals
Nibbling at my toes

oh, how quickly they turn for some online cred… tsk tsk

Bogsnorkler said:

captain_spalding said:

Arts said:

it was less than 20% and I’m not making a profit from it… so suck it

OK, so what (precisely and correctly) are the words to the line often taken as ‘golfing shoes nipping at my toes’?

Goldfish shoals
Nibbling at my toes

As good as any. As illogical as any.

Arts said:

captain_spalding said:

Arts said:

it was less than 20% and I’m not making a profit from it… so suck it

OK, so what (precisely and correctly) are the words to the line often taken as ‘golfing shoes nipping at my toes’?

I’m not allowed to type that because we’ve got a nark amongst us…

captain_spalding said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Arts said:

the very last discovery in astronomy might be that asteroid headed our way

And once earth is destroyed the universe will all but cease to exist as well since there will be no one to observe it.

If we die, then does God die with us?

He’s running a racket on a few planets I reckon.

mollwollfumble said:

I checked through the latest Nobel prizes in physics.

“Optical tweezers” comes from 1987 and uses lasers to safely pick up small objects such as bacteria .

A little esoteric perhaps, but at least it’s practical.

I would like to say lithium ion battery but that really counts as chemistry. The Nobel prize committee thinks it’s chemistry. The penultimate version (only changes in anode carbon construction after that) was in 1987.

Before 1987. MRI perhaps.
The theory of MRI was published in 1973. Won a Nobel prize for medicine.

I often find that “peak theoretical science” occurred in the 1970s. After that there was heaps of theory but none of it was confirmed by experiment. (Eg superstrings and supersymmetry and axions don’t exist). In actual theoretical astronomy, only slow roll cosmic inflation came after that, in 1982.

As for practical applications of astronomy. Um, none since GPS.

And as for practical applications of pure mathematics. Not a lot since fractals.

Fractal landscapes appeared in 1980.

Animation of water is more recent than that. Key dates in the animation of water are 1965, 1996 and 1999.

dv said:

CT scans could either be regarded as a mathematical or physics development

Mathematical. Solution of the inverse problem.

But MRI is physics. Hold on. Were CT scans invented before or after MRI scans?

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

I checked through the latest Nobel prizes in physics.

“Optical tweezers” comes from 1987 and uses lasers to safely pick up small objects such as bacteria .

A little esoteric perhaps, but at least it’s practical.

I would like to say lithium ion battery but that really counts as chemistry. The Nobel prize committee thinks it’s chemistry. The penultimate version (only changes in anode carbon construction after that) was in 1987.

Before 1987. MRI perhaps.
The theory of MRI was published in 1973. Won a Nobel prize for medicine.

I often find that “peak theoretical science” occurred in the 1970s. After that there was heaps of theory but none of it was confirmed by experiment. (Eg superstrings and supersymmetry and axions don’t exist). In actual theoretical astronomy, only slow roll cosmic inflation came after that, in 1982.

As for practical applications of astronomy. Um, none since GPS.

And as for practical applications of pure mathematics. Not a lot since fractals.

Fractal landscapes appeared in 1980.

Animation of water is more recent than that. Key dates in the animation of water are 1965, 1996 and 1999.

Water was created on the third day, Pilgrim.

Arts said:

Bogsnorkler said:

Arts said:

it’s cold outside, there’s no kind of atmosphere…

fires up me trusty Plagiarism Checker. Hmmmmm.

it was less than 20% and I’m not making a profit from it… so suck it

And now I’m going to be singing it for half an hour at least. Thanks.

Charles Kao won a nobel for inventing the basics of fibre optics thats pretty important now for medicine and the internet

buffy said:

Arts said:

Bogsnorkler said:

fires up me trusty Plagiarism Checker. Hmmmmm.

it was less than 20% and I’m not making a profit from it… so suck it

And now I’m going to be singing it for half an hour at least. Thanks.

you’re very welcome..

mollwollfumble said:

I checked through the latest Nobel prizes in physics.

“Optical tweezers” comes from 1987 and uses lasers to safely pick up small objects such as bacteria .

A little esoteric perhaps, but at least it’s practical.

I would like to say lithium ion battery but that really counts as chemistry. The Nobel prize committee thinks it’s chemistry. The penultimate version (only changes in anode carbon construction after that) was in 1987.

Before 1987. MRI perhaps.
The theory of MRI was published in 1973. Won a Nobel prize for medicine.

I often find that “peak theoretical science” occurred in the 1970s. After that there was heaps of theory but none of it was confirmed by experiment. (Eg superstrings and supersymmetry and axions don’t exist). In actual theoretical astronomy, only slow roll cosmic inflation came after that, in 1982.

As for practical applications of astronomy. Um, none since GPS.

MRI’s a good one.

I wonder if there is other stuff based on more recent physics used in surgery.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

I checked through the latest Nobel prizes in physics.

“Optical tweezers” comes from 1987 and uses lasers to safely pick up small objects such as bacteria .

A little esoteric perhaps, but at least it’s practical.

I would like to say lithium ion battery but that really counts as chemistry. The Nobel prize committee thinks it’s chemistry. The penultimate version (only changes in anode carbon construction after that) was in 1987.

Before 1987. MRI perhaps.
The theory of MRI was published in 1973. Won a Nobel prize for medicine.

I often find that “peak theoretical science” occurred in the 1970s. After that there was heaps of theory but none of it was confirmed by experiment. (Eg superstrings and supersymmetry and axions don’t exist). In actual theoretical astronomy, only slow roll cosmic inflation came after that, in 1982.

As for practical applications of astronomy. Um, none since GPS.

And as for practical applications of pure mathematics. Not a lot since fractals.

Fractal landscapes appeared in 1980.

Animation of water is more recent than that. Key dates in the animation of water are 1965, 1996 and 1999.

There have been some recent linear algebra routines that are much faster than older ones. I wonder if there is any new maths in that.

The Rev Dodgson said:

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

I checked through the latest Nobel prizes in physics.

“Optical tweezers” comes from 1987 and uses lasers to safely pick up small objects such as bacteria .

A little esoteric perhaps, but at least it’s practical.

I would like to say lithium ion battery but that really counts as chemistry. The Nobel prize committee thinks it’s chemistry. The penultimate version (only changes in anode carbon construction after that) was in 1987.

Before 1987. MRI perhaps.
The theory of MRI was published in 1973. Won a Nobel prize for medicine.

I often find that “peak theoretical science” occurred in the 1970s. After that there was heaps of theory but none of it was confirmed by experiment. (Eg superstrings and supersymmetry and axions don’t exist). In actual theoretical astronomy, only slow roll cosmic inflation came after that, in 1982.

As for practical applications of astronomy. Um, none since GPS.

And as for practical applications of pure mathematics. Not a lot since fractals.

Fractal landscapes appeared in 1980.

Animation of water is more recent than that. Key dates in the animation of water are 1965, 1996 and 1999.

There have been some recent linear algebra routines that are much faster than older ones. I wonder if there is any new maths in that.

The Fast Fourier transform isn’t that old, and that has made a shedload of difference.

captain_spalding said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Arts said:

the very last discovery in astronomy might be that asteroid headed our way

And once earth is destroyed the universe will all but cease to exist as well since there will be no one to observe it.

If we die, then does God die with us?

There’s no tow bar on the hearse.

reverse time travel

SCIENCE said:

reverse time travel

One of the benefits of a forum that does not all editing of posts is that I can monitor this one and see if SCIENCE has really solved the secret of time travel.

The Rev Dodgson said:

SCIENCE said:

reverse time travel

One of the benefits of a forum that does not all editing of posts is that I can monitor this one and see if SCIENCE has really solved the secret of time travel.

You’ll be there a good while.