Physics seeks to explain how the universe works — from the motion of everyday objects to the behavior of galaxies, atoms, and the fundamental particles that make up reality.
A look at some of the ideas that transformed our understanding of nature.
Developed by Isaac Newton, these three laws describe the relationship between forces, motion, and mass. They form the foundation of classical mechanics and accurately describe many everyday situations.
Einstein's theories of special and general relativity changed how we understand space, time, gravity, and motion. General relativity describes gravity as the curvature of spacetime caused by matter and energy.
Quantum mechanics describes nature at extremely small scales. Particles such as electrons can behave in ways that have no direct equivalent in our everyday experience, including superposition and wave-particle duality.
The Big Bang model describes an expanding universe that was once in an extremely hot and dense state. Evidence such as cosmic expansion and the cosmic microwave background supports this model.
Some milestones in the development of modern physics.
Isaac Newton publishes Principia, presenting his laws of motion and universal gravitation.
Albert Einstein publishes his work on special relativity and the famous mass-energy relationship E = mc².
Einstein presents general relativity, providing a new description of gravity based on the geometry of spacetime.
Scientists including Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Born, and Dirac develop the mathematical framework of quantum mechanics.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.”
— Albert Einstein