物理学的过去、现在与未来(一)

Physics: The Past,Present and Future (1)

冯端院士以历史透视为主线,对物理学的发展进行了综述。从经典物理学牛顿建立的运动定律和万有引力定律开始,推进到连续介质力学,电磁学,光学,广义相对论,量子力学,确定了微观世界的物理规律,称之谓当代物理。随着研究的深入,实验技术与实验装置得到了高速发展,计算机和计算机模拟已成为实验与理论并立的科学研究的第三个支柱。物理学是一门生气勃勃的学科,它与技术没有截然的分界线,它与其他自然科学也没有截然的分界线。当今的许多工程学科都植根于经典物理学的某一分支,如:原子能技术,微电子技术,光电技术等。由于采用大量和技术有关的研究手段,因而物理学会对当代的信息、网络技术作出重要贡献。

With history as the main line,the paper reviews the development of physics. It starts with the Newton’s laws of motion and universal gravitation in the classical physics,then extends to continuum mechanics,electromagnetism,general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics,and finally establishes the physical laws for microcosmos. All of these results are known as advanced physics. By the development of scientific research,the experimental techniques and experimental instruments are developed speedily. Paralleling with experiment and theory,the computer and simulation have become the third backbone of science research. Physics is now a spirited subject,it has no clear boundary with technology,as well as other natural subjects. At present,many engineering subjects are rooted with some branches of physics,e. g.,nuclear technology,micro-electronic technique and photoelectric technology,etc. Because lots research methods which are related to technology have been applied,we are sure that physics will make important contributions to modern information and network technologies.