Skip to main content

Who is the father of physics?

Although the title "Father of Physics" has not been given to a single individual, Galileo Galilei, Sir Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein have all been called fathers of physics in western cultures.


Galileo Galiliei (1564-1642), known colloquially as Galileo, is best known for his contributions to observational astronomy. His accomplishments include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus (similar to moon phases), the discovery of Jupiter's four largest moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto), and his observation of sunspots. Additionally, Galileo is recognized for his political contributions in spreading scientific knowledge during the Scientific Revolution.


Newton (1643-1727), a key character in the scientific revolution, is best known for his three laws of motion, which laid the foundation for classical mechanics. In summary, these laws state that 1) objects in motion stay in motion unless acted upon by a force, 2) force is equal to the product of mass and acceleration, and 3) for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.


Einstein (1879-1955) is recognized for a multitude of contributions to mathematics and physics. The most notable of Einstein's achievements are his general theory of relativity, the mass-energy equivalence formula (e=mc^2), and his discovery of the photoelectric effect.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more