Overview of 20th Century Physics

Author: Yuan Yunkai, Chief Editor; Xu Xinjin, Sub-series Editor
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-03-01
Features: This book is organized as follows. Chapter 1 serves as the foundation, introducing three key areas: relativity, quantum mechanics, and quantum field theory. For the first two of these, readers may have encountered them previously. However, considering their importance and the necessity for reform in the content and methods of secondary school physics education in the future, we have provided a more comprehensive overview in a concise manner, hoping readers will gain a thorough understanding of their fundamental concepts, theories, and methods. Chapter 2 introduces knowledge about the material world at the levels of fundamental particles and quarks, representing the frontier of current exploration and research into the deep microscopic realm. Chapter 3 covers an important field in the physics of solids at the molecular and atomic levels, a branch of physics directly derived from quantum theory. Many aspects of the new technological fields that emerged from the quantum theory mentioned earlier have been realized through solid-state physics. Chapter 4 introduces theories about the evolution of the universe and celestial bodies over the past half-century, once again demonstrating a concept that physicists realized during the creation of relativity and quantum theory: only objects and natural phenomena that can be observed and measured in a strict experimental sense are meaningful and can be understood. Chapter 5 presents research findings on far-from-equilibrium regions and nonlinear natural phenomena over the past few decades. These complex phenomena can exist in macroscopic, microscopic, and even cosmic worlds. Chapter 6 briefly introduces the role of physics in the fundamental theories of life sciences. Simple molecules can combine with each other under suitable conditions to form more complex molecules, which in turn can replicate themselves. Understanding the principles behind this process may still take considerable time. Physicists have much work to do in this field at the molecular level of material structure. The appendix lists the Nobel Prizes in Physics, aiming to provide a brief review of the achievements of physics over the past century. This content is valuable for reference in the practice and reform of secondary school physics education.