Physics is the scientific study of matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and

[1]
behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. It is
[2][3][4]
one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines. A scientist who specializes in
the field of physics is called a physicist.

[5]
Physics is one of the oldest academic disciplines. Over much of the past two
millennia, physics, chemistry, biology, and certain branches of mathematics were a part
of natural philosophy, but during the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century, these
natural sciences branched into separate research endeavors. Physics intersects with
many interdisciplinary areas of research, such as biophysics and quantum chemistry,
and the boundaries of physics are not rigidly defined. New ideas in physics often explain
[2]
the fundamental mechanisms studied by other sciences and suggest new avenues of
research in these and other academic disciplines such as mathematics and philosophy.

Advances in physics often enable new technologies. For example, advances in the
understanding of electromagnetism, solid-state physics, and nuclear physics led directly
to the development of technologies that have transformed modern society, such as
[2]
television, computers, domestic appliances, and nuclear weapons; advances in
thermodynamics led to the development of industrialization; and advances in mechanics
inspired the development of calculus.

History
Main article: History of physics
The word physics comes from the Latin physica ('study of nature'), which itself is a
borrowing of the Greek φυσική (phusikḗ 'natural science'), a term derived from φύσις
[6][7][8]
(phúsis 'origin, nature, property').

Ancient astronomy
Main article: History of astronomy
 Ancient Egyptian astronomy is evident in monuments like the ceiling of Senemut's tomb from the
Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.

Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences. Early civilizations dating before 3000
BCE, such as the Sumerians, ancient Egyptians, and the Indus Valley Civilisation, had a
predictive knowledge and a basic awareness of the motions of the Sun, Moon, and
stars. The stars and planets, believed to represent gods, were often worshipped. While
the explanations for the observed positions of the stars were often unscientific and
lacking in evidence, these early observations laid the foundation for later astronomy, as
[5]
the stars were found to traverse great circles across the sky, which could not explain
the positions of the planets.

According to Asger Aaboe, the origins of Western astronomy can be found in

Mesopotamia, and all Western efforts in the exact sciences are descended from late
[9]
Babylonian astronomy. Egyptian astronomers left monuments showing knowledge of
[10]
the constellations and the motions of the celestial bodies, while Greek poet Homer
wrote of various celestial objects in his Iliad and Odyssey; later Greek astronomers
provided names, which are still used today, for most constellations visible from the
[11]
Northern Hemisphere.

Natural philosophy
Main article: Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy has its origins in Greece during the Archaic period (650 BCE – 480
BCE), when pre-Socratic philosophers like Thales rejected non-naturalistic explanations
 [12]
for natural phenomena and proclaimed that every event had a natural cause. They
proposed ideas verified by reason and observation, and many of their hypotheses
[13]
proved successful in experiment; for example, atomism was found to be correct
approximately 2000 years after it was proposed by Leucippus and his pupil
[14]
Democritus.

Aristotle and Hellenistic physics

Aristotle

(384–322 BCE)

During the classical period in Greece (6th, 5th and 4th centuries BCE) and in Hellenistic
times, natural philosophy developed along many lines of inquiry. Aristotle (Greek:
Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs) (384–322 BCE), a student of Plato, wrote on many subjects,
including a substantial treatise on "Physics" – in the 4th century BC. Aristotelian physics
was influential for about two millennia. His approach mixed some limited observation
with logical deductive arguments, but did not rely on experimental verification of
deduced statements. Aristotle's foundational work in Physics, though very imperfect,
formed a framework against which later thinkers further developed the field. His
approach is entirely superseded today.

He explained ideas such as motion (and gravity) with the theory of four elements.
Aristotle believed that each of the four classical elements (air, fire, water, earth) had its
[15]
own natural place. Because of their differing densities, each element will revert to its
[16]
own specific place in the atmosphere. So, because of their weights, fire would be at
the top, air underneath fire, then water, then lastly earth. He also stated that when a
small amount of one element enters the natural place of another, the less abundant
element will automatically go towards its own natural place. For example, if there is a
fire on the ground, the flames go up into the air in an attempt to go back into its natural
place where it belongs. His laws of motion included: that heavier objects will fall faster,
the speed being proportional to the weight and the speed of the object that is falling
[17]
depends inversely on the density object it is falling through (e.g. density of air). He
also stated that, when it comes to violent motion (motion of an object when a force is
applied to it by a second object) that the speed that object moves, will only be as fast or
[17]
strong as the measure of force applied to it. The problem of motion and its causes
was studied carefully, leading to the philosophical notion of a "prime mover" as the
ultimate source of all motion in the world (Book 8 of his treatise Physics).

Medieval European and Islamic

Main articles: European science in the Middle Ages and Physics in the medieval Islamic
world

Ibn al-Haytham (c. 965 – c. 1040) wrote of his camera obscura experiments in the Book of
[18]
Optics.

The Western Roman Empire fell to invaders and internal decay in the fifth century,
resulting in a decline in intellectual pursuits in western Europe. By contrast, the Eastern
Roman Empire (usually known as the Byzantine Empire) resisted the attacks from
[19]
invaders and continued to advance various fields of learning, including physics. In
the sixth century, John Philoponus challenged the dominant Aristotelian approach to
[20]
science although much of his work was focused on Christian theology.
In the sixth century, Isidore of Miletus created an important compilation of Archimedes'
works that are copied in the Archimedes Palimpsest. Islamic scholarship inherited
Aristotelian physics from the Greeks and during the Islamic Golden Age developed it
further, especially placing emphasis on observation and a priori reasoning, developing
early forms of the scientific method.

The most notable innovations under Islamic scholarship were in the field of optics and
[21]
vision, which came from the works of many scientists like Ibn Sahl, Al-Kindi, Ibn
al-Haytham, Al-Farisi and Avicenna. The most notable work was The Book of Optics
(also known as Kitāb al-Manāẓir), written by Ibn al-Haytham, in which he presented the
[22]
alternative to the ancient Greek idea about vision. His discussed his experiments
with camera obscura, showing that light moved in a straight line; he encouraged readers
to reproduce his experiments making him one of the originators of the scientific
[23][24]
method

The basic way camera obscura works

Scientific Revolution
Further information: History_of_physics § Scientific_Revolution
Physics became a separate science when early modern Europeans used experimental
and quantitative methods to discover what are now considered to be the laws of
[25][page needed]
physics.

Major developments in this period include the replacement of the geocentric model of
the Solar System with the heliocentric Copernican model, the laws governing the motion
of planetary bodies (determined by Johannes Kepler between 1609 and 1619), Galileo's
pioneering work on telescopes and observational astronomy in the 16th and 17th
centuries, and Isaac Newton's discovery and unification of the laws of motion and
[26]
universal gravitation (that would come to bear his name). Newton, and separately
 [27]
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, developed calculus, the mathematical study of continuous
[28]
change, and Newton applied it to solve physical problems.

​
●​
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) related mathematics, theoretical physics, and
experimental physics.
●​ ​

​
Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) explained planetary motions, formulating the first
"natural laws" in the modern sense[29]
●​ ​

​
Isaac Newton discovered the laws of motion and universal gravitation
19th century
Further information: History_of_physics § 19th_century
The discovery of laws in thermodynamics, chemistry, and electromagnetics resulted
[30]
from research efforts during the Industrial Revolution as energy needs increased. By
the end of the 19th century, theories of thermodynamics, mechanics, and
electromagnetics matched a wide variety of observations. Taken together these theories
[31]: 2
became the basis for what would later be called classical physics.

A few experimental results remained inexplicable. Classical electromagnetism

presumed a medium, an luminiferous aether to support the propagation of waves, but
this medium could not be detected. The intensity of light from hot glowing blackbody
objects did not match the predictions of thermodynamics and electromagnetism. The
character of electron emission of illuminated metals differed from predictions. These
failures, seemingly insignificant in the big picture would upset the physics world in first
[31]
two decades of the 20th century.

20th century
See also: History of special relativity and History of quantum mechanics
Further information: History of physics § 20th century: birth of modern physics
 [32]
Max Planck (1858–1947), proposed quanta to explain the blackbody spectrum, originating
[33][34]
quantum theory.

Albert Einstein (1879–1955), discovered the photoelectric effect and theory of relativity.

Modern physics began in the early 20th century with the work of Max Planck in quantum
theory and Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Both of these theories came about due
to inaccuracies in classical mechanics in certain situations. Classical mechanics
predicted that the speed of light depends on the motion of the observer, which could not
be resolved with the constant speed predicted by Maxwell's equations of
electromagnetism. This discrepancy was corrected by Einstein's theory of special
relativity, which replaced classical mechanics for fast-moving bodies and allowed for a
[35]
constant speed of light. Black-body radiation provided another problem for classical
physics, which was corrected when Planck proposed that the excitation of material
oscillators is possible only in discrete steps proportional to their frequency. This, along
with the photoelectric effect and a complete theory predicting discrete energy levels of
electron orbitals, led to the theory of quantum mechanics improving on classical physics
[36]
at very small scales.