Winston Churchill is attributed as saying – The further backward you look, the further forward you can see. Mr. Churchill correctly stated – The longer you can look back, the farther you can look ahead, according to the site: winstonchurchill.org. The British Prime Minister probably did not have physics on his mind when he stated these words. He was, however, a non-academic historian, brilliant strategist during World War II, prolific writer, and science enthusiast.
At age 22, while in India with the British Army in 1896, Churchill read Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and a physics manual. He wondered if the hydrogen atoms in water could combine to form helium. This speculation may have come from discussions with his scientific advisor, Frederick Lindemann, a British physicist. Churchill was England’s first Prime Minister to employ a scientific consultant.
In 1919, Lindemann became a professor of Experimental Physics at the Oxford University and Director of the Clarendon Laboratory. The latter studies atomic and laser physics, biophysics, and condensed matter physics.
The context of Churchill’s quote is not locatable. Perhaps, the words have several applications to mirror the numerous quotations referring to history repeating itself. For example:
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Words of George Santayana – born in Madrid in 1863 as Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás. He later anglicized his name, becoming an American philosopher, poet, and novelist with a Ph.D. from Harvard.
What about Physics?
The above quotations from these famous individuals illustrate their perspective on studying and understanding the past. After all, isn’t science about building on prior experimentation, analyzing past successes and failures, and examining the results of those who have gone before you? And it is not just the past scientific accomplishments that influence the future, but even science fiction.
French science-fiction novelist Jules Verne wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas in 1870, which became the inspiration for Simon Lake’s first submarine model in 1892. He launched the experimental craft, named The Argonaut Junior, in 1894, before establishing the Lake Submarine Company of New Jersey in 1895. The next version, the Argonaut, was the first submarine to operate successfully in the open sea. Verne sent Lake a congratulatory letter.
Albert Einstein in 1944 replied to a letter from the newly appointed physics teacher at the University of Puerto Rico, Robert A. Thornton, regarding the philosophy of science. Einstein opined that the educational value of history and philosophy of science is paramount. In 1916, he used the word epistemology in an obituary for Ernst Mach, German physicists renowned for his shock waves study (from which we have the term: Mach speed or speed of sound).
Do college physics programs support history?
What do some college curricula reveal about the importance of historical achievements in this field? The following are examples.
Case Western Reserve University’s College of Arts and Sciences Bachelor of Science in Physics has two courses: Introductory Physics. Students explore Newton’s laws, Coulomb’s law, and Gauss’s law during the first year. Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1726) was an English mathematician and physicist who formulated motion and gravitation laws.
Coulomb’s law is named after the French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb whose law refers to the electrical force between charged particles at rest (1785).
Gauss’s law of gravity is named after the German physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss, who developed new knowledge in magnetism, differential geometry, and astronomy.
The Bachelor of Science major at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, studies Maxwell’s equations for James Clerk Maxwell. The latter in 1861 demonstrated how fluctuating electric current propagates at a constant speed in a vacuum. He built on the discovery of his predecessor, Michael Faraday, who experimented with electromagnetic induction. He is also included in the coursework of undergraduate physics programs.
Another name you may see in undergraduate physics classes is American Physicist Arthur Compton, specifically the Compton Effect. His 1922 theory refers to the increase in wavelength of x-rays or gamma rays (photons) due to their dispersion by a charged particle – typically an electron. This revelation allowed him to receive the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The above examples of courses should confirm the importance of studying the history of physics. The context of this post has centered on the academic infusion of past discoveries in physics. In the professional world, especially in research, the physicist knows what did and didn’t work in the past. Whether it was days or centuries ago, scientists add to the foundation of others. Galileo, dubbed the father of astronomy and physics, was familiar with Aristotle’s theory on stars. Aristotle believed in a geocentric universe, and the stars were unchangeable. Galileo disproved the ancient scientist in 1615.
Conclusion
In careers like solar physics, health physics, aerospace, energy, or manufacturing, the study of history beyond your undergraduate or graduate years might be inconsequential. However, in teaching and research professions, further refresher courses and self-study might prove to be beneficial.
Additional Resources:
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