Read article: Supersymmetry makes its case
In 1951 Herman Weyl, a pioneer in the application of the mathematics of symmetry to physics, published a popular account of the field. His book was called, quite simply, Symmetry. To the uninitiated, ...
Read article: Science centres face the future
The UK is about to experience an explosion in the number of new interactive science centres. By this time next year about a dozen major new science-centre projects will have opened (see table). These ...
Thomas Baumgarte did not plan to stay in the United States. “It happened in several stages,” says the German-born astrophysics post-doc at the University of Illinois. A one-year undergradu...
The mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead once wrote: “When we consider what religion is for mankind, and what science is, it is no exaggeration to say that the future course of h...
Anyone who visits the Alhambra palace in Granada will marvel at the intricate arabesque designs that decorate everything from the tiles and plasterwork to woodcarvings and the lattice-work in the wind...
Read article: Brain drains and gains
Science is a truly international activity: indeed, Einstein told us that the laws of physics are the same everywhere in the universe, not just everywhere on Earth. Mobility between nations has always ...
Having just scooped this year’s Aventis Prize for Science Books, Brian Greene’s The Elegant Universe shot back to the top of the best-seller list of physics books for the month of May at A...
Thomas Kuhn is famous for writing the surprise best-seller The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Who would have thought that a book published in 1962 on the history of science would turn out to be ...
Read article: A new framework for Europe
Philippe Busquin, the European Union’s commissioner for research, has moved with remarkable speed since he was appointed last September. By January he had published a consultation paper on his b...
Read article: How to survive the 21st century
What is happening to the subject that we have loved and served? More than any other discipline, physics has transformed the face of civilization, particularly during the last century. It has developed...
