Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!sri-unix!katz@uci-750a From: katz%uci-750a@sri-unix.UUCP Newsgroups: net.space Subject: Re: big bangs / ultimate problems Message-ID: <12197@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Wed, 11-Apr-84 08:31:39 EDT Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.12197 Posted: Wed Apr 11 08:31:39 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 9-May-84 23:46:50 EDT Lines: 17 From: Martin D. Katz At the end of the 19th century, Michaelson (one of the most prominent physicists of his time) said (I paraphrase from memory): Advances in physics will come in the sixth decimal place. Thus meaning that all is known and the rest of physics will be just further experiments to improve accuracy. By this time, Michaelson and Morely had done an experiment which was to be one of the keys to showing that Newtonian mechanics would not properly describe light, and thus helped lead to Special Relativity. Since the Michaelson's statement, we have had several revolutions in physics (of varying importance) including: Special and General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Quarks, etc. Unexplained deviations from theory, and contortions in theory, such as those at the end of the last century, currently plague physics. It is not clear whether a new revolution is needed, but statements which assert that only the first microsecond hold surprises remind me about Michaelson's assertion.