WHY PHYSICS? Why indeed, seems increasingly to be the reply from students at schools and universities throughout the UK. Over the past five years, many British universities have either closed or streamlined their physics departments, while the numbers of pupils studying physics at school continues to fall. Yet this decline is occurring at a time when the subject is becoming increasingly important in our everyday lives.
It is the work of atmospheric physicists that has led to a better understanding of the dynamics of the ozone layer and of the greenhouse warming effect. Geophysicists are at the forefront of the increasingly important search for new energy and mineral reserves. And biophysicists are leading research into the structure of membrane proteins which is helping us to understand the molecular basis of how nerve and receptor cells function.
These are only a few examples of the importance of physics in our modern ...
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