The merits of physics can hardly be overestimated. Being a science that studies the most general and fundamental laws of the world around us, it has unrecognizably changed human life. Once upon a time, the terms "physics" and "philosophy" were synonymous, since both disciplines were aimed at understanding the universe and the laws that govern it. But later, with the beginning of the scientific and technological revolution, physics became a separate scientific direction. So what did she give to humanity? To answer this question, it is enough to look around. Thanks to the discovery and study of electricity, people use artificial lighting, their lives are facilitated by countless electrical devices. Physicists' study of electrical discharges led to the discovery of radio communication. It is thanks to physical research that the Internet and cell phones are used all over the world. Once upon a time, scientists were sure that devices heavier than air could not fly, it seemed natural and obvious. But the Montgolfier brothers, the inventors of the hot air balloon, followed by the Wright brothers, who created the first airplane, proved these claims unfounded. It is thanks to physics that humanity has put the power of steam at its service. The advent of steam engines, and with them steam locomotives and steamboats, gave a powerful impetus to the industrial revolution. Thanks to the tamed power of steam, people got the opportunity to use mechanisms in factories and factories that not only facilitate labor, but also increase its productivity by tens, hundreds of times. Space flights would not be possible without this science. Thanks to Isaac Newton's discovery of the law gravity it became possible to calculate the force required to remove spaceship into the Earth's orbit. Knowledge of the laws of celestial mechanics allows automatic interplanetary stations launched from the Earth to successfully reach other planets, overcoming millions of kilometers and accurately reaching the designated goal. It can be said without exaggeration that the knowledge gained by physicists over the centuries of the development of science is present in any field of human activity. Take a look at what surrounds you now - the achievements of physics played a major role in the production of all the objects around you. In our time, this science is actively developing, in it such a truly mysterious direction as quantum physics has appeared. Discoveries made in this area can unrecognizably change a person's life.

In the era of industrial and technological progress, philosophy has receded into the background, not every person can clearly answer the question of what kind of science it is and what it does. People are busy with pressing problems, they are of little interest cut off from life. philosophical categories. Does this mean that philosophy has lost its relevance and is no longer needed?

Philosophy is defined as a science that studies the root causes and beginnings of all things. In this sense, it is one of the most important sciences for a person, as it tries to find an answer to the question of the reason for human existence. Why does a person live, why is this life given to him? The answer to this question determines the path that a person chooses.

Being a truly comprehensive science, philosophy includes a variety of disciplines and tries to find answers to questions important for human existence - is there a God, what is good and evil, questions of old age and death, the possibility of objective knowledge of reality, etc. etc. It can be said that the natural sciences provide an answer to the question "how?", while philosophy tries to find the answer to the question "why?"

It is believed that the term "philosophy" itself was coined by Pythagoras, translated from Greek, it means "love of wisdom." It should be noted that, unlike other sciences, in philosophy no one obliges one to base one's reasoning on the experience of predecessors. Freedom, including freedom of thought, is one of the key concepts for the philosopher.

Philosophy arose independently in Ancient China, ancient india and Ancient Greece from where it began to spread throughout the world. The classification of currently existing philosophical disciplines and trends is quite complex and not always unambiguous. The general philosophical disciplines include metaphilosophy, or the philosophy of philosophy. There are philosophical disciplines that explore ways of knowing: logic, theory of knowledge, philosophy of science. Theoretical philosophy includes ontology, metaphysics, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of nature, natural theology, philosophy of spirit, philosophy of consciousness, social philosophy, philosophy of history, philosophy of language. Practical philosophy, sometimes called the philosophy of life (axiology), includes ethics, aesthetics, praxeology (philosophy of activity), social philosophy, geophilosophy, philosophy of religion, law, education, history, politics, economy, technology, ecology. There are other areas of philosophy, you can get acquainted with the full list by looking at the specialized philosophical literature.

Although new Age seems to leave little room for philosophy, its practical significance does not decrease at all - humanity is still looking for answers to the questions of life that concern it. And the way the human civilization will go in its development depends on the answer to these questions.

Richness of speech

In the writings of younger students, one can often find a text with something like this: “The forest was very beautiful. There were beautiful flowers and trees. It was such a beauty!” This happens because vocabulary the child is still quite small, and he has not learned to use synonyms. In the speech of an adult, especially written, such repetitions are considered a lexical error. Synonyms allow you to diversify speech, enrich it.

Shades of meaning

Each of the synonyms, although expressing a similar meaning, gives it its own special shade of meaning. So, in the synonymous series "unique - amazing - impressive" the word "amazing" means an object that causes surprise in the first place, "unique" - an object that is not like the others, one of a kind, and "impressive" - making a strong impression, but this impression may be something other than simple surprise, and also this object may be similar to similar ones, i.e. not be "unique".

Emotionally expressive coloring of speech

The synonymic row contains words that have different expressive and emotional meanings. So, "eyes" is a neutral word denoting the human organ of vision; "eyes" - a word belonging to the bookish style, also means eyes, but, as a rule, large and beautiful. But the word "burkaly" also means big eyes, but not distinguished by beauty, rather ugly. This word carries a negative assessment and belongs to the colloquial style. Another colloquial word "zenki" also means ugly eyes, but small in size.

Value Refinement

Most borrowed words have a synonym - an analogy in Russian. They can be used to clarify the meaning of terms and other special words of foreign origin that may not be understood by a wide range of readers: “Preventive, i.e. preventive measures"

Paradoxically, synonyms can also express opposite shades of meaning. So, in Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" there is the phrase "Tatyana looks and does not see", and this is not perceived as a contradiction, because "to look" is "to direct the gaze in a certain direction", and "to see" is "to perceive and comprehend what is before your eyes. In the same way, the phrases “equal, but not identical”, “not just think, but reflect”, etc. do not cause rejection.

Physics and astronomy.

In modern natural science, physics is one of the leading sciences. It has a huge impact on various branches of science, technology, and production. Let's look at a few examples of how physics affects other areas of modern science and technology.

For millennia, astronomers received only the information about celestial phenomena that light brought to them. We can say that they studied these phenomena through a narrow slit in a vast spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. Three decades ago, thanks to the development of radio physics, radio astronomy arose, which greatly expanded our understanding of the Universe. She helped to learn about the existence of many space objects that were not previously known. An additional source of astronomical knowledge was a section of the electromagnetic scale, which lies in the range of decimeter and centimeter radio waves.

A huge flow of scientific information is brought from space by other types of electromagnetic radiation that do not reach the surface of the Earth, being absorbed in its atmosphere. With the release of man into outer space, new branches of astronomy were born: ultraviolet and infrared astronomy, X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy. The possibility of studying primary cosmic particles that fall on the boundary of the earth's atmosphere has expanded enormously: astronomers can investigate all types of particles and radiation coming from outer space. The amount of scientific information obtained by astronomers in recent decades has far exceeded the amount of information obtained in the entire past history astronomy. The research methods and recording equipment used in this case are borrowed from the arsenal of modern physics; ancient astronomy is turning into a young, rapidly developing astrophysics.

Now the foundations of neutrino astronomy are being created, which will provide scientists with information about the processes occurring in the depths of cosmic bodies, for example, in the depths of our Sun. The creation of neutrino astronomy became possible only thanks to the success of the physics of atomic nuclei and elementary particles.

Physics and biology.

The revolution in biology is usually associated with the emergence of molecular biology and genetics, which study life processes at the molecular level. The main tools and methods used by molecular biology to detect, isolate and study its objects (electron and proton microscopes, X-ray diffraction analysis, electron diffraction, neutron analysis, labeled atoms, ultracentrifuges, etc.) are borrowed from physics. Without these tools, which were born in physical laboratories, biologists would not be able to make a breakthrough to a qualitatively new level in the study of processes occurring in living organisms.

Modern physics plays an important role in the revolutionary restructuring of chemistry, geology, oceanology and a number of other natural sciences.

Physics and technology.

Physics is also at the origin of revolutionary transformations in all areas of technology. Energy, communications, transport, construction, industrial and agricultural production are being rebuilt on the basis of its achievements.

Energy.

The revolution in the energy sector is caused by the emergence of nuclear energy. The energy reserves stored in nuclear fuel far exceed the energy reserves in conventional fuel that has not yet been used up. Coal, oil and natural gas have become unique raw materials for big chemistry these days. To burn them in large quantities is to cause irreparable damage to this important area of modern production. Therefore, it is very important to use nuclear fuel (uranium, thorium) for energy purposes. Thermal power plants have an unavoidable dangerous impact on the environment by emitting carbon dioxide. At the same time, nuclear power plants, with the right level of control, can be safe.

Thermonuclear power plants in the future will forever save mankind from worrying about energy sources. As we already know, the scientific foundations of atomic and thermonuclear energy are entirely based on the achievements of nuclear physics.

The creation of materials with desired properties has led to changes in construction. The technology of the future will be created largely not from ready-made natural materials, which today cannot make it sufficiently reliable and durable, but from synthetic materials with predetermined properties. In the creation of such materials, along with great chemistry, an ever-increasing role will be played by physical methods of influencing a substance (electron, ion, and laser beams; superstrong magnetic fields; ultrahigh pressures and temperatures; ultrasound, etc.). They contain the possibility of obtaining materials with limiting characteristics and creating fundamentally new methods of processing substances that radically change modern technology.

Production automation.

There is a lot of work to be done on the creation of complex-automated production, including flexible automatic lines, industrial robots controlled by microcomputers, as well as a variety of electronic control and measuring equipment. The scientific foundations of this technique are organically linked with radio electronics, physics solid body, nuclear physics and a number of other branches of modern physics.

Physics and informatics.

Physics makes a decisive contribution to the creation of modern computer technology, which is the material basis of informatics. All generations of electronic computers (based on vacuum tubes, semiconductors and integrated circuits), created to this day, were born in modern laboratories.

Modern physics opens up new prospects for further miniaturization, increasing the speed and reliability of computers. The use of lasers and the holography developed on their basis conceals enormous reserves for the improvement of computer technology.

The meaning of physics

Such a close connection of physics with other sciences is explained by the importance of physics, its significance, since physics introduces us to the most general laws of nature that govern the course of processes in the world around us and in the universe as a whole.

The goal of physics is to find the general laws of nature and to explain specific processes based on them. As we progressed towards this goal, a majestic and complex picture of the unity of nature gradually emerged before scientists. The world is not a collection of disparate events independent of each other, but diverse and numerous manifestations of one whole.

Mechanical picture of the world and physics. Many generations of scientists were amazed and continue to be amazed by the majestic and integral picture of the world, which was created on the basis of Newton's mechanics. According to Newton, the whole world consists of "solid, weighty, impenetrable, mobile particles." These "primordial particles are absolutely hard: they are immeasurably harder than the bodies they are composed of, so hard that they never wear out or shatter." They differ from each other mainly quantitatively, in their masses. All the wealth, all the qualitative diversity of the world is the result of differences in the movement of particles. The inner essence of the particles remains in the background.

The basis for such a unified picture of the world was the comprehensive nature of the laws of motion of bodies discovered by Newton. These laws are obeyed with amazing accuracy like huge celestial bodies, and the smallest grains of sand driven by the wind. And even the wind - the movement of air particles not visible to the eye - obeys the same laws. For a long time, scientists believed that Newton's laws of mechanics were the only fundamental laws of nature. The French scientist Lagrange believed that "there is no person happier than Newton: after all, only once one person is destined to build a picture of the world."

However, a simple mechanical picture of the world turned out to be untenable. When studying electromagnetic processes, it turned out that they do not obey Newtonian mechanics. J. Maxwell discovered a new type of fundamental laws that are not reducible to Newtonian mechanics - these are the laws of the behavior of an electromagnetic field.

Electromagnetic picture of the world and physics. In Newton's mechanics, it was assumed that bodies act on each other directly through the void, and these interactions are instantaneous (the theory of long-range action). After the creation of electrodynamics, ideas about forces changed significantly. Each of the interacting bodies creates an electromagnetic field that propagates in space with a finite speed. Interaction is carried out by means of this field (theory of short-range interaction).

Electromagnetic forces are extremely widespread in nature. They act in the atomic nucleus, atom, molecule, between individual molecules in macroscopic bodies. This is because all atoms contain electrically charged particles. The action of electromagnetic forces is detected both at very small distances (the core) and at cosmic distances (the electromagnetic radiation of stars).

The development of electrodynamics led to attempts to build a unified electromagnetic picture of the world. All events in the world according to this picture are controlled by the laws of electromagnetic interactions.

The electromagnetic picture of the world reached its culmination after the creation of the special theory of relativity. The fundamental significance of the finiteness of the velocity of propagation of electromagnetic interactions was understood, a new doctrine of space and time was created, and relativistic equations of motion were found that replace Newton's equations at high velocities.

If at the time of the heyday of the mechanical picture of the world, attempts were made to reduce electromagnetic phenomena to mechanical processes in a special medium (world ether), now they were already striving, on the contrary, to derive the laws of particle motion from electromagnetic theory. They tried to consider the particles of matter as "clots" of the electromagnetic field. However, it was not possible to reduce all processes in nature to electromagnetic ones. The equations of motion of particles and the law of gravitational interaction cannot be derived from the theory of the electromagnetic field. In addition, electrically neutral particles and new types of interaction were discovered. Nature turned out to be more complicated than initially thought: neither a single law of motion, nor a single force is able to cover the entire variety of processes in the world.

The unity of the structure of matter and physics. The world is extremely diverse. But surprisingly, the matter of the stars is exactly the same as the matter of which the Earth is composed. The atoms that make up all the bodies of the universe are exactly the same. Living organisms are made up of the same atoms as non-living ones.

All atoms have the same structure and are built from three kinds of elementary particles. They have nuclei of protons and neutrons surrounded by electrons. Nuclei and electrons interact with each other through an electromagnetic field, the quanta of which are photons.

The interaction between protons and neutrons in the nucleus is carried out mainly by π-mesons, which are quanta of the nuclear field. When neutrons decay, neutrinos are produced. In addition, many other elementary particles have been discovered. But only when particles of very high energies interact do they begin to play an appreciable role.

In the first half of the 20th century, a fundamental fact was discovered: all elementary particles are capable of transforming into each other.

In the 70s. it was found that all strongly interacting particles consist of sub elementary particles- six kinds of quarks. The true elementary particles are leptons and quarks.

After the discovery of elementary particles and their transformations, unity in the structure of matter came to the fore in the unified picture of the world. This unity is based on the materiality of all elementary particles. Various elementary particles are various concrete forms of the existence of matter.

Modern physical picture of the world and the role of physics. The unity of the world is not exhausted by the unity of the structure of matter. It manifests itself both in the laws of motion of particles and in the laws of their interaction.

Despite the amazing variety of interactions of bodies with each other, in nature, according to modern data, there are only four types of forces. These are gravitational forces, electromagnetic, nuclear and weak interactions. The latter are manifested mainly in the transformation of elementary particles into each other. We meet with the manifestation of all four types of forces in the boundless expanses of the Universe, in any bodies on Earth (including living organisms), in atoms and atomic nuclei, in all transformations of elementary particles.

A revolutionary change in the classical ideas about the physical picture of the world occurred after the discovery of the quantum properties of matter. With the advent quantum physics describing the movement of microparticles, new elements of a unified physical picture of the world began to emerge.

The division of matter into matter having a discontinuous structure and a continuous field has lost its absolute meaning. Each field corresponds to the quanta of this field: electromagnetic field- photons, nuclear - π-mesons, and at a deeper level - gluons, which carry out the interaction of quarks.

In turn, all particles have wave properties. Corpuscular-wave dualism is inherent in all forms of matter.

The description of seemingly mutually exclusive corpuscular and wave properties within the framework of one theory turned out to be possible due to the fact that the laws of motion of all microparticles without exception are statistical (probabilistic) in nature. This fact makes it impossible to unambiguously predict one or another behavior of microobjects.

The principles of quantum theory are completely general, applicable to describe the motion of all particles, interactions between them and their mutual transformations.

So, modern physics undoubtedly demonstrates to us the features of the unity of nature. But still, much, perhaps even the very physical essence of the unity of the world, has not yet been captured. It is not known why there are so many different elementary particles, why they have certain values of mass, charge and other characteristics. Until now, all these quantities are determined experimentally.

However, the relationship between different types of interactions is becoming more and more clear. Electromagnetic and weak interactions are already united within the framework of one theory. The structure of the majority of elementary particles has been elucidated.

“Such deep mysteries and such sublime thoughts are hidden here that, despite the efforts of hundreds of the most ingenious thinkers who have worked for thousands of years, they have not yet been able to penetrate them, and the joy of creative searches and discoveries still continues to exist.” These words, spoken by Galileo three and a half centuries ago, are by no means obsolete.

Scientific outlook. The fundamental laws established in physics, in their complexity and generality, far exceed those facts with which the study of any phenomena begins. But they are just as reliable and just as objective as knowledge of simple phenomena that are directly observed. These laws are never violated, under any circumstances.

More and more more people realize that the objective laws followed by nature exclude miracles, and the knowledge of these laws will allow humanity to survive.

In integrated circuits, instead of conventional radio components and wires connecting them, thin layers of molecules of a certain type are used, introduced inside a semiconductor crystal or deposited on its surface. Thanks to this, it is possible to place hundreds of thousands of transistors and other circuit elements on the surface of a semiconductor crystal with an area of 1 square centimeter.

Physics and its connection with other sciences. Modern look. The greatest scientific and technological revolution is currently taking place, which began more than a quarter of a century ago. It produced profound qualitative changes in many

The role of physics (and individual physical disciplines) in the formation of science and the stages of its development. What discoveries and how influenced the change in the worldview of people in general?

Speaking about the role of physics for mankind, there are three main spheres of influence. Firstly, physics is for people the most important source of knowledge about the surrounding world. Secondly, physics, continuously expanding and repeatedly multiplying the capabilities of man, ensures his confident progress along the path of technical progress. Thirdly, physics makes a significant contribution to the development of the spiritual image of a person, forms his worldview, and teaches him to navigate the scale of cultural values.

The roots of physics, and of all Western science in general, are to be found in the early period of Greek philosophy in the sixth century BC. e. - in a culture that did not distinguish between science, philosophy and religion. Physicists at that time were called philosophers who tried to create a unified picture of the world surrounding a person. birth modern science preceded by the seventeenth century recognition of the complete distinction between matter and spirit thanks to the works of René Descartes, whose worldview was based on the fundamental division of nature into two independent areas - the area of consciousness and the area of \u200b\u200bmatter. The philosophy of Descartes was not only important for the development of classical physics, but also had a huge impact on the entire Western way of thinking up to the present day.

The founder of classical physics is considered to be Galileo Galilei. Galileo's worldview is based on the recognition of the objective existence of the world, i.e. its existence outside and independently of human consciousness. Galileo saw the true goal of science in finding the causes of phenomena. He argued that the knowledge of the inner necessity of phenomena is the highest level of knowledge. Galileo considered observation as the starting point for the knowledge of nature, and experience as the basis of science. Galileo boldly declared that the book of nature was written in mathematical signs. He realized that in order to show that it is possible to establish the mathematical laws of nature, this must be done. Galileo said that the world is infinite and matter is eternal. In all processes occurring in nature, nothing is destroyed or generated - only a change occurs relative position bodies or their parts. Matter consists of absolutely indivisible atoms, movement is the only universal mechanical movement. The heavenly bodies are similar to the Earth and obey the same laws of mechanics. Everything in nature is subject to strict mechanical causality. Galileo was the first to discover the value of acceleration in dynamics, established the law of falling bodies, proposed a method for using the parallelogram law when considering the action of several forces on a body. For Galileo, the causal explanation of nature never ceased to be the main task of research. Galileo's teaching singled out theology and science various areas, and theology did not interfere in the field of science, and science did not impose its conclusions on theology. In any case, science itself, according to Galileo, must be subject to the principle of causality. Galileo introduced into scientific consciousness the idea of infinite approximation to objective truth on the basis of a mechanical explanation of nature. Classical mechanics owes its modern appearance to Newton. In Newton's works, the principle of inertia and the concept of force are generalized, the concept of mass is introduced, the area of applicability of the laws of mechanics is extended to the entire Universe.

An important consequence of the development of science and, in particular, physics under the influence of Galileo and Newton is a fundamental change in the idea of the place of man in the universe. Recall that in the Middle Ages the Earth was considered the center of heaven and everything had the goal of serving man. In the Newtonian world, the Earth was a minor planet. The astronomical distances were so vast that in comparison with them, the Earth was perceived as just a pinhead. It seemed unbelievable that all this vast mechanism should have been arranged for the benefit of one man alone. The powerful apparatus of Newtonian mechanics, its universality and ability to explain and describe the widest range of natural phenomena, especially astronomical ones, had a huge impact on many areas of physics and chemistry. Newton wrote that it would be desirable to derive other natural phenomena from the principles of mechanics, and in explaining some optical and chemical phenomena used it myself mechanical models.

Mechanistic views of the material world dominated natural science until the 19th century. In general, nature was understood as a gigantic mechanical system, which operates according to the laws of classical mechanics. AT late XIX- early XX century. events occurred that shook the world. In 1895, K. Roentgen (1845 - 1923) discovered "x-rays". In 1896, A. Becquerel (1852 - 1908) discovered the phenomenon of radioactivity (natural). In 1897, J. Thomson (1892 - 1975) discovered the electron. In 1898 Marie Curie (1867-1934) and Pierre Curie (1859-1906) discovered a new chemical element - radium. In 1902 - 1903. E. Rutherford (1871 - 1937) and F. Soddy (1877 - 1956) created the theory of radioactivity as spontaneous decay atoms and the transformation of some elements into others (the beginning of nuclear physics). In 1911, E. Rutherford experimentally discovered atomic nucleus. In the 1920s, a series of models for the structure of the atom was developed.

These events led to the crisis of the Newtonian paradigm of classical physical theory. The crisis was resolved by a revolution in physics, which gave rise to the theory of relativity (private, or special - SRT, and general - GRT), quantum mechanics (non-relativistic and relativistic - quantum theory fields); These theories marked the transition from "classical" to "non-classical" science.

The victory of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory led to the crisis of the Newtonian view of the world. As a result, at the end of the XIX century. became a critical analysis of the foundations of classical mechanics and the creation of alternative mechanics without the concept of force. With renewed vigor and argumentation, the dispute of the 17th century revived. between Newton and Leibniz on the existence of absolute space and time. An "epistemological crisis" broke out in physics, and the critical philosophy of Ernst Mach occupied a central place in the philosophy of science. Against this background, a contradiction was ripening between Maxwellian electrodynamics and classical mechanics as physical theories. They concentrated around the issue of the propagation of electromagnetic waves (of which light is a special case) - the quintessence of Maxwell's theory and Lorentz transformations. The special (particular) theory of relativity (SRT) was born from overcoming this theoretical contradiction. The solution proposed by A. Einstein was given in his article "On the electrodynamics of moving media" (1905), where the special theory of relativity (SRT) was formulated almost in its entirety.

Just as Galilean-Newtonian mechanics was born as a result of the transformation formulated in Greece in the 5th century. BC e. Zenonian paradoxes of motion into the definition of new fundamental ideal objects (the state of rectilinear uniform motion), and quantum mechanics appeared as a result of the transformation of the wave-particle paradox into a new object - a quantum particle. This transformation is based on the "four pillars": the introduction of a new mathematical representation, consisting of wave functions and the Schrödinger equation of motion, M. Born's "probabilistic interpretation of the wave function", which establishes a correspondence between the state of the system and its mathematical image - the wave function, N. Bohr's "complementarity principle", establishing a "set of simultaneously measurable quantities" for a given system, which determines those measurable quantities, the values of which determine its state, by the "correspondence principle" of N. Bohr, which determines the quantum system and its mathematical image.

The history of distribution and approval in the scientific community of the theory of relativity shows its huge worldview potential, not reducible to individual scientific results. This is the theory of the "multidimensional world", as an uncompromising, almost mystical, struggle with the absolute system. And although both SRT and GR have strong experimental evidence (for example, an accurate description of the orbit of Mercury; the study of light rays, redshift), opposition to them has not disappeared even today. Of these two "supertheories" in the XX century. grew up: nuclear physics, solid state physics, laser optics, quantum chemistry, etc.

Since the middle of the XX century. science finally merged with technology, leading to the modern scientific and technological revolution. The quantum-relativistic scientific picture of the world was the first result of the newest revolution in natural science. Another result of the scientific revolution was the establishment of a non-classical style of thinking. The latest revolution in science has led to the replacement of the contemplative style of thinking with activity.

Modern physics explores the fundamental regularities of phenomena; this predetermines its leading role in the entire cycle of the natural and mathematical sciences. The leading role of physics was especially clearly revealed precisely in the 20th century. One of the most convincing examples is the explanation of the periodic system chemical elements based on quantum mechanical concepts. At the intersection of physics and other natural sciences new scientific disciplines emerged. Approving materialistic dialectics, physics of the XX century. discovered a number of extremely important truths, the significance of which goes beyond the framework of physics itself, truths that have become common to all mankind. Firstly, the fundamental nature of statistical regularities was proved as corresponding to a deeper stage (compared to dynamic regularities) in the process of cognition of the world. It was shown that the probabilistic form of causality is the main one, and rigid, unambiguous causality is nothing more than special case. Physics has given us a unique opportunity: on the basis of statistical theories, to consider quantitatively the dialectics of the necessary and the accidental. Going beyond its own tasks, modern physics has shown that randomness not only confuses and disrupts our plans, but can also enrich us, creating new opportunities.

Modern physics makes a significant contribution to the development of a new style of thinking, which can be called planetary thinking. She addresses issues that are great importance for all countries and peoples. These include, for example, the problems of solar-terrestrial relations concerning the impact of solar radiation on the magnetosphere, atmosphere and biosphere of the Earth; predictions of the physical picture of the world after nuclear disaster, if one breaks out; global environmental problems associated with pollution of the oceans and the earth's atmosphere.

List of sources used

Capra F. Tao of physics / transl. from English. P.L. Grokhovsky. - St. Petersburg: "Oris", "Yana-print", 1994.
Rodyakin S.V., Sitnikov A.N. The main prerequisites and ideas of the formation and development of classical mechanics by Galileo and Newton // Philosophy of Science (scientific publication on philosophy, methodology and logic of natural sciences). - 2003. - No. 1. - S. 45-51.
History of science and technology. Teaching aid./Ed. Tkacheva A.V. - St. Petersburg: SPB GU ITMO, 2006. - 143 p.
Physics in the system of culture. - M., 1996. - 231 p.

The role of physics in the development of society.

As noted in the Law "On Education", the main task of the education system is to create the necessary conditions for obtaining education, aimed at the formation, development and professional development of a person based on national and universal values, achievements of science and practice. The leading role in determining the main trends in the development of education should be played by such factors as the growing role of mental activity in all spheres National economy, increasing the creative potential of the individual. In this regard, development tasks are becoming more and more significant in the field of education of the younger generation, which, in turn, ensure the growth of the intellectual level of students.
It is only possible to acquire thorough special knowledge in various fields of engineering and technology, to form a certain culture of scientific thinking, on the sound basis of general natural science education. As you know, the foundation of natural and many technical sciences is physics. The foundations of physical education are laid at school. At the same time, it is no secret that last years there is a noticeable decrease in students' interest in physics as a subject, as evidenced by the low results in physics of the results of both the Unified State Examination and the PGC students. The analysis shows that the majority of students enrolled in technical university, the lowest scores in physics tests. Or another great example. Recently, there has been a trend of decline in the participation of schoolchildren in the development scientific projects in physics.
These facts indicate a lack of understanding by students of the role of physics both in the world around them and in life, in the development of science and technology in general.
Thus, the reality of today sharply raises questions of understanding the very essence of education in the new conditions, primarily methodological foundations, which should be considered in the context of training specialists for certain sectors of the national economy, as well as in a broader sense - in the context of the culture of society and its reproduction. The current state and further development of the republic's economy requires the training of highly qualified and capable of dynamic self-education personnel who can meet the needs of rapidly developing sectors of the economy and industry. One of the main characteristics of the personality of a professional specialist today is his ability not only to solve already posed, but also to independently formulate new problems. The most significant quality of a modern specialist is not just a large amount of professional knowledge, skills and abilities, but also the ability to creatively solve professional problems, i.e. to new inventions and discoveries, and this ability depends on the person himself, on the characteristics of his personality. From this follow the specific tasks of the modern specialized school. Here, as I would like to note, creative activity is impossible without a high level of motivation for future professional activity and the acquisition of new knowledge, moreover, internal motivation, which is a human need. Unfortunately, this quality is hard to instill in most students. There is an explanation for this - firstly, the school curriculum often becomes a limit, a ceiling, which is a strategic barrier that "must be taken to the maximum" both in the minds of the student himself and for the teacher, moreover, in order to successfully pass USE tests, formal memorization of formulas and definitions is sufficient. Secondly, excessive theorization and isolation from the surrounding reality of the school physics curriculum can play a certain role. How to rectify the situation?
In connection with the above, the task is assigned to universities, which are responsible for a number of problems of higher and secondary education. Indeed, for successful education at a university, at least, students with sufficient secondary education are needed, i.e. school problems affect the interests of the university. In the current state of affairs, the school and the university cannot live on their own. It is time for universities to turn their faces to their "suppliers", to have constant contact with them and take an active part in the pre-university education of their future students.

The special role of physics in the development of society.
Currently, scientific and technological progress is developing dynamically. Profound, qualitative changes have taken place in many fields of science and technology. The emergence of scientific and technical progress is associated with great discoveries in the field of fundamental physics. Discovery of radioactivity, electromagnetic waves, ultrasound, jet propulsion, etc. led to the fact that man, applying this knowledge, moved far ahead the development of technology. Man has learned to transmit at a distance not only sound, but also an image. A man went into space, landed on the moon, saw its reverse side. With the help of unique optical instruments, it is possible to find out what substance distant planets are made of. The new data obtained will someday allow a person to make new incredible discoveries that will lead to new achievements in science and technology. Profound qualitative changes are observed all over the world in the main branches of technology. STP has radically changed the role of science in the life of society. Science has become a direct productive force.
Applied electronics, which until recently was part of general physics, has become an independent field of science, just as physical chemistry, geophysics and astrophysics have separated from general physics. The main achievements in recent years have been obtained at the intersection of different sciences - in biophysics, solid state physics and astrophysics. The deciphering of DNA structures, the synthesis of complex protein molecules and the achievements of genetic engineering were carried out thanks to the achievements of spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography and the electron microscope. Ultrasound is becoming increasingly important in scientific research and practical applications. A new direction in chemistry is being formed - ultrasonic chemistry. New areas of application of ultrasound have emerged: microscopy, holography, quantum acoustics, etc. Ultrasound helps sailors to detect various underwater objects, doctors to diagnose diseases. Ultrasound builds and destroys, cuts and drills, stamps and solders, cleans, sorts, sterilizes, reconnoiters. It was adopted by geologists and oilmen. And that's not all, the list of applications of ultrasound can be continued.
The invention of the transistor led to a real revolution in the field of radio electronics. On the basis of transistor technology, a new direction in science and technology has appeared - microelectronics. What allowed man to build the first semiconductor computers. Physics makes a decisive contribution to the creation of modern computer technology, which is the material basis of informatics. In a short period of time, computing technology has stepped far ahead. Modern personal computers have a huge speed of information processing, large amounts of memory, allowing you to carry out almost any calculations. With the help of peripheral devices, a computer sees, hears, draws, draws, prints, speaks, shows, plays games, teaches, controls manufacturing processes, monitors space flight, etc. It is hard to imagine today without a computer. With the help of a computer today, communication is carried out over a computer network from anywhere in the world.
Thus, there is an exchange of video, audio and text information between people in different countries Oh. This allows people to understand each other better, learn a lot about each other, get the required information. E-mail will deliver your huge message to any corner of the earth in a matter of seconds. The development of computer technology and technologies enable physicists to make the most complex calculations, analyze probabilistic situations, build mathematical models of various processes. Those. the development of physics itself is not possible without the participation of its own offspring.
Exactly the same examples can be given for any branch of physics. Any discovery of new physical laws immediately leads to their use in the development of other sciences and technology. And this, in turn, leads to new discoveries in fundamental physics. Thus, scientific and technological progress cannot be stopped. The development of physics has brought not only fundamental changes in the idea of the material world, but also with the use of modern technologies based on laboratory discoveries, progressive changes are taking place in society. Thanks to the development of science and technology, people on planet Earth have become closer - staying in a single information space. Now it no longer seems that the Earth is infinitely large and anything can be done on its surface and in its depths. The rash actions of man, armed with the achievements of the same science and technology, lead to irreversible and often destructive consequences for nature and man himself.
Today, progress has reached unprecedented growth rates and continues to develop dynamically. The modern world is complex, diverse, dynamic, riddled with opposing tendencies. It is contradictory, but interdependent, in many ways holistic.
If the twentieth century was called the century of science and technology, then the current century will be the information age. Information becomes the main value. Back in the 19th century there were the first signs that science had become global, uniting the efforts of scientists from different countries. The internationalization of scientific relations arose and developed further. Expansion of the scope of science in the late XIX - early XX century. led to changes in the lives of tens of millions of people living in developed industrial countries, and their unification into a new economic system. The growing role of technology and technical knowledge in the life of society is characterized by the dependence of science on scientific and technical developments, increasing technical equipment, the creation of new methods and approaches based on the technical method of solving problems in various fields of knowledge, including military-technical knowledge. The modern understanding of technical knowledge and technical activity is associated with the traditional range of problems and with new areas in technology and engineering, in particular with the technology of complex computing systems, systems engineering, etc. Scientific and technological progress has brought to the fore the problem of applying a new type of technology. Such technology - electronic computers (computers), automated control systems (ACS) - in our time has penetrated into the most diverse areas of social life and science. Successes in the development of these most important areas began to directly depend on the effect of its practical application. It should be noted that the development of technology took place not only along the path of its complication, but also in the direction of improving its quality and reliability. Computerization can lead not only to positive, progressive changes in a person's life, but also to provoke negative changes, such as a decrease in a person's intellectual activity, a decrease in creative activity. Thus, now we have to face the positive and negative consequences of the application of scientific achievements.
The history of science knows many outstanding researchers of individual fields of knowledge, but much more rarely were scientists who, with their thought, embraced all the knowledge about the nature of their era and tried to give them a synthesis. Such were in the second half of the 15th century and at the beginning of the 16th century. Leonardo da Vinci, in the XVIII century M.V. Lomonosov (1711-1765) and his French contemporary J.L. Buffon (1707-1788). And also our largest naturalist Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945) in terms of the structure of thoughts and breadth of coverage natural phenomena he is on a par with these great scientists. IN AND. Vernadsky worked a century later than A. Humboldt, when the amount of accurate information in all areas of natural science increased immeasurably, the techniques and methods of research became completely different, and many scientific areas appeared for the first time, largely on the initiative or with the active participation of V.I. Vernadsky. The scientist was extremely erudite, he was fluent in many languages, followed the world scientific literature, corresponded with the largest foreign cultural figures. This allowed him to always keep abreast of events in the scientific world, and in his conclusions and generalizations to look far ahead. Back in 1910, in a note “On the need to study radioactive minerals Russian Empire" IN AND. Vernadsky predicted the inevitability of practical use nuclear energy. (True, no one paid attention to his words then.) Vernadsky also created the doctrine of the noosphere - "the thinking shell of the Earth." About the society of the twentieth century, the scientist wrote: “Such a set of universal actions and ideas has never happened before, and it is clear that this movement cannot be stopped. In particular, for the near future, scientists face unprecedented tasks for them to consciously direct the organization of the noosphere, from which they cannot deviate, since the spontaneous course of the growth of scientific knowledge directs them to this. One of the most important problems in the formation of the organization of the noosphere is the question of the place and role of science in the life of society, the influence of the state on the development of scientific research. Vernadsky advocated the formation of a unified (at the state level) scientific human thought, which would be a decisive factor in the noosphere and would create better living conditions for the next generations. The primary issues that need to be resolved along this path are “the question of planned, uniform activity for mastering nature and the correct distribution of wealth, associated with the consciousness of the unity and equality of all people, the unity of the noosphere” the idea of the state unification of the efforts of mankind. The consonance of Vernadsky's ideas with our time is striking. The setting of tasks for the conscious regulation of the process of creating the noosphere is extremely relevant for today. Vernadsky also attributed the eradication of wars from the life of mankind to these tasks. He paid great attention to solving the problems of democratic forms of organization of scientific work, education, and dissemination of knowledge among the masses.
In 1922, the scientist returned to this topic again. Even then, he warned: “The time is not far off when a person will receive atomic energy in his hands, such a source of power that will give him the opportunity to build his life as he wants ... Will a person be able to use this power, direct it to good, and not to self-destruction ... "
The German philosopher Albert Schweitzer in his Nobel speech (Oslo 1952) very clearly described the state of mankind on this moment: "Man has turned into a superman ... But a man endowed with superhuman strength has not yet risen to the level of superhuman intelligence ... Our conscience must awaken from the realization that the more we turn into superhumans, the more inhuman we become." Albert Schweitzer believed that people would be able to reach understanding only when a new morality dominated the state.
B. Russell and A. Einstein urged people to "learn to think in a new way", so that "disagreements are not resolved with the help of weapons." Further fate humanity depends on how global problems will be solved. AT modern world it is no longer possible to live in isolation from everything. You can't do it locally. The development of technology alone will not solve all problems; social restructuring is also necessary.
So, scientific and technological achievements are not only for the benefit of people, sometimes they bring harm and create new problems. But the life of modern man is impossible without science. Probably, people are not able to stop progress, even if they really want to. It is necessary to use the achievements in the name of peace and mutual respect for all people. The development of science should not become an end from a means.
Andre Michel Lvov (1902) - French geneticist and virologist, foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation, laureate nobel prize in an interview given in 1991 to the Moskva publishing house, he talks about how science affects the life of society: “Science and its application radically change the fate of both people and the structure of society. In a developed society, the proportion of time that people spend on meeting material needs has significantly decreased and continues to decrease. A person can devote more time to their own interests. Science is not something constant and unchanging, its development leads to a constant change in concepts. All claims in science are daily subjected to severe criticism. Andre Lvov believes that science, like art, should develop freely, any interference in it by incompetent persons affects not only its quality (example: the ban on genetics in the USSR), but also the life of the whole society (the use of scientific achievements to the detriment).
“In order to survive, humanity must develop its own new political thinking, a new look at the relationship of man to man, state to state. In this regard, new opportunities are opening up for expanding dialogue, cooperation and mutual understanding on a number of important issues. Without such cooperation, peace cannot be preserved, global problems modernity. Mass communication is directly related to all these problems and is itself one of the most important global problems.
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