T E D | W il e y T h e E d g e o f K n o w le d g e In st ru ct o r M a te ri a ls 1 Physics: The Edge of Knowledge Putting It Together: Summary Comments and Activities In this series of TEDTalks, we’ve heard how the pursuit of fundamental physics has led us to a beautiful and concise set of laws. As it stands today, experimental observations, both at the smallest scales of the elementary particles and the largest distances of the cosmos, agree well with the predictions of these laws. Nevertheless, many questions remain unanswered: What is dark matter? What is the correct quantum theory of gravity? Does supersymmetry exist? Are there extra dimensions of space? These are just some of the big questions for which we don’t yet have answers. New discoveries may be just out of reach, ripe for discovery with the next round of experiments, or harder to find. In the latter case, we’ll need all our ingenuity to design and build the most effective experiments or to discover the key theoretical idea(s) that will push us forward. But even if we one day succeed in finding a fundamental “theory of everything,” there will still be plenty to challenge our understanding. As Nobel-prize winning physicist Steven Weinberg points out, “In the Middle Ages Europeans drew maps of the world in which there were all kinds of exciting things like dragons in unknown territories.” Yet even without "here be dragons," our modern-day world is far from boring. The successes of fundamental physics attest to humanity’s insatiable desire for exploration and our thirst to understand the world around us and our place within it. Whatever the future holds, we can be confident of one thing: humanity will keep finding big questions to ask. Summary Activities 1. Starting with Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of mechanics and gravitation, explore the key ideas in fundamental physics, many of which have been highlighted in these TEDTalks. Present what you’ve learned in the form of a script for a radio or television program, a syllabus (complete with suggested readings) for a course you might design, or an interactive timeline (how far into the past can you extend your timeline?) Here are some names to get you started:  James Joule, John Dalton & Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot  Ludwig Boltzmann & Josiah Willard Gibbs T E D | W il e y T h e E d g e o f K n o w le d g e In st ru ct o r M a te ri a ls 2  Michael Faraday, André-Marie Ampère & James Clerk Maxwell  Max Planck  Ernst Rutherford  Albert Einstein  Erwin Schrödinger & Werner Heisenberg  Paul Dirac & Wolfgang Pauli  Edwin Hubble, Arno Penzias & Robert Wilson  Sheldon Glashow, Steven Weinberg & Adbus Salam  Peter Higgs 2. Write a short science fiction story incorporating any of the following ideas from fundamental science:  Quantum mechanics allows objects to be in t ...

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Physics: The Edge of Knowledge
Putting It Together: Summary Comments and Activities

3. In this series of TEDTalks, we’ve heard how the pursuit of
fundamental physics has led us to a
beautiful and concise set of laws. As it stands today,
experimental observations, both at the
smallest scales of the elementary particles and the largest
distances of the cosmos, agree well with
the predictions of these laws.
Nevertheless, many questions remain unanswered: What is dark
matter? What is the correct
quantum theory of gravity? Does supersymmetry exist? Are
there extra dimensions of space? These
are just some of the big questions for which we don’t yet have
answers.
New discoveries may be just out of reach, ripe for discovery
with the next round of experiments, or
harder to find. In the latter case, we’ll need all our ingenuity to
design and build the most effective
experiments or to discover the key theoretical idea(s) that will
push us forward.
But even if we one day succeed in finding a fundamental
“theory of everything,” there will still be
plenty to challenge our understanding. As Nobel-prize winning

4. physicist Steven Weinberg points
out, “In the Middle Ages Europeans drew maps of the world in
which there were all kinds of exciting
things like dragons in unknown territories.” Yet even without
"here be dragons," our modern-day
world is far from boring.
The successes of fundamental physics attest to humanity’s
insatiable desire for exploration and our
thirst to understand the world around us and our place within it.
Whatever the future holds, we can
be confident of one thing: humanity will keep finding big
questions to ask.
Summary Activities
1. Starting with Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of mechanics and
gravitation, explore the key ideas in
fundamental physics, many of which have been highlighted in
these TEDTalks. Present
what you’ve learned in the form of a script for a radio or
television program, a syllabus
(complete with suggested readings) for a course you might
design, or an interactive
timeline (how far into the past can you extend your timeline?)

5. Here are some names to get
you started:
T
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-Marie Ampère & James Clerk

7. Maxwell
Sheldon Glashow, Steven Weinberg & Adbus Salam
2. Write a short science fiction story incorporating any of the
following ideas from
fundamental science:
once.
theories tell us that time travel into the future is
possible (although time
travel into the past is forbidden).

8. uantum mechanics
predicts multiple realities.
-matter exists and with current technology it can be
produced and stored in small
quantities.
of extra spatial
dimensions.
3. How much money does your country invest in fundamental
science as a percentage of
GDP? How does this expenditure compare with other countries?
What are the arguments
against increased spending on basic research, and what do you
think of them? Create an
infographic to communicate the data, then discuss the impact of
fundamental science and
whether the level of spending is justified. Good sources include:
the explorers [Video].
fundamental science fall off a
cliff? Ask Siri. Center for American Progress / Science
Progress.

9. and Witze, A. (2013,
April 16). A back seat for basic science. Nature News.
articles)
Development Data
istics.
Discussion paper
prepared for the International Union of Pure and Applied
Biophysics.
dos Remedios, C.,
(2004). The value of basic research [Position statement].
International Council for
Science.
http://www.ted.com/talks/brian_cox_why_we_need_the_explore
rs.html
http://scienceprogress.org/2012/12/why-must-we-fund-
fundamental-science-just-ask-siri/
http://scienceprogress.org/2012/12/why-must-we-fund-
fundamental-science-just-ask-siri/
http://www.nature.com/news/a-back-seat-for-basic-science-
1.12803

10. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/science-funding-crisis
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/showpub.cfm?TopID=6&SubID=3
6
http://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/researchanddevelopmentstatisticsr
ds.htm
http://iupab.org/publications/value-of-fundamental-research/
http://www.icsu.org/publications/icsu-position-
statements/value-scientific-research
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12. About the Authors: Jeff Forshaw is professor of particle physics
at the University of Manchester and the author of
more than 100 scientific papers and books, including two best-
selling popular science books. Peter Millington is a
postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sheffield, working
on the mathematical underpinnings of the very
early universe.
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14. 1
Physics: The Edge of Knowledge
Putting It Together: Summary Comments and Activities
In this series of TEDTalks, we’ve heard how the pursuit of
fundamental physics has led us to a
beautiful and concise set of laws. As it stands today,
experimental observations, both at the
smallest scales of the elementary particles and the largest
distances of the cosmos, agree well with
the predictions of these laws.
Nevertheless, many questions remain unanswered: What is dark
matter? What is the correct
quantum theory of gravity? Does supersymmetry exist? Are
there extra dimensions of space? These
are just some of the big questions for which we don’t yet have
answers.
New discoveries may be just out of reach, ripe for discovery
with the next round of experiments, or
harder to find. In the latter case, we’ll need all our ingenuity to

15. design and build the most effective
experiments or to discover the key theoretical idea(s) that will
push us forward.
But even if we one day succeed in finding a fundamental
“theory of everything,” there will still be
plenty to challenge our understanding. As Nobel-prize winning
physicist Steven Weinberg points
out, “In the Middle Ages Europeans drew maps of the world in
which there were all kinds of exciting
things like dragons in unknown territories.” Yet even without
"here be dragons," our modern-day
world is far from boring.
The successes of fundamental physics attest to humanity’s
insatiable desire for exploration and our
thirst to understand the world around us and our place within it.
Whatever the future holds, we can
be confident of one thing: humanity will keep finding big
questions to ask.
Summary Activities
1. Starting with Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of mechanics and
gravitation, explore the key ideas in

16. fundamental physics, many of which have been highlighted in
these TEDTalks. Present
what you’ve learned in the form of a script for a radio or
television program, a syllabus
(complete with suggested readings) for a course you might
design, or an interactive
timeline (how far into the past can you extend your timeline?)
Here are some names to get
you started:
T
E
D
|
W
il
e
y
T
h

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18. ri
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-Marie Ampère & James Clerk
Maxwell
erford
2. Write a short science fiction story incorporating any of the
following ideas from
fundamental science:
once.

19. possible (although time
travel into the past is forbidden).
predicts multiple realities.
nergy.
-matter exists and with current technology it can be
produced and stored in small
quantities.
dimensions.
3. How much money does your country invest in fundamental
science as a percentage of
GDP? How does this expenditure compare with other countries?
What are the arguments
against increased spending on basic research, and what do you
think of them? Create an
infographic to communicate the data, then discuss the impact of
fundamental science and

20. whether the level of spending is justified. Good sources include:
the explorers [Video].
fundamental science fall off a
cliff? Ask Siri. Center for American Progress / Science
Progress.
and Witze, A. (2013,
April 16). A back seat for basic science. Nature News.
(Directory of relevant
articles)
Development Data
Discussion paper
prepared for the International Union of Pure and Applied
Biophysics.
dos Remedios, C.,
(2004). The value of basic research [Position statement].
International Council for

21. Science.
http://www.ted.com/talks/brian_cox_why_we_need_the_explore
rs.html
http://scienceprogress.org/2012/12/why-must-we-fund-
fundamental-science-just-ask-siri/
http://scienceprogress.org/2012/12/why-must-we-fund-
fundamental-science-just-ask-siri/
http://www.nature.com/news/a-back-seat-for-basic-science-
1.12803
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/science-funding-crisis
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/showpub.cfm?TopID=6&SubID=3
6
http://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/researchanddevelopmentstatisticsr
ds.htm
http://iupab.org/publications/value-of-fundamental-research/
http://www.icsu.org/publications/icsu-position-
statements/value-scientific-research
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About the Authors: Jeff Forshaw is professor of particle physics
at the University of Manchester and the author of
more than 100 scientific papers and books, including two best-
selling popular science books. Peter Millington is a
postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sheffield, working
on the mathematical underpinnings of the very
early universe.