Invisible rays, burning suns, atoms automatically decompose, physics is an unusual science. In this video tour, you learn about the most important inventions and extraordinary discoveries that have won the Nobel Prize for Physics over the years and changed the course of mankind.
1901: Rays show bones
The first Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to German Wilhelm Konrad Rüntgen after he discovered x-rays. To this day, doctors are still using his discovery to identify bone fractures or inflammation of the roots of the teeth. But these high-energy rays can cause cancer. Although Rontgen called it x-ray, scientists later named it in his name in his honor.
1903: Atoms automatically decompose
French physicist Antoine-Henri Beckerel found that the atomic nucleus of some heavy metals automatically decomposes like the uranium shown in the image. In the meantime, atomic nuclei emit high-energy radiation. Thus, Bekele discovered radioactivity. Marie Curie and her husband Pierre studied this phenomenon thoroughly. The three then received the Nobel Prize for Physics.
1921: Power beam of light
Light can expel small particles from a piece of metal. Albert Einstein studied this photoelectric effect in more detail. He was able to interpret it as such: light and material are two sides of a single coin and can be converted into each other. Therefore, the rays of light have the ability to change the metal. Our solar cells depend on this principle today.
1956: The Origin of Modern Computers
Today, we owe it to Americans William Shockley, John Barden and Walter Brattin to discover the foundation on which we developed smartphone, laptop and iPad technologies. They were the first to invent electronic circuit transistors that shiftfrom one case to another at lightning speed. Today’s computer processors, as clearly in the picture, are made up of several million of these circuits. This currency is for the size comparison only.