Thursday, November 22, 2007

is physics in a slump this past 30 years?

Anybody read Lee Smolin's "the trouble with physics"?

http://www.thetroublewithphysics.com/

i'm reading it now, along with:Ken Croswell's "the universe at midnight"

tryin' to catch up on the last 25 years since i took my physical universe course in college.

finally i'm gonna learn what this dark matter nonsense is all about.

Smolin says physics has hit its first slump since newton! we haven't found anything new in the past 30 years. except this dark matter problem. of course in midrange physics, there has been high temp superconductors, bucky balls and study of all kinds of dissipative systems...

where should we be looking?


the question is, is Smolin's contention about the last 30 years reasonable? how do i peruse this list to decide?

every 10 years physics

1570's Tycho Brahe collects data on geometry of solar system

1581: Galileo Galilei, constancy of period of pendulum
1581: Robert Norman, dip of compass shows that Earth is a magnet
1589: Galileo Galilei, showed that objects fall at the same rate independent of mass

1590s ?

1604: Galileo Galilei, distance for falling object increases as square of time
1609: Johannes Kepler, 1st and 2nd laws of planetary motion
1609: Galileo Galilei, builds a telescope

1610: Galileo Galilei, observes the phases of Venus
1610: Galileo Galilei, observes moons of Jupiter
1610: Galileo Galilei, observes stars in the Milky Way
1613: Galileo Galilei, principle of inertia
1618: Francesco Grimaldi, interference and diffraction of light
1619: Johannes Kepler, 3rd law of planetary motion

1621: Willebrod Snell, the sine law of refraction
1624: Galileo Galilei, theory of tides
1626: Godfried Wendilin, verification of Kepler's laws for moons of Jupiter

1630: Cabaeus, attraction and repulsion of electric charges
1636: Marin Mersenne, speed of sound

1640: Evangelista Torricelli, theory of hydrodynamics
1641: Ferdinand II, sealed thermometer
1642: Blaise Pascal, mechanical calculator
1644: Evangelista Torricelli, mercury barometer and artificial vacuum
1645: Ismael Boulliau, inverse square law for central force acting on planets
1648: Blaise Pascal, explains barometer as a result of atmospheric pressure
?

1650s ?


1660: Robert Boyle, sound will not travel in a vacuum
1661: Robert Boyle, corpuscular theory of matter
1662: Robert Boyle, Boyle's law for ideal gases relating volume to pressure
1665: Isaac Newton, studies the principles of mechanics and gravity, mass and force
1665: Francesco Grimaldi, his wave theory of light is published
1665: Hooke, Huygens, colours of oil film explained by wave theory of light and interference
1665: Robert Boyle, air is necessary for candles to burn
1666: Isaac Newton, studies spectrum of light
1666: Isaac Newton, begins work on laws of mechanics and gravitation
1668: John Wallis, conservation of momentum


1671: Giovanni Cassini, accurate measurement of distance to Mars and scale of solar system
1672: Jean Richer, the period of a pendulum varies with latitude
1672: Isaac Newton, variation of pendulum is due to equatorial bulge
1673: Ignace Pardies, wave explanation for refraction of light
1676: Olaus Roemer, measured the speed of light by observing Jupiter's moons
1676: Robert Hooke, law of elasticity and springs
1676: Edme Mariotte, pressure is inversely proportional to volume (Boyle's law) and height of atmosphere
1678: Robert Hooke, inverse square law of gravity
1679: Christiaan Huygens, polarisation of light

1680: Isaac Newton, demonstrates that inverse square law implies eliptical orbits
1684: Isaac Newton, inverse square law and mass dependence of gravity
1687: Isaac Newton, publishes laws of motion and gravitation
1687: Isaac Newton, publishes analysis of sound propagation

1690s?

1702: Francis Hauksbee, rarified air glows during electrical discharge
1704: Isaac Newton, publishes corpuscular theory of light and colour

1714: Gottfreid Leibniz, energy conservation
1718: Edmund Halley, measures proper motion of stars

1720: Edmund Halley, early form of Olbers' paradox
1721: George Berkeley, space exists because of matter in it
1724: Gabriel Fahrenheit, supercooling of water
1727: Stephen Hales, makes oxygen
1728: James Bradley, speed of light and stellar aberration
1729: Stephen Gray, conduction of electricity
?

1733: Charles Du Fay, recognises distinction between positive and negative electric charge
1738: Daniel Bernoulli, kinetic theory of gas

1746: Leonhard Euler, wave theory of light refraction and dispersion
1747: d'Alembert, Euler, solution of equations for vibrating string
1748: Mikhail Lomonosov, conservation of mass and energy
1749: Thomas Melvill, early spectrscopy and yellow line of sodium in salt

1750: John Michell, magnetic induction
1750: John Michell, inverse square law for magnetic fields
1751: Benjamin Franklin, electricity can magnetise needles
1756: William Cullen, evaporation causes cooling

1761: Joseph Black, discovery and measurements of latent and specific heats
1766: Joseph Priestley, inverse square law for electric charge
1766: Henry Cavendish, hydrogen is an element

1771: Luigi Galvani, electricity in animals
1772: Antoine Lavoisier, conservation of mass in chemical reactions
1774: Nevil Maskelyne, gravitational deflection of plumb line by a mountain
1775: Alessandro Volta, electrical condenser
1777: Antoine Lavoisier, composition of air and burning as a chemical reaction

1781: William Herschel, discovery of Uranus
1781: Heinrich Olbers, Uranus is a planet, not a comet
1782: William Herschel, sun's motion through space
1784: Henry Cavendish, water is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen
1784: Pierre Laplace, electrostatic potential
1785: Charles Augustin de Coulomb, electric force proportional to product of charges and inverse square of distance
1786: Antoine Lavoisier, distinction between elements and compounds
1787: Jacques-Alexander Charles, law of gas expansion with temperature
1789: Antoine Lavoisier, Conservation of mass in chemical reactions

1796: Alessandro Volta, chemical batteries and voltage
1797: Henry Cavendish, measured the gravitational constant with a torsion balance
1798: Benjamin Thompson, heat generated equals work done
1798: Humphry Davy, Transmission of heat through vacuum
1798: Benjamin Rumford, experimental relation between work done and heat generated

1800: William Herschel, infrared rays from the Sun
1801: Johann Ritter, Ultraviolet rays
1801: Humphry Davy, Electric arc
1802: William Wollaston, dark lines in solar spectrum
1802: William Herschel, double stars are bodies in mutual orbit
1802: Thomas Young, interference and wave description of light
1802: Humphry Davy, Electrochemistry
1802: Joseph Gay-Lussac, Relation of Volume to Temperature of gases at fixed pressure

1811: Amedeo Avogadro, molecular theory of gases and Avogadro's law
1815: William Prout, atomic weights of elements are multiples of that for hydrogen
1816: Joseph von Fraunhofer, absorption lines in sun's spectrum
1817: Young and Fresnel, transverse nature of light
1819: Dulong and Petit, relation of specific heats to atomic weight in 12 solid elements

1820: Andre Ampere, force on an electric current in a magnetic field
1820: Hans Christian Oersted, an electric current deflects a magnetised needle
1820: Biot and Savart, force law between an electric current and a magnetic field
1821: Thomas Seebeck, thermocouple and thermoelectricity
1821: Michael Faraday, plotted the magnetic field around a conductor
1822: Andre Ampere, two wires with electric currents attract
1823: John William Herschel, suggests identification of chemical composition from spectrum
1824: Sadi Carnot, Heat transfer goes from hot body to cold body
1827: Robert Brown, Brownian motion
1829: Thomas Graham, gas diffusion law

1830: Charles Lyell, proposition that Earth is several million years old
1831: Michael Faraday, a moving magnet induces an electric current
1831: Michael Faraday, magnetic lines of force
1833: Michael Faraday, laws of electrolysis
1833: Joseph Henry, self inductance
1838: Bessel, Henderson, Struve, first measurements of distance to a star by parallax

1842: Christian Doppler theory of Doppler Effect for sound and light
1842: Justin von Mayer Conservation of heat and mechanical energy
1843: James Joule mechanical and electrical equivalent of heat
1845: Michael Faraday, rotation of polarised light by magnetism
1845: Christopher Buys-Ballet, confirmation of Doppler effect for sound using trumpeters on a train
1846: William Thomson (Kelvin), Incorrectly estimates Earth to be 100 million years old by heat
1848: James Joule average velocity of gas molecules from kinetic theory
1849: Armand Fizeau first accurate measurement of the velocity of light in the laboratory using a toothed wheel

1850: Jean Foucault, light travels slower in water than in air
1850: Michael Faraday, experiments to find link between gravity and electromagnetism fail
1851: William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), dynamical theory of heat
1851: William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), absolute zero temperature
1851: Jean Foucault, demonstrates rotation of Earth with a pendulum
1853: Anders Angstrom, measured hydrogen spectral lines
1855: James Clerk Maxwell, mathematics of Faraday's lines of force
1858: Wallace and Darwin, natural selection of species
1859: Hittorf and Plucker, cathode rays
1859: Bunsen and Kirchhoff, measurement of spectral line frequencies
1859: Urbain Le Verrier, anomolous perihelion shift of Mercury

1860: Gustav Kirchhoff, Kirchoff's Law and black body problem
1860: Maxwell and Waterston, equipartition theorem of statistical mechanics
1862: Anders Angstrom, observed hydrogen in the sun
1863: William Huggins, stellar spectra indicate that stars are made of same elements as found on Earth
1864: John Newlands, chemical law of octaves
1864: James Clerk Maxwell, equations of electromagnetic wave propagation in the ether
1867: James Clerk Maxwell, statistical physics and thermal equilibrium
1868: William Huggins, Doppler shifts of stellar spectra
1869: Dmitri Mendeleyev, periodic table of elements

1871: Dmitri Mendeleyev, prediction of new elements such as scandium, germanium, technetium, francium and gallium
1871: Ludwig Boltzmann, classical explanation of Dulong-Petit specific heats
1873: James Clerk Maxwell, electromagnetic nature of light and prediction of radio waves
1874: George Stoney, estimated the unit of charge and named it the electron
1877: Ludwig Boltzmann, Boltzmann's probability equation for entropy
1879: Josef Stefan, empirical discovery of total radiation law, (Stefan's law)
1879: Willaim Crookes, cathode rays may be negatively charged particles
1879: Albert Michelson, improved measurements of the speed of light

1880: Pierre and Jacques Curie, piezoelectricity
1881: Albert Michelson, light interferometer and absence of ether drift
1883: Ivan Puluy, prior discovery of X-rays
1884: Ludwig Boltzmann, Derivation of Stefan's law for black bodies
1885: Johann Balmer, empirical formula for hydrogen spectral lines
1887: Heinrich Hertz, transmission, reception and reflection of radio waves
1887: Michelson and Morley, absence of ether drift
1887: Michelson and Morley, fine structure of hydrogen spectrum
1887: Hertz, Hallwachs, photoelectric effect
1889: Rolond von Eotvos, torsion balance to test equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass

1890: Johannes Rydberg, empirical formulae for spectral lines and Rydberg constant
1893: Wilhelm Wien, derivation of black body displacement law
1894: Heinrich Hertz, radio waves travel at speed of light and can be refracted and polarised
1895: Jean-Baptiste Perrin, Cathode rays are negative particles
1895: Pierre Curie, loss of magnetism at high temperature, (Curie point)
1896: Pieter Zeeman, spectral line splitting by magnetic field
1896: Antoine Henri Becquerel, natural radioactivity in uranium ore
1897: Kaufmann, J.J. Thomson, measurement of electron charge to mass ratio by deflection of cathode rays
1898: Ernest Rutherford, alpha and beta radiation
1899: Joseph John Thomson, measurement of the charge and mass of the electron


1900: Lord Rayleigh, statistical derivation of short wavelength black body law
1900: Ernest Rutherford, first determination of a radioactive half-life
1900: Antoine Henri Becquerel, suggests that beta rays are electrons
1900: Lummer, Pringsheim, Rubens, Kurlbaum, failure of Wien's black body law at short wavelengths
1900: Max Planck, light quanta in black body radiation, Planck's black body law and Planck's constant
1900: Paul Villard, gamma rays
1900: Friedrich Dorn, element 86, radon
1900: Pyotr Lebedev, radiation pressure measured
1901: Max Planck, determination of Planck's constant, Boltzmann's constant, Avogadro's number and the charge on electron
1902: Philipp Lenard, intensity law in photoelectric effect
1902: Heaviside and Kennelly, Ionised layer capable of reflecting radio waves
1903: Ernest Rutherford, alpha particles have a positive charge
1903: Curie and Laborde, radioactive energy released by radium is large
1904: Albert Einstein, energy-frequency relation of light quanta
1904: Ernest Rutherford, age of Earth by radioactvity dating
1905: Albert Einstein, explains Brownian motion by kinetic theory
1905: Albert Einstein, light-quantum theory for photoelectric law
1905: Albert Einstein, special relativity
1905: Bragg and Kleeman, alpha-particles have discrete energies
1905: Albert Einstein, equivalence of mass and energy
1906: Albert Einstein, quantum explanation of specific heat laws for solids
1906: Joseph Thomson, Thomson scattering of X-ray photons and number of electrons in an atom
1907: Albert Einstein, equivalence principle and gravitational redshift
1908: Geiger, Royds, Rutherford, identify alpha particles as helium nuclei
1909: Johannes Stark, momentum of photons
1909: Geiger and Marsden, anomolous scattering of alpha particles on gold foil
1909: Robert Millikan, measured the charge on the electron


1911: Victor Hess, high altitude radiation from space
1911: Heike Kammerlingh-Onnes, superconductivity
1911: Ernest Rutherford, Infers the nucleus from the alpha scattering result
1912: Joseph Thomson, mass spectrometry and separation of isotopes
1912: Henrietta Leavitt, period to luminosity relationship for Cepheid variable stars
1912: Robert Millikan, measurement of Planck's constant
1912: Max Von Laue, X-rays are explained as electromagnetic radiation by diffraction
1912: Vesto Melvin Slipher, observes blue-shift of andromeda galaxy
1913: Niels Bohr, quantum theory of atomic orbits
1913: Jean-Baptiste Perrin, theory of size of atoms and molecules
1913: Bragg and Bragg, X-ray diffraction and crystal structure
1913: Hans Geiger, relation of atomic number to nuclear charge
1913: Johannes Stark, splitting of hydrogen spectral lines in electric field
1914: James Chadwick, primary beta spectrum is continuous and shows an energy anomaly
1914: Harry Moseley, used X-rays to confirm the correspondence between electric charge of nucleus and atomic number
1914: Ejnar Hertzsprung, measured distance to Large Magellanic Cloud using Cepheid variable stars
1914: Rutherford, da Costa Andrade, gamma rays identified as hard photons
1915: Albert Einstein, prediction of light bending and explanation for perihelion shift of mercury
1916: Robert Millikan, verification of energy law in photoelectric effect
1916: Arnold Sommerfeld, Further atomic quantum numbers and fine structure of spectra, fine structure constant
1917: Vesto Melvin Slipher, observes that most galaxies have red-shifts
1917: Arthur Eddington, gravitational energy is insufficient to account for the energy output of stars
1917: Rutherford, Marsden, artificial transmutation, hydrogen and oxygen from nitrogen
1918: Harlow Shapley, measured distance to globular clusters using Cepheid variable stars
1918: Harlow Shapley, determined the size and shape of our galaxy
1919: Ernest Rutherford, existence of the proton in nucleus
1919: Francis Aston, hydrogen fusion to helium will release a lot of energy
1919: Crommelin, Eddington, verification of Einstein's prediction of starlight deflection during an eclipse

1920: Harkins, Eddington, Fusion of hydrogen could be the energy source of stars
1921: Bieler and Chadwick, evidence for a strong nuclear interaction
1921: Stern and Gerlach, measurement of atomic magnetic moments
1923: Compton and Debye, theory of Compton effect
1923: Arthur Compton, verification of Compton effect confirms photon as particle
1923: Louis de Broglie, predicts wave nature of particles
1923: Davisson and Kunsman, electron diffraction
1924: Edwin Hubble, measured the distance to other galaxies using Cepheid variables proving that they lie outside our own
1924: Wolfgang Pauli, explanation of Zeeman effect and two-valuedness of electron state
1925: Walter Elsasser, explanation of electron diffraction as wave property of matter
1925: Vesto Melvin Slipher, red-shifts of galaxies suggest a distance/velocity relationship
1925: Robert Millikan, rediscovery of "cosmic rays" in upper atmosphere
1925: Werner Heisenberg, transition amplitude theory of quantum mechanics
1925: Born and Jordan, matrix interpretation of Heisenberg's quantum mechanics
1925: Goudsmit and Uhlenbeck, electron spin
1926: Wolfgang Pauli, derivation of spectrum of hydrogen atom by matrix methods
1926: Erwin Schroedinger, the particle wave equation
1926: Erwin Schroedinger, derivation of spectrum of hydrogen atom using the wave equation
1926: Max Born, probability interpretation of wave function
1926: Paul Dirac, distinction between bosons and fermions, symmetry and anti-symmetry of wave function
1926: Ralph Fowler, suggests that white dwarf stars are explained by the exclusion principle
1926: Werner Heisenberg, the uncertainty principle
1927: Davisson, Germer, Thomson, verification of electron diffraction by a crystal
1927: Paul Dirac, quantisation of electromagnetic field, bosonic creation and anihilation operators, virtual particles, zero point energy
1927: Eugene Wigner, conservation of parity
1928: Paul Dirac, relativistic equation of the spin-half electron
1928: Willem Keeson, phase transition in liquid Helium
1929: Edwin Hubble, first measurement of Hubble's constant leading to the conclusion that the Universe is expanding
1929: Bothe, Kolhorster, cosmic rays are charged particles

1930: Becker, Bothe, observed neutral rays later identified as neutrons
1931: Wolfgang Pauli, neutrino as explanation for missing energy and spin in weak nuclear decay
1932: Raman and Bhagavantam, Verification that photon is spin one
1932: James Chadwick, identified the neutron
1932: Carl Anderson, positron from cosmic rays
1932: Cockroft and Walton, linear proton accelerators to 700 keV and verification of mass/energy equivalence
1932: Karl Jansky, first radio astronomy
1932: Dmitri Iwanenko, Neutron as a constituent of nucleus
1932: Werner Heisenberg, Nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons
1933: Blackett and Occhialini, electron-positron creation and annihilation
1933: Esterman, Frisch and Stern, measurement of proton magnetic moment
1933: Baade and Zwicky, collapse of a white dwarf may set off a supernova and leave a neutron star
1933: Fritz Zwicky, dark matter in galactic clusters
1934: Chadwick and Goldhaber, precise measurement of neutron mass
1934: Chadwick and Goldhaber, measurement of nuclear force
1934: Francis Perrin, neutrino is massless
1934: Esterman and Stern, magnetic moment of neutron
1934: Fermi and Hahn, fission observed
1937: Pyotr Kapitza, superfluidity of helium II
1939: Bloch and Alvarez, measurement of the neutron magnetic moment
1939: Rossi, Van Norman, Hilbery, Muon decay


1941: Rossi and Hall, Muon decay used to verify relativistic time dilation
1944: Lars Onsager, general theory of phase transitions
1946: James Hey Discovery of radio source Cygnus A
1947: Powell, Occhialini, negative pion found
1947: Willis Lamb, fine structure of hydrogen spectrum, the Lamb shift
1947: Hans Bethe, renormalisation of Lamb shift calculation
1947: Kusch and Folley, measurement of the anomolous magnetic moment of the electron
1948: Tomonaga, Schwinger, Feynman, renormalisation of QED
1948: Goldhaber and Goldhaber, experimental proof that beta particles are electrons
1948: Snell and Miller, Decay of the neutron
1949: Leighton, Anderson, Seriff, Muon is spin half


1952: Walter Baade, resolves confusion over two different types of Cepheid variable stars
1952: Joseph Weber, described the principle of the maser
1953: Gell-Mann and Nishijima, strangeness
1953: Gerard de Vaucouleurs, galaxy superclusters and large scale inhomogenieties
1953: Charles Townes, maser
1955: Martin Ryle, radio telescope interferometry
1955: Ilya Prigogine, thermodynamics of irreversible processes
1955: Chamberlain, Segre and Wiegand anti-proton
1956: Reines and Cowan, neutrino detection
1956: Cork, Lambertson, Piccioni, Wenzel, evidence for anti-neutron
1956: Block, Lee and Yang, weak interaction could violate parity
1956: Reines and Cowan, anti-neutrino detection
1956: Cook, Lambertson, Piconi, Wentzel, anti-neutron
1957: Friedman, Lederman, Telegdi, Wu, parity violation in weak decays
1957: Bardeen, Cooper, Schrieffer, BCS theory of superconductivity


1960: Pound and Rebka, measurement of gravitational red-shift
1960: Matthews and Sandage, optical identification of a quasar
1961: Sheldon Glashow, introduces neutral intermediate boson of electro-weak interactions
1961: Jeoffrey Goldstone, Theory of massless particles in spontaneous symmetry breaking (Goldstone boson)
1961: Gell-Mann and Ne'eman, The eightfold way, SU(3) octet symmetry of hadrons
1961: Robert Hofstadter, necleons have an internal structure
1961: Ghiorso, Sikkeland, Larsh, Latimer, element 103, lawrencium
1961: Edward Lorenz, chaos theory
1962: Lederman, Steinberger, Schwartz, evidence for more than one type of neutrino
1963: Samios et al, Baryon Omega minus found
1963: Schmidt, Greensite, Sandage, quasars are distant
1964: Brout, Englert, Higgs, Higgs mechanism of symmetry breaking
1964: Hoyle, Taylor, Zeldovich, big bang nucleosynthesis of helium
1964: Steven Weinberg, baryon number is probably not conserved
1964: Christenson, Cronin, Fitch, Turlay, CP violation in weak interactions
1964: Gell-Mann, Zweig, quark theory of hadrons
1964: Salpeter and Zel'dovich, black holes power quasars and radio galaxies
1964: Salam, Ward, SU(2)xU(1) model of electro-weak unification
1965: Thomas Kibble, Higgs mechanism for Yang-Mills theory
1965: Greenberg, Han, Nambu, SU(3) colour symmetry to explain statistics of quark model
1965: Penzias and Wilson, detection of the cosmic background radiation
1965: Dicke, Peebles, Roll, Wilkinson, indentification of cosmic background radiation
1966: X-ray source Cygnus X-1 discovered
1967: Steven Weinberg, electro-weak unification
1968: Joseph Weber, first attempt at a gravitational wave detector
1969: Kendall, Friedman, Taylor Deep inelastic scattering experiments find structure inside protons.
1969: Raymond Davis, solar neutrino detector


1970: Stephen Hawking, the surface area of a black holes event horizon always increases
1971: Kenneth Wilson, the operator product expansion and the renormalisation group for the strong force
1971: Bolton, Murdin, Webster Cygnus X-1 identified as black hole candidate
1972: Fritsch, Gell-Mann, Bardeen , Quantum Chromodynamics
1972: Salam, Pati, SU(4)xSU(4) unification and proton decay
1972: Tom Bolton Cygnus X-1 identified as black hole
1973: Ostriker and Peebles, dark matter in galaxies
1973: CERN, Evidence of weak neutral currents
1973: Klebesadel, Strong, Olson, Gamma Ray Bursts are cosmic
1974: Taylor and Hulse, binary pulsar and relativistic effects
1974: Stephen Hawking, black hole radiation and thermodynamics
1976: Levine and Vessot precision test of gravitational time dilation on rocket
1977: Fermilab, bottom quark
1977: Klaus von Klitzing, quantum Hall effect
1977: Tifft, Gregory, Joeveer, Einasto, Thompson, clusters chains and voids in galaxy dustributions
1977: Berkley, dipole anisotropy on cosmic background radiation
1978: Taylor and Hulse, evidence for gravitational radiation of binary pulsar?
1978: Prescott, Taylor, elctro-weak effect on electron polarisation
1979: Walsh, Carswell, Weymannquasar doubled by gravitational lensing
1979: DESY, evidence for gluons in hadron Jets

1980: Frederick Reines, Evidence of Neutrino oscillations
1980: DESY, measurement of gluon spin
1982: limits on proton lifetime rule out many Grand Unified Theories
1983: Carlo Rubbia et al, W and Z bosons at CERN
1986: Bednorz and Mueller, high temperature superconductivity
1987: Masatoshi Koshibas, detection of neutrinos from a supernova
1989: SLAC, evidence that number of light neutrinos is 3 from Z width

1990: John Mather, black body spectrum of cosmic background radiation from COBE
1991: CERN, confirmation that number of light neutrinos is 3
1991: BATSE, Gamma Ray Burst distribution is isotropic
1992: Mather and Smoot, angular fluctuations in cosmic background radiation with COBE
1994: Hubble Space Telescope, Evidence for black hole at the centre of galaxy M87
1995: Mayor and Queloz, first extra-solar planet orbiting an ordinary star
1996: Steven Lamoreaux, measurement of Casimir force?
1997: BepoSAX, location of Gamma Ray Bursts demonstrates that they are extragalactic
1997: SLAC, photon-photon scattering produces electron-positron pairs
1998: Super-Kamiokande, neutrino oscillation demonstrated
1998: CERN, Fermilab, time reversal assymetry observed for K meson decay

2000: Fermilab, tau neutrino observed

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