Written by Sunny
Modified & Updated: 02 Mar 2025
Reviewed by Sherman Smith
Physics gives all the “how’s” in a world of “what’s.” These physics facts will either leave you with answers or even more questions about this world.
Quick Facts
Essential Facts
Interesting Facts
- 01Physics is the science of matter and its behavior.
- 02Comes from the Greek word, physikḗ, which means “science of nature.”
- 03Physics was recognized as a discipline in the 19th century.
- 04It aims to understand how the universe works.
- 05It originated from astronomy, mathematics, and natural philosophy in 3000 B.C.
- 01The ancient civilizations used religious beliefs of heavenly bodies (astronomy) to explain nature.
- 02650 B.C. was the age of natural philosophy.
- 03Leucippus was the first to reject religious explanations. According to him, every event has a natural cause.
- 04Thales was the first physicist. He believed the world was only built from one element: water.
- 05Aristotle developed Aristotelian physics in 300 B.C., but most of it was speculative and proven wrong by other philosophers.
- 06Archimedes’ encounter with buoyancy in 250 BC is the first fundamental physics discovery.
- 07The Theory of Impetus explains projectile motion. It was formulated by John Philoponus in 500 B.C.
- 08In 1514, Copernicus introduced Heliocentrism. Before this, it was believed that the sun orbits around the Earth.
- 09Galileo Galilei discovered that objects fall at the same time despite differences in mass.
- 10Newton formed the Laws of Motion in 1687.
- 01Galileo discovered the law of free fall after dropping two spheres from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
- 02An apple didn’t fall on Newton’s head when he discovered the law of universal gravitation. He simply wondered why apples fall downward rather than sideways.
- 03A “Eureka moment” references Archimedes’ enthusiasm when he discovered buoyancy (The fact that he ran out naked is a minor detail.).
- 04The universe is constantly expanding, getting faster and colder as time passes.
- 05Time travel is possible – you’re doing it now, moving forward in time.
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