Modern Physics and the Modern World

David Thouless
UW Physics

The physics that was developed in the period from the middle of the eighteenth century to the middle of the twentieth had a huge impact on engineering, on technology, and on the other sciences, and was rewarded with a large increase in funding for all sciences. In the past sixty five years the more dramatic advances have been in the biological sciences. During this recent period the advances in physics have been less spectacular, but have nevertheless led to major changes in how we live and how we think. I give a survey of the background for some of these obvious, and some of the less obvious, changes that have resulted from post 1945 physics.