Its Top 10 list time, with publications large and small lending their voice. TIME magazine has its Top 10 scientific breakthroughs. The interesting bit, 7 of the 10 are life science related, broadly divided into biomedical and anthropology/paleontology. Of the remaining, 2 are astronomy, and the last one is about Kryptonite (does that count as astronomy?).
Whether you agree with this list or not, it supports the following. If the first half of the 20th century (maybe the first 2/3rds) was the era of physics, with so much being done with quantum theory, relativity, nuclear technologies, etc, the latter part of the century and continuing on has been about the life sciences, especially molecular biology. As a physical scientist who became a life scientist, one gets to enjoy the best of both worlds. My hope for the future; more physical science approaches applied to the life sciences. I am referring to bioengineering, molecular simulation, predictive modeling (OK that’s more mathematics than physics), etc.
Top 10 scientific discoveries 2007
Its Top 10 list time, with publications large and small lending their voice. TIME magazine has its Top 10 scientific breakthroughs. The interesting bit, 7 of the 10 are life science related, broadly divided into biomedical and anthropology/paleontology. Of the remaining, 2 are astronomy, and the last one is about Kryptonite (does that count as astronomy?).
Whether you agree with this list or not, it supports the following. If the first half of the 20th century (maybe the first 2/3rds) was the era of physics, with so much being done with quantum theory, relativity, nuclear technologies, etc, the latter part of the century and continuing on has been about the life sciences, especially molecular biology. As a physical scientist who became a life scientist, one gets to enjoy the best of both worlds. My hope for the future; more physical science approaches applied to the life sciences. I am referring to bioengineering, molecular simulation, predictive modeling (OK that’s more mathematics than physics), etc.
Further reading
Top 10 medical breakthroughs
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