Biography
Biography: Roger J Anderton
Abstract
A significant part of the history of physics is the history of atomism: the idea that physical reality is made from particles. After the events of Galileo in the Copernican Revolution the idea of atomism had to be reconsidered, and with Newton came the idea of atomism as point-particles. This was the idea that was developed by Boscovich in his unified theory published in 1758. This became the basis of modern atomic physics and Einstein’s unified field theory investigations. This was taught to physics students up to early 20th Century, and unfortunately after World War 1 and 2 the physics curriculum was revised by having Boscovich (and related material) trimmed from what was taught to make room for such new subjects as Quantum mechanics and Einstein’s relativity. This in my view meant that most physicists have been given a bad understanding of the basics of physics resulting in them making numerous miscomprehensions. There is now a tradition of scientists working on Unified field theory (with its origins with Boscovich) that lies mostly outside of mainstream tradition.
