Issues

 / 

1999

 / 

April

  

Physics of our days


What problems of physics and astrophysics seem now to be especially important and interesting (thirty years later, already on the verge of XXI century)?


Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prosp. 53, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation

About thirty years ago, the author published a paper [1] under the same title which, mainly educational in its nature, aimed primarily at widening the scientific horizons of the young generation of physicists. For this purpose, a list of the top agenda problems of the day was given and commented on, admittedly subjective and unavoidably inexhaustive and limited (one cannot do the impossible, after all). In the author’s later articles, additions both to the list itself and the comments were made (see [2] for the latest version). In the present paper the author takes on an end-of-the-century perspective in addressing this theme once again.

Fulltext pdf (728 KB)
Fulltext is also available at DOI: 10.1070/PU1999v042n04ABEH000562
PACS: 01.55.+b, 01.90.+g (all)
DOI: 10.1070/PU1999v042n04ABEH000562
URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/1999/4/c/
000080487700004
Citation: Ginzburg V L "What problems of physics and astrophysics seem now to be especially important and interesting (thirty years later, already on the verge of XXI century)?" Phys. Usp. 42 353–373 (1999)
BibTexBibNote ® (generic)BibNote ® (RIS)MedlineRefWorks

Оригинал: Гинзбург В Л «Какие проблемы физики и астрофизики представляются сейчас особенно важными и интересными (тридцать лет спустя, причем уже на пороге ХХI века)?» УФН 169 419–441 (1999); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.0169.199904d.0419

References (141) ↓ Cited by (95) Similar articles (20)

  1. Ginzburg V L Usp. Fiz. Nauk 103 87 (1971) [Sov. Phys. Usp. 14 21 (1971)]; Ginzburg V L Physics and Astrophysics. A Selection of Key Problems (New York: Pergamon Press, 1985)
  2. Ginzburg V L O Fizike i Astrofizike (On Physics and Astrophysics, Moscow: Byuro Kvantum, 1995). The translation of this book into English is proposed to be published by Springer-Verlag
  3. Ginzburg V L "Razum i Vera" (Reason and belief) Vestn. Ross. Akad. Nauk 69 (6, 1999)
  4. "Fiziki vse eshche shutyat" (Physicists are still joking) Priroda (9) 84 (1996)
  5. Khvol’son O D Fizika Nashikh Dneî (Physics of Our Days) 4th ed. (Leningrad-Moscow: GTTI, 1932)
  6. Ginzburg V L Usp. Fiz. Nauk 166 1033 (1996) [Phys. Usp. 39 973 (1996)]
  7. Ginzburg V L Phys. Today 43 (5) 9 (1990)
  8. Phys. Today 44 (3) 13 (1991)
  9. Smalley R E, Curl R F, Kroto H, 1996 Nobel lectures in chemistry Usp. Fiz. Nauk 168 323 (1998)
  10. Ginzburg V L O Nauke, o Sebe i o Drugikh (About Science, Myself, and Others, Moscow: Fizmatlit, 1997)
  11. Ginzburg V L Tr. Fiz. Inst. Akad. Nauk SSSR 18 55 (1962)
  12. Todd T N, Windsor C G Contemp. Phys. 39 255 (1998); Nature (London) 396 724 (1998)
  13. Morozov A I, Savel’ev V V Usp. Fiz. Nauk 168 1153 (1998) [Phys. Usp. 41 1049 (1998)]
  14. Hoffman A Phys. World 11 (12) 25 (1998)
  15. Ginzburg V L Usp. Fiz. Nauk 167 429 (1997); 168 363 (1998) [Phys. Usp. 40 407 (1997); 41 307 (1998)]
  16. Ruvalds J Supercond. Sci. Technol. 9 905 (1996)
  17. Ford P J, Saunders G A Contemp. Phys. 38 63 (1997)
  18. Hemley R J, Ashcroft N W Phys. Today 51 (8) 26 (1998)
  19. Cote M et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 697 (1998); Collins P G et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 165 (1999)
  20. Crawford E, Sime R L, Walker M Phys. Today 50 (9) 26 (1997)
  21. Ginzburg V L Vestn. Ross. Akad. Nauk 68 51 (1998) [Herold Russ. Acad. Sci. 68 (1) 56 (1998)]
  22. Phys. Today 51 (12) 17 (1998)
  23. Dorozhkin S I et al. Usp. Fiz. Nauk 168 135 (1998) [Phys. Usp. 41 127 (1998)]
  24. Usp. Fiz. Nauk 168 (2, 1998) [Phys. Usp. 41 (2, 1998)]
  25. Phys. Today 51 (12) 22 (1998)
  26. Altshuler B L, Maslov D L Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 145 (1999)
  27. Lee D M, Osheroff D D, Richardson R C, 1996 Nobel lectures in physics Usp. Fiz. Nauk 167 1307 (1997)
  28. Einstein A Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 49 769 (1916) [Translated into Russian: Sobranie Nauchnykh Trudov (Collection of Scientific Papers) Vol. 1 (Moscow: Nauka, 1965) p. 489]; Einstein A Berl. Ber. (1/2) S3 (1925)
  29. Landau L D, Lifshitz E M Statisticheskaya Fizika (Statistical Physics) Pt. 1 (Moscow: Fizmatlit, 1995) [Translated into English (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1980)]
  30. London F Nature (London) 141 643 (1938)
  31. Kleppner D Phys. Today 49 (8, Pt. 1) 11 (1996)
  32. Chu S, Cohen-Tannoundju C N, Fillips W D 1997 Nobel Lectures in Physics Usp. Fiz. Nauk 169 274 (1999)
  33. Kadomtsev B B, Kadomtsev M B Usp. Fiz. Nauk 167 649 (1997) [Phys. Usp. 40 623 (1997)]
  34. Pitaevskiî L P Usp. Fiz. Nauk 168 641 (1998) [Phys. Usp. 41 569 (1998)]
  35. Kleppner D Phys. Today 50 (8, Pt. 1) 11 (1997)
  36. Hutchinson D A W Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 6 (1999)
  37. Holyst R et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 5848 (1998)
  38. Auciello O, Scott J F, Ramesh R Phys. Today 51 (7) 22 (1998); Bune A V et al. Nature (London) 391 874 (1998)
  39. Chesnokov S A et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 343 (1999)
  40. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 (3, 1999)
  41. Mourou G A, Barty C P J, Perry M D Phys. Today 51 (1) 22 (1998)
  42. Kapteyn H, Murnane M Phys. World 12 (1) 33 (1999)
  43. Wilczek F Nature (London) 395 220 (1998)
  44. Okun L B Usp. Fiz. Nauk 168 625 (1998) [Phys. Usp. 41 553 (1998)]
  45. Mavromatos N Phys. World 11 (12) 21 (1998); Phys. Today 52 (2) 19 (1999)
  46. Phys. World 12 (1) 5 (1999); Phys. Today 52 (1) 22 (1999)
  47. Heitler W The Quantum Theory of Radiation 3rd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954) [Translated into Russian (Moscow: IL, 1956)]
  48. Landau L D, Lifshitz E M Teoriya Polya (The Classical Theory of Fields, Moscow: Fizmatlit, 1988) [Translated into English (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1983)]
  49. Sessler A M Phys. Today 51 (3) 48 (1998)
  50. Critical Problems in Physics (Eds V L Fitch, D R Marlow, M A E Dementi, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1997)
  51. Ginzburg V L Usp. Fiz. Nauk 166 169 (1996) [Phys. Usp. 39 155 (1996)]
  52. O’Halloran T, Sokolsky P, Yoshida S Phys. Today 51 (1) 31 (1998)
  53. Gleiser M Contemp. Phys. 39 239 (1998)
  54. Einstein A Ather und Relativitäts theorie (Berlin: Verlag von Julius Springer, 1920) [Translated into Russian: Sobranie Nauchnykh Trudov (Collection of Scientific Papers) Vol. 1 (Moscow: Nauka, 1965) p. 682]
  55. Wilczek F Phys. Today 52 (1) 11 (1999)
  56. Witten E Phys. Today 50 (5) 28 (1997)
  57. Schwarz J H Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95 2750 (1998)
  58. Gauntlett J P Contemp. Phys. 39 317 (1998)
  59. Kane G Phys. Today 50 (2) 40 (1997)
  60. Ginzburg V L, Tamm I E Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 17 227 (1947)
  61. Ginzburg V L, Man’ko V I Fiz. Elem. Chastits At. Yadra 7 3 (1976)
  62. Kaluza Th Berl. Ber. 966 (1921)
  63. Klein O Nature (London) 118 516 (1926); Z. Phys. 46 188 (1927)
  64. Pauli W Theory of Relativity (New York: Pergamon Press, 1958) [Translated into Russian (Moscow: Fizmatlit, 1991)]
  65. Kuhn T S The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1970) [Translated into Russian (Moscow: Progress, 1975)]
  66. Will C M Theory and Experiment in Gravitational Physics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) [Translated into Russian (Moscow: Energoatomizdat, 1985)]
  67. Zakharov A F Gravitatsionnye Linzy i Mikrolinzy (Gravitation and Microlenses, Moscow: Yanus-K, 1997); Zakharov A F, Sazhin M V Usp. Fiz. Nauk 168 1041 (1998) [Phys. Usp. 41 945 (1998)]
  68. Chwolson O Astron. Nachrichten 221 329 (1924)
  69. Einstein A Science 84 506 (1936) [Translated into Russian: Sobranie Nauchnykh Trudov (Collection of Scientific Papers) Vol. 2 (Moscow: Nauka, 1966) p. 436]
  70. Stella L, Vietri M Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 17 (1999)
  71. Hulse R A, Taylor J H (Jr) Nobel lectures in physics Usp. Fiz. Nauk 164 743 (1994)
  72. Braginskiî V B Usp. Fiz. Nauk [Phys. Usp.] (in press)
  73. Shi X, Fuller G M, Halzen F Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 5722 (1998)
  74. Kundic T et al. Astrophys. J. 482 75 (1997)
  75. Novikov I D Évolyutsiya Vselennoî (Evolution of the Universe, Moscow: Nauka, 1983) [Translated into English (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1983)]
  76. Peebles P J E Principles of Physical Cosmology (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press, 1993) [Translation of the previous edition - Peebles P J Fizicheskaya Kosmologiya (Physical Cosmology, Moscow: Mir, 1975)]
  77. Einstein A Berl. Ber. 235 (1931) [Translated into Russian: Sobranie Nauchnykh Trudov (Collection of Scientific Papers) Vol. 2 (Moscow: Nauka, 1966) p. 349]
  78. Einstein A Berl. Ber. 1 142 (1917) [Translated into Russian: Sobranie Nauchnykh Trudov (Collection of Scientific Papers) Vol. 1 (Moscow: Nauka, 1965) p. 601]
  79. Gliner É B Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 49 542 (1965) [Gliner E B Sov. Phys. JETP 22 378 (1966)]
  80. Weînberg C Usp. Fiz. Nauk 158 639 (1989) [Translated from: Weinberg C S Rev. Mod. Phys. 61 1 (1998)]
  81. Ginzburg V L Pul’sary (Pulsars, New Phenomena in Life, Science, Technology. Ser. Fiz., Asron., issue 2, Moscow: Znanie, 1970)
  82. Hurley K et al. Nature (London) 397 41 (1999); see also Nature (London) 398 27 (1999)
  83. Beskin V S, Gurevich A V, Istomin Ya N Usp. Fiz. Nauk 150 257 (1986) [Sov. Phys. Usp. 29 946 (1986)]; Beskin V S, Gurevich A V, Istomin Ya N Physics of the Pulsar Magnetosphere (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993)
  84. Beskin V S Usp. Fiz. Nauk [Phys. Usp.] (in press)
  85. Vilenkin A, Shellard E P S Cosmic Strings and other Topological Defects (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994)
  86. Oppenheimer J R, Snyder H Phys. Rev. 56 455 (1939)
  87. Frolov V P, Novikov I D Black Hole Physics (Fundamental Theories of Physics, Vol. 96, Dordrecht: Kluwer Acad. Publ., 1998). The first edition of this book was also published in Russian. Novikov I D, Frolov V P Fizika Chernykh Dyr (Physics of Black Holes, Moscow: Nauka, 1986)
  88. Phys. Today 51 (3) 21 (1998)
  89. Hawking S Nature (London) 248 30 (1974)
  90. Bekenstein J D, Schiffer M Phys. Rev. D 58 064014 (1998)
  91. Oort J H Astrophys. J. 91 273 (1940); Science 220 1233, 1339 (1983)
  92. Tinney C G Nature (London) 397 37 (1999)
  93. Sciama D W Nature (London) 348 617 (1990); Q.J.R. Astron. Soc. 34 291 (1993)
  94. Pretzl K P Europhys. News 24 167 (1993)
  95. Gurevich A V, Zybin K P, Sirota V A Usp. Fiz. Nauk 167 913 (1997) [Phys. Usp. 40 869 (1997)]
  96. Gill A J Contemp. Phys. 39 13 (1998)
  97. Berezinsky V Nucl. Phys. B (Proc. Suppl.) 70 419 (1999); Phys. Today 51 (10) 19 (1998)
  98. Klebesadel R W, Strong I B, Olson R A Astrophys. J. Lett. 182 L85 (1973)
  99. Phys. Today 50 (6) 17; (7) 17 (1997)
  100. McNamara B, Harrison T Nature (London) 396 233 (1998)
  101. Kulkarni S R et al. Nature (London) 393 35 (1998)
  102. Postnov K A Usp. Fiz. Nauk 169 545 (1999) [Phys. Usp. 42 (1999)]
  103. Reines F 1995 Nobel lectures in physics Usp. Fiz. Nauk 166 1352 (1996)
  104. Perl M L Usp. Fiz. Nauk 166 1340 (1996)
  105. Perkins D H, in Critical Problems in Physics (Eds V L Fitch, D R Marlow, M A E Dementi, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1997) p. 201
  106. Wolfenstein L Contemp. Phys. 37 175 (1996)
  107. Phys. Today 51 (8) 17 (1998)
  108. Fukuda Y et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 1562 (1998)
  109. Fukuda Y et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 1158 (1998)
  110. Baltz A J, Goldhaber A S, Goldhaber M Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 5730 (1998)
  111. Bahcall J N et al. Nature (London) 375 29 (1995)
  112. Landau L D, Lifshitz E M Kvanatovaya Mekhanika. Nerelyativistskaya Teoriya (Quantum Mechanics. Non-relativistic Theory, Moscow: Fizmatlit, 1989) [Translated into English (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1977)]
  113. Mandel’shtam L I Polnoe Sobranie Trudov (Complete Collection of Papers, Ed. M A Leontovich) Vol. 5 (Leningrad: Izd. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1950) p. 347
  114. Kadomtsev B B Dinamika i Informatsiya (Dynamics and Information, Moscow: Red. Zhurn. Usp. Fiz. Nauk, 1997); second edition (Moscow: Red. Zhurn. Usp. Fiz. Nauk, 1999)
  115. Bub J Interpreting the Quantum World (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1997)
  116. Klyshko D N Usp. Fiz. Nauk 168 975 (1998) [Phys. Usp. 41 885 (1998)]
  117. Haroche S Phys. Today 51 (7) 36 (1998)
  118. Goldstein S Phys. Today 51 (3) 42; (4) 38 (1998); see the discussion of this subject: Phys. Today 52 (2) 11 (1999)
  119. Whitaker A Phys. World 11 (12) 29 (1998)
  120. Feînberg E L Dve Kul’tury: Intuitsiya i Logika v Iskusstve i Nauke (Two Cultures: Intuition and Logic in Arts and Sciences, Moscow: Nauka, 1992); revised edition Feinberg E L Zwei Kulturen (Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1998); Voprosy Filosofii (7) 54 (1997)
  121. Ginzburg V L Newspaper `Poisk’ No. 29-30 (1998)
  122. Milgrom M Astrophys. J. 270 363 (1993); Ann. Phys. (N.Y.) 229 384 (1994)
  123. Gehrels N, Paul J Phys. Today 51 (2) 26 (1998)
  124. Nature (London) 397 289 (1999); Phys. World 12 (2) 7 (1999); 12 (3) 19 (1999)
  125. Shiozawa M et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 3319 (1998)
  126. Collins C A Contemp. Phys. 40 1 (1999)
  127. Hijmans T Phys. Today 52 (2) 17 (1999)
  128. Bildsten L, Strohmayer T Phys. Today 52 (2) 40 (1999)
  129. Williams G A Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 1201 (1999)
  130. Ellis J Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95 53 (1998)
  131. Rosenberg L J Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95 59 (1998)
  132. Peebles P Nature (London) 398 25 (1999)
  133. Phys. World 12 (3) 12 (1999)
  134. Smirnov B M Usp. Fiz. Nauk 163 (10) 29 (1993); 164 1165 (1994); 167 1169 (1997) [Phys. Usp. 36 933 (1993); 37 1079 (1994); 40 1117 (1997)]
  135. Rafelski J, Müller Phys. World 12 (3) 23 (1999)
  136. Sorge H Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 2048 (1999)
  137. Heiselberg H Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 2052 (1999)
  138. Contaldi C et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 2034 (1999)
  139. Phys. Today 52 (3, 1999)
  140. Grishchuk L P Usp. Fiz. Nauk [Phys. Usp.] (in press)
  141. Blandford R, Gehrebs N Phys. Today 52 (6) 40 (1999)

© 1918–2024 Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk
Email: ufn@ufn.ru Editorial office contacts About the journal Terms and conditions