Editing Experimental physics (section)

==History==
As a distinct field, experimental physics was established in [[early modern Europe]], during what is known as the [[Scientific Revolution]], by physicists such as [[Galileo Galilei]], [[Christiaan Huygens]], [[Johannes Kepler]], [[Blaise Pascal]] and Sir [[Isaac Newton]]. In the early 17th century, Galileo made extensive use of experimentation to validate physical theories, which is the key idea in the modern scientific method. Galileo formulated and successfully tested several results in dynamics, in particular the law of [[inertia]], which later became the first law in [[Newton's laws of motion]]. In Galileo's ''[[Two New Sciences]]'', a dialogue between the characters Simplicio and Salviati discuss the motion of a ship (as a moving frame) and how that ship's cargo is indifferent to its motion. Huygens used the motion of a boat along a Dutch canal to illustrate an early form of the conservation of [[momentum]].

Experimental physics is considered to have reached a high point with the publication of the ''[[Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica]]'' in 1687 by Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727). In 1687, Newton published the ''Principia'', detailing two comprehensive and successful physical laws: [[Newton's laws of motion]], from which arise [[classical mechanics]]; and [[Newton's law of universal gravitation]], which describes the [[fundamental force]] of [[gravity]]. Both laws agreed well with experiment. The ''Principia'' also included several theories in [[fluid dynamics]].

From the late 17th century onward, [[thermodynamics]] was developed by physicist and chemist [[Robert Boyle]], [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Thomas Young]], and many others. In 1733, [[Daniel Bernoulli]] used statistical arguments with classical mechanics to derive thermodynamic results, initiating the field of [[statistical mechanics]]. In 1798, [[Benjamin Thompson]] (Count Rumford) demonstrated the conversion of mechanical work into heat, and in 1847 [[James Prescott Joule]] stated the law of conservation of [[energy]], in the form of heat as well as mechanical energy. [[Ludwig Boltzmann]], in the nineteenth century, is responsible for the modern form of [[statistical mechanics]].

Besides classical mechanics and thermodynamics, another great field of experimental inquiry within physics was the nature of [[electricity]]. Observations in the 17th and eighteenth century by scientists such as Boyle, [[Stephen Gray (scientist)|Stephen Gray]], and [[Benjamin Franklin]] created a foundation for later work. These observations also established our basic understanding of [[Electric charge|electrical charge]] and [[electric current|current]]. By 1808 [[John Dalton]] had discovered that atoms of different elements have different weights and proposed the modern [[Atomic theory|theory of the atom]].

It was [[Hans Christian Ørsted]] who first proposed the connection between electricity and magnetism after observing the deflection of a compass needle by a nearby electric current. By the early 1830s [[Michael Faraday]] had demonstrated that magnetic fields and electricity could generate each other. In 1864 [[James Clerk Maxwell]] presented to the [[Royal Society]] a set of equations that described this relationship between electricity and magnetism. [[Maxwell's equations]] also predicted correctly that [[light]] is an [[Electromagnetic radiation|electromagnetic wave]]. Starting with astronomy, the principles of natural philosophy crystallized into fundamental [[law of physics|laws of physics]] which were enunciated and improved in the succeeding centuries. By the 19th century, the sciences had segmented into multiple fields with specialized researchers and the field of physics, although logically pre-eminent, no longer could claim sole ownership of the entire field of scientific research.