Physics

3 inventions in this category

Physics inventions harness fundamental forces—electricity, magnetism, nuclear power, light—for practical applications. The Leyden jar (1745) stored electricity; the battery (1800) produced steady current; the electric motor (1821) converted electricity to motion; the laser (1960) produced coherent light. These inventions exhibit enabling constraints: understanding physical laws enables harnessing natural forces. They demonstrate cascading applications: electricity enabled electronics; lasers enabled fiber optics; nuclear physics enabled both weapons and power. The biological parallel is bioluminescence, bioelectricity, and other evolved mechanisms for harnessing physical phenomena. Physics inventions often emerge from basic research decades before applications: Maxwell's equations (1865) preceded radio (1890s); Einstein's relativity (1905) preceded GPS corrections (1980s).