Discover
/
Article

The 1990s: The Decade of Discovery

APR 01, 1991
Astronomers hove just prioritized the ways in which they try to discover more about the universe.
John N. Bahcall

Astronomers and astrophysicists have learned that the climates and weather patterns of planets in the solar system are driven by many of the same physical processes that create the Earth’s environment; that stars form out of clouds of gas and eventually die either in quiet solitude or spectacular explosions; that most of the common chemical elements are created in explosions of stars; that stars group together in isolated galaxies; that galaxies and clusters of galaxies stretch in sheets and filaments as far as the largest telescopes can see; and that the universe itself was born in a violent explosion some 15×109 years ago. Most amazingly, we have learned that the laws of nature on Earth apply to the farthest reaches of the observable universe.

This article is only available in PDF format

More about the authors

John N. Bahcall, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.

Related content
/
Article
A half century after the discovery of Hawking radiation, we are still dealing with the quantum puzzle it exposed.
/
Article
Since the discovery was first reported in 1999, researchers have uncovered many aspects of the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect, but its underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
/
Article
Metrologists are using fundamental physics to define units of measure. Now NIST has developed new quantum sensors to measure and realize the pascal.
/
Article
Nanoscale, topologically protected whirlpools of spins have the potential to move from applications in spintronics into quantum science.
This Content Appeared In
pt-cover_1991_04.jpeg

Volume 44, Number 4

Get PT newsletters in your inbox

pt_newsletter_card_blue.png
PT The Week in Physics

A collection of PT's content from the previous week delivered every Monday.

pt_newsletter_card_darkblue.png
PT New Issue Alert

Be notified about the new issue with links to highlights and the full TOC.

pt_newsletter_card_pink.png
PT Webinars & White Papers

The latest webinars, white papers and other informational resources.

By signing up you agree to allow AIP to send you email newsletters. You further agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.