The ultimate goal of physics is to create a single equation
which can be applied anywhere in the universe. It is quite sure that we are not
there yet and there is a long journey ahead of humankind to achieve that
ultimate goal of physics. During the past four centuries we have progressed a lot
due to some intelligent minds and still are progressing. Every step in physics
created a conflict and solving that conflict, we got new ideas, new set of
equations which led us to easier life and better understanding of the universe.
Three conflicts in the field of physics are most common. The first conflict was
recognized as far back as the late 1800s. The first conflict was created by
puzzling properties of light. According to laws of motion presented by Isaac Newton,
if you run fast enough, you can catch up with a departing beam of light,
whereas according to laws of electromagnetism presented by James Clerk Maxwell,
you can't. In order to solve this Einstein came in and solved this conflict
through his theory of special relativity.
To solve this conflict Einstein presented his theory of
general relativity. This theory made a clear view of gravity in the minds of
scientists and in fact, in a short time people could actually imagine what
gravity is and how it is transmitted.
According to General Theory of Relativity fabric of space
and time transmit the force of gravity from one place to another. Once again
the pattern repeated itself: The discovery of general relativity, while solving
one conflict, led to another. Physicists have developed quantum mechanics in
1930s. Reason of the development of quantum mechanics was, a number of problems
arose when Einstein’s equations and nineteenth-century ideas of physics were
applied to the atomic world. The third conflict was the deepest conflict created
by the incompatibility between general relativity and quantum mechanics. To
solve this conflict, scientists that we are familiar with and most of them are
alive created a different theory and set of equations. Scientists offered string theory to solve the third conflict.
Most of us think that our universe has three spatial dimensions, but string
theory creates more dimensions that are beyond our vision. String theory was
built using special and general relativity, but string theory needs its own plain
restoring of our conceptions of space and time. Present form of String Theory
was created by well-known scientists like Michio Kaku.