Compared to the unsolved mysteries of the universe, far less gets said about one of the most profound facts to have crystallized in physics over the past half-century: To an astonishing degree, nature ...

The dominant view in physics is simple: the laws of nature are fixed. Gravity pulls as it always has; quantum probabilities collapse with the same stubborn indifference today as billions of years ago.

Visit NAP.edu/10766 to get more information about this book, to buy it in print, or to download it as a free PDF. Condensed-matter and materials physics is the branch of physics that studies the ...