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Physics is the natural science of ma2er, involving the study of ma2er,[a] its fundamental cons9tuents, its mo9on and behavior through space and 9me, and the related en99es of energy and force. Physics is one of the most fundamental scien9fic disciplines, with its main goal being to understand how the...

Physics is the natural science of ma2er, involving the study of ma2er,[a] its fundamental cons9tuents, its mo9on and behavior through space and 9me, and the related en99es of energy and force. Physics is one of the most fundamental scien9fic disciplines, with its main goal being to understand how the universe behaves.[b] A scien9st who specializes in the field of physics is called a physicist. Physics is one of the oldest academic disciplines and, through its inclusion of astronomy, perhaps the oldest. Over much of the past two millennia, physics, chemistry, biology, and certain branches of mathema9cs were a part of natural philosophy, but during the Scien9fic Revolu9on in the 17th century these natural sciences emerged as unique research endeavors in their own right.[c] Physics intersects with many interdisciplinary areas of research, such as biophysics and quantum chemistry, and the boundaries of physics are not rigidly defined. New ideas in physics oMen explain the fundamental mechanisms studied by other sciences and suggest new avenues of research in these and other academic disciplines such as mathema9cs and philosophy. Advances in physics oMen enable new technologies. For example, advances in the understanding of electromagne9sm, solid-state physics, and nuclear physics led directly to the development of new products that have drama9cally transformed modern-day society, such as television, computers, domes9c appliances, and nuclear weapons; advances in thermodynamics led to the development of industrializa9on; and advances in mechanics inspired the development of calculus.