Future Topics

[Will]

Hi,
When Newton first published his Principia his law of gravitation was at the forefront of scientific knowledge and only the most learned people would know of it, now we learn about it in school. I believe long before that, a person had to go to University to learn how to add things up. Does it then follow that in another few hundred years people will be learning about topics such as general relativity and whatever quantum theory of gravity we come up with (no! I will not admit that string "theory" is a proper theory!) in high school rather than University? What do you think we will need to go to University to learn (in other words what will the next big theories in science be)?

Thanks,
Will Wilson

 

[jedidia]

Does it then follow that in another few hundred years people will be learning about topics such as general relativity and whatever quantum theory of gravity we come up with

There's only so much you can put into the schedule, so I wouldn't expect so. Fact is, you can grasp the principles of newtons theory without any math at all, and you don't need more than the basic operations you learn during primary school to use it. You can't tackle general relativity without calculus, so you at least have to wait until then. But even then it's a field with a rather narrow (though important) practical application (as newtons laws are part of basic mechanics, and you will need to know them for any job involving mechanics, which are quite a lot). I could imagine general relativity becoming a standard topic in an engineers curiculum, but I really do not see any benefit of cramming it into the general curiculum.
A good part of quantum mechanics is already part of the curiculum for electronics engineers, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Izack]

A good part of quantum mechanics is already part of the curiculum for electronics engineers, if I'm not mistaken.

Considering it was a factor of my flunking out of my electronic engineer's curriculum, I would say yes. :lol: