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Part Promotion of Scientific Research

Mathematics is a universal language for describing scientific procedures. Galileo said that nature is a book written in the language of mathematics.

During the years from Newton to the 19th century, classical physics and mathematics developed together, maintaining relations neither too close to nor too remote from each other. The research of differential equations and special functions played the role of connector. However, early in this century, the quantum theory of fields and statistical mechanics were united with modern mathematics, resulting in a new development of mathematical physics. This development, brought about new viewpoints and methods which traverse the frontier fields of modern mathematics covering not only analysis but also topology, manifold theory, algebraic geometry and theory of numbers, and thus led to the solution of important problems and the evolution of new theories. In the field of mathematics, Japan is in possession of many talented researchers, and has made remarkable contributions to the development of this field.

The research in the above-mentioned subjects will continue to develop throughout the 1990's as the focus of primary interest, but the essential development in this field will be brought about by unexpected discoveries of new perspectives. It is anticipated that applied mathematics will acquire greater importance and that entirely new fields of research will be developed in the area of mathematical and physical sciences.

Physics has been called the philosophy of natural recognition, but it is also a science which demonstrates and elucidates, through experiments, the true quality of nature and the laws governing the realm of nature.

Elementary particle physics aims at understanding the basic elements of matter (i.e., elementary particles) and the true qualities of the four interactions governing the world of nature. Physics has developed to the stage where, with regard to the true nature of particles and interactions, the outlook on matter and nature, which may be called the "standard model", has now been established. The TRISTAN electron-positron-colliding accelerator of the National Laboratory for High Energy Physics (KEK) in Japan, with high accelerating performance and excellent experimental techniques, has made valuable contributions to the verification of the "standard model." Problems still remaining with the "standard model" are those relating to the discovery of hitherto unknown top quarks and the clarification of the nature of Higgs bosons. The "standard model" is not perfect as a grand theory, and it is expected that the next generation large scale hadron accelerator will contribute to the further improvement of the "model." Other problems still remaining for the future of particle physics include those which may never be verified in the energy range of the accelerator, and those which must be tackled by methodology entirely different from the use of the accelerator. Examples include research in the grand unified theory which also covets strong interactions universally and the problems on gravity.

Space physics and cosmology have rapidly approached particle physics. This is because an understanding of the process of cosmic evolution (beginning with the big bang) has proved impossible without knowledge of elementary particles. An example of this relationship is provided by the Experimental Laboratory at Kamioka, set up with the aim of detecting proton decay, which succeeded in prompt detection of neutrinos during the explosion of a super-nova.

In the field of nuclear physics, pioneering studies are just being started on the behavior of the aggregate of quarks and gluons which work to make quarks attract each other.

Material physics aims at elucidating diverse physical properties of macroscopic groups of particles. Material physics is not only a basic science but also is closely related with material science and life science, and further connected with the development of frontier technology. Therefore, private enterprises, too, are actively engaged in basic and applied research in this field. Lately, new material families have been synthesized and the new material physics they demonstrate have often promoted the advance of material physics. For example, the discovery of the high-temperature oxide superconductor has stimulated basic studies for clarifying the mechanism of superconductivity and greatly expanded the possibility of its application. The research on high-temperature superconductivity has resulted in the formation of a comprehensive research area in which not only physicists but researchers from a wide-range of fields including chemistry, electronics and so forth are taking part. Japan has produced many world-leaders within both the basic and applied aspects of this field. The discovery of the quantum hall effect has brought about a new viewpoint on the distribution of electrons in the atom. Similarly, with regard to atoms in a solid body the development of research on Kondo effect has made heavy electrons one of the important research themes. These are examples of the contributions Japanese researchers have made in theoretical and experimental research in this field.

In physical sciences, the development of instruments and the advancement of measuring techniques are indispensable. With the introduction of electron micro-scopes, artificial gratings, and measuring techniques by synchrotron radiation and neutron, the scope of material research has expanded rapidly. Thus, new aspects of research on subjects including material properties at the atomic level, dynamic properties changing in a short time, phase transition, ultimate properties, etc. are being opened.

In the years to come, artificial techniques for controlling materials will be further developed and nano-order physics for controlling individual atoms watt be taken up as an important research topic. In the fields of elementary particles and material properties, the advancement of computational physics with the help of large-scale computers is remarkable, and it is becoming possible to compute masses of elementary particles and the property of many-body systems in matter which have complicated interactions. It is expected that high-temperature superconductivity and other problems related to the quantum effect that appear in the macroscopic world will continue to occupy important places in material physics, and will prove significant in future application. In addition, nonlinear phenomena and non-equilibrium physics will be important subjects for the future.