| Themes > Science > Physics > Elementary particle physics Today > Elementary particle physics Today > String Theory and the Unification of Forces > Early attempts at unification |
The urge to discover a fundamental theory underlying all natural phenomena has been expressed since the beginning of civilization. From the reduction of all matter to ``earth, air, fire, water'', we have progressed considerably. Chemistry reduces all of matter to a hundred or so types of atoms, called ``elements''. But these in turn consist of smaller particles interacting with each other. We now understand reasonably well how to reduce all of matter to a large collection of elementary particles. The interactions amongst them are ascribed to the exchange of other particles, called ``force carriers''. |
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