On Saturday 13th June Gateways to the First World War supported 'Physics and the Great War' , a free one-day conference at St Cross College, University of Oxford.
Arguably the First World War saw the greatest advent of new science and technology and the role of science in warfare than any conflict hitherto. On land the innovations of barbed wire, machine guns and eventually, tanks changed the nature of land battles. At sea, radio communications changed operation of surface fleets and the introduction of submarine warfare changed the nature of war at sea. This war saw also the advent of aerial warfare which was to change the nature of all future wars. The conference sought to review the key ways in which physics and its mathematics changed the nature of conflict from various points of views: technical, historical and sociological.
Recordings of the event are now available on the conference website.
