Editing History of physics (section)

===Quantum field theory===
[[File:Feynmann Diagram Gluon Radiation.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|A [[Feynman diagram]] representing (left to right) the production of a photon (blue [[sine wave]]) from the [[annihilation]] of an electron and its complementary [[antiparticle]], the [[positron]]. The photon becomes a [[quark]]–[[antiquark]] pair and a [[gluon]] (green spiral) is released.]]
[[File:Feynman-richard_p.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Richard Feynman]]'s Los Alamos ID badge]]
As the philosophically inclined continued to debate the fundamental nature of the universe, quantum theories continued to be produced, beginning with [[Paul Dirac]]'s formulation of a relativistic quantum theory in 1928. However, attempts to quantize electromagnetic theory entirely were stymied throughout the 1930s by theoretical formulations yielding infinite energies. This situation was not considered adequately resolved until after [[World War&nbsp;II]], when [[Julian Schwinger]], [[Richard Feynman]] and [[Sin-Itiro Tomonaga]] independently posited the technique of [[renormalization]], which allowed for an establishment of a robust [[quantum electrodynamics]] (QED).<ref>{{Harvtxt|Schweber|1994}}</ref>

Meanwhile, new theories of [[Elementary particle|fundamental particles]] proliferated with the rise of the idea of the [[Quantum field theory|quantization of fields]] through "[[Exchange interaction|exchange forces]]" regulated by an exchange of short-lived [[Virtual particle|"virtual" particle]]s, which were allowed to exist according to the laws governing the uncertainties inherent in the quantum world. Notably, [[Hideki Yukawa]] proposed that the positive charges of the [[Atomic nucleus|nucleus]] were kept together courtesy of a powerful but short-range force mediated by a particle with a mass between that of the electron and [[proton]]. This particle, the "[[pion]]", was identified in 1947 as part of what became a slew of particles discovered after World War II. Initially, such particles were found as [[Ionization|ionizing radiation]] left by [[cosmic ray]]s, but increasingly came to be produced in newer and more powerful [[particle accelerator]]s.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Galison|1997}}</ref>

Outside particle physics, significant advances of the time were:
* the invention of the [[laser]] (1964 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]]);
* the theoretical and experimental research of [[superconductivity]], especially the invention of a [[Ginzburg–Landau theory|quantum theory of superconductivity]] by [[Vitaly Ginzburg]] and [[Lev Landau]] (1962 Nobel Prize in Physics) and, later, its explanation via [[Cooper pair]]s (1972 Nobel Prize in Physics). The Cooper pair was an early example of [[quasiparticle]]s.