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Millennium Essay

Nature 402, 463 (2 December 1999) | doi:10.1038/44959

Annus physicalis 1932

H. B. G. Casimir1

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A bumper crop of physical discoveries — something in the (heavy) water?

A physicist reviewing our century will find a discovery or new insight in every year, but 1932 stands out as a true annus mirabilis. John Dryden, who coined the term to describe 1666, discussed three events: the plague, the fire of London, and the war with the Dutch.