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Published online 30 July 2004 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news040726-16
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Unlikely chart-toppers
Forget cosmology and quantum mechanics. A list of most important physics papers from the past century reveals condensed matter physics is where it's really at, says Philip Ball.
Lists. Don't we just love them? We are inundated by compilations of the greatest movies, the best pop singles, the most popular novels. A recent roll-call of Britain's 'top 100 public intellectuals' represents perhaps the most highbrow end of the market, and it may even be some comfort to scientists that biologist Richard Dawkins got the highest ranking.
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