Science in general advances in a helical way. Namely each discovery made poses new questions that need to be answered. This is true for natural sciences and in particular physics. Physics is defined as the science of nature. It has not developed yet in a satisfactory manner. This is so partly due to the not advanced level of mathematics that we have reached so far.
For example, the schroedinger equation which is a wave equation that describes the motion of electrons is not possible to solve for complex systems more than one electron. This is so because of mathematical equations that we cannot solve.
The schroedinger equation was a leap not only in physics but also for chemistry and mathematics. It opened a new era for the investigation of atoms and molecules.
Newton laws were a leap in classical mechanics which led to many technological applications such as rockets technology which relies on the third law of Newton. In addition, cars and aeroplanes were possible to make due to Newton laws. Newton laws were valid for a long period of time.
They are good for macrosystems. Research on atomic scale failed to obey Newton laws. In other words, Newton laws could not predict correctly the physics of atoms and molecules. Such failure in classical mechanics was manifested by the ultra-violet catastrophe and the failure of Newton laws to describe the heat capacity of thermodynamic systems.
These failures in classical mechanics led to a leap in physics which had led to the development of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics has a probabilistic nature in contrast to classical mechanics which has a deterministic nature. In addition, quantum mechanics involves complex variables and linear operators.
Quantum mechanics is governed by linear operators which depict mathematically physical variables such as energy and momentum. For example, the energy of a given system is depicted quantum mechanically by the hamiltonian operator. The momentum of a particle in quantum mechanics is described by a complex linear operator.
The probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics is interesting since it says that we cannot determine the position of a particle in a definite way but in a probabilistic manner.
The theory of relativity by Albert Einstein was another leap in physics. This theory has applications in astrophysics and particles theory.
The mass-energy relation also by Albert Einstein led to the development of nuclear energy and the atomic bomb. Another duality that was discovered in the beginning of last century is the De-broglie wave-particle relation. It was discovered by a french physicist who’s name is De-broglie. He won the Noble Prize for this discovery.
The wave particle theory of De-broglie led to the development of the schroedinger equation.
Since science develops in a helical way but slowly, it is reasonable to think that the next leap is coming for sure. It is just a matter of time.
One would expect that since Einstein discovered the mass-energy relation and De-broglie discovered the wave particle duality, it is then reasonable to think that there will be more dualities to be discovered. It is really just a matter of time and research.
Another thing that must be mentioned is that in the theory of relativity Einstein included time as fourth dimension in addition to the three cartesian coordinates, it is then reasonable to think of theories that would include higher dimensions such as gravity.
In addition it is reasonable to think that if we found the oil as energy resource that we are going to find new energy resources that are not explored yet.
Finally one really needs not send spaceships to explore space. One really needs to investigate the brain which is the essence of our existence. In the brain research lies the answers of the mysteries of the world and not in other things.
