Students in the Thin Films Laboratory Photograph: John E. Consoli

• The Transistor -- the basis of all modern electronics, inlcuding radio, television, computers, and telecommunications.
• The Laser and Laser Diodes -- now used widely in CD players, grocery bar code scanners, medical treatment, and telecommunications.
• The Digital Computer -- much of the early development (and some of the most recent) have been motivated by basic physics research.
• Fiber Optics -- now finding widespread application in high-speed data and voice transmission networks
• The Global Positioning System -- uses satellites and precise timing to allow positions to be located to within a few feet anywhere on the surface of the Earth
• The Hologram -- used on credit cards, drivers' licenses, and other documents to prevent fraud.
• The World Wide Web -- originally designed by physicists. 
• Medical Imaging Techniques -- such as the sonogram, the CAT scan, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRIs).
• Medical Treatment Techniques -- using radiation and charged particle accelerators.
• New Micro-Sensors -- for "smart machines" and "smart buildings," faster and smaller computers, computer disks that can store more information in a smaller space, improved chemical processing to help the environment and reduce energy use, faster and cheaper telecommunications.

• Many pioneers in molecular biology were trained as physicists, e.g., Francis Crick, one of the two discoverers of DNA.
• A large number of astronomers were also trained as physicists