In mathematics, compactification is a technique used to extend a space such that it becomes compact. Compactness is a topological property that has important implications in various areas of mathematics, particularly in analysis and topology. ### General Idea The process of compactification typically involves adding "points at infinity" or otherwise altering the topology of a space to ensure that every open cover of the space has a finite subcover.
"Topologists" can refer to two primary meanings depending on the context: 1. **Mathematicians**: In the field of mathematics, topologists are specialists who study topology, a branch that deals with the properties of space that are preserved under continuous transformations. Topology involves concepts such as continuity, compactness, and connectedness, and includes various areas like algebraic topology, differential topology, and geometric topology.
Freeman Dyson (1923-2020) was a renowned theoretical physicist and mathematician whose work spanned several areas, including quantum mechanics, nuclear engineering, and mathematics. He is perhaps best known for his contributions to quantum electrodynamics (QED), which earned him significant acclaim in the field of physics.
Magnetic monopoles are hypothetical particles that are theorized to be isolated magnetic charges, similar to how electric charges exist as positive or negative entities. In classical electromagnetism, magnetic fields are produced by electric charges, and magnetic poles always occur in pairs—every magnet has a north and a south pole. The idea of magnetic monopoles was first introduced by physicist Paul Dirac in 1931.
The 18th century was a significant period for the development of physics in Switzerland, where several notable physicists made contributions to the field. Here are some key figures from that time: 1. **Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777)**: While primarily known as a physician and botanist, Haller's work also touched on aspects of physiology and mechanics, influencing both biology and physics.
The 20th century saw significant contributions from Ukrainian physicists in various fields of physics, including theoretical physics, quantum mechanics, and nuclear physics. Here are some notable Ukrainian physicists from that era: 1. **Igor Tamm (1895–1971)** - A prominent physicist known for his work in plasma physics and nuclear fusion. He played a crucial role in the development of the Soviet hydrogen bomb.
In the 19th century, Bulgaria was undergoing significant social and political changes, particularly during the period of the National Revival. Although this was not a time when Bulgaria had a developed scientific infrastructure, some Bulgarian scholars and intellectuals contributed to the fields of science and education, including physics. One notable figure is **Vladimir Kolarov** (also spelled Kolarov), who is often recognized for his contributions to the natural sciences during the late 19th century.
In the 19th century, Denmark produced several notable physicists who made significant contributions to the field. Here are a few key figures: 1. **Hans Christian Ørsted (1777-1851)** - Ørsted is best known for his discovery of the relationship between electricity and magnetism. In 1820, he demonstrated that an electric current can create a magnetic field, which was a foundational discovery for electromagnetism.
In the 19th century, several Polish physicists made significant contributions to science despite the political turmoil and partitions of Poland during that time. Here are a few notable figures: 1. **Andrzej Śniadecki (1756–1838)** - While primarily recognized as a philosopher and a naturalist, Śniadecki made contributions to various disciplines, including physics.

Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project

Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
We have two killer features:
  1. topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculus
    Articles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
    • a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
    • a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
    This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.
    Figure 1.
    Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page
    . View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivative
  2. local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:
    This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
    Figure 2.
    You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either https://OurBigBook.com or as a static website
    .
    Figure 3.
    Visual Studio Code extension installation
    .
    Figure 4.
    Visual Studio Code extension tree navigation
    .
    Figure 5.
    Web editor
    . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.
    Video 3.
    Edit locally and publish demo
    . Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.
    Video 4.
    OurBigBook Visual Studio Code extension editing and navigation demo
    . Source.
  3. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook-media/master/feature/x/hilbert-space-arrow.png
  4. Infinitely deep tables of contents:
    Figure 6.
    Dynamic article tree with infinitely deep table of contents
    .
    Descendant pages can also show up as toplevel e.g.: ourbigbook.com/cirosantilli/chordate-subclade
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact