AKICOLJ/DW

[desperance]

Does anyone know offhand when people started using the word "physics" to mean what we know as physics? Specifically, is it going to seem out of place in a steampunky setting? I do have the OED, but the cats have kinda buried it over there somewhere - *waves vaguely at a corner heaped with Stuff* - and even if I dug it out it's awful heavy and teeny-tiny print, and...

*is a wimp*