A collection of data points used for training or testing models.A dataset is a structured collection of data points, each representing a single observation or example, used to train or test machine learning models. In physics and materials science, datasets are the raw material from which models learn patterns—for instance, mapping molecular structures to their properties or predicting the outcomes of particle collisions. The quality, size, and diversity of a dataset directly determine what a model can learn and how well it generalizes to new, unseen cases.
The concept of a dataset as a formal object emerged with the rise of statistics and machine learning in the mid-20th century. In physics, the practice of sharing large experimental datasets became common with big collaborations like the Human Genome Project (1990s) and later with open data releases from CERN and astronomical surveys.
Datasets are typically organized as tables or arrays, where each row is a sample and each column is a feature (input) or a label (output). For training, a model is shown many examples and adjusts its internal parameters to minimize the difference between its predictions and the true labels. A separate test set, not seen during training, is used to evaluate performance. In physics, datasets often come from simulations, experiments, or curated literature, and may include uncertainties or physical constraints.
Datasets power machine learning models used to predict material properties, accelerate simulations, classify astronomical objects, and analyze particle collision data, as highlighted in the provided article titles.
The quality of a dataset often matters more than its size: a small, carefully curated dataset with accurate labels can outperform a large, noisy one, as emphasized in the article 'Твердотельные батареи: ключ к успеху — не объём данных, а их качество'.











