quantum mechanics 

I suspect you may be guilty of putting all scientists in these fields"in the same basket", Bill D. Even Pete wisely avoided such a pitfall.

Advances in cosmology are slow, when compared with many other fields of science, as it is complex, costly and they most often rely on advances in new and expensive equipment.But, it is difficult for me to imagine such advances without the contribution of both mathmatical scientists and physicists? Quite often we only see the advances, without understanding the contributions made by many varied fields of science and advanced engineering. Who can imagine the future advances, (those beyond our lifetime) which will most likely be fueled by their investments being made today?

So, you are seeing real-world examples (those easily recognizable) of contributions resulting from advances in quantum physics (mechanics). Above are a few, though I suspect you could easily find more.