Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character, Vol. 123, No. 792 http://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1929.0094 (6 April 1929)
Context: The underlying physical laws necessary for the mathematical theory of a large part of physics and the whole of chemistry are thus completely known, and the difficulty is only that the exact application of these laws leads to equations much too complicated to be soluble. It therefore becomes desirable that approximate practical methods of applying quantum mechanics should be developed, which can lead to an explanation of the main features of complex atomic systems without too much computation.
“Mathematics is the cheapest science. Unlike physics or chemistry, it does not require any expensive equipment. All one needs for mathematics is a pencil and paper.”
[Jon Fripp, Michael Fripp, Deborah Fripp, Speaking of Science: Notable Quotes on Science, Engineering, and the Environment, https://books.google.com/books?id=44ihCUS1XQMC&pg=PA45, 2000, Newnes, 978-1-878707-51-2, 45]
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George Pólya 35
Hungarian mathematician 1887–1985Related quotes
§ 2.
Linear Associative Algebra (1882)
Context: The branches of mathematics are as various as the sciences to which they belong, and each subject of physical enquiry has its appropriate mathematics. In every form of material manifestation, there is a corresponding form of human thought, so that the human mind is as wide in its range of thought as the physical universe in which it thinks.
About working with MIT and JPL on an Ocean Eddy Simulation Visualization tool https://web.archive.org/web/20180518011711/https://designmattersatartcenter.org/proj/seeing-the-unseen/
Source: Presidential Address British Association for the Advancement of Science, Section A (1910), p. 286; Cited in: Moritz (1914, 106): Modern mathematics.
“You need only a sheet of paper and so mathematics starts.”
Interview of Guido Beck http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4500.html by John Heilbron on April 22, 1967, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Selected Papers of Freeman Dyson with Commentary. https://books.google.com/books?id=nnyNUidX1OMC&pg=PA1 American Mathematical Soc. (1996) p. 1
“Great physics does not automatically imply complicated mathematics!”
[Martinus Veltman, Facts and mysteries in elementary particle physics, World Scientific, 2003, 981238149X, 15, https://books.google.com/books?id=CNCHDIobj0IC&pg=PA15]
Elements de la géométrie de l'infini (1727) as quoted by Amir R. Alexander, Geometrical Landscapes: The Voyages of Discovery and the Transformation of Mathematical Practice (2002) citing Michael S. Mahoney, "Infinitesimals and Transcendent Relations: The Mathematics of Motion in the Late Seventeenth Century" in Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution, ed. David C. Lindberg, Robert S. Westman (1990)