Math Quotes from Platonic Realms


		Godfrey Harold Hardy Profession: mathematician. Born 1877, Surrey, England. Died 1947, Cambridge, England. A mathematician, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas. I am interested in mathematics only as a creative art. I believe that mathematical reality lies outside of us, and that our function is to discover, or observe it, and that the theorems which we prove, and which we describe grandiloquently as our “creations” are simply notes on our observations. In these days of conflict between ancient and modern studies, there must surely be something to be said for a study which did not begin with Pythagoras and will not end with Einstein, but is the oldest and youngest of all. The mathematician’s patterns, like the painter’s or the poet’s must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colours or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics. Robert Heinlein Profession: writer. Born 1907. Died 1988. Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house. Werner Heisenberg Profession: scientist. Born 1901, Wurzburg, Germany. Died 1976, Munich, Germany. I think that modern physics has definitely decided in favor of Plato. In fact the smallest units of matter are not physical objects in the ordinary sense; they are forms, ideas which can be expressed unambiguously only in mathematical language. Charles Hermite Profession: mathematician. Born 1822, Lorraine, France. Died 1901, Paris, France. I recoil with dismay and horror at this lamentable plague of functions which do not have derivatives. Israel Nathan Herstein Born 1923, Lublin, Poland. Died 1988, Chicago, Illinois. The value of a problem is not so much coming up with the answer as in the ideas and attempted ideas it forces on the would be solver. Very often in mathematics the crucial problem is to recognize and discover what are the relevant concepts; once this is accomplished the job may be more than half done. Heinrich Hertz Profession: scientist. Born 1857. Died 1894. One cannot escape the feeling that these mathematical formulae have an independent existence and an intelligence of their own, that they are wiser than we are, wiser even than their discoverers, that we get more out of them than we originally put in to them. David Hilbert Profession: mathematician. Born 1862, Konigsberg, Prussia. Died 1943, Gottingen, Germany. A mathematical theory is not to be considered complete until you have made it so clear that you can explain it to the first man whom you meet on the street. If I were to awaken after having slept for a thousand years, my first question would be: Has the Riemann hypothesis been proven? Mathematical science is in my opinion an indivisible whole, an organism whose vitality is conditioned upon the connection of its parts. Mathematics knows no races or geographic boundaries; for mathematics, the cultural world is one country. No one will expel us from the paradise that Cantor has created for us. (On Cantor’s set theory:) The finest product of mathematical genius and one of the supreme achievements of purely intellectual human activity. The art of doing mathematics consists in finding that special case which contains all the germs of generality. The further a mathematical theory is developed, the more harmoniously and uniformly does its construction proceed, and unsuspected relations are disclosed between hitherto separated branches of the science. The infinite! No other question has ever moved so profoundly the spirit of man.		BROWSE BY AUTHOR BROWSE BY TOPIC SEARCH FOR QUOTES CONTAINING A PHRASE (5 to 50 characters): CLICK HERE FOR SEARCH TIPS

HOME | ABOUT | CONTACT | AD INFO | PRIVACY
Copyright © 1997-2010, Math Academy Online™ / Platonic Realms™. Except where otherwise prohibited, material on this site may be printed for personal classroom use without permission by students and instructors for non-profit, educational purposes only. All other reproduction in whole or in part, including electronic reproduction or redistribution, for any purpose, except by express written agreement is strictly prohibited. Please send comments, corrections, and enquiries using our contact page.