Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

New Paths Towards Quantum Gravity pp 339–354Cite as

Steps Towards Quantum Gravity and the Practice of Science: Will the Merger of Mathematics and Physics Work?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 1568 Accesses

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Physics ((LNP,volume 807))

Abstract

I recall general tendencies of the mathematization of the sciences and derive challenges and tentative obstructions for a successful merger of mathematics and physics on fancied steps towards quantum gravity. This is an edited version of the opening words to an international workshop Quantum Gravity: An Assessment, Holbæk, Denmark, 17–18 May 2008. It followed immediately after the Quantum Gravity Summer School, see http://QuantumGravity.ruc.dk

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. M. Abbott, J. Larsen, J. Tao, Modelling circulations in depth-averaged flows, Part 1: The accumulation of the evidence, J. Hydr. Res. 23 (1985), 309–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. M. Abbott, J. Larsen, Modelling circulations in depth-averaged flows, Part 2: A reconciliation, J. Hydr. Res. 23 (1985), 397–420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. J. Baez, This Week's Finds, Work on quantum gravity has seemed stagnant and stuck for the last couple of years, which is why I've been turning more towards pure math, Week 220 (August 31, 2005), http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/week220.html.

  4. J.G. Bednorz, K.A. Müller, “Perovskite-type oxides – The new approach to high-T c superconductivity”, Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  5. G. Ekspong (ed.), Nobel Lectures in Physics 1981–1990, World Scientific Publishing Company, Singapore (1993).

    Google Scholar 

  6. J. D. Bernal, Science in History, vol. 4, Watts, London (1954) 1328p.

    Google Scholar 

  7. J. Bernoulli, Acta Eruditorum May 1697, 201–224, translated in excerpts in D. Struik (ed.), Source Book in Mathematics, 1200–1800, Princeton University Press, Princeton (1986).

    Google Scholar 

  8. M. Bohle–Carbonell, B. Booß, J.H. Jensen, “Innermathematical vs. extramathematical obstructions to model credibility”, in: X. Avula, (ed.), Mathematical Modelling in Science and Technology, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (Zürich, August 1983), Pergamon Press, New York (1984), pp. 62–65.

    Google Scholar 

  9. B. Booß, Niakoi tendenzii v matematishaziiata na otdelnite nauki (Some tendencies in the mathematization of the individual sciences, Bulgarian). Fiz.-Mat. Spis. B''lgar. Akad. Nauk. 22(55)(3)(1979), 197–204.

    Google Scholar 

  10. B. Booß-Bavnbek, “Against ill-founded, irresponsible modelling”, in: M. Niss, et al. (eds.), Teaching of Mathematical Modelling and Applications, Ellis Horwood, Chichester (1991), pp. 70–82.

    Google Scholar 

  11. B. Booß-Bavnbek, The mathematization of the individual sciences – revisited, J. Contemp. Math. Anal. (Armen. Acad. Sci.) 44 (2) (April 2009), 81–96, arXiv:0903.0942v1 [math.HO]. Russian edition: Izvestiya NAN Armenii. Matematika (2009), No. 2, 16–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. B. Booß-Bavnbek, G. Esposito, M. Lesch, “Quantum gravity: unification of principles and interactions, and promises of spectral geometry”, SIGMA (Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications) 3 (2007), pp. 098–127 [arXiv:0708.1705v3 [hep-th]].

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. B. Brecht, Die Tage der Kommune, in: Stücke 8, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin and Weimar, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt (1992), pp. 243–317, here p. 174.

    Google Scholar 

  14. J. Dee, Mathematicall Praeface to the Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara, 1570. Kessinger Publishing, Kila (1999), 60p.

    Google Scholar 

  15. P. Diepgen, Geschichte der Medizin. Die historische Entwicklung der Heilkunde und des ärztlichen Lebens, vol. 1, Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin (1949), pp. 67–158.

    Google Scholar 

  16. S. Edwards, Rudolph E. Peierls-Obituary, Physics Today 49[s] (2) (February 1996), 74–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. B. Haghighat, A. Klemm, Topological strings on Grassmannian Calabi-Yau manifolds, JHEP 0901:029-65, 2009, arXiv:0802.2908v1 [hep-th]

    Google Scholar 

  18. D. Hilbert, Mathematische Probleme, Vortrag, gehalten auf dem internationalen Mathematiker-Kongreß zu Paris 1900, Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse (1900), 253-297; http://www.mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de/ kersten/hilbert/rede.html, with Boris Gnedenko's comments to the 6th problem in: P.S. Alexandrov (ed.), Problemi Gilberta, Nauka, Moscow, 1969, German translation in Ostwalds Klassiker der exakten Wissenschaften, vol. 252, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Leipzig (1971), pp. 145–150.

  19. J. Høyrup, From Hesiod to Saussure, from Hippocrates to Jevons–An Introduction to the History of Scientific Thought, Roskilde 2004; http://akira.ruc.dk/~jensh/Publications/ FromHesiod_04.pdf

  20. F. Jürss, Geschichte des wissenschaftlichen Denkens im Altertum, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin (1982).

    Google Scholar 

  21. M. Kline, Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times, Oxford University Press, Oxford (1974).

    Google Scholar 

  22. N. Koblitz, The uneasy relationship between mathematics and cryptography, Notices AMS 54 (8) (September 2007), 972–979; http://www.ams.org/notices/200708/tx070800972p.pdf

  23. F. Kudlien, Der Beginn des medizinischen Denkens bei den Griechen, Von Homer bis Hippokrates, Artemis, Zürich and Stuttgart (1967).

    Google Scholar 

  24. P. Lax, Mathematics and physics, Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 45 [s](1) (January 2008), 135–152.

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  25. J.B. Listing, Über unsere jetzige Kenntniss der Gestalt und Grösse der Erde, Nachr. d. Kgl. Gesellsch. d. Wiss. und der Georg August University, Göttingen (5. Februar, No. 3, 1873, pp. 33–98), reprinted September 2007, VDM Verlag, ISBN: 3836422999.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Y. Manin, Presentation to the closing round table “Are pure and applied mathematics drifting apart?”, in: M. Sanz-Solé, et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians (Madrid, August 22–30, 2006), European Mathematical Society, Zürich (2007), pp. 762–764, 775–776.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Y. Manin, Mathematical knowledge: internal, social and cultural aspects. Commissioned for C. Bartocci, P. Odifreddi (eds.), Mathematics and Culture, vol. 2 (2007), math.HO/0703427; also in: Mathematics as Metaphor: Selected Essays of Yuri I. Manin with Foreword by Freeman J. Dyson, American Mathematical Society, 2007, pp. 3–26.

    Google Scholar 

  28. P. Naur, Knowing and the Mystique of Logic and Rules, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (1995).

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  29. C.S. Peirce, “The fixation of belief”, The Popular Science Monthly (1878). Reprinted In: Ch. Hartshorne, P. Weiss (eds.), The Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vol. V, book 2, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA (1934), #358–386, pp. 223–247; http://milne.ruc.dk/~Booss/MaMoCalc/WP1_Peirce_Fixation.pdf. This is the original text by Peirce, but edited for first year students of the Modelling/Calculus Class at Roskilde University.

  30. L. Smolin, The Trouble with Physics, Allen Lane, Penguin Books, London (2006).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  31. J.M. Steele, Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by early Astronomers, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (2000).

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  32. W. Torge, Geodesy, 3. Completely revised and extended edition, de Gruyter, Berlin-New York (2001).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NSM/IMFUFA, Roskilde Universitet, P.O. Box 260, DK-4000, Roskilde, Denmark

    B. Booß-Bavnbek

Authors
  1. B. Booß-Bavnbek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. Booß-Bavnbek .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. IMFUFA, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark

    Bernhelm Booß-Bavnbek

  2. Gruppo IV, Complesso Universitario, Ist. Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Edificio N / Via Cintia, Napoli, 80126, Italy

    G. Esposito

  3. Mathematisches Institut, AG Arithmetische algebraische Geometrie, Universität Bonn, Beringstr. 6, Bonn, 53115, Germany

    Matthias Lesch

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Booß-Bavnbek, B. (2010). Steps Towards Quantum Gravity and the Practice of Science: Will the Merger of Mathematics and Physics Work?. In: Booß-Bavnbek, B., Esposito, G., Lesch, M. (eds) New Paths Towards Quantum Gravity. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 807. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11897-5_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11897-5_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-11896-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-11897-5

  • eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation