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Why Does Physics Need Mathematics?

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The Scientific Enterprise

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science ((BSPS,volume 146))

Abstract

The existence of a specific and peculiar relationship between physics and mathematics is an obvious and often-recognized fact. Many explicit testimonies occur throughout the history of physics, starting with the famous statement by Galileo:

Philosophy [Galileo is obviously referring to natural philosophy] is written in that great book permanently open to our eyes — I mean the Universe — but one cannot understand it if one does not first learn to know the language and the characters in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it. (Galileo 1623, 231.)

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Authors
  1. Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond
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Edna Ullmann-Margalit

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© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Lévy-Leblond, JM. (1992). Why Does Physics Need Mathematics?. In: Ullmann-Margalit, E. (eds) The Scientific Enterprise. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 146. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2688-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2688-5_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5190-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-2688-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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