English

Time and periodicity from Ptolemy to Schroedinger: paradigm shifts vs continuity

History and Overview 2018-12-04 v1

Abstract

I briefly consider the Kuhnian notion of "paradigm shifts" applied to the history of mathematics and argue that the succession and intergenerational continuity of mathematical thought was undeservedly neglected in the historical studies. To this end, I focus on the history of mathematical theory of time and periodicity, from Ptolemy's epicycles to Schroedinger's quantum amplitudes interference and contemporary cosmological models.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1812.00364,
  title  = {Time and periodicity from Ptolemy to Schroedinger: paradigm shifts vs continuity},
  author = {Yuri I. Manin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1812.00364},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

12 pages, accepted for publication