Related papers: Problems with Popper
This paper contains a case study of the work and self-definition of two important mathematicians during the rise of modern mathematics: Felx Hausdorff (1868--1942) and Hermann Weyl (1885--1955). The two had strongly diverging positions with…
This memorial article for Mark Sapir provides a brief overview of his life and career. Among his many contributions we highlight two of his most celebrated achievements: his groundbreaking solutions to Burnside-type problems for semigroups…
`Philosophy' was speakable for John Bell but is not for many physicists. The border between philosophy and physics is here illustrated through Brownian motion and Bell experiments. `Measurement', however, was unspeakable for Bell. His…
This article, dedicated, with admiration to Reuben Hersh, for his forthcoming 90th birthday, argues that mathematics today is not yet a science, but that it is high time that it should become one.
In the article we give an appreciation of Edward Nelson's multifaceted contribution to mathematics, and particularly to foundational theories of infinitesimals.
Steven Weinberg was a giant of late 20th Century physics on whose shoulders we stand while groping for the science of the 21st Century. This article provides a too-brief summary of a selection of his many achievements -- eight decades of…
The comments relate to the often overlooked, if not in fact intentionally disregarded depths of what the so called internal aspects of mathematical knowledge may involve, depths concerning among others issues such as its unreasonable…
We discuss some problems in number theory posed by Djuro Kurepa (1907-1993), including his classical left factorial hypothesis that an odd prime $p$ does not divide $0! + 1! + ... + (p-1)!$.
Professor Dr. Karl Dragutin Rakos passed away on October 31, 2011 one day before his 86th birthday. With that the Vienna astronomical community lost a valued researcher, university teacher and co-founder of modern astrophysical research at…
Patrick Moss (1947--2024) had two distinct lives as a mathematician. The first was as a ring theorist in the late 1970s, in which he worked with Ginn and Lenagan as a student. After a long career as an inspirational mathematics teacher,…
Although electromagnetic and acoustic waves profoundly differ in their nature, comparing their Doppler effects is instructive and reveals persistent conceptual traps. The principle of the Doppler effect was presented by Christian Doppler in…
David Brink was one of the leading theoretical nuclear physicists of his generation. He made major contributions to the study of all aspects of nuclear physics embracing nuclear structure, nuclear scattering, and nuclear instability. His…
From its very beginning, Quantum Theory developed contrary to the intentions of its creators. For Max Planck it marks the failure of a long-term research program, in which he tried to understand the 2nd law of thermodynamics…
Planck introduced his famous units of mass, length and time a hundred years ago. The many interesting facets of the Planck mass and length are explored. The Planck mass ubiquitously occurs in astrophysics, cosmology, quantum gravity, string…
Mathematics and its relation to the physical universe have been the topic of speculation since the days of Pythagoras. Several different views of the nature of mathematics have been considered: Realism - mathematics exists and is…
Dick Askey is known not just for his beautiful mathematics and his many amazing theorems, but also for posing numerous interesting and important open problems. Dick being Dick, these problems are hardly ever isolated, and often intended to…
Over the course of the last 50 years, many questions in the field of computability were left surprisingly unanswered. One example is the question of $P$ vs $NP\cap co-NP$. It could be phrased in loose terms as "If a person has the ability…
Now that we have reached the centennial of Erwin Schrodinger's seminal paper introducing the wavefunction theory of matter, it is right and proper to inquire as to its legacy. It is undeniable that today every paper in atomic physics cites…
Edwin Hubble is famous for a number of discoveries that are well known to amateur and professional astronomers, students and the general public. The origins of these discoveries are examined and it is demonstrated that, in each case, a…
In this written version of a pre-dinner-speech at the workshop "The Nature of Gravity" at ISSI I illustrate Pauli's science primarily with material that has not formally been published by him, but was communicated in detailed letters to…