On the Shoulders of Giants

Malcolm Lines sets out to investigate the relationship between the disciplines of physics and mathematics and the facts and coincidences behind scientific progress. With each chapter, he demonstrates how mathematics has provided the theoretical understanding which underpins physical experiment. Mathematics is the only science with a methodology based upon deductive logic, whereas physics is a quantitative science based upon experiment and observation, in which trial and error are inherent. Physics uses the most relevant mathematics, for example group theory, to explain the theoretical basis of the crystalline structure of solids, and time and time again a mathematical theorem, perhaps developed by an ancient Greek philosopher, is shown to be relevant to today's newly developed physical proof. Quoting from mathematicians such as Poincare and Euclid, physicists from Newton to Feynman, the links between the two disciplines are explored to provide an account of the twists and turns of scientific progress through the ages.