Just for Matt; Fascinating Math (Introduction)

by Matt , Friday, March 30, 2012, 18:22 (4621 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/20-things-you-didn2019t-know-about-galileo
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> "Einstein was Galileo's biggest fan. "All knowledge of reality starts from experience and ends in it," wrote Einstein. "Propositions arrived at by purely logical means are completely empty as regards reality. Because Galileo saw this, and particularly because he drummed it into the scientific world, he is the father of modern physics—indeed, of modern science altogether."
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> So if Galileo got it, and Einstein got it, how come modern scientist like Hawking and Dawkins don't get it? Mathematics without observation have absolutely no relevance to reality.-Well, I would argue precisely the opposite: your observation implies that both Dawkins and Hawking start with equations and then ignore observation... this isn't what happens. They derive equations to explain observations. Your observation is better applied to "pure" math guys like me, who say "Only the side of the penny I see is copper colored." -Which, though pedantic also serves to deliver as much truth as possible.-Natural Scientists (like the two you mention) are *driven* by observation. Science isn't about truth, its about model building, and building robust models.