Unlimited Quote Collections
Organize your favorite quotes without limits. Create themed collections for every occasion with Premium.
Mathematics is the source of a wicked intellect that, while making man the lord of the earth, also makes him the slave of the machine. - William Rowan Hamilton
" "Mathematics is the source of a wicked intellect that, while making man the lord of the earth, also makes him the slave of the machine.
English
Collect this quote
About William Rowan Hamilton
Sir William Rowan Hamilton (4 August 1805 – 2 September 1865) was an Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician, who made important contributions to classical mechanics, optics, and algebra. His studies of mechanical and optical systems led him to discover new mathematical concepts and techniques. His greatest contribution is perhaps the reformulation of Newtonian mechanics, now called Hamiltonian mechanics. This work has proven central to the modern study of classical field theories such as electromagnetism, and to the development of quantum mechanics. In mathematics, he is perhaps best known for his discovery of quaternions.
Also Known As
Alternative Names:
Sir William Rowan Hamilton
•
Hamilton Mathematics Institute
•
Hamilton
Related quotes. More quotes will automatically load as you scroll down, or you can use the load more buttons.
Additional quotes by William Rowan Hamilton
Underpinning everything... are the laws of physics. These remarkably ingenious laws are able to permit matter to self-organize to the point where consciousness emerges in the cosmos—mind from matter—and the most striking product of the human mind is mathematics. This is the baffling thing. Mathematics is... produced by the human mind. Yet if we ask where mathematics works best, it is in areas like particle physics and astrophysics, areas of fundamental science that are very, very far removed from everyday affairs. ...at the opposite end of spectrum of complexity from the human brain. ...a product of the most complex system we know in nature, the human brain, finds a consonance with the underlying, simplest and most fundamental level, the basic building blocks that make up the world.
One should not be deceived by philosophical works that pretend to be mathematical, but are merely dubious and murky metaphysics. Just because a philosopher can recite the words lemma, theorem and corollary doesn't mean that his work has the certainty of mathematics. That certainty does not derive from big words, or even from the method used by geometers, but rather from the utter simplicity of the objects considered by mathematics.
Limited Time Offer
Premium members can get their quote collection automatically imported into their Quotewise collections.
Electromagnetic theory is entirely a mathematical theory illustrated by a few crude physical pictures. These pictures are no more than the clothes that dress up the body of mathematics and make it appear presentable in the society of sciences. ...Though he <nowiki>[</nowiki>James Clerk Maxwell<nowiki>]</nowiki> had tried desperately to build a physical account of electromagnetic phenomena, in his classic Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism he omitted most of this material and emphasized the highly polished, complex mathematical theory. ...Radio waves and light waves operate in a physical darkness illuminated only for those who would carry the torch of mathematics.
Loading...