Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss symmetry. Found in Nature - from snowflakes to butterflies - and in art in the music of Bach and the poems of Pushkin, symmetry is both aesthetically pleasing and an essential tool to understanding our physical world. The Greek philosopher Aristotle described symmetry as one of the greatest forms of beauty to be found in the mathematical sciences, while the French poet Paul Valery went further, declaring; “The universe is built on a plan, the profound symmetry of which is somehow present in the inner structure of our intellect”.The story of symmetry tracks an extraordinary shift from its role as an aesthetic model - found in the tiles in the Alhambra and Bach's compositions - to becoming a key tool to understanding how the physical world works. It provides a major breakthrough in mathematics with the development of group theory in the 19th century. And it is the unexpected breakdown of symmetry at sub-atomic level that is so tantalising for contemporary quantum physicists.So why is symmetry so prevalent and appealing in both art and nature? How does symmetry enable us to grapple with monstrous numbers? And how might symmetry contribute to the elusive Theory of Everything?With Fay Dowker, Reader in Theoretical Physics at Imperial College, London; Marcus du Sautoy, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford; Ian Stewart, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
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| 0:39.0 | For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co. UK forward slash radio for. I hope you |
| 0:46.4 | enjoy the program. Hello today we'll be discussing symmetry from the most perfect |
| 0:51.6 | forms in nature like the snowflake and the butterfly, to our perceptions of beauty in the human face, and a deep symmetry in most of the laws that govern our physical world. |
| 1:00.0 | The Greek philosopher Aristotle described symmetry as one of the greatest forms of beauty to be found in the mathematical sciences, |
| 1:07.0 | while the French poet Paul Valerie went further declaring, |
| 1:10.0 | the universe is built on a plan, the profound symmetry of which is somehow present in the inner structure of our intellect. |
| 1:17.0 | The story of symmetry tracks an extraordinary shift from its role as an aesthetic model found in the Tiles in the Halambra and Barks compositions |
| 1:25.0 | to becoming a key tool to understanding how the physical world works. |
| 1:29.2 | It provides a major breakthrough in mathematics with the development of group theory in the early 19th century, |
| 1:34.1 | and is the unexpected breakdown of symmetry at subatomic level that's so tantalizing for |
| 1:38.9 | contemporary quantum physics. So why is symmetry so prevalent and appealing in both art and science and nature? |
| 1:45.0 | How does symmetry enable us to grasp, to grapple with what are called monstrous numbers? |
| 1:50.0 | And how might symmetry contribute to the elusive theory of everything. |
| 1:55.0 | Joining me to discuss this are Ian Stewart, Professor of Mathematics at Warwick University, |
| 2:00.0 | Marcus Jusotoy, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, and Faye Daka, |
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