"Ours, according to Leibnitz, is the best of all possible worlds, and the laws of nature can therefore be described in terms of extremal principles. Thus, arising from corresponding variational problems, the differential equations of mechanics have invariance properties relative to certain groups of coordinate transformations."

Carl Ludwig Siegel Mathematics See all quotes by Carl Ludwig Siegel →

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“One of the many importants ideas introduced by Minkowski into the study of convex bodies was that of gauge function. Roughly, the gauge function is the equation of a convex body. Minkowski showed that the gauge function could be defined in a purely geometric way and that it must have certain properties analogous to those possessed by the distance of a point from the origin. He also showed that conversely given any function possessing these properties, there exists a convex body with the given function as its gauge function.”

“I am afraid that mathematics will perish by the end of this century if the present trend for senseless abstraction — as I call it: theory of the empty set — cannot be blocked up.”

Resonant Thoughts

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— Thurgood Marshall

Law1908–1993

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"Jacob Lawrence", Queens Museum of Art website; includes reproductions of several prints from the John Brown series."

— Jacob Lawrence

Art1917–2000

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"The laws of war do not apply only to the suspected criminals of vanquished nations. There is no moral or legal basis for immunizing victorious nations from scrutiny. The laws of war are not a one-way …"

— Telford Taylor

Education1908–1998

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"The stick-on holograms had actually had some effect on Bobby, because religion was now something he felt he’d considered and put aside. Basically, the way he figured it, there were just some people ar…"

— William Gibson

Literature1948–2008

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