Why is mathematics the language of nature?
Talk
Doreen Fraser, University of Waterloo, Canada
This event has now finished.
Event date
Wednesday 9 April 2025, 6.30pm to 7.30pm
Location
In-person only
Room V/N/045, Vanbrugh College, Campus West, University of York (Map)
Room V/N/045, Vanbrugh College, Campus West, University of York (Map)
Audience
Open to alumni, staff, students, the public
Admission
Free admission, booking required
Event details
Department of Mathematics Lecture
Physicist Eugene Wigner famously declared applied mathematics to be “a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve.” Proposed explanations for our successful use of mathematics in science have ranged from the mystical to the theological to the pragmatic. We will survey some of these explanations and assess whether applied mathematics can be given a rational explanation or whether it remains mysterious.
Venue details
Wheelchair accessible
Hearing loop