In Our Own Image: Personal Symmetry in DiscoveryThe title of our volume refers to what is well described by the following two quota tions:"Godcreated man in his own image"l and "Man creates God in his own image."2 Our approach to symmetry is subjective, and the term "personal" symmetry reflects this approach in our discussion of selected scientific events. We have chosen six icons to symbolize six areas: Kepler for modeling, Fuller for new molecules, Pauling for helical structures, Kitaigorodskii for packing, Bernal for quasicrystals, and Curie for dissymmetry. For the past three decades we have been involved in learning, thinking, speaking, and writing about symmetry. This involvement has augmented our principal activities in molecular structure research. Our interest in symmetry had started with a simple fascination and has evolved into a highly charged personal topic for us. At the start of this volume, we had had several authored and edited symmetry related books behind 3 us. We owe a debt of gratitude to the numerous people whose interviews are quoted 4 in this volume. We very much appreciate the kind and gracious cooperation of Edgar J. Applewhite (Washington, DC), Lawrence S. Bartell (University of Michigan), R. |
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Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Perception and Symmetry | 17 |
Johannes Kepler | 27 |
Buckminster Fuller | 53 |
Linus Pauling | 83 |
Aleksandr Kitaigorodskii | 113 |
Desmond Bernal | 145 |
Pierre Curie | 181 |
Epilogue | 221 |
| 231 | |
Common terms and phrases
Aaron Klug arrangement Astbury Avery Bernal biology bond buckminsterfullerene carbon atom Caspar Chargaff Chem chemical chemistry chemists chiral Crick crystal structures crystallography Dan Shechtman densest packing diffraction pattern discovery dodecahedron double helix electron pairs Emmy Noether Escher example experiment fivefold symmetry Fuller fullerene geometrical Hargittai helical Herbert Hauptman hexagons icosahedral icosahedron idea important Intell interactions interest Kepler Kitaigorodskii Koestler Kroto laboratory lecture Linus Pauling logos Mackay mathematics Michael Polanyi molecular structure molecules Moscow Nature Nobel prize nucleic acids observation organic original paper parity particles Pasteur Paul Steinhardt Pauling's Penrose tiling pentagons Perutz Photograph physicists physics Pierre Curie plane Polanyi polar polyhedra polyhedron possible principle protein published quasicrystals quasiperiodic reaction regular resonance Rosalind Franklin rotational symmetry Russian scientific scientists Senechal shape Shechtman Shubnikov snowflakes Soviet space groups sphere Steinhardt story substance theory things tion translation University VSEPR VSEPR model X-ray York
Bibliographic information
| Title | In Our Own Image: Personal Symmetry in Discovery |
| Authors | Istvan Hargittai, Magdolna Hargittai |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Springer Science & Business Media, 2000 |
| ISBN | 0306460912, 9780306460913 |
| Length | 235 pages |
| Subjects | › › Medical / General Science / Chemistry / General Science / Life Sciences / General Science / Physics / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |