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 |
vi | 140 |
Desmond Bernal | 145 |
Pierre Curie | 181 |
Epilogue | 221 |
| 225 | |
| 231 | |
Common terms and phrases
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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 |