Comments on: The Greatest? Noether on Symmetry and Conservation Laws

By: AAL

AAL — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 17:10:55 +0000

Noether’s paper shows, quite simply, that the universe is not legislated. It runs on symmetry. To me, this is the apex of human thinking.

By: The Greatest Physics Paper! The Result | Cosmic Variance

The Greatest Physics Paper! The Result | Cosmic Variance — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 05:46:25 +0000

[...] 14 votes: E. Noether, “Invariante Variationsprobleme,” Nachr. v. d. Ges. d. Wiss. zu GÃ¶ttingen 1918, pp235-257. Link here for the votes. [...]

By: NL

NL — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 04:51:22 +0000

It’s all about being *modern*, and *universal*. It’s also about (unfortunately) being restricted to theory…but given constraint, this is it.

Note I don’t consider Newton a true candidate in this discussion.

By: skywalkthisway

skywalkthisway — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 00:19:26 +0000

Newton may have started it all, but this paper does a lot to tie our understanding of physics together.

By: Tim D

Tim D — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 16:36:37 +0000

If it’s not too late to vote, I’m casting mine for Noether and her theorem. It was a close call between Newton (the vote of the past) and EPR (the vote of the future). But this wins because learning about this theorem in grad school was a big “wow!” moment for me, and because the notion of symmetry was so important for both great 20th century physics theories (GR & QM/FT).

Of course, 100 years in the future we might be having discussions like this on super-fast quantum computers and we’ll all be praising EPR for (indirectly) pointing the way. Who knows?

By: ste

ste — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 11:41:48 +0000

Bello!

By: prosaica

prosaica — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 12:20:12 +0000

I read as a high school student that time invariance causes energy conservation, translation invariance causes momentum conservation, and so on. I was totally fascinated.
Then I grew up to be a mathematician, and now earn my daily bread using, among other things, Noether’s beautiful commutative algebra results. She’s just great.

By: Aswin’s Blog » Noether’s theorem

Aswin’s Blog » Noether’s theorem — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 02:28:17 +0000

[...] I had earlier made a post aboutÂ Clifford’s post on the “Greatest Physics Paper”. It is always fun to talk about history of physics and this thread certainly served that purpose. I also thought that Clifford had intended to have a debate and then run away… But, surprisingly, he has come back to the post and it is time to Vote!! AND Emmy Noether’s Symmetries Paper (my suggestion) is amongst the final five! As expected, The Principia is currently leading the way… [...]

By: Michele L.

Michele L. — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 22:36:52 +0000

I just remember the first time I read Noether’s theorem, it gave me the chills… so simple so beautiful. It certainly gets my vote.

By: Jocelyn

Jocelyn — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 18:17:32 +0000

So pretty.

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 14:08:08 +0000

Aye.

By: Uncle Al

Uncle Al — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 20:39:34 +0000

Noether! Not only because she derived rigorous (mathematical symmetry)-(conserved property) linkages validated by empirical observation,

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/eotvos.htm#b21

but also because Noether’s two theorems allow a loophole for non-conservation of angular momentum consistent with 400+ years of physics observations. That is exciting! Somebody should look.

By: Kristin

Kristin — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 18:56:48 +0000

I used to have some small degree of understanding of this. But I’m going to vote for this one, because this is such a powerful mathematical tool applicable to physics. Plus, being an artist and all, the notion of beauty in symmetry is deeply seductive to me.

By: Nils

Nils — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 18:35:30 +0000

Not that I would understand a word of the paper (though physicist, though being born were Emmy Noether was born), but this is for me one of the most elegant and interesting theories. And it remebers me that physics actually is beautiful, as Aswin said.

By: Aswin

Aswin — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 17:01:43 +0000

Ah..! The first vote had to be from me.. right?
Clifford,
Great that you included this!
To me, this remains one of the central reasons why physics is so beautiful.

By: antti rasinen

antti rasinen — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 16:54:18 +0000

Muu!

By: Eugene

Eugene — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 16:50:02 +0000

Noether’s theorem wins.

Nothing like having my mind blown up when I see the origin of conservation laws.

Besides, she’s a girl and my computer hostname is also named noether.