3 Truth and Beauty
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The quest for truth and beauty is not confined to adventurers, such as
Archibald but, perhaps surprisingly, is shared by scientists, artists, writers and
lay people alike. However, not everyone means the same thing when they
use these two terms. In this chapter we shall explore further what a scientist
means by truth, and how the impact of concepts of beauty has influenced the
direction of scientific research.
3.2 A Comparison Between Mathematical
and Physical Truth
In Chap. 1, we explored the possibility of multiple truths, and observed that
differences may arise between “scientific truth” and “theological truth.” What
is perhaps more surprising is that even within the sciences (if one includes
mathematics in this category), clear differences of interpretation of what is
meant by “truth” are evident. In this Section, we attempt to clarify some of
these differences.
It is difficult to imagine any student progressing far in physics without
a good grounding in mathematics. The logical nature of physics is closely