Mathematics compares the most diverse phenomena and discovers the secret analogies that unite them.
Interpretation
Mathematics reveals connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena.
In this quote, Joseph Fourier emphasizes the power of mathematics as a universal language that enables us to identify and understand underlying similarities among diverse phenomena. It suggests that through mathematical comparison, we can uncover hidden relationships that might not be immediately apparent in different fields or contexts, thereby enhancing our comprehension of the world around us.
In practice
In a lecture about the importance of mathematics in science.
There cannot be a language more universal and more simple, more free from errors and obscurities...more worthy to express the invariable relations of all natural things [than mathematics]. [It interprets] all phenomena by the same language, as if to attest the unity and simplicity of the plan of the universe, and to make still more evident that unchangeable order which presides over all natural causes
To set foot on the soil of the asteroids, to lift by hand a rock from the Moon, to observe Mars from a distance of several tens of kilometers, to land on its satellite or even on its surface, what can be more fantastic? From the moment of using rocket devices a new great era will begin in astronomy: the epoch of the more intensive study of the firmament.
If we want to travel into the future, we just need to go fast. Really fast. And I think the only way we're ever likely to do that is by going into space.
We find, therefore, under this orderly arrangement, a wonderful symmetry in the universe, and a definite relation of harmony in the motion and magnitude of the orbs, of a kind that is not possible to obtain in any other way.
Inside of a living cell there are thousands of proteins that enable it to make more of itself and make your malaria drug, for instance. We don't understand those. We don't understand how they work together.
... that, in a few years, all great physical constants will have been approximately estimated, and that the only occupation which will be left to men of science will be to carry these measurements to another place of decimals.
It's a pity that nobody has found an exploding black hole. If they had, I would have won a Nobel prize.
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