February 08, 2017 Wednesday
Bedtime Story
The Foundations of Mathematical Logic Were Laid
So it was men like George Peacock, George Boole and Augustus De
Morton who in the 1800s laid the pillar stones for a completely new branch of mathematics
known as mathematical logic.
It really had no use then and this reminds me of the essay written
by the great American dreamer and educationist Abraham Flexner in 1939:
“The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge”.
Flexner once had an argument with the Kodak founder George Eastman
about who was the most useful worker in science.
For Eastman it was the radio inventor (wireless telegraphy) and
pioneer Guglielmo Marconi.
Wireless telecommunication was the big breakthrough then as are
the smart phone and broadband internet these days.
Guglielmo Marconi was like the Steve Jobs or Paul Allen and Bill
Gates of today.
Flexner differed and argued thus:
“Mr. Eastman, Marconi was inevitable.
The real credit for everything that has been done in the field of
wireless belongs, as far as fundamental credit can be definitely assigned to
anyone, to Professor James Clerk Maxwell, who in 1865 carried out certain
abstruse and remote calculations in the field of magnetism and electricity.
Other discoveries supplemented Maxwell’s theoretical work during
the next 15 years.
Finally in 1887 and 1888 the scientific problem still remaining –
the detection and demonstration of the electromagnetic waves which are the
carriers of the wireless signals – was solved by Heinrich Hertz, a worker in
Helmholtz’s laboratory in Berlin.
Neither Maxwell not Hertz had any concern about the utility of
their work; no such thoughts ever entered their minds”.
So much so, that they could not even contemplate the possible
usefulness of their work.
When asked about the practical importance of his radio wave
experiments somewhere in 1880s he stated that:
“It’s of no use whatsoever[…]this is just an experiment that
proves Maestro Maxwell was right - we
just have these mysterious electromagnetic waves that we cannot see with the
naked eye.
But they are there.”
When still further asked what in future these strange behaves can
do for mankind, his reply was:
“Nothing, I guess”.
Such was the state of affairs with mathematical logic too.
Very little could its originators would have guessed that their
crazy and weird algebra and logic would one day rule and drive the human
planet.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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