The Central Science

Chemistry, the link between earth and life sciences, is often considered as The Central Science. This description is equally appropriate in the reductionist hierarchy of knowledge, which ranges from philosophy through mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology, towards the behavioural sciences. The common principles that emerge in the periodic arrangement of matter, as a numerical function of either nucleons or electrons, in the nature of covalent interaction, in botanical phyllotaxis and in the observed gaps of the asteroid belt, suggest a central role for chemistry in an even more fundamental way. The golden ratio, Fibonacci numbers and Farey sequences feature prominently in all of these constructs. Should the same geometrical principle decide the planetary structure of the solar system and the structure of spiral galaxies, a universal self-similarity mediated by the symmetry of space-time could be inferred.

The parallel which was drawn by Nagaoka between the rings of Saturn and atomic structure is based on such self-similarity. Although the Saturnian ring system is stabilized by gravitation, with angular momentum, and the atom, which is stabilized electrodynamically, has no angular momentum, the structural difference is one of dimension only. In order to quench the orbital angular momentum, electronic rings are required to be spherical.