Physicists and biologists have different conceptions of beauty. A better appreciation of these differences may bring the disciplines closer and help develop a more integrated view of life.
References
Zeki, S., Romaya, J. P., Benincasa, D. M. T. & Atiyah, M. F. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 8, 68 (2014).
Breitenbach, A. Eur. J. Phil. 23, 955–977 (2015).
Feynman, R. P. The Messenger Lectures on “The Character of Physical Law” (Cornell Univ., 1964).
Gell-Mann, M. Beauty, truth and … physics? TED http://go.nature.com/3gNoGsu (2007).
Dirac, P. Proc. R. Soc. 59, 122–129 (1939).
Bernal, J. The Social Function of Science (George Routledge & Sons, 1939).
Darwin, C. On the Origin of Species (John Murray, 1859).
Nurse, P. What is Life? Understand Biology in Five Steps (David Fickling Books, 2020).
Sacks, O. Gratitude (Picador, 2015).
Mulas, R. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.01128 (2020).
Turing, A. M. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 237, 37–72 (1952).
Kondo, S. & Takashi, M. Science 329, 1616–1620 (2010).
Surridge, C. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1452 (2004).
Maini, P. & Othmer, H. (eds) Mathematical Models for Biological Pattern Formation (Springer, 2012).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
MacArthur, B.D. Truth and beauty in physics and biology. Nat. Phys. 17, 149–151 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-01132-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-01132-9
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
Open to talent? How scientists assess merit and diversity in hiring
Higher Education (2024)
-
Beauty in biology: An empirical assessment
Journal of Biosciences (2023)