Abstract
We have shared with our reader the sensation we feel when we consider the personal aspects of symmetry. We ourselves have gone through various stages in our involvement with this topic over the years. Once inoculated with the symmetry germ, it is impossible to remain immune to it. But one can also get carried away easily and reduce every observation to looking for the presence or absence of symmetries. This may become an irritating habit. The beauty of an object or phenomenon never comes from its symmetry alone; symmetry can merely help to amplify it.
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Notes
Mann, T., Der Zauberberg, S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1960, p. 477. (Originally published by S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin, 1924). English translation: Mann, T., The Magic Mountain, translated from the German by H. T. Lowe-Porter, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1946, pp. 342–343. The cited passage is in French both in the original German and in its English translation. The English translation cited in our text was kindly provided by Dr. Jack M. Davis, Professor of English at the University of Connecticut in 1984.
Mann, The Magic Mountain, English transl. pp. 276–277 (original German, pp. 386–387).
Weyl, H., Symmetry, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1952, p. 65.
Bacon, E, “Essay XLIII.—Of Beauty,” Essays, J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1906, p. 129.
Wickham, A., Selected Poems, Chatto & Windus, London, 1971, “Nervous Prostration,” p. 20; “Gift to a Jade,” p. 21; “The Woman and Her Initiative,” p. 27; “Envoi,” p. 48.
For more on Anna Wickham, see, Taylor, D., “ `There is a Sexless Part of Me that is My Mind… ” in The Guardian, Friday, May 11, 1984, p. 12; and Garnett, D., Introduction to Selected Poems by Anna Wickham, Chatto & Windus, London, 1971, pp. 7–11.
Weyl, Symmetry,p. 5.
There was a BBC program about her and her poetry in 1976, after which the creators of the program were contacted by Anna’s eldest son, James Hepburn, who told them that he had 1300 manuscript poems in the family home, as described by Doreen Taylor in The Guardian, May 11, 1984, p. 12.
Hargittai, I. , Hargittai, M., Symmetry: A Unifying Concept,Shelter Publications, Bolinas, 1994; 2nd printing, Random House, New York, 1996.
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Hargittai, I., Hargittai, M. (2000). Epilogue. In: In Our Own Image. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4179-0_9
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