“Admiratio generat quaestionem, quaestio investigationem investigatio inventionem”—Noether, M.
Mathematische Annalen, Bd. 50 (1898), pp. 155-160.
[1042]. Perhaps I may without immodesty lay claim to the appellation of Mathematical Adam, as I believe that I have given more names (passed into general circulation) of the creatures of the mathematical reason than all the other mathematicians of the age combined.—Sylvester, J. J.
Nature, Vol. 37 (1887-1888), p. 162.
[1043]. Tait dubbed Maxwell dp/dt, for according to thermodynamics dp/dt = JCM (where C denotes Carnot’s function) the initials of (J. C.) Maxwell’s name. On the other hand Maxwell denoted Thomson by T and Tait by T´; so that it became customary to quote Thomson and Tait’s Treatise on Natural Philosophy as T and T´.—Macfarlane, A.
Bibliotheca Mathematica, Bd. 3 (1903), p. 189.
[1044]. In future times Tait will be best known for his work in the quaternion analysis. Had it not been for his expositions, developments and applications, Hamilton’s invention would be today, in all probability, a mathematical curiosity.—Macfarlane, A.
Bibliotheca Mathematica, Bd. 3 (1903), p. 189.
[1045]. Not seldom did he [Sir William Thomson], in his writings, set down some mathematical statement with the prefacing remark “it is obvious that” to the perplexity of mathematical readers, to whom the statement was anything but obvious from such mathematics as preceded it on the page. To him it was obvious for physical reasons that might not suggest themselves at all to the mathematician, however competent.—Thompson, S. P.
Life of Lord Kelvin (London, 1910), p. 1136.