“In the Pythagorean system, thinking about numbers, or doing mathematics, was an inherently masculine task. Mathematics was associated with the gods, and with transcendence from the material world; women, by their nature, were supposedly rooted in this latter, baser realm.” ThinkingWorldNumbersMaterialsTasksMathematicsRealmsLatterRootedMasculineTranscendenceSystems ThinkingMaterial World Author:Margaret Wertheim
“If I could do anything in my life and be remembered for anything, I would like to be remembered for helping the world see the value of physical engagement with ideas.” IfsWorldIdeasHelpingValuesRememberedIf I CouldEngagement Author:Margaret Wertheim
“Computers are very powerful tools, but in the simulated world of the computer, everything has to be calculated.” WorldPowerfulComputerToolsVery Powerful Author:Margaret Wertheim
“Wave particle duality is a core feature of our world. Or rather, we should say, it is a core feature of our mathematical descriptions of our world. But what is critical to note here is that, however ambiguous our images, the universe itself remains whole and is manifestly not fracturing into schizophrenic shards. It is this tantalizing wholeness and the thing itself that drives physicists onward like an eternally beckoning light that seems so teasingly near. It is always out of reach.” WorldShouldWholeLightSeemsUniverseRemainsNotesWaveCriticalCoreMathematicalFeaturesDescriptionOur WorldWholenessPhysicistParticlesDualityAmbiguousSchizophrenicBeckoningTantalizing Author:Margaret Wertheim
“As a child it was clear to me that in some sense math was in the world around us. I became fascinated by what this means. When you look at the shape of the sun and the moon, they're circles, so every time you see a circular thing, there's pi embedded in it.” WorldMeanChildrenMoonMathEmbedded Author:Margaret Wertheim
“For ten years, I wrote regular columns about science for women's magazines, and to my knowledge I'm the only person in the world who can say that. This has no kudos in either the science-writing world or the academic world, but it's one of the most challenging things I've ever done. It's much harder to write about cosmology for a magazine like Vogue than for the New York Times, which I've also written for, because you have to imagine that on the page opposite there'll be an advertisement for eyeliner, or an article about the latest trends in skirt length.” WorldWritingDoneChallengesImagineAcademicImagine ThatCosmologyVogue Author:Margaret Wertheim
“I have an abiding interest in how ordinary people produce knowledge, and what it means for individuals to know the world. I thought I'd be a theoretical physicist because I love physicists' views of the world - I find general relativity and quantum theory thrilling - but I have always felt uneasy with the idea of an Ultimate Truth. One of the functions of science is to help us instrumentally; it helps us to build things like microchips and GPS satellites. But another function of science in the modern world is to help us feel "at home in the universe".” PeopleWorldMeanHelpingHomeUniverseIndividualInterestModernUltimatePhysicistOrdinary PeopleTheoreticalUneasyQuantum Theory Author:Margaret Wertheim
“This is what I call the "cosmological problem" of science. Science has the instrumental function that has given us computers and so on, but its cosmological function is to give us a picture of the world we inhabit as human beings, and on that level it's failing a vast number of people.” PeopleWorldGivingProblemFailingComputer Author:Margaret Wertheim
