symmetry at the foundation of science and nature对称的基础科学和自然.pdf

Symmetry 2009, 1, 3-9; doi:10.3390/sym1010003 OPEN ACCESS symmetry ISSN 2073-8994 /journal/symmetry Commentary Symmetry at the Foundation of Science and Nature Joe Rosen #,† Adjunct Professor, The George Washington University, Washington DC, USA; E-mail: joerosen@ # Private Address: 338 New Mark Esplanade, Rockville MD 20850, USA † Retired from Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Received: 1 May 2009 / Accepted: 4 June 2009 / Published: 5 June 2009 Abstract: This article demonstrates that science is founded on symmetry and that Nature must have symmetry at its foundation. Full details are given in the book: Rosen, J. Symmetry Rules: How Science and Nature Are Founded on Symmetry; Springer-Verlag: Berlin, Germany, 2008. Keywords: symmetry; science; nature 1. Introduction Science rests firmly on the foundation of symmetry. By means of science, we view Nature through symmetry spectacles and understand nature in the language of symmetry. Might we then claim that science is symmetry or even that nature is symmetry? This article presents a brief review of ideas presented in detail in Rosen [1]. Symmetry manifests itself at the foundation of science in (at least) seven forms. These are: 1. reproducibility, 2. predictability, 3. reduction, 4. symmetry of evolution, 5. symmetry of states, 6. gauge symmetry, 7. symmetry at the foundation of quantum theory. The first three are obvious, essential components of the foundation