THE QUEST OF BEAUTY IN RESE.4RCH AND TEACHING OF hf.4THEM.4TICS AND PHYSICS: -4 HISTORICd4L APPROACH (IONSTANT'INOS TZII\NAI<IS Departrment of Education. I'niversity of Crrte. 74100 Kcthymnon. ('rrtr. Greeca 1. INTRODIJCTION
While teaching mathematics at any level of education, the quest.ion of why we do and learn mathematics can naturally be raised. ('onventionally it is answered arguing that mathematics are useful in other scientific domains. or in practical tnatters in everyday life, or because through mathema.tics it is possible to learn how to think rorrect,l?; etc. Though all this is quite correct, it refers t,o justifications fhc~f /if octfsitlc ~lcrtht /~iuti~s itself. Here I will provide still another justification for doing and tea.& ing mat,hematics and physics. which is intrir~~ic to t,hese sciences: namely that this is done because mathematics and physics are btaufiful.
Of course I have to explain what it is meant by beauty in this cont,ext. or to put it differently, to give a meaning to expressions like 'a beautiful theory'. 'a nice theorem'. 'an elegant proof'. that a.re often heard.
1 would like to emphasize that speaking about beauty in mat hemat its and physics, I am not refering to the relation of these sciences t.o the arts; rather I vvant to tfctcrmircc as much us pos.sibl~ thf intri~jsic trcsthefic co~tcr~t of thtsf disciplirzes. Sor will I present a tl~roly of aesthet its fa.r from that. actually I do not believe that this can be done, or at least that it is necessary but rather I u+ll makf mart r.x~licil those clrm<rtts in rnnthtmc~tics uud physics rfstnrch thnt gilIf thr j!oz~or of beauty