Hermann Weyl

Hermann Weyl (November 9 1885 - December 8 1955) was a German mathematician. Although much of his working life was spent in Zürich and then Princeton, he is closely identified with the University of Göttingen tradition of mathematics, represented by David Hilbert and Hermann Minkowski. His research has had major significance for theoretical physics as well as pure disciplines including number theory. He was one of the most influential mathematicians of the twentieth century, and a key member of the Institute for Advanced Study in its early years, in terms of creating an integrated and international view.

Mathematics of relativity

Weyl tracked the development of this field in physics in his Raum, Zeit, Materie (Space, Time, Matter) from 1918, reaching a 4th edition in 1922. His approach was based on the phenomenological philosophy of Edmund Husserl, specifically his 1913 Ideen eine reinische Phaenomenologie. Apparently this was Weyl's way of dealing with Einstein's controversial dependence on the phenomenological physics of Ernst Mach. Husserl had reacted strongly to Frege's criticism of his first work on the philosophy of arithmetic and was investigating the sense of mathematical and other structures, which Frege had distinguished from empirical reference. Hence there is good reason for viewing gauge theory as it developed from Weyl's ideas as a formalism of physical measurement and not a theory of anything physical, i.e. as scientific formalism.

Related Topics:
Phenomenological - Edmund Husserl - Einstein's - Ernst Mach - Frege's - Gauge theory - Measurement - Scientific formalism

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~