194 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1941 



ber little fancied that they would later in the hands of Maxwell 

 place a firm footing under modern electrical theories. Riemann, 

 Cayley, and Sylvester had no thought that they were preparing the 

 way for Einstein. Sturm and Liouville had no concern for the 

 wave mechanics of De Broglie, which their researchers made pos- 

 sible. The meditations of Cayley appear in the modern theories of 

 Heisenberg and Dirac. Fermat, Gauss, De Moivre, Pascal could not 

 possibly have foreseen that their probability theory would one day 

 revolutionize physics. Indeed, the theory of today is so often the 

 practice of tomorrow. If it were not, it would be no great matter. 

 But, as Philip has said, "it is only against the background provided 

 by the pure research of yesterday that the technical problems of 

 today can be viewed in their proper setting and tackled with a reason- 

 able prospect of success. Work in the pure sciences, however remote 

 from the practical issues of the moment, is building up a reserve of 

 knowledge and technique for future workers to draw on." 



COSMOGONY 



One of the reasons why one studies mathematics and the sciences 

 is this: to obtain a better understanding of the world in which he 

 finds himself. As the sciences and mathematics have developed, so 

 have developed our views of the cosmos. To primitive man who 

 thought of himself as the center of the universe, to men who with 

 Ptolemy regarded the earth as the center, to men who with Coper- 

 nicus placed the sun in this strategic position, the cosmos presented 

 a very different view. This view colored many aspects of their 

 thinking. It led to the formulation of a very different philosophy 

 of life. So much so that someone has said "tell me a man's view of 

 the Universe, and I will tell you what sort of man he is." There 

 have been religious upheavals attendant upon man's change in his 

 views of the world about him. In our own day his view is suffering 

 what is perhaps its greatest change. Not only has the sun been dis- 

 placed from its central position, but in its place nothing has been 

 substituted. We are told that there is no known center; no refer- 

 ence frame in which to orient a path in the cosmos. We have myste- 

 rious cosmic rays beating down upon us from an unknown source 

 with unknown effects. Out in an unknown place somewhere, Milli- 

 kan suspects cosmic radiation may be rebuilding matter — an inverse 

 phenomenon never dreamed of until our time. These are tremendous 

 disturbances in man's view of the cosmos. That there have been no 

 attendant religious disturbances is a conspicuous testimonial to intel- 

 lectual freedom. The lay world is becoming accustomed to regard 

 almost as commonplace views which former generations held to be 

 impossible in some instances unintelligible. That the world can 



