In praise of symmetry

“The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness, and these are especially manifest in the mathematical sciences” (τοῦ δὲ καλοῦ μέγιστα εἴδη τάξις καὶ συμμετρία καὶ τὸ ὡρισμένον, ἃ μάλιστα δεικνύουσιν αἱ μαθηματικαὶ ἐπιστῆμαι) – Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book 13 (Mu), Section 3, my translation.

“Symmetry, as wide or as narrow as you may define its meaning, is one idea by which man through the ages has tried to comprehend and create order, beauty and perfection” – Hermann Weyl, Symmetry, 1952, Princeton University Press, p. 5.

“Regularity is successive symmetry; there is no reason, therefore, to be astonished that the forms of equilibrium are often symmetrical and regular” – Ernst Mach, The Science Of Mechanics, 1919 edition, p. 395.

Bottom left image derived from a public domain photo by Vinoo202.

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