Diagrams that changed the world

22.11.2010 [17:59]
Print
A⁺ A^-

Baku, November 22 (AZERTAC). A picture, the old adage goes, is worth a 1,000 words. But in science a diagram can describe things that transcend the written word. A single image can convey the simple underlying pattern hidden by words or equations, says Marcus du Sautoy, according to BBC News.

Draw the right picture and you can literally transform the way we see the world. But a diagram is more than just a physical representation of what we see with our eyes. The power of a diagram is to crystallize a new way of seeing the world. Often it requires throwing away information, focusing on what is essential. Other times it changes a scientific idea into a visual language providing a new map where the mathematics of geometry takes over and helps us to navigate the science at hand. Copernicus certainly understood the power of a good picture. In his great opus De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium published shortly before his death in 1543, Copernicus takes 405 pages of words, numbers and equations to explain his heliocentric theory.

Diagrams that changed the world

FEEDBACK

Other news in this section