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The Art of Science

From Perspective Drawing to Quantum Randomness

  • Book
  • © 2014

Overview

Editors:
  1. Rossella Lupacchini

    1. University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

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  2. Annarita Angelini

    1. Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

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  • Extends Leonardo's vision of painting as a science to "scientific representation"

  • Restores a visual dimension to the mathematical sciences

  • Highlights the shared characteristics of the space opened to painting by linear perspective and that opened to science by complex numbers

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  3. The Complex Route

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 131-134
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    2. Artists and Gamblers on the Way to Quantum Physics

      • Annarita Angelini, Rossella Lupacchini
      Pages 135-163

    3. Radices Sophisticae, Racines Imaginaires: The Origins of Complex Numbers in the Late Renaissance

      • Veronica Gavagna
      Pages 165-190

    4. Random, Complex, and Quantum

      • Artur Ekert
      Pages 191-204

  4. Back Matter

    Pages 205-210
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Keywords

About this book

In addition to linear perspective, complex numbers and probability were notable discoveries of the Renaissance. While the power of perspective, which transformed Renaissance art, was quickly recognized, the scientific establishment treated both complex numbers and probability with much suspicion. It was only in the twentieth century that quantum theory showed how probability might be molded from complex numbers and defined the notion of “complex probability amplitude”. From a theoretical point of view, however, the space opened to painting by linear perspective and that opened to science by complex numbers share significant characteristics. The Art of Science explores this shared field with the purpose of extending Leonardo’s vision of painting to issues of mathematics and encouraging the reader to see science as an art. The intention is to restore a visual dimension to mathematical sciences – an element dulled, if not obscured, by historians, philosophers, and scientists themselves.

Editors and Affiliations

  • University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Rossella Lupacchini

  • Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Annarita Angelini

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