Top 10 Physics & Math Works of All Time

  • Thread starter Thread starter Geremia
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Physics Works
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
2 replies · 3K views
Geremia
Messages
150
Reaction score
0
What are the top 10 physics and mathematics works of all time? I would definitely put Newton's Principia, Euclid's Elements, Galileo's Discourses, Einstein's On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, etc., on the list, but what else?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism by James Clerk Maxwell is one for physics.

Although I've never read his work, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Grassmann" wrote two major papers/texts, (1) The Theory of Linear Extension, a New Branch of Mathematics and (2) The Theory of Extension, Thoroughly and Rigorously Treated. In these he created linear algebra (and in the form we know it today), and his work lead to the later development of differential forms and exterior algebra. This work is significant because although revolutionary, it was ignored his entire life, never credited, and he remained a high school teacher, never attaining a professorship.

Also, Analysis Situs by Henri Poincare, a treatise on algebraic topology.

There's probably something by Alexander Grothendieck that deserves to be on this list, but I'm not familiar enough with his work. His work is also rather fragmented due to his isolation.

Although it there is a natural feeling that only works that created whole fields (which is rare) should go on here, Grigori Perelman's proof of the Poincare Conjecture is a huge feat of mathematics.

And last, but not least, Calculus by James Stewart...hahahahaha.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I forgot! The Archimedes Palimpsest, which contain his most influential works.