9 Quotes by Sabine Hossenfelder

For the most part, physicists and mathematicians have settled on a fine division of labour in which the former complain about the finickiness of the latter, and the latter complain about the sloppiness of the former.

The main reason we use math in physics, however, is because we can.

Theoretical physicists used to explain what was observed. Now they try to explain why they can't explain what was not observed

foundational physics, which is far from experimental test as science can be while still being science

if you quote this, you can be the first person to quote someone quoting someone quoting himself quoting someone

There are other reasons we use math in physics. Besides keeping us honest, math is also the most economical and unambiguous terminology that we know of. Language is malleable; it depends on context and interpretation. But math doesn’t care about culture or history. If a thousand people read a book, they read a thousand different books. But if a thousand people read an equation, they read the same equation.

The sense of beauty of a physical theory must be something hardwired in our brain and not a social construct. It is something that touches some internal chord. When you stumble on a beautiful theory you have the same emotional reaction that you feel in front of a piece of art.

In physics, theories are made of math. We don’t use math because we want to scare away those not familiar with differential geometry and graded Lie algebras; we use it because we are fools. Math keeps us honest—it prevents us from lying to ourselves and to each other. You can be wrong with math, but you can’t lie.

If a thousand people read a book, they read a thousand different books. But if a thousand people read an equation, they read the same equation.