It Must be Beautiful edited by Graham Farmelo, Granta, £20, ISBN 1862074798
A MATHEMATICAL friend declared: “I don’t believe in great theorems, only in great theories.” A theorem can be great only if it leads somewhere. I was reminded of this bit of wisdom when I picked up It Must Be Beautiful, because the style and content of this volume speak eloquently and entertainingly to this point. But instead of great theorems we have great equations, the lifeblood of great theories in science.
Graham Farmelo has done a magnificent job both of choosing a representative sample of great equations from…
