From David Keith
Paul Root Wolpe asked for a single symbol to represent all of science (7 January, p 24). Around 400 BC, Greek philosophers Leucippus and Democritus proposed that the world is made of atoms.
More recently, physicist Richard Feynman suggested the atomic hypothesis when asked for a statement containing the most scientific knowledge in the fewest words: “All things are made of atoms – little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another.”
We know electrons do not orbit a nucleus like the planets of a solar system. Still, I think we could find no better symbol for science than the schematic of an atom.
From Dan Richardson
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I propose a single “x” to symbolise the unknown (variable) and humankind’s incessant attempts to measure and describe, to analyse and understand, and to quantify and explain. I believe this includes all aspects of science and would unite the field under a single letter.
Glasgow, UK
Vancouver, Washington, US
