The Application of Mathematics to the Sciences of Nature

The historical and epistemological reflection on the applications of mathematical techniques to the Sciences of Nature - physics, biology, chemistry, and geology - today generates attention and interest because of the increasing use of mathematical models in all sciences and their high level of sophistication. The goal of the meeting and the papers collected in this proceedings volume is to give physicists, biologists, mathematicians, and historians of science the opportunity to share information on their work and reflect on the and mathematical models are used in the natural sciences today and in way mathematics the past. The program of the workshop combines the experience of those working on current scientific research in many different fields with the historical analysis of previous results. We hope that some novel interdisciplinary, philosophical, and epistemological considerations will follow from the two aspects of the workshop, the historical and the scientific· This proceedings includes papers presented at the meeting and some of the results of the discussions that took place during the workshop. We wish to express our gratitude to Sergio Monteiro for all his work, which has been essential for the successful publication of these proceedings. We also want to thank the editors of Kluwer AcademidPlenum Publishers for their patience and constant help, and in particular Beth Kuhne and Roberta Klarreich. Our thanks to the fallowing institutions: -Amministrazione Comunale di Arcidosso -Comunita Montana del Monte Amiata ·Center for the History of Physics, UCLA -Centre F.

Contenu

Preface. Physics. Quantum Probability and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: A Crucial Experiment; L. Accardi, M. Regoli. An Optical Geometric Model of the Betratonic Motion; A. Bazzani, P. Freguglia. Some Remarks on the Theory of Relativity and the Naïve Realism; V. Benci. Pattern Induced by Parameter Modulation in Spatiotemporal Chaos; L. Fronzoni. Chaos and Orbit Complexity; S. Galatolo. On the Riemann-Mangoldt Constant; D. Merlini, L. Rusconi. Long-Term Stability in Circular Accelerators; W. Scandale. Mathematical Models in Beam Dynamics; G. Turchetti. Biology. An Axiomatic Approach to Some Biological Themes; M. Forti, et al. A Proposal for an Axiomatic Theory of the Evolutionary Darwinian Ideas; P. Freguglia. Fractal Complexity of Membrane Structures in Normal and Neoplastic Cells; G.A. Losa. The Arc, an Unexpected and Still Not Explained Element of the Tracks of Creeping Ciliates; N. Ricci, et al. Natural Population and Community Structure and Dynamics: The `Supply-Side Ecology', Theory and the Field Data; G. Santangelo. History of Science. The History of Theoretical Population Ecology. Which Role for Mathematical Modeling? L. Andreozzi. The Mathematics Implied in the Laws of Nature and Realism, or the Role of Functions Around 1750; J. Dhombres. Geometry, the Calculus and the Use of Limits in Newton's Principia; N. Guicciardini. The Two Faces of Mathematical Modeling: Objectivism vs. Subjectivism, Simplicity vs. Complexity; G. Israel. The Search for the Mathematization of the Social Disciplines; S. Menteiro. Mathematization of the Science of Metion and the Birth of Analytical Mechanics. A Historiographical Note; M. Panza. Models, Analogies, and Statistical Reason, 1760-1900; T. Porter. Is MusicRelevant for the History of Science; T. Tonietti.