30 quotes
Imagination is a very important part of mathematics. I hope you all possess... imagination.
The Role of Beauty in Mathematics (2015)
So spinor analysis has to be found as a substitute for complex analysis. That's the first stage in going from Cauchy's theorem in this idea of the square root of geometry.
Sir Michael Atiyah, What is a Spinor? (2013)
The 20th century... was devoted to ideas of 3 dimensional geometry, and this is the culmination... today...
Geometry in 2, 3 and 4 Dimensions (2011)
The genus is the number of holes. The sphere [surface] has no hole... The torus is a sphere with a hole bored through...
Geometry in 2, 3 and 4 Dimensions (2011)
A cylinder looks curved, but it's... flat from the point of view of Gaussian curvature. It curves in one direction, but not in the other, and it's important that... both change.
Geometry in 2, 3 and 4 Dimensions (2011)
Algebra is the offer made by the devil to the mathematician. The devil says: `I will give you this powerful machine, it will answer any question you like. All you need to do is give me your soul: give up geometry and you will have this marvellous machine.
[T]he trigonometric functions come from the circle and the elliptic functions come from ellipses.
The Role of Beauty in Mathematics (2015)
[J]ust as the past is important, so the future is important, although the future is a little harder to predict.
Geometry in 2, 3 and 4 Dimensions (2011)
Mathematics is a very ancient subject... mainly created by the young, and... it's cumulative. ...How doews this happen?
The Youthful Spirit of Mathematics (2012)
In the broad light of day mathematicians check their equations and proofs,
leaving no stone unturned in their search for rigor.
But at night, under the full moon, they dream.
They float among the stars and wonder at the miracle of the heavens.
They are inspired.
Without dreams there is no art, no mathematics, no life.