The Language of Symmetry

The Language of Symmetry is a re-assessment of the structure and reach of symmetry, by an interdisciplinary group of specialists from the arts, humanities, and sciences at Oxford University.

It explores, amongst other topics:

• order and chaos in the formation of planetary systems
• entropy and symmetry in physics
• group theory, fractals, and self-similarity
• symmetrical structures in western classical music
• how biological systems harness disorder to create order

This book aims to open up the scope of interdisciplinary work in the study of symmetry and is intended for scholars of any background - whether it be science, arts, or philosophy.

Benedict Rattigan is a writer, and he is Director of the Schweitzer Institute, a think-tank that promotes an ethic of ‘reverence for life’ through educational programs, community outreach projects, a peer-reviewed journal and university conferences.

Denis Noble CBE FRS held the Burdon Sanderson Chair of Cardiovascular Physiology at Oxford 1984-2004 and was appointed Professor Emeritus and co-Director of Computational Physiology. Professor Noble is one of the pioneers of systems biology and developed the first viable mathematical model of the working heart. He is one of the founders of the new field of Systems Biology and is the author of the first popular science book on the subject, The Music of Life (2006).

Afiq Hatta is a science writer, and the owner of the blog simplesalad.ghost.io. He primarily writes about theoretical physics and its connections with economics and philosophy. He is a recent graduate of Mathematics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and was formerly a quantitative trader at Morgan Stanley.