Introduction

Erhard Scholz

pp. 161-164

in: Erhard Scholz (ed), Hermann Weyl's "Raum — Zeit — Materie" and a general introduction to his scientific work, Basel, Birkhäuser, 2001

Abstract

It happens rarely that an individual is capable of pioneering work in several fields. Hermann Weyl was just such an individual, a profound thinker of wide intellectual range, a giant of our times. His vision was unique and penetrating not only in mathematics, but also in mathematical physics and in philosophy of science. Humanity, compassion and a powerful sense of the beautiful were the hallmarks of his personality and characteristic of his intellectual endeavour. The sheer range of his genius and his persistent search for a harmonious, intelligible architecture of the physical universe at once links him to the last great universalist mathematicians and thinkers of the nineteenth century such as Hilbert and Poincaré, and stands as a promise and anticipation of the future development of science and mathematics.

Cited authors

Weyl Hermann