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The origin of Renormalization Group
Polyakov remembers the development of Renormalization Group and Conformal Bootstrap as "With the use of the ingenious technique, developed by Gribov and Migdal [1] in the problem of reggeons, I found connections between phenomenological theory and…
wonderich
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Does Gauss own two “Theorema”?
When I read our differential geometry book, I saw two theorema: "Theorema Egregium" and "Theorema Elegantissimum". Mathematically, they are not the same. On wikipedia, there is nothing about Elegantissmum. What is the story behind it?
Upc
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When did Gauss introduce "Gauss' planetary equations"?
"Gauss' planetary equations" are a set of equations that describe the rate of change of the six elements of a planetary orbit in the presence of a disturbing force. I just intend to ask in which of his works did Gauss first write his planetary…
user2554
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What is the history of using $i$/$\iota$ as the imaginary unit?
I'm interested in particular in knowing about when $\iota$ began to be used as the imaginary unit/who began to use it.
A majority of all text books that I have seen tend to just use $i$ as the imaginary unit. However, I remember being taught back…
SarthakC
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Who first wrote down the spin-orbit coupling term in the atom?
Who first wrote down the spin-orbit coupling term in the atom? Was it Dirac himself? The term should be derived from the Dirac equation.
John
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Where did the terminology "characteristic" of a field originate?
Where did this terminology first appear, and what was the motivation behind using the word "characteristic" to refer to the property that $1 + 1 + ...+1$ a certain number of times gives us the additive identity?
AnotherPerson
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Why couldn't Huygens explain diffraction using his principle?
Huygens' principle seemed quite complete in this description if applied correctly. I noticed that Fresnel was credited in the Huygens-Fresnel principle, as well. I think it is because he was able to describe diffraction with the principle correctly,…
Obliv
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Why Saytzeff and Zaitsev Rules are named differently?
Saytzeff and Zaitsev rules are the same thing.Then why are they named differently?Some books favour to use Saytzeff while some prefer Zaitsev.Why are different names used for the same thing?
Thanks for any help!!
Soham
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Why is the thermoelectric figure of merit denoted by $ZT$?
Why is the thermoelectric figure of merit denoted by $Z T$? Does $Z T$ come from the abbreviation of words in some language?
Update: So far, $T$ has been figured out — it is the temperature, to make the whole quantity dimensionless. So, the question…
Αλέξανδρος Ζεγγ
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Who first treated sets of objects as mathematical objects in their own right?
Dedekind’s 1858 introduction of Dedekind Cuts as a method of defining real numbers is a bona fide use of sets as mathematical objects. He is using sets to define mathematical objects (real numbers) as a pair of sets.
Prior to Dedekind, Boole worked…
nwr
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What did it historically mean in physics for something to "exist"?
What is the history of influential definitions of objective existence --- This Is Real, It Exists --- in physics? Where did they appear in the literature and in what context were they put forward?
Please focus on the operational definitions of…
Shing
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Who invented the gradient?
Who is responsible for coming up with the gradient and why did they do so? In which work was it first described?
I have Googled this extensively, to no avail, and Boyer's History of Calculus does not appear to contain the answer to this.
user124384
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Explanation of the three peaks in Google ngram for 'syphilis'
Heres the google ngram for the word syphilis. I was wondering what these three peaks could be.
Peak 1 - around 1870s - Repeal of the Contagious diseases act
Peak 2 - around 1910s - Discovery of Treponema and Salvarsan
Peak 3 - around 1940s - World…
Polisetty
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Where did the notion of the product in a category first appear?
In his book, Category Theory[1], Awodey writes the following about it:
Next, we are going to see the categorical definition of a product of two objects in a category. This was first given by Mac Lane in 1950, and it is probably the earliest example…
Euge
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Who was first to integrate Newton's equations of motion to derive the conservation laws for mechanical energy and momentum?
I'm wondering who is the first person in the history who came up with an idea to integrate Newton's $F=ma$ to obtain the law of mechanical energy conservation? And When did it happen?
Also I have the same questions for the law of momentum…
Pengin
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