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SYMMETRIES in PHYSICS

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Symmetry and Groups: Historical Aspects<br />

Symmetry <strong>in</strong> Physics: A Short History<br />

Group Theory: First Concepts<br />

Symmetry: Plato (428 - 347 BC) and even earlier ...<br />

The symbol of ’beauty <strong>in</strong> symmetry’ are five Platonic Figures<br />

Platonic Figures: Three-dimensional polyhedra whose faces are<br />

identical planar regular convex polygons<br />

The allowed polygons are either equilateral triangles, or squares<br />

or regular pentagons<br />

There exist only five regular convex (=platonic) polyhedra:<br />

tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, icosahedron & dodecahedron<br />

As it seems, neolithic people from Scotland have developed the<br />

five Platonic solids about 1000-3000 years before Plato (stone<br />

models <strong>in</strong> Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)<br />

Jerzy DUDEK<br />

<strong>SYMMETRIES</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>PHYSICS</strong>

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