Chapter 12 FROM CATASTROPHE TO CHAOS: THE MODELING PRACTICES OF APPLIED TOPOLOGISTS
David Aubin
Sociologiquement, on peut dire que [la théorie des catastrophes] a fait… un naufrage subtil, parce que la plupart des notions que j'ai introduites … ont pénétré dans le bagage ordinaire des modélisateurs. Alors, il est vrai que, dans un sens, les ambitions de la théorie ont fait naufrage, ma is la pratique, elle, a réussi. [Thom, 1991, 47].
During World War II, American mathematician George D. Birkhoff contended that ‘topology deserves to obtain a more prominent position in physical theories than it has yet obtained’ [1943, 310]. Because of its impact on various parts of mathematics, topology undoubtedly was among the greatest successes of ...
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