Prof.
Martin
Wilkens
Universität Potsdam
Since the ancient times, mathematics, physics, astronomy and music (theory) have been closely interwoven in the so-called Quadrivium. Pythagoras in the forge, with the identification of the octave and the fifth, Johannes Kepler "Harmonices Mundi", with the three planetary laws entirely formulated in musical language, Isaac Newton's theory of colors, with the visible spectrum "in an octave", Euler's "Gradus Suavitatis", with a mathematical quantification of the "euphony" of chords, Max Planck's "Natural Tuning of Vocal Music," his quantum mechanical oscillators, and the invention of h-bar, the Webster’s Horn equation, its relation to quantum tunneling, -- there is music everywhere at play. Where does this come from, what does music actually have to do with mathematics, and why is physics the key?
