The fact that mathematics does such a good job of describing the Universe is a mystery that we don't understand. And a debt that we will probably never be able to repay.
Lord Kelvin[Referring to Fourier's mathematical theory of the conduction of heat] ... Fourier's great mathematical poem.
Lord KelvinIf we can't express what we know in the form of numbers, we really don't know much about it.
Lord KelvinThe life and soul of science is its practical application, and just as the great advances in mathematics have been made through the desire of discovering the solution of problems which were of a highly practical kind in mathematical science, so in physical science many of the greatest advances that have been made from the beginning of the world to the present time have been made in the earnest desire to turn the knowledge of the properties of matter to some purpose useful to mankind.
Lord Kelvin