Page 11 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

x History and Science of Knots

G/3^ /yiaillr 33

Fig. 2. Copy of a page from the notebooks of C. F. Gauss (1777-1855)
There has been considerable discussion amongst authors and editors of
this book as to whether the term `Science' can legitimately be applied to
describe the study of knots. As Professor C. E. M. Joad would have said,
when speaking on the British radio programme Brains Trust, during World
War II: "It all depends on what you mean by `Science'." We have reached
no agreement! Chapter 12 discusses this issue, and also outlines some non-
topological knot theories that have emerged recently.
We have organised the eighteen chapters into five sets, or Parts, to impose
what we believe to be a useful ordering upon them.