Symmetry in the physics of Lamé and his contemporaries

Abstract

Introduction Symmetry and symmetry breaking are central concepts in contemporary physics. They are employed from the level of the universe as a whole to that of the elementary particles. These considerations have special significance in theories of condense matter (e.g. theory of superconductivity) and in the standard model of high-energy physics. The use of these concepts in the physical sciences goes back to the nineteenth century, while the modern concept of symmetry itself did not origina...