Symmetry in the physics of Lamé and his contemporaries

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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...