Mathematics

Although the notion of a function did not originate with Euler, it was he who
first gave it prominence by treating the calculus as a formal theory of functions. In his
Introductio in analysin infinitorum of 1748 he defined a function of a variable quantity as
“an analytical expression” composed in any way of that variable and constants. The key
to this definition is the notion of an analytical expression, which Euler evidently
understood to be the common characteristic of all known functions. It was also Euler,
however, who initiated a viewpoint that eventually led to the introduction of the modern
concept of a function. In his pioneering study of partial differential equations of 1734,
Euler admitted “arbitrary functions” into the integral solutions. And, in answer to Jean
d’Alembert - who maintained that these arbitrary functions must be given by a single
algebraic or transcendental equation in order to be the proper object of mathematical
analysis – Euler clarified his earlier pronouncement by contending that the curves which
the arbitrary functions represent need not be subject to any law but may be “irregular”
and “discontinuous”, i.e., formed from the parts of many curves or traced freehand in the
plane.
It is important to observe that the term “discontinuous” as used by Euler and his
contemporaries refers to a discontinuity in the analytical form of expression of the
functional relationship: A function can be continuous in the modern sense and
“discontinuous” in the sense of Euler. On the other hand, the possibility of arbitrary
functions which are discontinuous in the modern sense at more than a finite number of
points in a finite interval does not appear to have been seriously considered by anyone at
this time. Attention was focused upon the fact that arbitrary functions are not determined
by a single equation rather than upon their properties as correspondences x→f(x) between
real numbers.
 Mathematics
An “arbitrary function” for Fourier was “a function completely arbitrary, that is
to say a succession of given values, subject or not to a common law, and answering to all
the values of x ...”. Furthermore, “the function f(x) represents a succession of values or
ordinates each of which is arbitrary.... They succeed each other in any manner whatever,
and each of them is given as if it were a single quantity”.
This last sentence above, may suggest that Fourier held an extremely general
conception of a function. Actually this is not a case: Fourier’s conception of a function
was that of his eighteenth-century predecessors. His terminology hints at this, and in
particular he used the term “discontinuous function” in the eighteen-century sense. Thus,
for example, he referred to the function that takes the value e-x when x is nonnegative and
the value of ex when x is negative as a discontinuous function, although it is continuous in
the modern sense. As with Euler and his contemporaries, “arbitrary” was used by Fourier
with reference to the formal expression of a function: an arbitrary function is one not
given by a single equation. Such a function is not necessarily arbitrary in the sense of
being possibly highly discontinuous or non differentiable. Indeed, Fourier seemed to
think arbitrary functions are very well behaved. For example, he claimed that an arbitrary
function f(x) could be represented in the form
f(x) = (1/2π) ∫ f(α)dα ∫ cos(px-pα)dp
The formula itself is literally meaningless, since the improper integral fails to converge.
But Fourier overlooked this point, and since x appears on the right-hand side only in
cos(px-pα), which represents an differentiable function, Fourier concluded that the
function f “acquires in a manner by this transformation, all the properties of
trigonometrical quantities; ...”
 Physics
The new quantum theory was just one example of the ferment that was
occurring in physics around the turn of the century. Experimental scientists, as well as
theoreticians, were participating in amazing discoveries that were quickly to
revolutionize man’s view of the world around him. Some of the most astonishing findings
concerned the ultra small world of the atom.
During much of the latter half of the nineteenth century, most scientists believed
that the world was composed of tiny, round, hard, indivisible atoms that generally
combined to form molecules. A number of experiments, among them the Millikan oil
drop experiment, the production of cathode rays, and the photoelectric effect, made it
obvious that matters were not quite as simple. Atoms clearly contained negatively
charged electrons, which could be removed from the atoms under appropriate
circumstances. In addition, in 1895, the German physicist Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen,
working at the University of Würzburg added a much larger complication to the problem
of the ultimate nature of matter.
Roentgen discovered that cathode rays which struck a metal target, or even the
glass of the vacuum tube in which they were produced, created an entirely new and
extremely strange kind of ray. These rays had the astonishing capacity of going through
cloth, leather and even human flesh; only such dense substances as bone and metal
seemed able to stop them. In addition to this penetrating power, the new rays were also
different from cathode rays insofar that they were not deflected by magnets or electric
fields. Because of their incredibly peculiar properties, the rays were dubbed x-rays and
were immediately put to work in the field of medicine.
It was not until 1912 that the nature of x-rays became apparent