Map and territory in physics
the role of an analogy in black hole physics
pp. 233-243
in: Shyam Wuppuluri, Francisco A. Doria (eds), The map and the territory, Berlin, Springer, 2018Abstract
The generic territory this paper will concern itself with is that of the physical world, and the map is that of theoretical physics: the theories, primarily mathematical, that one generates to describe, to predict new aspects of, that physical world. That such a map is even possible, and furthermore that such a map is such an accurate representation of the physical world is something that has continued to amazed and surprised physicists even before the time of Newton. Already Pythagoras astonished both himself and the intellectual world by mathematizing an aspect of the world, that of harmony of musical notes.