.
General research interests
Application of methods from Physics and Mathematics to problems in Palaeontology and Biology.
Geology, Palaeontology and Biology have evolved away from their descriptive roots and develop towards quantitative methods as a means of describing the concepts and processes they do explore. There are mainly two reasons for the increasing use of methods from Physics and Mathematics:
- First, quantitative treatments do necessarily make use of the underlying processes from Physics, Chemistry or Physical Chemistry,
- Second, during the centuries, Theoretical and Mathematical Physics have accumulated a rich variety of mathematical models which are well suited for phenomenological modelling purposes.
Most Geologists, Palaeontologists and Biologists accept this line of reasoning immediately. Their majority, however, views mathematical models merely as a vehicle to quantify intuitively formed hypotheses and feels not very comfortable with the Physicists firm belief in the predictive power of their theories, a belief which has formed during centuries, especially after the success of Newtons theory of gravitation. Since then, physical theories have often profited from critical review of apparent mathematical artefacts which gave rise to fruitful (and sometimes surprising) insights into quite unexpected connections between theory and reality.