Definition:Hilbert 23/6

Hilbert $23$: Problem $6$

Previous  ... Next

Axiomatize all of Physics

Axiomatize all of physics.

Mathematical treatment of the axioms of physics:

$(1): \quad$ An axiomatic treatment of probability with limit theorems for foundation of statistical physics

$(2): \quad$ The rigorous theory of limiting processes "which lead from the atomistic view to the laws of motion of continua".

Historical Note

The Hilbert 23 were delivered by David Hilbert in a famous address at Paris in $1900$.

He considered them to be the oustanding challenges to mathematicians in the future.

There was originally going to be a $24$th problem, on a criterion for simplicity and general methods in proof theory, but Hilbert decided not to include it, as it was (like numbers $4$, $6$, $16$ and $23$) too vague to ever be described as "solved".

Sources

• 1902: David Hilbert: Mathematical Problems (Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. Vol. 8, no. 10: pp. 437 – 479)

(translated by Mary Winston Newson from "Mathematische Probleme")