[FRIAM] Hywel

[Barry MacKichan]

I second Jon’s thoughts about Hywel’s contribution to our small 
group reading a gauge theory book.
I came to appreciate Hywel’s point of view. In mathematics, we prove 
theorems starting with axioms or hypotheses. In spite the surpassing 
usefulness of mathematics in physics, it really boils down to trying to 
match a mathematical model to reality, and this always is an inductive 
process, not deductive. It’s not surprising that an experimental 
physicist will be more critical of some models, no matter how beautiful 
they may be mathematically.

We will miss him and his thundering “Wrong!”

--Barry


On 22 Jun 2018, at 1:56, Jon Zingale wrote:

> Thank you for passing this sad news on to friam.
> I will miss Hywel very much and often enjoyed
> his contributions to our gauge field theory book
> group over the last year. His sense of humor often
> brought a chuckle and smile to my face. Hywel's
> unique perspective on matters of physics and its
> tenuous relation to the platonic world of numbers
> provided much food for my thought. After all,
> 'Mathematics is ok, but it's better to know what
> you are doing' :)
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