No label defined (Q4501783)

A short review of parallel developments and achievements of mathematics and physics and their connections from ancient Greek to our times is given. In Section 1 (The two major revolutions of 20th century physics) it is noted that our picture of the physical world has undergone two extraordinary revolutions during this century. The first of these completely changed our picture of \textit{space} and of \textit{time}. The second revolution- the \textit{quantum} revolution - completely changed our picture of \textit{matter}. In Section 2 (New physics for the 21st century?) it is stressed that there is a currently very fashionable viewpoint that the universe uniformity is the result of an early phase of the universe in which a rapid exponential expansion took place, referred to as \textit{inflation}. But the author has some doubts that inflation turns out to be a significant part of the physics of the 21st century. One of the other very fashionable ideas for the 21st century fundamental physics is \textit{string theory}. In Section 3 (``Complex'' mathematical physics) it is noted that complex numbers enter at the very foundations of quantum theory, in the \textit{superposition principle}. The are 14 references in the article. For the entire collection see [Zbl 1047.00015].