A babel of languages – Geometric Algebra

In the panorama of physics there is a disconcerting fragmentation of the formalisms used: Gibbs-like trivectors, complex numbers, Minkowski four-vector, Pauli matrices, tensors, differential forms, complex spinors in quantum physics, Lie algebras, quaternions.

In short, if physics has succeeded in the extraordinary work of unifying very different phenomena by bringing them back to common roots, unfortunately the languages and techniques still appear very fragmented.

Concept map developed by Bernard Porter in the 1930s. It portraits the metaphor of the unification of physical phenomena, represented by the river, operated by eminent scholars, represented by the villages. The confluence of this great river over the centuries is the most striking feature.

How beautiful it would be to find a mathematical-geometric structure common to all the different branches of physics: a single formalism! Geometric algebra is promising just that.