meta!

[hydrobromic]

``Dedekind's Tenth supplement [to Dirichlet's Lectures on the Theory of Numbers] was one of the great turning points in the history of mathematics. Bourbaki calls it `magesterial'; Landau says that it `brought order to chaos, and light to the deepest darkness'; Noether comments that `its style of thought now permeates the entirety of modern algebra'. It opened new vistas, and introduced a style of thought that was to dominate mathematics in the twentieth century. But Dedekind closed the preface to this revolutionary work with a plea for the study of the history of mathematics `Finally, I have taken pains to give references to the sources whenever I could, to prompt the reader to study the original works, and to awaken in him a picture of the progress of science---whose truths, as deep as they are sublime, constitute a treasure which is the imperishable fruit of a truly noble struggle between the peoples of Europe.' This last phrase is explained by the published date of the Preface (1 March 1871), the precise day on which France formally acceded to the Treaty of Frankfurt and Prussian troops entered Paris.''

---William Ewald, From Kant to Hilbert: A Source Book in the Foundations of Mathematics, Volume 2