Physicists’ devotion to symmetry has led them astray before

If dark matter WIMPs are mythical, they join the ancient idea that the planets moved in circles

- More than 2 years ago

Ptolemaic model of planets

In ancient Greece, Aristotle deduced the existence of an exotic form of matter in space based on the circular symmetry of celestial motion, a symmetry preserved in the Ptolemaic model of planets orbiting the Earth in a combination of circular motions.

Andreas Cellarius/Wikimedia Commons

Second of two parts

Physicists have a lot in common with Ponce de León and U2’s Bono.