Abstract
Yang and Lee's1 discovery of the non-conservation of parity in certain interactions of “fundamental particles” has led to a general acceptance of the notion that the structure of the universe is asymmetrical. So far as I know this was first enunciated by Pasteur2. The following are his exact words: “Il faut de toute nécessité que des actions dissymétriques président pendant la vie à l'élaboration des vrais principes immédiats natur els dissymétriques. “Quelle peut ê;tre la nature de ces actions dissymétriques ? Je pense, quant à moi, qu'elles sont d'ordre cosmique. L'univers est un ensemble dissymétrique et je suis persuadé que la vie, telle qu'elle se manifeste à nous, est fonction de la dissymétrie de l'univers ou des conséquences qu'elle entraiîne. L'univers est dissymétrique.”
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References
Yang, C. N., and Lee, T. D., Phys. Rev., 104, 257 (1956).
Pasteur, L., C.R. Acad. Sci., Paris (June 1, 1874) (reprinted in “Œuvres”, 1, 361).
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HALDANE, J. Pasteur and Cosmic Asymmetry. Nature 185, 87 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/185087a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/185087a0
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