The tool which governs the mediation between theory and practice, between thought and observation is mathematics; it builds the bridge and carries more and more of the load. It thereby happens that the basis of our entire present day culture, in so far as it is based on investigations dealing with nature, can be found in mathematics.

Musings of the Masters: An Anthology of Mathematical Reflections, Logic and the Understanding of Nature (p. 125), Mathematical Association of America. Washington, D.C. 2004