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The mathematical difficulties of the theory of rotation arise chiefly…

Quote byJames Clerk Maxwell · 1831–1879

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: On a Dynamical Top, for exhibiting the phenomena of the motion of a system of invariable form about a fixed point, with some suggestions as to the Earth’s motion, read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh (20 April 1857); published in Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. XXI, Part I.

English (original)

The mathematical difficulties of the theory of rotation arise chiefly from the want of geometrical illustrations and sensible images, by which we might fix the results of analysis in our minds.

— James Clerk Maxwell

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