On reign and servitude: The case of mathematics. Inaugural lecture. Academic course 2000-2001. (Q2756940)

In this inaugural lecture of the academic course 2000-2001, addressed to a general audience, Múñoz Delgado, through a selection of interesting and colorful circumstances and well-known anecdotes, pictures different images of mathematics. On the one hand, he illustrates how other disciplines used -- as a servant, as a tool -- mathematics to express and solve some of their most immediate questions. On the other hand, through other equally stimulating situations, he exemplifies the simplicity, generality and beauty of mathematics. This second counterpart illuminates how other disciplines are subordinated to mathematics and shows why mathematics is the queen of intellectual thought.