Editing Symmetry (section)

===In physics===
{{Main|Symmetry in physics}}

Symmetry in physics has been generalized to mean [[Invariant (physics)|invariance]]—that is, lack of change—under any kind of transformation, for example [[General covariance|arbitrary coordinate transformations]].<ref>{{cite book |title = Symmetries and Group Theory in Particle Physics: An Introduction to Space-Time and Internal Symmetries |first1 = Giovanni |last1 = Costa |first2=Gianluigi |last2=Fogli| publisher = Springer Science & Business Media |year = 2012 |page = 112}}</ref> This concept has become one of the most powerful tools of [[theoretical physics]], as it has become evident that practically all laws of nature originate in symmetries. In fact, this role inspired the Nobel laureate [[Philip Warren Anderson|PW Anderson]] to write in his widely read 1972 article ''More is Different'' that "it is only slightly overstating the case to say that physics is the study of symmetry."<ref>{{cite journal | last=Anderson | first=P.W. | title=More is Different | journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] | volume=177 | issue=4047| pages=393–396 | year=1972 | url=http://robotics.cs.tamu.edu/dshell/cs689/papers/anderson72more_is_different.pdf | doi=10.1126/science.177.4047.393 | pmid=17796623 |bibcode = 1972Sci...177..393A | s2cid=34548824 }}</ref> See [[Noether's theorem]] (which, in greatly simplified form, states that for every continuous mathematical symmetry, there is a corresponding conserved quantity such as energy or momentum; a conserved current, in Noether's original language);<ref name=Noether>{{Cite book | last = Kosmann-Schwarzbach | first = Yvette | author-link = Yvette Kosmann-Schwarzbach | title = The Noether theorems: Invariance and conservation laws in the twentieth century | publisher = [[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer-Verlag]] | series = Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences | year = 2010 | isbn = 978-0-387-87867-6}}</ref> and also, [[Wigner's classification]], which says that the symmetries of the laws of physics determine the properties of the particles found in nature.<ref>{{citation|first=E. P.|last=Wigner|author-link=Eugene Wigner|title=On unitary representations of the inhomogeneous Lorentz group|journal=[[Annals of Mathematics]]|issue=1|volume=40|pages=149–204|year=1939|doi=10.2307/1968551|mr=1503456 |bibcode = 1939AnMat..40..149W |jstor=1968551|s2cid=121773411 }}</ref>

Important symmetries in physics include [[continuous symmetry|continuous symmetries]] and [[discrete symmetry|discrete symmetries]] of [[spacetime]]; [[internal symmetry|internal symmetries]] of particles; and [[supersymmetry]] of physical theories.