Cohl Furey

Cohl Furey, also known as Nichol Furey, is a Canadian mathematical physicist known for her work on applying octonions to the Standard Model.

Quotes

• Despite its counter-culture status, the octonions have long drawn the curiosity of generations of physicists. The algebra is known to appear without warning in apparently disparate areas of mathematics, within algebra, geometry, and topology. However, despite its ubiquity, its practical uses in physics have remained elusive, due to the algebra's non-associativity, which must be handled with care.
  • Cohl Furey (2015). Standard model physics from an algebra?. University of Waterloo.  (p. 37) (Ph.D. thesis)

• It is nearly irresistible to ask if the octonions, , the last of the set of four normed division algebras over , have a calling in nature. Certainly several have thought so, but for the most part, the octonions have remained as a well kept secret from mainstream physics. More often than not, the octonions are passed by in haste because they are non-associative, and hence at times temperamental. As we will show, this property is in fact a gift, which will offer a way to streamline some of the standard model’s complex structure.
  • Cohl Furey (2018) . "Towards a unified theory of ideals". arXiv. DOI:10.48550/arXiv.1002.1497.

• Accordions are the octonions of the music world — tragically misunderstood.
  • Cohl Furey quoted in: Wolchover, Natalie (2018-07-20). The Peculiar Math That Could Underlie the Laws of Nature. Quanta Magazine.

• I realized that the eight degrees of freedom of the octonions could correspond to one generation of particles: one neutrino, one electron, three up quarks and three down quarks.
  • Cohl Furey quoted in: Wolchover, Natalie (2018-07-20). The Peculiar Math That Could Underlie the Laws of Nature. Quanta Magazine.