Steps forward in mathematics often reverberate in other scientific disciplines, and give rise to innovative conceptual developments or find surprising technological applications. This volume brings to the forefront some of the proponents of the mathematics of the twentieth century, who have put at our disposal new and powerful instruments for investigating the reality around us. The portraits present people who have impressive charisma and wide-ranging cultural interests, who are passionate about defending the importance of their own research, are sensitive to beauty, and attentive to the social and political problems of their times. What we have sought to document is mathematics’ central position in the culture of our day. Space has been made not only for the great mathematicians but also for literary texts, including contributions by two apparent interlopers, Robert Musil and Raymond Queneau, for whom mathematical concepts represented a valuable tool for resolving the struggle between ‘soul and precision.’
Author(s): Umberto Bottazzini (auth.), Claudio Bartocci, Renato Betti, Angelo Guerraggio, Roberto Lucchetti (eds.)
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Year: 2011
Language: English
Pages: 238
Tags: History of Mathematics; History of Computing; Algebra; Game Theory, Economics, Social and Behav. Sciences; Mathematical Logic and Foundations; Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes
Front Matter....Pages i-xiii
Hilbert’s Problems....Pages 1-10
The Way We Were....Pages 11-23
Verlaine and Poincaré....Pages 25-26
Bertrand Russell....Pages 27-35
Godfrey H. Hardy....Pages 37-41
Emmy Noether....Pages 43-52
Carciopholus Romanus....Pages 53-54
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac....Pages 55-62
The Theoretical Intelligence and the Practical Vision of John von Neumann....Pages 63-68
Kurt Gödel....Pages 69-76
Hommage À Gödel....Pages 77-78
Robert Musil....Pages 79-90
The Life, Death and Miracles of Alan Mathison Turing....Pages 91-96
Renato Caccioppoli....Pages 97-107
Bruno de Finetti....Pages 109-113
A Committed Mathematician....Pages 115-116
Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov....Pages 117-121
Bourbaki....Pages 123-130
Writing and Mathematics in the Work of Raymond Queneau....Pages 131-136
John F. Nash Jr.....Pages 137-146
Ennio De Giorgi....Pages 147-155
Laurent Schwartz....Pages 157-164
René Thom....Pages 165-167
J.L. Borges, The Dream (El sueño)....Pages 169-169
Alexander Grothendieck: Enthusiasm and Creativity....Pages 171-180
Gian-Carlo Rota....Pages 181-189
Stephen Smale....Pages 191-196
Michael F. Atiyah....Pages 197-208
Vladimir Igorevich Arnold....Pages 209-211
Enrico Bombieri....Pages 213-215
Martin Gardner....Pages 217-220
Le Corbusier’s Door of Miracles....Pages 221-222
F. William Lawvere....Pages 223-230
Andrew Wiles....Pages 231-235
Mathematical Prizes....Pages 237-238
