Mathematical Lives

by Bartocci, Claudio; Betti, Renato; Guerraggio, Angelo; Lucchetti, Roberto; Williams, Kim

• ISBN13: 9783642136054
• ISBN10: 3642136052
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-09-29
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

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.'

Table of Contents

Hilbert's Problems	p. 1
Hilbert's 23 Problems	p. 9
The Way We Were	p. 11
Guido Castelnuovo	p. 21
Federigo Enriques	p. 22
Francesco Severi	p. 22
Verlaine and Poincaré	p. 25
Bertrand Russell	p. 27
Godfrey H. Hardy	p. 37
Hardy: From A Mathematician's Apology	p. 41
Emmy Noether	p. 43
Carciopholus Romanus	p. 53
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac	p. 55
Quantum Mechanics	p. 57
The Foundations of Quantum Field Theory	p. 58
Electron Theory	p. 59
The Method of Mathematical Beauty	p. 60
A Monosyllabic Interview	p. 62
The Theoretical Intelligence and the Practical Vision of John von Neumann	p. 63
Kurt Gödel	p. 69
Hommage À Gödel	p. 77
Robert Musil	p. 79
The Country that Went to Ruin Because of a Linguistic Gap	p. 79
Precision and Soul	p. 81
Too Intelligent To Be a Poet	p. 83
Integrals To Grow Lean Again	p. 87
The Life, Death and Miracles of Alan Mathison Turing	p. 91
"Who Is" A. M. Turing	p. 94
Renato Caccioppoli	p. 97
Bruno de Finetti	p. 109
Works by Bruno de Finetti Cited	p. 113
A Committed Mathematician	p. 115
Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov	p. 117
Bourbaki	p. 123
Books Published by Bourbaki	p. 127
The Generations	p. 128
The "Real" Bourbaki	p. 128
The Founding Fathers	p. 128
Writing and Mathematics in the Work of Raymond Queneau	p. 131
From Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau	p. 135
Original Version	p. 135
Numerical Version	p. 135
Geometrical Version	p. 135
Set Theory Version	p. 136
John F. Nash Jr.	p. 137
Nash's Life	p. 137
The Myth of Icarus	p. 139
Game Theory	p. 142
Ennio De Giorgi	p. 147
Perimeter Theory and Hilbert's 19th Problem	p. 147
Minimal Surfaces	p. 149
G-Convergence	p. 150
Equations of Evolution and Problems of Free Discontinuity	p. 151
Foundations of Mathematics	p. 151
Social Commitment and Relations with Other Italian Mathematicians	p. 152
A Personal Recollection	p. 153
Laurent Schwartz	p. 157
"Who Is" Laurent Schwartz	p. 164
René Thom	p. 165
J.L. Borges, The Dream (El sueño)	p. 169
Alexander Grothendieck: Enthusiasm and Creativity	p. 171
Bibliography	p. 180
Gian-Carlo Rota	p. 181
Stephen Smale	p. 191
Michael F. Atiyah	p. 197
The Age of Unification	p. 197
From Algebraic Geometry to K-Theory	p. 198
The Index Theorem	p. 200
Geometry and Physics	p. 204
Conclusion	p. 207
Vladimir Igorevich Arnold	p. 209
Enrico Bombieri	p. 213
Martin Gardner	p. 217
Solution	p. 220
Le Corbusier's Door of Miracles	p. 221
F. William Lawvere	p. 223
Category Theory	p. 228
Andrew Wiles	p. 231
Interview with Andrew Wiles (October 2004)	p. 233
Mathematical Prizes	p. 237
The Fields Medal	p. 237
The Abel Prize	p. 238
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