| Dewey Class |
510.9 |
| Title |
Indiscrete Thoughts ([EBook]) / by Gian-Carlo Rota ; edited by Fabrizio Palombi. |
| Author |
Rota, Gian-Carlo. , 1932- , 1932- |
| Added Personal Name |
Palombi, Fabrizio |
| Other name(s) |
SpringerLink (Online service) |
| Edition statement |
Reprint edition 2008 |
| Publication |
Boston, MA : Birkhäuser , 2008 |
| Physical Details |
xxii, 280 pages : online resource. |
| Series |
Modern Birkhäuser classics 2197-1803 |
| ISBN |
9780817647810 |
| Summary Note |
Indiscrete Thoughts gives a glimpse into a world that has seldom been described, that of science and technology as seen through the eyes of a mathematician. The era covered by this book, 1950 to 1990, was surely one of the golden ages of science as well as of the American university. Cherished myths are debunked along the way as Gian-Carlo Rota takes pleasure in portraying, warts and all, some of the great scientific personalities of the period —Stanislav Ulam (who, together with Edward Teller, signed the patent application for the hydrogen bomb), Solomon Lefschetz (Chairman in the 1950s of the Princeton mathematics department), William Feller (one of the founders of modern probability theory), Jack Schwartz (one of the founders of computer science), and many others. Rota is not afraid of controversy. Some readers may even consider these essays indiscreet. After the publication of the essay "The Pernicious Influence of Mathematics upon Philosophy" (reprinted six times in five languages) the author was blacklisted in analytical philosophy circles. Indiscrete Thoughts should become an instant classic and the subject of debate for decades to come. "Read Indiscrete Thoughts for its account of the way we were and what we have become; for its sensible advice and its exuberant rhetoric."--The Mathematical Intelligencer "Learned, thought-provoking, politically incorrect, delighting in paradox, and likely to offend—but everywhere readable and entertaining."--The American Mathematical Monthly "It is about mathematicians, the way they think, and the world in which they live. It is 260 pages of Rota calling it like he sees it... Readers are bound to find his observations amusing if not insightful. Gian-Carlo Rota has written the sort of book that few mathematicians could write. What will appeal immediately to anyone with an interest in research mathematics are the stories he tells about the practice of modern mathematics."--MAA Reviews.: |
| Indiscrete Thoughts gives a glimpse into a world that has seldom been described, that of science and technology as seen through the eyes of a mathematician. The era covered by this book, 1950 to 1990, was surely one of the golden ages of science as well as of the American university. Cherished myths are debunked along the way as Gian-Carlo Rota takes pleasure in portraying, warts and all, some of the great scientific personalities of the period âStanislav Ulam (who, together with Edward Teller, signed the patent application for the hydrogen bomb), Solomon Lefschetz (Chairman in the 1950s of the Princeton mathematics department), William Feller (one of the founders of modern probability theory), Jack Schwartz (one of the founders of computer science), and many others. Rota is not afraid of controversy. Some readers may even consider these essays indiscreet. After the publication of the essay "The Pernicious Influence of Mathematics upon Philosophy" (reprinted six times in five languages) the author was blacklisted in analytical philosophy circles. Indiscrete Thoughts should become an instant classic and the subject of debate for decades to come. "Read Indiscrete Thoughts for its account of the way we were and what we have become; for its sensible advice and its exuberant rhetoric."--The Mathematical Intelligencer "Learned, thought-provoking, politically incorrect, delighting in paradox, and likely to offendâbut everywhere readable and entertaining."--The American Mathematical Monthly "It is about mathematicians, the way they think, and the world in which they live. It is 260 pages of Rota calling it like he sees it... Readers are bound to find his observations amusing if not insightful. Gian-Carlo Rota has written the sort of book that few mathematicians could write. What will appeal immediately to anyone with an interest in research mathematics are the stories he tells about the practice of modern mathematics."--MAA Reviews: |
| Contents note |
Persons and Places -- Fine Hall in its Golden Age -- Light Shadows -- Combinatorics, Representation Theory and Invariant Theory -- The Barrier of Meaning -- Stan Ulam -- The Lost Café -- Philosophy -- The Pernicious Influence of Mathematics Upon Philosophy -- Philosophy and Computer Science -- The Phenomenology of Mathematical Truth -- The Phenomenology of Mathematical Beauty -- The Phenomenology of Mathematical Proof -- Syntax, Semantics, and the Problem of the Identity of Mathematical Items -- The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution -- Kant and Husserl -- Fundierung as a Logical Concept -- The Primacy of Identity -- Three Senses of “A is B” in Heidegger -- Indiscrete Thoughts -- Ten Lessons I wish I Had Been Taught -- Ten Lessons for the Survival of a Mathematics Department -- A Mathematician’s Gossip -- Book Reviews. |
| Foreward by Reuben Hersh -- Foreward by Robert Sokolowski -- Introduction by Gian-Carlo Rota -- Fine Hall in its Golden Age Remembrances of Princeton in the Early Fifties -- Light Shadows Yale in the Early Fifties -- Combinatorics, Representation Theory and Invariant Theory The Story of a Ménage à Trois -- The Barrier of Meaning -- Stan Ulam -- The Lost Café -- The Pernicious Influence of Mathematics Upon Philosophy -- Philosophy and Computer Science -- The Phenomenology of Mathematical Truth -- The Phenomenology of Mathematical Beauty -- The Phenomenology of Mathematical Proof -- Syntax, Semantics, and the Problem of the Identity of Mathematical Items -- The Barber of Seville or the Useless Precaution -- Kant and Husserl -- Fundierung as a Logical Concept -- The Primacy of Identity -- Three Senses of "A is B" in Heidegger -- Ten Lessons I Wish I Had Been Taught -- Ten Lessons for the Survival of a Mathematics Department -- A Mathematicianâs Gossip -- Book Reviews -- End Notes -- Epilogue by Fabrizion Palombi -- Index. |
| System details note |
Online access to this digital book is restricted to subscription institutions through IP address (only for SISSA internal users) |
| Internet Site |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-8176-4781-0 |
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