Ebook: Science, Computers, and People: From the Tree of Mathematics
- Tags: History of Mathematical Sciences
- Year: 1986
- Publisher: Birkhäuser Basel
- Edition: 1
- Language: English
- pdf
STANISLAW MARCIN ULAM, or Stan as his friends called him, was one of those great creative mathematicians whose interests ranged not only over all fields of mathematics, but over the physical and biological sciences as well. Like his good friend "Johnny" von Neumann, and unlike so many of his peers, Ulam is unclassifiable as a pure or applied mathematician. He never ceased to find as much beauty and excitement in the applications of mathematics as in working in those rarefied regions where there is a total un concern with practical problems. In his Adventures of a Mathematician Ulam recalls playing on an oriental carpet when he was four. The curious patterns fascinated him. When his father smiled, Ulam remembers thinking: "He smiles because he thinks I am childish, but I know these are curious patterns. I know something my father does not know." The incident goes to the heart of Ulam's genius. He could see quickly, in flashes of brilliant insight, curious patterns that other mathematicians could not see. "I am the type that likes to start new things rather than improve or elaborate," he wrote. "I cannot claim that I know much of the technical material of mathematics.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xxi
The Applicability of Mathematics....Pages 1-8
Physics for Mathematicians....Pages 9-19
Ideas of Space and Space-Time....Pages 21-30
Philosophical Implications of Some Recent Scientific Discoveries....Pages 31-36
A First Look at Computing: A Personal Retrospective....Pages 37-42
Computers in Mathematics....Pages 43-60
Experiments in Chess on Electronic Computing Machines: Some Early Efforts....Pages 61-70
Computations in Parallel....Pages 71-75
Patterns of Growth of Figures....Pages 77-90
More on Patterns of Growth....Pages 91-103
How to Formulate Mathematically the Problems of the Rate of Evolution....Pages 105-114
Some Further Ideas and Prospects in Biomathematics....Pages 115-136
Further Applications of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences....Pages 137-153
Thermonuclear Devices....Pages 155-164
The Orion Project....Pages 165-168
John von Neumann 1903–1957....Pages 169-214
Von Neumann: The Interaction of Mathematics and Computing....Pages 215-222
John von Neumann on Computers and the Brain....Pages 223-229
Gamow and Mathematics: Personal Reminiscences....Pages 231-239
Marian Smoluchowski and the Theory of Probabilities in Physics....Pages 241-251
Kazimierz Kuratowski....Pages 253-258
Stefan Banach....Pages 259-262
A Concluding Paean....Pages 263-264
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xxi
The Applicability of Mathematics....Pages 1-8
Physics for Mathematicians....Pages 9-19
Ideas of Space and Space-Time....Pages 21-30
Philosophical Implications of Some Recent Scientific Discoveries....Pages 31-36
A First Look at Computing: A Personal Retrospective....Pages 37-42
Computers in Mathematics....Pages 43-60
Experiments in Chess on Electronic Computing Machines: Some Early Efforts....Pages 61-70
Computations in Parallel....Pages 71-75
Patterns of Growth of Figures....Pages 77-90
More on Patterns of Growth....Pages 91-103
How to Formulate Mathematically the Problems of the Rate of Evolution....Pages 105-114
Some Further Ideas and Prospects in Biomathematics....Pages 115-136
Further Applications of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences....Pages 137-153
Thermonuclear Devices....Pages 155-164
The Orion Project....Pages 165-168
John von Neumann 1903–1957....Pages 169-214
Von Neumann: The Interaction of Mathematics and Computing....Pages 215-222
John von Neumann on Computers and the Brain....Pages 223-229
Gamow and Mathematics: Personal Reminiscences....Pages 231-239
Marian Smoluchowski and the Theory of Probabilities in Physics....Pages 241-251
Kazimierz Kuratowski....Pages 253-258
Stefan Banach....Pages 259-262
A Concluding Paean....Pages 263-264
....