My Brain is Open―20世紀数学界の異才ポール・エルデシュ放浪記 [単行本]

Paul Erdõs, one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century, and certainly the most eccentric, was internationally recognized as a prodigy by age seventeen. Hungarian-born Erdõs believed that the meaning of life was to prove and conjecture. His work in the United States and all over the world has earned him the titles of the century's leading number theorist and the most prolific mathematician who ever lived. Erdõs's important work has proved pivotal to the development of computer science, and his unique personality makes him an unforgettable character in the world of mathematics. Incapable of the smallest of household tasks and having no permanent home or job, he was sustained by the generosity of colleagues and by his own belief in the beauty of numbers.

Witty and filled with the sort of mathematical puzzles that intrigued Erdõs and continue to fascinate mathematicians today, My Brain Is Open is the story of this strange genius and a journey in his footsteps through the world of mathematics, where universal truths await discovery like hidden treasures and where brilliant proofs are poetry. --このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

50年以上の間、世界中の数学者たちはドアの前でノックに応えその男を迎えた。分厚い眼鏡をかけてしわくちゃのスーツをまとい、片手には家財一式入れたスーツケース、もう一方の手には論文を詰め込んだバックをもって、My brain is open!と宣言する小柄でひ弱そうな男。その訪問者こそ20世紀最大の数学者であり、間違いない奇人、ポール・エルデシュである。本書はこの不思議な天才、そして魅力的な数学の世界における彼の旅の足跡をたどる話である。著者ブルース・シェクターは、愛情、洞察、ユーモアをもって、この天才数学者ポール・エルデシュの風変わりな世界へわれわれを導く。

分厚い眼鏡をかけしわくちゃのスーツをまとい、片手に家財一式を入れたスーツケース、もう一方には論文を詰めたバッグを持ち、「My brain is open!」と宣言する小柄な男。その不可思議な天才の足跡をたどる。

Physicist and science writer Bruce Schechter's biography of legendary Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdös is an engaging portrait, warm and intimate, bringing this strange, happy man to life. Schechter's focus is quite a bit tighter, and more traditionally biographical, than Paul Hoffman's in The Man Who Loved Only Numbers. Here, we get to see Erdös's brief childhood transform quickly into a carefree adolescence of solving difficult math problems with his circle of brilliant friends--uniquely encouraged by a country that valued the contributions of mathematics in a way that has never been equaled. Fleeing the Holocaust, Erdös never settled down, instead traveling from place to place, showing up on the doorsteps of other mathematicians with his few possessions and an open mind. During his career, Erdös published more papers than any other mathematician in history. Most of the papers were collaborations:

For Erdös, the mathematics that consumed most of his waking hours was not a solitary pursuit but a social activity. One of the great mathematical discoveries of the twentieth century was the simple equation that two heads are better than one.... That radical transformation of how mathematics is created is the result of many factors, not the least of which was the infectious example set by Erdös.

Schechter spoke with many of Erdös's collaborators to complete this biography, which reveals the odd mathematician as charming, opinionated, and completely dependent upon the kindness of others. Schechter not only tells his fascinating story, but introduces some intriguing mathematics problems (with easy-to-understand explanations) to show readers why Erdös loved the elegance of numbers more than anything else in the world. --Therese Littleton
--このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

Schechter's biography of mathematical wizard Paul Erdos, who died in 1996, follows closely on the publication of one by Paul Hoffman (The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, Forecasts, June 8). Curiously, both biographers were associated with Discover magazine?Schechter as a staff writer and Hoffman as editor-in-chief. Like Hoffman, Schechter adeptly portrays both the quirky Erdos and his daimon, the pure, abstract universe of numbers. Schechter's explanations of number theory are better suited than Hoffman's for readers not in technical or scientific professions. He doesn't delve into subjects like Ramsey theory in quite the detail that Hoffman does, and his digressions tend to be more relevant to Erdos's life. Hoffman, for example, goes into the story of Fermat's last theorem, which played almost no role in Erdos's career. And Schechter seems more evenhanded in his account of Erdos's controversial contribution to the solution of the Prime Number Theorem. Although Schechter didn't know Erdos personally, as Hoffman did, and although his account lacks some of the other's humanizing vignettes, readers will be engrossed by his well-crafted chronicle of the eccentric Hungarian and of the mathematical worlds he traversed for eight decades.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。

Paul Erdõs, one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century, and certainly the most eccentric, was internationally recognized as a prodigy by age seventeen. Hungarian-born Erdõs believed that the meaning of life was to prove and conjecture. His work in the United States and all over the world has earned him the titles of the century's leading number theorist and the most prolific mathematician who ever lived. Erdõs's important work has proved pivotal to the development of computer science, and his unique personality makes him an unforgettable character in the world of mathematics. Incapable of the smallest of household tasks and having no permanent home or job, he was sustained by the generosity of colleagues and by his own belief in the beauty of numbers.

Witty and filled with the sort of mathematical puzzles that intrigued Erdõs and continue to fascinate mathematicians today, My Brain Is Open is the story of this strange genius and a journey in his footsteps through the world of mathematics, where universal truths await discovery like hidden treasures and where brilliant proofs are poetry.
--このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

A pleasing biography of the mathematician . . . by physicist, editor, and journalist Schechter. Erdos took part in the flowering of Hungarian creative and intellectual talent that developed in the first decades of this century with von Neumann, Teller, Szilard, von Karman, and Wigner in science, and Solti, Szell, Reiner, Dorati, Bartok, and Kodaly in music. His parents, nonpracticing Jews, were both high school teachers. At four, Erdos was already in love with numbers and at home with performing rapid calculations. When asked, "What is 100 minus 250?" he thought for a moment, and then shouted "150 below zero!," thereby inventing negative numbers for himself. And it was the theory of numbers that remained the first love of his mathematical life. What makes this biography so amenable to the general reader is that many conjectures raised by number theorists are also grasped easily by nonspecialists. Schechter reconstructs Erds's life through interviews and memoirs of his friends, most importantly , Ronald Graham, the AT&T mathematician who became Erdos's "handler" after his adored and adoring mother's death. Indeed, therein lies a tale to titillate Freudians. It is said that Erdos had never buttered his own bread before leaving home for Cambridge. He chose not to marry and professed to be appalled by sex. Yet he loved children, whom he called "epsilons" (a math insider's joke) and was rich in friendships. Erdos left Hungary before WWII, never won a permanent teaching post, was usually short of mon ey, and got into trouble during the McCarthy era, but was undaunted and eventually cleared. Not only did he advance number theory and create new specialties in mathematics, but he also shifted math's working style from that of a solo enterprise to joint a nd multiple collaborations. Schechter has mined his sources well to create a captivating portrait.
--このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

Advance Praise for My Brain is Open "With affection, insight, and humor, Bruce Schechter invites us into the wacky world of mathematical genius Paul Erds-one of the strangest characters to inhabit the world of science. Schechter does an admirably agile job of interweaving real mathematics with the far side of human nature, juxtaposing tall tales and theorems, proofs and one-liners-showing us where math meets mortals. This book is proof that laughter and enlightment go hand in hand." --K.C. Cole, author of The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty.

"Few mortals have led such an eccentric and intellectually productive existence as Paul Erds. Lucidly and sympathetically, Bruce Schechter brings alive both the otherworldly brilliance of the world of mathematics, and the humanity and passion of the peop le-one wants to call them artists-who spend their lives there." --Dennis Overbye, author of Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos: The Scientific Quest for the Secret of the Universe

Praise for The Path of No Resistance

"Bruce Schechter's very readable book conveys the unique flavor of the world of superconductivity without sacrificing accuracy. It is by far the best popular book on this subject." --Philip W. Anderson, Nobel Prize-winner in Physics, 1977
--このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

Bruce Schechter holds a Ph.D. in physics from M.I.T. and is a former editor at Physics Today and a former staff writer at Discover. He is the author of The Path of No Resistance, a book about superconductivity. --このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

シェクター,ブルース
マサチューセッツ工科大学Ph.D.(物理学)、前“Physics Today”エディタ、前“Discover”スタッフエディタ(本データはこの書籍が刊行された当時に掲載されていたものです)