Mathematical Apocrypha Stories And Anecdotes Of Mathematicians And The Mathematical

A volume of anecdotes, stories, quips, and ruminations about mathematics and mathematicians.

A companion to Mathematical Apocrypha (published in 2002) this second volume of anecdotes, stories, quips, and ruminations about mathematics and mathematicians is sure to please. It differs from other books of its type in that many of the stories are from the twentieth century and many about currently living mathematicians. A number of the best stories come from the author's first-hand experience. The writing is lively, engaging, and informative. There are stories the reader may wish to share with students and colleagues, friends, and relatives. The purpose of the book is to explore and to celebrate the many facets of mathematical life. The stories reveal mathematicians as intense, human, and sympathetic. They should resonate with readers everywhere. This book will appeal to students from high school through graduate school, to faculty and mathematical scientists of all stripes, and also to physicists, engineer, and anyone interested in mathematics.

"When you are a young mathematician, graduate school marks the first step toward a career in mathematics. During this period, you will make important decisions which will affect the rest of your career. This book is a detailed guide to help you navigate graduate school and the years that follow. -- Publisher description.

Ioan James introduces and profiles sixty mathematicians from the era when mathematics was freed from its classical origins to develop into its modern form. The subjects, all born between 1700 and 1910, come from a wide range of countries, and all made important contributions to mathematics, through their ideas, their teaching, and their influence. James emphasizes their varied life stories, not the details of their mathematical achievements. The book is organized chronologically into ten chapters, each of which contains biographical sketches of six mathematicians. The men and women James has chosen to portray are representative of the history of mathematics, such that their stories, when read in sequence, convey in human terms something of the way in which mathematics developed. Ioan James is a professor at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford. He is the author of Topological Topics (Cambridge, 1983), Fibrewise Topology (Cambridge, 1989), Introduction to Uniform Spaces (Cambridge, 1990), Topological and Uniform Spaces (Springer-Verlag New York, 1999), and co-author with Michael C. Crabb of Fibrewise Homotopy Theory (Springer-Verlag New York, 1998). James is the former editor of the London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series and volume editor of numerous books. He is the organizer of the Oxford Series of Topology symposia and other conferences, and co-chairman of the Task Force for Mathematical Sciences of Campaign for Oxford.

A series of snapshots of the history of mathematics from ancient times to the twentieth century.

The Unreal Life of Oscar Zariski records the life of Oscar Zariski that is based upon Carol Parikh's interviews with his family, colleagues, students, and his own memories from tape-recorded interviews conducted before his death in 1986. This book describes Oscar Zariski's work in mathematics that perpetually altered the foundations of algebraic geometry. The powerful tools he forged from the ideas of algebra allowed him to penetrate classical problems with a clarity and depth that brought a rigor to the way algebraic geometers carry out proofs. The strength of his work was matched by his forcefulness as a teacher, and the students he trained at Johns Hopkins and later at Harvard have made essential contributions to many areas of mathematics. This publication is beneficial to students and researchers interested in Oscar Zariski’s life and work in mathematics.

Approximately fifty articles that were published in The Mathematical Intelligencer during its first eighteen years. The selection demonstrates the wide variety of attractive articles that have appeared over the years, ranging from general interest articles of a historical nature to lucid expositions of important current discoveries. Each article is introduced by the editors. "...The Mathematical Intelligencer publishes stylish, well-illustrated articles, rich in ideas and usually short on proofs. ...Many, but not all articles fall within the reach of the advanced undergraduate mathematics major. ... This book makes a nice addition to any undergraduate mathematics collection that does not already sport back issues of The Mathematical Intelligencer." D.V. Feldman, University of New Hamphire, CHOICE Reviews, June 2001.