Description
Book SynopsisAn autobiography of mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, one of the great scientific minds of the twentieth century, tells a story with prophetic speculations and peppered with anecdotes.
Trade Review"Who invented the H‐bomb? Fermi? Oppenheimer? Teller? General Groves? No, it was a Polish mathematician named Stanislaw Ulam. To this day we don't know what came into Ulam's head because it's still top secret. The most he says about it in his autobiography is that it was an “iterative scheme” which modified a previous and unworkable plan of Teller's. Well—the “adventures” (even though they take place mostly under his hat) of a man who invented the H‐bomb are surely no less worth reading about than the adventures of the man who ordered the first atom bomb dropped on a city." * New York Times *
"What Ulam tells us of his mind and his times is generally fascinating. He makes little effort to draw us into the mathematical content of his deep and varied work. He is, however, transparently honest, and he is effective in portraying his impatient, ironic and quizzical style, his ambitions, his estimates of others, his interests and his opinions with "a frankness and truthfulness which are sometimes a little strong but never really shocking." . . . Readers owe Ulam a debt for a book of reminiscent perceptions that have rarely been matched." * Scientific American *
"Stanislaw Marcin Ulam, the man who has written hundreds of mathematical treatises, writes the story of his life in a direct and simple way that reflects the concerns, interests, conflicts, loyalties and great warmth of a remarkable human being. The impact of his story, however, moves beyond biography to become an exciting affirmation of historical importance." * Polish Review *
"A fascinating autobiography." * American Scholar *
"Ultimately, this is a book about mathematicians and their culture. It offers snapshots of some of the most important events in early to mid-twentieth century mathematics, written by an insider that speaks our language and knows the sort of gossip we [mathematicians] want to hear about." * Mathematical Association of America Blog *
Table of ContentsPreface to the 1991 edition by
William G. Mathews and Daniel Hirsch
Preface to the 1983 edition
Acknowledgments
A Note on S. M. Ulam's Mathematics
by Jan Mycielski
Prologue
PART 1: Becoming a Mathematician in Poland
1 . Childhood
2. Student Years
3. Travels Abroad
PART II: A Working Mathematician in America
4. Princeton Days
5. Harvard Years
6. Transition and Crisis
7. The University of Wisconsin
PART III: Life among the Physicists
8. Los Alamos
9. Southern California
10. Back at Los Alamos
11. The "Super"
12. The Death of Two Pioneers
PART IV: The Past Fifteen Years
13. Government Science
14. Professor Again
15. Random Reflections
Postscript to Adventures
by Fran9oise Ulam
Bibliography
Index
