6 ms·

Adventures of a Mathematician brings an unsung scientist back into the light

53 points by benbreen 5y ago

mobileappscx 5y ago
The book is well worth a read too.
Bjo 5y ago
unsung?
- Someone 5y ago
  https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/unsung https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/unsun...: unsung ADJECTIVE MAINLY LITERARY UK /ʌnˈsʌŋ/ DEFINITIONS not famous, praised, or admired, although deserving to be
  - cafard 5y ago
    I suspect the parent knows the meaning, but considers it wrong as applied to Ulam.
    - zazen 5y ago
      I wish the parent had taken the time and effort to actually make his point, instead of leaving an easily misunderstood, single-word non-comment in the hope of some easy fake internet points. This is how forums degrade.
      - 0des 5y ago
        Perhaps in an effort to increase the comment quality of HN, we should all pitch in some engineering time pro-bono to Reddit. Before you strike me down, think about it.
power 5y ago
The book is well worth a read too. There are some great bits with John Von Neumann. On a similar note, Adventures of a Physicist by Luis Alvarez is also a great read. Among many other things, he and his son proposed the theory that the dinosaurs' extinction was caused by a meteor.
- jcora 5y ago
  Of all mathematicians who would qualify as unsung, von Neumann is the last...
1cvmask 5y ago
I think most mathematicians are "unsung" heroes outside their fields. It is hard and obscure for most people to relate to. Influencers are more relatable to the masses. Those who ever did mathematics or physics etc do know them though. Anyone who knows about the Monte Carlo method knows Ulam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_method#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_method#History Most in society know about say Pascal for his philosophical/betting ideas than his mathematical contributions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager Or Newton for having an apple fall on his head (gravity) than his (funnily enough disputed just like Ulam) contributions to mathematics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz%E2%80%93Newton_calculus_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz%E2%80%93Newton_calculu... Or even modern mathematicians/technologists who helped create the theoretical foundational framework for polar codes and 5G technologies like Erdal Arikan (Erdal who???): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdal_Ar%C4%B1kan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdal_Ar%C4%B1kan https://www.wired.com/story/huawei-5g-polar-codes-data-breakthrough/ https://www.wired.com/story/huawei-5g-polar-codes-data-break... https://www.huawei.com/en/news/2018/7/Huawei-Dr-Erdal-Arikan-Polar-Codes https://www.huawei.com/en/news/2018/7/Huawei-Dr-Erdal-Arikan...
graycat 5y ago
Ulam has a result in measure theory the French mathematician LeCam called tightness. The result is in Patrick Billingsley, Convergence of Probability Measures, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1968. The result was used in a course I took in measure theory based probability theory. Later I used the result in one paper to show that a goofy statistical hypothesis test was not trivial. The URL I've had of the picture of Ulam, von Neumann, and Feynman at Los Alamos during WWII moved, but another copy is at https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PRA6JxXrePw/Trm_LwKgxyI/AAAAAAAACh4/pNJwEHYwfxQ/s1600/StanislawUlamRichardFeynmanJohnVonNeumann.jpg https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PRA6JxXrePw/Trm_LwKgxyI/AAAAAAAAC...
herodotus 5y ago
I remember loving the book, especially the humour. For example: "There are three kinds of mathematicians, those who can count and those who can't." But the movie was (for me anyway), dour, preachy and depressing. A lot of hand wringing about the morality of working on the H-Bomb built into the dialog. No doubt some (or maybe many) of the scientists working on the Manhattan project were morally conflicted, but I doubt that they spent a lot of time while working discussing this as shown in the movie. I wish the movie had addressed this issue but had given more focus on Ulam's humour.
f00zz 5y ago
Must admit I only knew him for the spiral: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulam_spiral https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulam_spiral
throwaway81523 5y ago
Ulam was very famous (at least among nerds) and extremely impactful on the real world, maybe not entirely in a good way (keywords: "Teller Ulam"). The book was very good. I didn't know til just now that there was a movie. I read the book quite a few years ago so when I saw the headline, I tried to remember what unsung scientist(s) Ulam might have written about in it, that would help us remember them. Imagine my surprise on clicking the link, that the unsung scientist was Ulam himself. Ulam was great, but quite well known, even if there aren't any literal songs about him. Added: I can only think of one really "sung" mathematician: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lf1mB8OZeg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lf1mB8OZeg
shazeubaa 5y ago
Assigning the moniker “hero” to people responsible for developing nuclear annihilation?

53 points by benbreen 5y ago

mobileappscx 5y ago

The book is well worth a read too.

Bjo 5y ago

unsung?

Someone 5y ago
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/unsung https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/unsun...: unsung ADJECTIVE MAINLY LITERARY UK /ʌnˈsʌŋ/ DEFINITIONS not famous, praised, or admired, although deserving to be
- cafard 5y ago
  I suspect the parent knows the meaning, but considers it wrong as applied to Ulam.
  - zazen 5y ago
    I wish the parent had taken the time and effort to actually make his point, instead of leaving an easily misunderstood, single-word non-comment in the hope of some easy fake internet points. This is how forums degrade.
    - 0des 5y ago
      Perhaps in an effort to increase the comment quality of HN, we should all pitch in some engineering time pro-bono to Reddit. Before you strike me down, think about it.

power 5y ago

The book is well worth a read too. There are some great bits with John Von Neumann. On a similar note, Adventures of a Physicist by Luis Alvarez is also a great read. Among many other things, he and his son proposed the theory that the dinosaurs' extinction was caused by a meteor.

jcora 5y ago
Of all mathematicians who would qualify as unsung, von Neumann is the last...

1cvmask 5y ago

I think most mathematicians are "unsung" heroes outside their fields. It is hard and obscure for most people to relate to. Influencers are more relatable to the masses. Those who ever did mathematics or physics etc do know them though. Anyone who knows about the Monte Carlo method knows Ulam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_method#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_method#History Most in society know about say Pascal for his philosophical/betting ideas than his mathematical contributions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager Or Newton for having an apple fall on his head (gravity) than his (funnily enough disputed just like Ulam) contributions to mathematics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz%E2%80%93Newton_calculus_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz%E2%80%93Newton_calculu... Or even modern mathematicians/technologists who helped create the theoretical foundational framework for polar codes and 5G technologies like Erdal Arikan (Erdal who???): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdal_Ar%C4%B1kan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdal_Ar%C4%B1kan https://www.wired.com/story/huawei-5g-polar-codes-data-breakthrough/ https://www.wired.com/story/huawei-5g-polar-codes-data-break... https://www.huawei.com/en/news/2018/7/Huawei-Dr-Erdal-Arikan-Polar-Codes https://www.huawei.com/en/news/2018/7/Huawei-Dr-Erdal-Arikan...

graycat 5y ago

Ulam has a result in measure theory the French mathematician LeCam called tightness. The result is in Patrick Billingsley, Convergence of Probability Measures, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1968. The result was used in a course I took in measure theory based probability theory. Later I used the result in one paper to show that a goofy statistical hypothesis test was not trivial. The URL I've had of the picture of Ulam, von Neumann, and Feynman at Los Alamos during WWII moved, but another copy is at https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PRA6JxXrePw/Trm_LwKgxyI/AAAAAAAACh4/pNJwEHYwfxQ/s1600/StanislawUlamRichardFeynmanJohnVonNeumann.jpg https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PRA6JxXrePw/Trm_LwKgxyI/AAAAAAAAC...

herodotus 5y ago

I remember loving the book, especially the humour. For example: "There are three kinds of mathematicians, those who can count and those who can't." But the movie was (for me anyway), dour, preachy and depressing. A lot of hand wringing about the morality of working on the H-Bomb built into the dialog. No doubt some (or maybe many) of the scientists working on the Manhattan project were morally conflicted, but I doubt that they spent a lot of time while working discussing this as shown in the movie. I wish the movie had addressed this issue but had given more focus on Ulam's humour.

f00zz 5y ago

Must admit I only knew him for the spiral: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulam_spiral https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulam_spiral

throwaway81523 5y ago

Ulam was very famous (at least among nerds) and extremely impactful on the real world, maybe not entirely in a good way (keywords: "Teller Ulam"). The book was very good. I didn't know til just now that there was a movie. I read the book quite a few years ago so when I saw the headline, I tried to remember what unsung scientist(s) Ulam might have written about in it, that would help us remember them. Imagine my surprise on clicking the link, that the unsung scientist was Ulam himself. Ulam was great, but quite well known, even if there aren't any literal songs about him. Added: I can only think of one really "sung" mathematician: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lf1mB8OZeg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lf1mB8OZeg

shazeubaa 5y ago

Assigning the moniker “hero” to people responsible for developing nuclear annihilation?