Mathematician's defense #87984
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A Mathematician's Defence. By Godfrey H. Hardy. With an introduction by CP Snow. Icelandic translation by Reynir Axelsson.
GH Hardy (1877-1947) was a world-renowned British mathematician at Cambridge in the early 20th century. He is known for his contributions to number theory and mathematical analysis, but outside the academic world, two things in particular have kept his name alive. One is that in 1914 he discovered the Indian mathematical genius Ramanujan, helped him come to England, and worked with him until Ramanujan's death in 1920. The other is this little book.
The book is a kind of aesthetics of mathematics, written late in Hardy's life when he felt that his creative power and ability to work were beginning to wane. It is written out of a desire to justify his choice of life's work to himself and to others, and to show why he considered pure mathematics worth studying, regardless of its practical applications. Hardy saw the practice of mathematics as not an explanatory or educational activity, but primarily a creative one, and the tone of the work is partly tinged with the author's melancholy, who felt that the creative abilities that should exist were disappearing with age. On the other hand, the book is dazzlingly inspiring and clear; it provides a unique insight into the attitude of a leading mathematician to his subject and at the same time the nature and goals of pure mathematics. It can therefore be said to bear witness to the author's creative power, despite all its beautiful evidence. Hardy addresses his subject to the general reader, to the layman as well as to the learned, and discusses mathematics without any complicated calculations. He describes its beauty, which he finds comparable to the finest poetry and painting. But Hardy was also a great pacifist and in the book he opposes the standard of military application being placed on the value of mathematical and scientific research.
The introduction to A Mathematician's Defence by CP Snow is a gem in itself. The author CP Snow describes his contemporary and friend with great sensitivity and artistry, so that the character of the extraordinary mathematician comes alive before the reader.
GH Hardy (1877-1947) was a world-renowned British mathematician at Cambridge in the early 20th century. He is known for his contributions to number theory and mathematical analysis, but outside the academic world, two things in particular have kept his name alive. One is that in 1914 he discovered the Indian mathematical genius Ramanujan, helped him come to England, and worked with him until Ramanujan's death in 1920. The other is this little book.
The book is a kind of aesthetics of mathematics, written late in Hardy's life when he felt that his creative power and ability to work were beginning to wane. It is written out of a desire to justify his choice of life's work to himself and to others, and to show why he considered pure mathematics worth studying, regardless of its practical applications. Hardy saw the practice of mathematics as not an explanatory or educational activity, but primarily a creative one, and the tone of the work is partly tinged with the author's melancholy, who felt that the creative abilities that should exist were disappearing with age. On the other hand, the book is dazzlingly inspiring and clear; it provides a unique insight into the attitude of a leading mathematician to his subject and at the same time the nature and goals of pure mathematics. It can therefore be said to bear witness to the author's creative power, despite all its beautiful evidence. Hardy addresses his subject to the general reader, to the layman as well as to the learned, and discusses mathematics without any complicated calculations. He describes its beauty, which he finds comparable to the finest poetry and painting. But Hardy was also a great pacifist and in the book he opposes the standard of military application being placed on the value of mathematical and scientific research.
The introduction to A Mathematician's Defence by CP Snow is a gem in itself. The author CP Snow describes his contemporary and friend with great sensitivity and artistry, so that the character of the extraordinary mathematician comes alive before the reader.