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Adventures of a Mathematician

Annotation The autobiography of mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, one of the great scientific minds of the twentieth century, tells a story rich with amazingly prophetic speculations and peppered with lively anecdotes. As a member of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1944 on, Ulam helped to precipitate some of the most dramatic changes of the postwar world. He was among the first to use and advocate computers for scientific research, originated ideas for the nuclear propulsion of space vehicles, and made fundamental contributions to many of today's most challenging mathematical projects.
With his wide-ranging interests, Ulam never emphasized the importance of his contributions to the research that resulted in the hydrogen bomb. Now Daniel Hirsch and William Mathews reveal the true story of Ulam's pivotal role in the making of the "Super," in their historical introduction to this behind-the-scenes look at the minds and ideas that ushered in the nuclear age. An epilogue by Franoise Ulam and Jan Mycielski sheds new light on Ulam's character and mathematical originality
eBook, English, July 1991
University of California Press, Berkeley, July 1991
Popular works
1 online resource (384 pages) illustrations
9780520071544, 9780520910553, 9780585182001, 0520071549, 0520910559, 0585182000
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Pt. 1. Becoming a mathematician in Poland. Childhood
Student years
Travels abroad
pt. 2. A working mathematician in America. Princeton days
Harvard years
Transition and crisis
The University of Wisconsin
pt. 3. Life among the physicists. Los Alamos
Southern California
Back at Los Alamos
The "super"
The death of two pioneers
pt. 4. The past fifteen years. Government science
Professor again
Random refections
English