The Incomplete Gödel

American Scientist Online ^ | September-October, 2005, issue | Gregory H. Moore

[snarks_when_bored]

The Incomplete Gödel

Gregory H. Moore

Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel. Rebecca Goldstein. 296 pp. W. W. Norton, 2005. $22.95.

A World Without Time: The Forgotten Legacy of Gödel and Einstein. Palle Yourgrau. x + 210 pp. Basic Books, 2005. $24.

Such eminent 20th-century physicists as Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg are well known to almost all scientists, whether or not they happen to be physicists. Yet most scientists are unfamiliar with eminent mathematicians from the same period, such as David Hilbert (Germany) and Oswald Veblen (United States). A rare exception is John von Neumann (Hungary and the United States), a mathematician whose contributions to quantum mechanics, the stored-program concept for computers, and the atomic bomb resonate with many physical scientists.

One mathematician who deserves to be better known, and who was highly esteemed by von Neumann, is Kurt Gödel (1906-1978). In 1951 Gödel shared the first Einstein Award with physicist Julian Schwinger (who later won the Nobel Prize). At the award ceremony, von Neumann gave a speech calling Gödel's work "a landmark which will remain visible far in space and time."

[snip]

 

	Included in this photograph taken at Albert Einstein's 70th birthday celebration in 1949 are (left to right) Eugene Wigner, Hermann Weyl, Kurt Gödel, I. I. Rabi, Einstein, Rudolf Ladenburg and J. Robert Oppenheimer.
	From A World Without Time.

[snarks_when_bored]

I'm guessing it wasn't "Hey, yo, how 'bout them Packers, baby?"...

Absolutely right, BTD. Both Einstein and Gödel were Bears fans...in fact, it was Gödel who coined the phrase "duh Bearz".

[headsonpikes]

I'm guessing it wasn't "Hey, yo, how 'bout them Packers, baby?"...

Absolutely right, BTD. Both Einstein and Gödel were Bears fans...in fact, it was Gödel who coined the phrase "duh Bearz".

Ergo the "Chicago School".

I rediscovered this thread this AM. Thanks for your excellent work here, Snarky.

[RightWhale]

insight into his personality

Definitely part of the hermeneutical reading, but Goedel's work was in logic, which is sort of the opposite side of understanding. Goedel was kind of the wood-splitting wedge that severed the Positivists forever from historiology.

[Recursive Prophet]

True, and "Godel, Escher, Bach" is far more more revelatory regarding his logic. Still, I find insights into his personality also of interest. Other good examples are "Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture" and "Incompleteness," a Godel biography also by A. Doxiadus. I had another really good example but can't recall it now. I'll edit it in if I think of it later.

[RightWhale]

Never had any symbolic logic to speak of, but now have an eastern Euro text and have begun digging. It promises both Goedel’s theorems on predicate logic. It might be a while since it is slow going, but at some point there will be half a line of heiroglyphs and I’ll say ‘of course’.