Adventures of a Mathematician

Review of "Adventures of a mathematician" by S. UlamBeing a scientist I always believed in the ability of human thought to change the history. One of the best example is the life of Stanislaw Ulam - a Polish mathematician who once said: "It is still an unending source of surprise for me to see how a few scribbles on a blackboard could change the course of human affairs". The proof of this ambitious statement can be found in his autobiography "Adventures of a mathematician".Stanislas Ulam grew up in the heart of polish school of mathematics - Lwow. In his youth he was influenced by works of Sierpinski, Banach and Steinhaus. After he joined the University of Lwow, he quickly became involved in the informal meetings at various Cafes, where he discussed hard mathematical problems with fellow mathematicians. His early work attracted attention of a famous American mathematician, John von Neumann, who offered him a scholarship in Stanford and then invited him to work in war-time atomic bomb laboratory in Los Alamos.Although young Ulam focused on abstract mathematical problems arising from set and number theory, his interests gradually shifted to practical applications of mathematics in physics and biology. In Los Alamos he help to design the hydrogen bomb and showed that the initial projects were not feasible, because the chain reactions would not spread quickly enough. By doing this he initiated new fields of mathematics including the branching theory and Monte Carlo analysis.In his autobiography Ulam describes vividly the mathematical community of XX century. He never bores the reader with the details of his mathematical achievements, but he gives a good feeling of what it means to be a mathematician. He illustrates his adventures with countless anecdotes about himself and his colleagues. One of them describes how an absent-minded scientist breached the Los Alamos security by calling "Bohr principle" the "Nicholas Baker principle" (Nicholas Baker was code name of Niels Bohr, father of quantum mechanics whose involvement in Los Alamos project was top secret). At times Ulam does not fear to strike a more serious note, for example, when he ponders upon the biological basis of the creative process."Adventures" is an entertaining book, especially for readers interested in the details of mathematical thinking. However, it fails short in the description of the ethics of scientific research, which should be important for work that changed the course of world history.

Before I read this autobiography, I knew very little about Stanislav Ulam. After reading it, I am convinced that he was a very interesting person. It was certainly very interesting book to read. It is very well written and gives an excellent portrayal of his life and character in an entertaining manner. After reading Adventures of a Mathematician, I wish I had known the man.

Stan Ulam documents growing up in Lwow, Poland, how he became enchanted by math, and would ultimately go on to be the father of the H-Bomb, in Los Alamos. Along the way he wrote countless papers, but is probably best known for discovering the "Monte Carlo Method", today much used in statistical analysis.

This memoir was very well done, and it was reminiscent of visiting with this great man when I was a young physicist at Los Alamos. It was great to have him share his more inner motivations with posterity.

This is, at least to me, the best non-mathematician’s understanding of how a mathematician thinks and a excellent background and understanding of much the 20-th century from about 1930 to 1970. The interactions of physicists, mathematicians, engineers and biologists is informative, exciting and the introduction of computers in mathematics is excellent.

This is how history should be written; by a mathematician about mathematics. The biographical approach to history is gaining ground, in particular with regard to Einstein and the other innovators of the 1920's. People want to know more about the people making history than boring accounts of what emperors and generals did to destroy people. Ulam's account is entertaining from the start and takes us, especially, through the tribulations of scientists during the Nazi occupation of Poland.

Cool biography

A very interesting fun read!

A lovely book and quite a story about an amazing mathematician. Great condition, well packed and arrived in very good time. A lovely book. Well done.

The book not only covers the scientific career of Ulam, but it gives a panoramic view of a scientific era. There is much discussion of Manhattan project and the roles of notables von Newman and Teller. It is a very enjoyable read.

In my youth I had a brief and very tangential encounter with a tiny bit of Stan Ulam's "applied" mathematics. Later on, dabbling with Monte Carlo processes in a business setting I of course found Ulam again. Now, even later, think twilight of a life, I think back to the big names in chemistry, physics and mathematics of the '40s (WW-II, Manhattan Project stuff) and find myself wanting to discover what these polymaths were like as people.For me, the beauty of Ulam's autobiography lies in his word pictures of the many people with whom he worked and whose work stands up well in its own right. You really need to read about Segre and Feynman an Teller, et al and histories by Tyson and Rhodes, to name two, for more details; but, Ulam's book offers broad brush-stroke verbal pictures of many of those who advanced a portion of science in the '40s.Doug

Good book about brilliant people!

si vous voulez savoir comment ce mathématicien polonais de l'école de Lviv a trouvé l'idée de sa spirale des nombres premiers ou comment il a défié Edward Teller dans sa pursuite à la fission dans la bombe H il faut le lire absolument et en plus trois fois moins chers dans l'original qu'en français !