Retiree

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I was a bold teenager who had flashes of insight. I am now a retired mathematician who is not as fast but still original.
 
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Welcome, Are you related to _The_ Paul Erdos?
 
He didn't have any children. I'm just trying to keep a low profile.
 
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paulerdos said:
He didn't have any children. I'm just trying to keep a low profile.
That's not a 'no'... you could be one-and-the-same. 🤔 😉


[UPDATE]
Oh. He's dead.

My bad.
 
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DaveC426913 said:
That's not a 'no'... you could be one-and-the-same. 🤔 😉


[UPDATE]
Oh. He's dead.

My bad.
Do human rules apply to Erdos? He was a Martian
 
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Which would make one heck of score! :smile:

This forums is heavily moderated in order to ensure quality. Remember to read the rules.

EDIT: Case in point: my link was removed. Ah welp. It's easy to find for anyone who want's to.
 
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DaveC426913 said:
Oh. He's dead.
He was a bit nuts from what I have read. Brilliant, prolific but nuts.
 
pinball1970 said:
He was a bit nuts from what I have read. Brilliant, prolific but nuts.
IIRC, he said "A Mathematician is a machine to turn coffee into theorems".
 
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pinball1970 said:
He was a bit nuts from what I have read. Brilliant, prolific but nuts.
Isn't that sadly usually true? Often there's a thin line between genius and mental illness? Often geniuses (genii?) are either on the spectrum, bipolar and/or paranoid schizophrenic. They can solve Einstein's field equations while doing the daily crossword, but tying their own shoelaces is beyond them, and often they lack social skills.
 
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sbrothy said:
Isn't that sadly usually true? Often there's a thin line between genius and mental illness? Often geniuses (genii?) are either on the spectrum, bipolar and/or paranoid schizophrenic. They can solve Einstein's field equations while doing the daily crossword, but tying their own shoelaces is beyond them, and often they lack social skills.
I like this quote from Einstein.

... a note from 1926 letter to Paul Ehrenfest, Albert Einstein wrote of a Dirac paper, "I am toiling over Dirac. This balancing on the dizzying path between genius and madness is awful."
 
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  • #11
OTOH, sometimes it may be an advantage as in the case of Richard Feynman:

"When I see equations, I see the letters in colors. I don't know why. I see vague pictures of Bessel functions with light-tan j's, slightly violet-bluish n's, and dark brown x's flying around."
 
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  • #12
sbrothy said:
Isn't that sadly usually true? Often there's a thin line between genius and mental illness? Often geniuses (genii?) are either on the spectrum, bipolar and/or paranoid schizophrenic. They can solve Einstein's field equations while doing the daily crossword, but tying their own shoelaces is beyond them, and often they lack social skills.
Cantor struggled with depression as did Paul Ehrenfest who eventually killed his son, then took his own life. 1000s of brilliant scientists and I suppose the eccentrics get a lot of the headlines.
Even Feynman struggled after the war, hardly surprising after his wife died in her twenties and he was part of the Manhattan project. Not easy losing to lose love of your life and knowing you helped send 150,000 people to the grave. I would lose sleep on that.
 
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One of the stories I find saddest and most unfair is GB's treatment of Alan Turing. He helped them win the war and, as a thank you very much, drove him to suicide by "treating" his homosexuality.

Oh, I didn't read the full story. It might not be that simple. But he certainly wasn't treated well.
 
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Apropos, incidentally and completely off-topic:

I've always loved those verses from the bible where his own family outright calls the historical Jesus nuts and throw him out on the street because of his megalomania, or whatever:

John 1:11
John 7:5
 
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sbrothy said:
One of the stories I find saddest and most unfair is GB's treatment of Alan Turing. He helped them win the war and, as a thank you very much, drove him to suicide by "treating" his homosexuality.

Oh, I didn't read the full story. It might not be that simple. But he certainly wasn't treated well.
In my city no less. Not something to be proud of if you are a science enthusiast from Manchester. He is commemorated all over the city centre these days.

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pinball1970 said:
Cantor struggled with depression as did Paul Ehrenfest who eventually killed his son, then took his own life. 1000s of brilliant scientists and I suppose the eccentrics get a lot of the headlines.
Even Feynman struggled after the war, hardly surprising after his wife died in her twenties and he was part of the Manhattan project. Not easy losing to lose love of your life and knowing you helped send 150,000 people to the grave. I would lose sleep on that.
Yeah, that's tough.

I've always found it a little hypocritical that Ernst Rutherford refused to shake hands with Fritz Haber. I can't remember if it was before or after Haber's Nobel-prize. Yes, he invented chlorine-gas but did he have any choice? At least they were so chocked at it's effectiveness that they forgot to react at first.

At least he invented his fertilizer process afterwards making the Earth capable of sustaining several bilions more. I'm not saying that these even out. But what did Rutherford do?

Rutherford was one of those who discovered the chain-reaction. That he didn't believe in the idea doesn't, in my opinion, make him better.
 
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I recently learned about this one:
Graham was not the only one who had to put up with [Paul] Erdös's kitchen antics. "Once I spent a few days with Paul," said Janos Path, a fellow Hungarian emigre. "When I entered the kitchen in the evening, I was met with a horrible sight. The floor was covered by pools of blood-like red liquid. The trail led to the refrigerator. I opened the door, and to my great surprise saw a carton of tomato juice on its side with a gaping hole. Paul must have felt thirsty and, after some reflection, decided to get the juice out of the carton by stabbing it with a big knife."
From: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/h/hoffman-man.html
 
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  • #18
sbrothy said:
Yeah, that's tough.

I've always found it a little hypocritical that Ernst Rutherford refused to shake hands with Fritz Haber. I can't remember if it was before or after Haber's Nobel-prize. Yes, he invented chlorine-gas but did he have any choice? At least they were so chocked at it's effectiveness that they forgot to react at first.
It was in 1933, long after Haber's 1918 Nobel prize for making nitrogen fertilizer. The reason, however, is not entirely clear. Rutherford maintained a life-long friendship with Otto Hahn, with whom he worked closely in his Montreal lab. Hahn had worked with Fritz Haber in Germany during WWI developing chlorine gas. In fact Hahn nearly died from accidental exposure to the gas in the laboratory. Maybe Rutherford refused to shake Haber's hand because he had treated Hahn poorly....
sbrothy said:
But what did Rutherford do?
Really!!?
sbrothy said:
Rutherford was one of those who discovered the chain-reaction. That he didn't believe in the idea doesn't, in my opinion, make him better.
After his laboratory at Cambridge succeeded in splitting a lithium nucleus, he famously stated: "Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine". He was right, of course. No one has seriously suggested using nuclear fission of lithium for power generation.

AM
 
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  • #19
sbrothy said:
Yeah, that's tough.

I've always found it a little hypocritical that Ernst Rutherford refused to shake hands with Fritz Haber. I can't remember if it was before or after Haber's Nobel-prize. Yes, he invented chlorine-gas but did he have any choice? At least they were so chocked at it's effectiveness that they forgot to react at first.

At least he invented his fertilizer process afterwards making the Earth capable of sustaining several bilions more. I'm not saying that these even out. But what did Rutherford do?

Rutherford was one of those who discovered the chain-reaction. That he didn't believe in the idea doesn't, in my opinion, make him better.
Haber said "In peacetime the scientist belongs to humanity, in war time, to his fatherland."

Rutherford may have snubbed him after the war (great war)

It made Einstein's visit to the UK that much more important (I started a thread on this)
 
  • #20
This intro thread is closed temporarily for Moderation. It looks like the side discussion about Erdos should be spun off as its own thread. If anybody has a suggestion where to make the split, please send me a DM. Thanks.