Stanislaw Ulam Quotes About Mathematics

Quotes about: Mathematics

• It was not so much that I was doing mathematics, but rather that mathematics had taken possession of me.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Taken, Mathematics, Possession

  "Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 52), 1991.

• Even the simplest calculation in the purest mathematics can have terrible consequences. Without the invention of the infinitesimal calculus most of our technology would have been impossible. Should we say therefore that calculus is bad?

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Technology, Impossible, Mathematics

  "Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 222), 1991.

• In many cases, mathematics is an escape from reality. The mathematician finds his own monastic niche and happiness in pursuits that are disconnected from external affairs. Some practice it as if using a drug.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Reality, Mathematics, Mathematical

  "Adventures of a Mathematician". Book by Stanislaw Ulam, 3rd edition. Chapter 6: "Transition And Crisis", p. 120, 1991.

• Rota's personality is compatible with mine.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Science, Personality, Mathematics

• What exactly is mathematics? Many have tried but nobody has really succeeded in defining mathematics; it is always something else.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Exactly Is, Defining, Mathematics

  "Adventures of a Mathematician". Book by Stanislaw Ulam, 3rd edition. Chapter 15: "Random Reflections on Mathematics and Science", p. 273-274, 1991.

• Do not lose your faith. A mighty fortress is our mathematics. Mathematics will rise to the challenge, as it always has.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Challenges, Mathematics, Fortresses

  "The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Rise of the Sciences of Complexity". Book by Heinz Pagels. Chapter 3, p. 94, 1988.

• Mathematics may be a way of developing physically, that is anatomically, new connections in the brain.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Brain, Connections, May

  "Adventures of a Mathematician". Book by Stanislaw Ulam, 3rd edition. Chapter 15: "Random Reflections on Mathematics and Science", p. 277, 1991.

• Ada came from Lwów. She was a very good looking girl who was studying mathematics at the University of Geneva. For a few years I had an off-and-on romance with her.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Girl, Years, Romance

  "Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 45), 1991.

• The infinite we shall do right away. The finite may take a little longer.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  May, Littles, Infinite

• As a mathematician, von Neumann was quick, brilliant, efficient, and enormously broad in scientific interests beyond mathematics itself. He knew his technical abilities; his virtuosity in following complicated reasoning and his insights were supreme; yet he lacked absolute self confidence.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Self Confidence, Brilliant, Complicated

  "Adventures of a Mathematician". Book by Stanislaw Ulam, 3rd edition. Chapter 4: "Princeton Days", p. 76, 1991.

• What exactly is mathematics? Many have tried but nobody has
  really succeeded in defining mathematics; it is always something
  else. Roughly speaking, people know that it deals with numbers,
  figures, with relations, operations, and that its formal procedures
  involving axioms, proofs, lemmas, theorems have not changed
  since the time of Archimedes.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Numbers, Exactly Is, People

• In mathematics, as in physics, so much depends on chance, on a propitious moment.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Chance, Physics, Moments

  "Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 95), 1991.

• Thanks to my memory, which enabled me to quote Latin and to discuss Greek and Roman civilization, it became obvious to some of my colleagues in other fields that I was interested in things outside mathematics. This lead quickly to very pleasant relationships.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Memories, Latin, Civilization

  "Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 125), 1991.

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