The Mind of the Mathematician

Erscheinungsjahr 2007
ISBN: 978-0-8018-8587-7
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 196 Seiten, Format (B × H): 162 mm x 238 mm, Gewicht: 443 g

What makes mathematicians tick? How do their minds process formulas and concepts that, for most of the rest of the world’s population, remain mysterious and beyond comprehension? Is there a connection between mathematical creativity and mental illness?

In The Mind of the Mathematician, internationally famous mathematician Ioan James and accomplished psychiatrist Michael Fitzgerald look at the complex world of mathematics and the mind. Together they explore the behavior and personality traits that tend to fit the profile of a mathematician. They discuss mathematics and the arts, savants, gender and mathematical ability, and the impact of autism, personality disorders, and mood disorders.

These topics, together with a succinct analysis of some of the great mathematical personalities of the past three centuries, combine to form an eclectic and fascinating blend of story and scientific inquiry.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fitzgerald, Michael

James, Ioan

Fachgebiete

• Mathematik | Informatik Mathematik Mathematik Allgemein Geschichte der Mathematik
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychotherapie / Klinische Psychologie Psychopathologie
• Mathematik | Informatik Mathematik Mathematik Allgemein Philosophie der Mathematik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
Introduction

Part I: Tour of the Literature

1. Mathematicians and Their World
2. Mathematical Ability
3. The Dynamics of Mathematical Creation

Part II: Twenty Mathematical Personalities

4. Lagrange, Gauss, Cauchy, and Dirichlet
5. Hamilton, Galois, Byron, and Riemann
6. Cantor, Kovalevskaya, Poincaré, and Hilbert
7. Hadamard, Hardy, Noether, and Ramanujan
8. Fisher, Wiener, Dirac, and Gödel
References
Index

Über Autor(innen)

James, Ioan
Ioan James was Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University. He is the author of seven books and over one hundred research articles and an editor for the mathematical journal Topology.

Michael Fitzgerald is the Henry Marsh Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin. He is also a psychoanalyst with the International Psychoanalytic Association and the author of eighteen books. Ioan James was Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University. He is the author of seven books and over one hundred research articles and an editor for the mathematical journal Topology.