Adventures of a Mathematician by S. M. Ulam (PDF)

Description

The true story that inspired the 2020 film. The autobiography of mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, one of the great scientific minds of the twentieth century, tells a story rich with amazingly prophetic speculations and peppered with lively anecdotes. As a member of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1944 on, Ulam helped to precipitate some of the most dramatic changes of the postwar world. He was among the first to use and advocate computers for scientific research, originated ideas for the nuclear propulsion of space vehicles, and made fundamental contributions to many of today’s most challenging mathematical projects. With his wide-ranging interests, Ulam never emphasized the importance of his contributions to the research that resulted in the hydrogen bomb. Now Daniel Hirsch and William Mathews reveal the true story of Ulam’s pivotal role in the making of the “Super,” in their historical introduction to this behind-the-scenes look at the minds and ideas that ushered in the nuclear age. An epilogue by Françoise Ulam and Jan Mycielski sheds new light on Ulam’s character and mathematical originality.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐As a professional mathematician, who started out pure and ended up applied, I really enjoyed Ulam’s insightful autobiography. The focus was the World War II era, just before baby boomers like myself were born. I later came to use Ulam’s Monte Carlo method as a core method in my engineering computing. But prior to this I’d been very much into the kind of beautiful functional analysis developed by Ulam and colleagues from Eastern Europe.I found it fascinating how Ulam did math compared to his friend von Neumann, even though both followed my trajectory of starting out more in pure math while ending up more in applied math and computing. Von Neumann was more the polymath calculating genius, whereas Ulam was more an idea man and hub of a social network of brilliant mathematicians and physicists. He engaged others to do the hard calculations.Ulam also gives a good account of his tussle with Edward Teller on the design of the hydrogen bomb. This shows how egos and politics can interfere with good science and engineering even in “free” countries with the best of circumstances, not just in dictatorships. It’s clear that while authoritarian regimes may thrive in the short run – in response to prior failures of governance, their narrow mindedness and bigotry leads to long term failure, especially in science and society, which are simply too complex to be commandeered by a few.I also liked Ulam’s account of the famous “Fermi, Pasta, Ulam” paper that launched so many numerical studies of complexity and nonlinearity, which have matured as chaos theory. Too bad this approach has been rejected by most economists, despite its great success in physics.

⭐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.

⭐The book was in perfect condition, plus timely delivery. Thanks I appreciate

⭐Written by dictation to his knowledgeable French with whom Ulam had been married for most of his adult life Ulam is the father of the H-bomb Teller is the mother Ulam is the inventor of the Monte Carlo method indispensable for modern science in the computer age

⭐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.

⭐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.

⭐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.

⭐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.

⭐very pleased with item – recommendation from a friend – and efficient delivery.

⭐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.

⭐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.

⭐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!

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