I'm more interested in mathematicians who were politically radical
than those who "merely" revolutionized mathematics. It would be
interesting to have an "opposite list" too, John Bibby suggests, but
that seems like a lot more work than I'm willing to do at this point.
My list is pretty short so far:
1) Wilhelm Julius Foerster -- astronomer, director of the Berlin
Observatory, and largely responsible for converting Germany to the
metric system. He was a member of the German Peace Society and wrote
against WWI. In particular, when 93 German intellectuals signed the
"Aufruf an die Kulturwelt" manifesto in support of the war, Foerster
was one of only four intellectuals to sign the "Aufruf an die
Europäer" counter-manifesto. The others were Albert Einstein, the
philosopher Otto Buek, and its author, the physiologist Georg
Friedrich Nicolai, all of whom deserve to make my list.
2) Bertrand Russel -- all around awesome
3) Karl Bechert -- atomic physicist, helped us move beyond the Bohr
model of the atom. Before WWII, he promoted Jews at the University of
Mainz, angering the Nazis. He's been called the "father of the german
anti-nuclear movement" and helped found the German Green party.
-------
Thanks for all the new suggestions! I've got a lot of reading to do now.
I had no idea Marx had any interest in math at all.
Francois de Lionnais sounds like he'd definitely make the list, but
wikipedia doesn't have much on him and no references. Can anyone
point me towards more info?
Dirk Jan Struik is definitely on the list now too, thanks.
What exactly makes Galois radical, other than taking the radicals of
polynomials :) ?
Lancelot Hogben definitely makes the list too now.
Karl Pearson is an interesting case. I really like the idea of
someone refusing to be knighted because British society wasn't
socialist enough. I think that might make me overlook his eugenics
opinions.
On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 6:49 AM, Ruth Balogh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> There is also Lancelot Hogben's work on democratising mathematics: Mathematics for the Millions (193?); also Science for the Citizen 1938 - both published by George Allen & Unwin London vols 1 & 2 respectively of Primers for an Age of Plenty
> Ruth
> Dr Ruth Balogh
> Glasgow University
> Associate Senior Research Fellow
> Crichton Campus
> Dumfries DG1 4ZL
>
> CARN (international Collaborative Action Research Network) Co-ordinating Group www.mmu.ac.uk/carn
>
> Visiting Professor
> Institute of Educational Leadership
> University of Malaya
> ________________________________________
> From: email list for Radical Statistics [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of the.Duke.of.URL [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 23 March 2013 12:18
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: A history of radical mathematicians
>
> Hi Mike,
>
> Abraham Robinson in his Non-Standard Analysis which solves the problem
> of infinitesimals. Not politically radical this book but you didn't
> specify. Second Gumbel's nomination.
>
> Would you include logicians? If so, then Goedel is an essential
> inclusion. Again, not political. When asked how Vienna was after he
> returned from a trip there before the war, he replied that the coffee
> was terrible.
>
> I have often wondered whether Category Theory is cognitively empty.
>
>
> larry
>
> Dr L Brownstein
> [Alt-e] [log in to unmask]
>
> Review Editor
> Radical Statistics
>
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From: "Mike Izbicki" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: 23/03/2013 02:47:31
> Subject: A history of radical mathematicians
>>Hi all,
>>
>>I'm new here. I'm a mathematician (well theoretical comp sci) and a
>>radical. I've long wanted a history of radical mathematicians, so
>>that I could learn from their successes and failures about how to use
>>mathematics to help the radical agenda. (My personal main radical
>>interest is anti-war stuff.) I don't think such a history exists, so
>>I've been trying to put one together.
>>
>>Does anyone here have any suggestions on people and organizations I
>>should look into for this project?
>>
>>Here's two short examples of pretty awesome radical mathematicians:
>>
>>1) Alexander Grothendieck helped develop a branch of math called
>>category theory in a way that some people describe as the "universal
>>theory of math." To protest the Vietnam war, he went to Hanoi while it
>>was being bombed and gave lectures on his work. He's still alive today
>>and lives as a hermit.
>>
>>2) Emil Gumbel pioneered a branch of statistics that focuses on
>>extreme values. In the 1920s, he asserted that because the capitalist
>>economic system developed the discipline of statistics to record its
>>achievements, it was the duty of socialist statisticians to expose the
>>hidden figures that would provide the public with a thorough picture
>>of the unequal conditions wrought by capitalism. He was the center of
>>a huge scandal as the Nazis rose to power in Germany for exposing Nazi
>>political murders.
>>
>>Thanks in advance,
>>Mike Izbicki
>>
>>******************************************************
>>Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your
>>message will go only to the sender of this message.
>>If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's
>>'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically
>>to [log in to unmask]
>>Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender
>>and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held
>>by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about
>>Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and
>>past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site
>>www.radstats.org.uk.
>>*******************************************************
>>
>
> ******************************************************
> Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your
> message will go only to the sender of this message.
> If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's
> 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically
> to [log in to unmask]
> Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk.
> *******************************************************
> ******************************************************
> Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your
> message will go only to the sender of this message.
> If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's
> 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically
> to [log in to unmask]
> Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk.
> *******************************************************
******************************************************
Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your
message will go only to the sender of this message.
If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's
'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically
to [log in to unmask]
Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk.
*******************************************************
|