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Paul Erdös (pronounced "Erd-ish") was born in Budapest, Hungary into a non-practicing Jewish family. Erdös was an only child, having lost his only siblings (two sisters aged three and five) to scarlet fever just days before he was born. Both his parents taught mathematics, and Erdös, by the age of four, had independently observed several established properties of prime numbers. |
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Paul Erdös (pronounced "Erd-ish") was born in Budapest, Hungary into a non-practicing Jewish family. The Budapest Jewish community of that day produced at least four remarkable thinkers besides Erdos: Eugene Wigner, the physicist and engineer; Edward Teller, the physicist and politico; Leo Szilard, the chemist, physicist and politico; and Johnny Von Neumann, the mathematician and Renaissance man. Erdös was an only child, having lost his only siblings (two sisters aged three and five) to scarlet fever just days before he was born. Both his parents taught mathematics, and Erdös, by the age of four, had independently observed several established properties of prime numbers. |
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His prestige and genius usually meant he was wholly welcomed at the universities he arrived at, and he inevitably completed a paper with any mathematician who could present a topic that appealed to him. As a result he is possible the most collaborative mathematician ever, with nearly 1500 jointly published papers. The community of mathematicians who worked with him created the (tongue in cheek) Erdös number in his honour. |
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His prestige and genius usually guaranteed him a warm welcome at any universities, and he inevitably completed a paper with any mathematician who could present a topic that appealed to him. As a result, he may be the most collaborative mathematician ever, with nearly 1,500 jointly published papers. The community of mathematicians who worked with him created the (tongue in cheek) Erdös number in his honor. |
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Erdös was a constant source of witty aphorisms: "Another roof, another proof", "A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems", "You don't have to believe in God, but you should believe in The Book" (refering to The Book which supposedly contains the most succinct, elegant and illuminating proofs for all mathematical statements). Erdös used the word "to leave" for people who died, and the word "to die" for people who stopped doing mathematics. |
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Erdös was a constant source of witty aphorisms: "Another roof, another proof", "A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems", "You don't have to believe in God, but you should believe in The Book" (refering to The Book which he felt contained the most succinct, elegant and illuminating proofs for all mathematical statements). Erdös used the word "to leave" for people who died, and the word "to die" for people who stopped doing mathematics. |
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Erdös went on to receive many awards including the Wolf Prize of 50 000 dollars in 1983. However as his lifestyle needed little money, he gave most of it away to help favoured students or as prizes for solving problems he had posed. He died in Warsaw on September 20 1996. |
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Erdös went on to receive many awards including the Wolf Prize of 50 000 dollars in 1983. He lived simply, and gave most of it to help favored students or as prizes for solving problems he had posed. He died in Warsaw on September 20 1996. |
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