The Mathematician's Brain poses a provocative question about the
world's most brilliant yet eccentric mathematical minds: were they
brilliant because of their eccentricities or in spite of them? In this
thought-provoking and entertaining book, David Ruelle, the well-known
mathematical physicist who helped create chaos theory, gives us a rare
insider's account of the celebrated mathematicians he has known-their
quirks, oddities, personal tragedies, bad behavior, descents into
madness, tragic ends, and the sublime, inexpressible beauty of their
most breathtaking mathematical discoveries.
Consider the case of British mathematician Alan Turing. Credited with
cracking the German Enigma code during World War II and conceiving of
the modern computer, he was convicted of "gross indecency" for a
homosexual affair and died in 1954 after eating a cyanide-laced
apple--his death was ruled a suicide, though rumors of assassination
still linger. Ruelle holds nothing back in his revealing and deeply
personal reflections on Turing and other fellow mathematicians,
including Alexander Grothendieck, René Thom, Bernhard Riemann, and Felix
Klein. But this book is more than a mathematical tell-all. Each chapter
examines an important mathematical idea and the visionary minds behind
it. Ruelle meaningfully explores the philosophical issues raised by
each, offering insights into the truly unique and creative ways
mathematicians think and showing how the mathematical setting is most
favorable for asking philosophical questions about meaning, beauty, and
the nature of reality.
The Mathematician's Brain takes you inside the world--and heads--of
mathematicians. It's a journey you won't soon forget.
