Why Isn’t There a Nobel Prize in Mathematics?

by Peter Ross

When I was a student at a leading American university one of my mathematics professors answered the above question in class. He claimed that the Swedish mathematician Gosta Magnus Mittag-Leffler had run off with Alfred Nobel’s wife. Supposedly, later in revenge Nobel refused to endow one of his prizes in mathematics. I loved repeating this juicy story, but my faith in it was somewhat shaken when I found out that Nobel had never married! A Swedish version of the story even made it into one of Howard Eves’ s collections of mathematical anecdotes (p.13O of Mathematical Circles, Quadrants III and no, 1969). According to this version Mittag-Leffler, in the process of accumulating his own considerable wealth, antagonized Nobel. Nobel, afraid that Mittag-Leffler as the leading Swedish mathematician might win a Nobel prize in mathematics, then refused to institute such a prize. Both versions of the myth were debunked in the definitive article pithy “Is There No Nobel Prize in Mathematics?” by Lars Garding and Lars Hormander (pgs. 73-4 of Mathematical Intelligencer7:3,1985). The authors point out that Mittag-Leffler and Nobel had almost no relation to each other; Nobel emigrated from Sweden in 1865 when Mittag-Leffler was a student and rarely returned to visit. Garding and Hormander state, “The true answer to the question (of the title) is that, for natural reasons, the thought of a prize in mathematics never entered Nobel’s mind.” Nobel’s final will of 1895 bequeathed $9,OOO,OOO for a foundation whose income would support five annual prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine-physiology, literature, and peace. Four of the original five prizes were in fields which were close to Nobel’s own interests, medicine being the exception.

A sixth Nobel prize in economic science was added in 1969. The addition of this new Nobel prize suggests the possibility at some future date of a seventh Nobel prize. With the blossoming of computer science, statistics, and applied mathematics in addition to mathematics itself, a strong case could be made for a new Nobel prize in the mathematical sciences. Perhaps some Math Horizons reader, upon making his fortune,… of course, there are the Fields Medals that are awarded at each International Congress of Mathematicians. But these are given only every four years to a mathematician under forty, and they are not well-known outside of mathematical circles.

There is a larger question raised by the fact that apocryphal stories, such as the Nobel-math-prize myth, seem to have a life of their own. Are mathematicians justified in bending historical truth in order to serve laudable aims, such as illustrating that mathematicians are real people or interesting students in mathematics? Another example of this tendency concerns the famous story of Gauss’s discovery as a ten- year old boy of a simple method for summing an arithmetic series. (Multiply the number of terms by the average of the smallest and largest terms.) Most mathematicians who teach will assert that the problem given to Gauss by his tyrannical school teacher was to sum the integers from 1 to 1OO. In fact, Gauss was given a more difficult problem “of the following sort, 81297 + 81495 + 81693 +… + lOO899, where the step from one number to the next is the same all along (here 198), and a given number of terms (here 1OO) are to be added.” (p. 221 of E.T. Bell’s Men of Mathematics, 1937). With this particular example it’s easy to maintain historical truth by telling students that Gauss was given a problem like summing the integers from 1 to 1OO.

Mathematicians seem less likely to bend mathematical truth than historical truth. In this situation there is one technique which outstanding expositors like Paul Halmos have used in simplifying difficult mathematics. Halmos will either announce up front or in passing that he is going to lie a little. Perhaps mathematicians might use this technique when they find it necessary to bend historical truth.

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PETER ROSS is a professor of mathematics at Santa Clara University. This article was taken from Math Horizons Nov. ‘95, pg. 9.

Potatoes

A Sardar, a gujrati and a bengali escape from jail and
Decide to hide in a barn. As they hear the police closing
in, they climb into the loft and hide in three empty bags.

A young officer climbed into the loft, shined his flashlight
around,and decided to check the bags. He kicked the first
bag containing the gujrati, and he responded with a
convincing “woof”.He kicked the second bag with the bengali
inside, and he let out a perfect cat¢s meow.

“Nothing up here but cats and dogs,” the officer
Responded to his superior. Deciding to be sure, he kicked
the last bag, the one containing the Sardar.
he yelled out “Potatoes!!!”

Risk of lOving an IT guY

Ovarian cancer Whispers …

… so listen… Watch for Pelvic or abdominal pain or discomfort; vague but persistent gastrointestinal upsets such as gas, nausea, and indigestion; frequency and / or urgency of urination in the absence of an infection; unexplained weight gain or weight loss; pelvic and / or abdominal swelling, bloating and / or feeling of fullness; ongoing unusual fatigue; or unexplained changes in bowel habits… If symptoms persist for more than 2 weeks, ask your doctor for a combination pelvic / rectal exam, CA-125 blood test, and transvaginal ultrasound. A Pap Test WILL NOT detect ovarian cancer.

Let’s shout, yell, cry, scream, bellow, screech, bawl, holler and roar until everyone knows its name…

Maternal side has ’stronger bond’

 

Maternal grandparents go the extra mile, say the researchers

Children have a stronger relationship with grandparents on their mother’s side, a new study suggests. Researchers asked grandparents how often they had face-to-face contact with their grandchildren.

More than a quarter of maternal relatives questioned said they had contact several times a week, while the paternal figure was only about 15%.

The findings, by the universities of Newcastle and Antwerp, are published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology.

Even in families where there has been divorce, we found consistent differences Thomas Pollet, Newcastle University

A sample of more than 800 grandparents from Holland was studied to establish the amount of social interaction between extended family members.

For grandparents living within 19.5 miles (30 km) of their grandchildren, more than 30% of the maternal grandmothers and 25% of grandfathers had contact daily or a few times a week.

In contrast, only about 15% of both paternal grandparents could say the same.

Thomas Pollet, from Newcastle University, said: “Even in families where there has been divorce, we found consistent differences – grandparents on your mother’s side make the extra effort.

“We believe there are psychological mechanisms at play because throughout history, women are always related by maternity whereas men can never be wholly certain they are the biological father to their children.”

This certainty suggests that maternal grandparents, especially maternal grandmothers, may go the extra mile to visit their grandchildren, he added.

Eid Ul Adha Mubarak

US Intelligence??

American Intelligence	Action By US Govt.	Results
Vietnam can be occupied  – In future we can have access to china from here	Attack	It is a mess (Run away)
Japanese should learn a lesson	Atom Bomb	Thousands of civilians killed – A permanent stigma for USA
Russia is going to attack on Afghanistan	Appreciate them to go for war – Help the Afghanis to fight against Russia – Sell Opium to get more money	Russia collapsed Financially
Afghanis got Russian arms	Don�t let them make a government	Afghanistan internal war for 11 years
Saddam is going for war on Iran	Appreciate him – Sell him arms (Don�t forget Iran – sell them arms too)	Iran Iraq war of 10 years
Saddam is going for war on Kuwait	Appreciate him	A severe attack on Kuwait
Kuwait is occupied	Send US forces to protect KSA and Kuwait from Iraq Oppression	US forces are still in these countries
Saddam is no more with us	Sanctions – Sanctions – Sanctions	150000 children died due to non availability of medicine
Osama is going to attack on WTC	None	WTC Attacked
Osama is in Afghanistan	Occupy Afghanistan	Osama is not in Afghanistan – Afghanistan is a mess – UNO should take control
Osama has a link with Iraq	Occupy Oil – I mean Occupy Iraq	Protests world wide
Iraq has the weapons of mass destruction that we provided in previous wars	Oh – Occupy Iraq	Protest Increased
People of Iraq will welcome America	hmmm Go for attack	Iraq occupied – Hundreds of people died -  (“We were telling a lie about weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons in Iraq ” Bush )
People have not welcomed USA	Ask UNO for help	Iraq is a mess – UNO should help us
India and Pakistan are going to solve the Kashmir Conflict	We will lose two very important customers of our arms , Start bomb blasts on both sides	Hundreds of people died in Karachi Baluchistan and Mumbai Mission Accomplished Successfully
Hammas is fighting for their land	They are terrorist – Oppress them	More “Terrorists” are born
Hezbollah is support hammas	Hezbollah is also terrorist – we should teach them a lesson	Israel is buying American arms
People of Lebanon support Hezbollah	Support attack on Lebanon – The hate for Hezbollah will increase – Kill civilians so that Hezbollah can learn a lesson for messing with our friend	Hundreds of civilians died.
People of Lebanon support Hezbollah more then past – In future Hezbollah will win the elections –	Oh shit	Lebanon is a mess – UNO should help us
People are turning against us	Ask Osama to release a new video	Coming Soon!!!

 

 

Work is like that………….

There are 2 people always next to you:

1 – The (Manager), smiling pleasantly to hide evil intentions!

2 – The (Team Leader), busy figuring out what work to dump on you next…..
And, there’s YOU, who struggles with it all!

The perfect picture is given below

Team leader YOU Manager