Book ID: CBB001213651

Turbulent Times in Mathematics: The Life of J. C. Fields and the History of the Fields Medal (2011)

unapi

Riehm, Elaine McKinnon (Author)
Hoffman, Frances (Author)


American Mathematical Society


Publication Date: 2011
Physical Details: xii + 257 pp.; ill.
Language: English

J. C. Fields (1863--1932), known today as the namesake of math's Fields Medals, was the foremost Canadian mathematician of his day, but worldwide never received much attention for his mathematics (p. ix). The present book combines a biography of Fields with a study of the international political situation in mathematics during and immediately following World War I. The book includes a list of Fields's scientific publications, but it concentrates on his administrative work and is not a scientific biography. Fields's greatest achievement during his career was organizing the 1924 International Mathematical Congress in Toronto. His task was complicated by the animosity still felt toward Germans by the rest of Europe after World War I. First New York City and then Toronto were picked as relatively neutral sites for the Congress, but the German mathematicians were still excluded. The Fields medals originated at the end of his life from his desire to do something to bring the mathematicians of the world back into cooperation, and the first medals were not awarded until 1936, four years after his death. The writing is choppy. Some facts are repeated several times, and there are many jumps back and forward in time, making it hard to remember where you are. At one point I got so confused that I thought the war being discussed was World War II. The book often jumps forward in time to get someone's much later perspective, then jumps back. For example, on p. 88, in a discussion of mathematics before 1914, we read Somewhat later, in the spring of 1932, ... with a discussion of Richard Courant's assessment at that time of the influence of pre-1914 teaching. The jumping in time is compounded because some chapters of the book are told functionally, covering many years of Fields's career, and some chapters are told chronologically, covering a few years. The book includes an interesting appendix of thumbnail biographies of all the Fields medallists to date. There are a few minor infelicities and errors, such as Bernhard Riemann being referred to throughout by his first name as Georg Riemann, and on p. 111 Bertrand Russell being fired during World War I from Oxford (actually Trinity College, Cambridge), but overall the book is interesting and appears to be accurate and impartial. Allen Stenger is a math hobbyist and retired software developer. He is webmaster and newsletter editor for the MAA Southwestern Section and is an editor of the Missouri Journal of Mathematical Sciences. His mathematical interests are number theory and classical analysis. He volunteers in his spare time at MathNerds.org, a math help site that fosters inquiry learning. - See more at: http://www.maa.org/publications/maa-reviews/turbulent-times-in-mathematics-the-life-of-j-c-fields-and-the-history-of-the-fields-medal#sthash.4KpCJWLz.dpuf

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Reviewed By

Review Nickerson, Sylvia (2013) Review of "Turbulent Times in Mathematics: The Life of J. C. Fields and the History of the Fields Medal". Historia Mathematica (pp. 325-329). unapi

Review Kent, Deborah (2014) Review of "Turbulent Times in Mathematics: The Life of J. C. Fields and the History of the Fields Medal". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 457-458). unapi

Review Fraser, Craig (2014) Review of "Turbulent Times in Mathematics: The Life of J. C. Fields and the History of the Fields Medal". Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology (pp. 590-592). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001213651/

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Authors & Contributors
Casalena, Maria Pia
Mogavero, Valeria
Paladini, Filippo Maria
Lacchè, Luigi
D'Angelo, Fabio
Plebani, Tiziana
Concepts
Congresses, conferences, and meetings
Science and politics
Science and society
International relations
Mathematics
Mathematicians
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
21st century
Places
Italy
Padua (Italy)
Venice (Italy)
Madrid (Spain)
Milan (Italy)
Zurich (Switzerland)
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