Mathematical People Profiles and Interviews

This unique collection contains extensive and in-depth interviews with mathematicians who have shaped the field of mathematics in the twentieth century. Collected by two mathematicians respected in the community for their skill in communicating mathematical topics to a broader audience, the book is also rich with photographs and includes an introduction by Philip J. Davis.

Foreword. Introduction: Reflections on Writing the History of Mathematics. Garrett Birkhoff. David Blackwell. Shiing-Shen Chern. John H. Conway. H. S. M. Coxeter. Persi Diaconis. Paul Erdos. Martin Gardner: Defending the Honor of the Human Mind. Martin Gardner: Master of Recreational Mathematics and Much More. Ronald L Graham. Paul Halmos. Peter J. Hilton. John Kemeny. Morris Kline. Donald Knuth. Solomon Lefschetz: AReminiscence. Benoit Mandelbrot. Henry Pollak. George Pólya. Mina Rees. Constance Reid. Herbert Robbins. Raymond Smullyan. Olga Taussky-Todd. Albert Tucker. Stanislaw M. Ulam

Gerald L. Alexanderson is the Valeriote Professor of Science at Santa Clara University and former chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. He is the Former President (1997-1999) and past Secretary of the Mathematical Association of America. He is also the Associate Director of the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition and editor of the Spectrum Series of books for the MAA. Donald J. Albers is Editorial Director of the books program of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). He is former Associate Executive Director and Director of Publications of the MAA. Prior to that, he was chair of the Department of Mathematics of Menlo College. He was the founding editor of Math Horizons, and as editor of the College Mathematics Journal he introduced interviews and profiles of famous mathematical personalities, which ultimately led to the publication of Mathematical People (with G.L. Alexanderson) and More Mathematical People (with Alexanderson and Constance Reid). He has co-edited six other books.