Stanislaw Ulam: Quotes about mathematics

“It was not so much that I was doing mathematics, but rather that mathematics had taken possession of me.”

Stanislaw Ulam

Source: Adventures of a Mathematician - Third Edition (1991), Chapter 3, Travels Abroad, p. 52

Mathematics

“In mathematics, as in physics, so much depends on chance, on a propitious moment.”

Stanislaw Ulam

Source: Adventures of a Mathematician - Third Edition (1991), Chapter 5, Harvard Years, p. 95

Mathematics , Chance , Dependency

“Mathematics may be a way of developing physically, that is anatomically, new connections in the brain.”

Stanislaw Ulam

Source: Adventures of a Mathematician - Third Edition (1991), Chapter 15, Random Reflections on Mathematics and Science, p. 277

Way , Mathematics

“Thanks to my memory, which enabled me to quote Latin and to discuss Greek and Roman civilization, it became obvious to some of my colleagues in other fields that I was interested in things outside mathematics. This lead quickly to very pleasant relationships.”

Stanislaw Ulam

Source: Adventures of a Mathematician - Third Edition (1991), Chapter 7, The University of Wisconsin, p. 125

Quotes , Mathematics , Memory

“For many years I was the youngest among my mathematical friends. It makes me melancholy to realize that I now have become the oldest in most groups of scientists.”

Stanislaw Ulam

Source: Adventures of a Mathematician - Third Edition (1991), Chapter 2, Student Years, p. 37

Mathematics

“As a mathematician, von Neumann was quick, brilliant, efficient, and enormously broad in scientific interests beyond mathematics itself. He knew his technical abilities; his virtuosity in following complicated reasoning and his insights were supreme; yet he lacked absolute self confidence.”

Stanislaw Ulam

Source: Adventures of a Mathematician - Third Edition (1991), Chapter 4, Princeton Days, p. 76

Confidence , Mathematics , Self-confidence

“Do not lose your faith. A mighty fortress is our mathematics. Mathematics will rise to the challenge, as it always has.”

Stanislaw Ulam

In Heinz R. Pagels, The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Rise of the Sciences of Complexity, Ch. 3, p. 94; as quoted in Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (Springer, 2008), p. 861

Faith , Mathematics

“In many cases, mathematics is an escape from reality. The mathematician finds his own monastic niche and happiness in pursuits that are disconnected from external affairs. Some practice it as if using a drug.”

Stanislaw Ulam

Source: Adventures of a Mathematician - Third Edition (1991), Chapter 6, Transition And Crisis, p. 120

Mathematics , Reality , Happiness

“What exactly is mathematics? Many have tried but nobody has really succeeded in defining mathematics; it is always something else.”

Stanislaw Ulam

Source: Adventures of a Mathematician - Third Edition (1991), Chapter 15, Random Reflections on Mathematics and Science, p. 273-274

Mathematics

“Even the simplest calculation in the purest mathematics can have terrible consequences. Without the invention of the infinitesimal calculus most of our technology would have been impossible. Should we say therefore that calculus is bad?”

Stanislaw Ulam

Source: Adventures of a Mathematician - Third Edition (1991), Chapter 11, The 'Super', p. 222

Mathematics