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Stanislaw Ulam Quotes - Page 2

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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

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
Self Confidence, Brilliant, Complicated
"Adventures of a Mathematician". Book by Stanislaw Ulam, 3rd edition. Chapter 4: "Princeton Days", p. 76, 1991.

According to recent studies, at least one star out of three is multiple.

Stanislaw Ulam
Stars, Three, Study
"Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 258), 1991.

Ada came from Lwów. She was a very good looking girl who was studying mathematics at the University of Geneva. For a few years I had an off-and-on romance with her.

Stanislaw Ulam
Girl, Years, Romance
"Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 45), 1991.

I was still very hopeful that much work lay ahead of me. Perhaps because much of what I had worked on or thought about had not yet been put into writing, I felt I still had things in reserve. Given this optimistic nature, I feel this way even now when I am past sixty.

Stanislaw Ulam
Writing, Optimistic, Past
"Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 208), 1991.

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
Years, Groups, Realizing
"Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 37), 1991.

There may be such a thing as habitual luck. People who are said to be lucky at cards probably have certain hidden talents for those games in which skill plays a role. It is like hidden parameters in physics, this ability that does not surface and that I like to call "habitual luck".

Stanislaw Ulam
Games, Play, Skills
"Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 119), 1991.

By an incredible coincidence, Gamow and Edward Condon, who had discovered simultaneously and independently the explanation of radioactivity (one in Russia, the other in this country), came to spend the the last ten years of their lives within a hundred yards of each other in Boulder.

Stanislaw Ulam
Country, Russia, Years
"Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 267), 1991.

Rota's personality is compatible with mine.

Stanislaw Ulam
Science, Personality, Mathematics

With sixty professors there are roughly eighteen hundred pairs of professors. Out of that many pairs it was not surprising that there were some whose members did not like one another.

Stanislaw Ulam
Pairs, Hundred, Professors
"Adventures of a Mathematician". Book by Stanislaw Ulam, 3rd edition. Chapter 5: "Harvard Years", p. 91, 1991.

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
Memories, Latin, Civilization
"Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 125), 1991.

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
Technology, Impossible, Mathematics
"Adventures of a Mathematician" by Stanislaw Ulam, Third Edition, (p. 222), 1991.

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