An Anecdotal History of the Scottish Book

Stanislaw Ulam

Chapter Chapter 1 in The Scottish Book, 2015, pp 3-11 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract For those readers who may not know, I should start by saying that the so-called Scottish Book is an informal collection of problems in mathematics. It was begun in Lwów, Poland—my home town—in 1935; how and why will be explained in due course. Most of the problems are due to a few local mathematicians, myself included. Actually, many of the earlier problems originated well before 1935—perhaps 6 or 7 years before—during the period when I was still a student. As a budding mathematician, I regularly attended all the seminars and lectures in my field of interest, and made friends with several of the older, established mathematicians. I was then able to take part in the informal discussions—generally among two or three of us at a time—which were a standard feature of mathematical life in pre-World War II Lwów. For several years I was invariably the youngest person in any such group; ultimately, Mark Kac made his appearance, and I lost my special position to him, my junior by some five years.

Keywords: Banach Space; Joint Paper; Book Deal; Home Town; Infinitesimal Calculus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-22897-6_1

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-22897-6_1

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