Mathematicians on creativity (Q2877852)

Most people are thinking that mathematics has nothing to do with creativity, fantasy, or beauty. This little book at hand wants to refute these prejudices in quoting celebrated mathematicians how they got their ground-breaking knowledge. NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINE The editors chose prominent mathematicians for their investigation: winners of the Fields Medal, Nevanlinna Prize, or the Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize. Also they sent five broadly formulated questions to the members of The Royal Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Académie des Sciences. In the case of deceased scientists they took a look into their published work, obituaries or biographies. The editors did not want to write a scholarly book, but wanted to give a lot of different examples how mathematicians work. The booklet is meant for a general audience, but should also be entertaining and inspiring for mathematicians. It is probably best read by browsing through the pages. NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINE Already in the beginning of the 20th century, several scientists were interested in this topic. In 1902, Théodore Flournoy (psychologist), Edouard Claparède (psychologist) and Howard Fehr (mathematician) published questions in \textit{L'Enseignement Mathématique} and asked for support. They published their conclusions in 1907 and 1908 in [JFM 38.0091.03; JFM 38.0091.05; JFM 39.0093.01]. But the authors of these investigations earned a lot of criticism for their research, because most of the mathematicians who answered to their inquiry could not be called noteworthy. NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINE Henri Poincaré was also dedicated to such questions. He gave a talk to the Psychological Society in Paris. In addition he discussed the questions with his good friend Jacques Hadamard. This motivated Hadamard to write on this topic by himself (see [Zbl 0063.01843; Zbl 0056.00101; Zbl 0086.24206; Zbl 0217.29806; Zbl 0304.00012]). Hadamard extended the questionnaire of Flournoy, Claparède and Fehr to 33 questions. These questions are reprinted here because Borwein, Liljedahl and Zhai used them as initial point for their five comprehensive questions as guideline for their booklet. NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINE To complete the booklet, the editors give sheets with personal data for every selected mathematician.