|
Book - 15
I am sorry for the long gap
between 14th and 15th book review. It seems that it
is only possible during summer vacations.
In the book review no. 4, I had reviewed a book titled 'The Cambridge
Quintet' written by John L. Casti and Werner De Pauli published by 'Perseus
Publishing'. This time I wish to review another book written by them and
published by the same publishing house. It is titled 'Gödel: A life of
logic'. It is biography of Kurt Gödel the greatest logician of all
times.
The most important conference in the field of mathematics is International
congress of mathematicians (ICM). It is held once in four years. Fields'
Medal, also known as Nobel prize for mathematics, is awarded in ICM. In
the Paris ICM (1900), David Hilbert listed 23 problems in mathematics
whose solution according to him was crucial for development of
mathematics. The second problem in this list involved proving that
mathematical reasoning is reliable; it should not lead to contradictory
results. In 1928, the ICM was held in Bologna, Italy. In this ICM Hilbert
again speculated if it was possible to prove every true mathematical
statement, or can there be truly formal logical system for mathematics
where every statement could either be proved or disproved. Three years
thereafter, in 1931, Kurt Gödel proved that it was not possible.
According to him for any consistent formalization of mathematics, there
exist arithmetic truths that are not provable within that formal system.
In common language one can say that every thing that is true can not be
known by logic and there are mathematical propositions that can be seen to
be true but can not be proved to be true: mathematics is not completely
formalizable .
The God exists; is it
a true statement that can not be known by logic???
Gödel was born on April 28, 1906 in Austria. He was known as Mr why: for
his great curiosity. He was extraordinarily gifted. The book narrates his
transformation from being a shy young boy to the one whose company was
eagerly sought for and then his sinking back to his seclusion. He
married Adele, a six year elder divorcee who performed in the cabaret
clubs. He had protracted courtship as she was disapproved by his parents.
Continued >---- |
