Abraham Robinson [Paperback]

Joseph Warren Dauben (Author), Benoit B. Mandelbrot (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 1998

One of the most prominent mathematicians of the 20th century, Abraham Robinson discovered and developed nonstandard analysis, a rigorous theory of infinitesimals that he used to unite mathematical logic with the larger body of historic and modern mathematics. In this biography of Robinson, Joseph Dauben reveals the mathematician's personal life to have been a dramatic one: developing his talents in spite of war and ethnic repression, Robinson personally confronted some of the worst political troubles of our times. The book combines an explanation of Robinson's revolutionary achievements in pure and applied mathematics with a description of his odyssey from Hitler's Germany to the United States via conflict-ridden Palestine and wartime Europe.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Robinson, who expressed a certain preference for 'glamour, ' led a life that is interesting for its own sake. Dauben's account of it is engrossingly intimate.

About the Author

Joseph Warren Dauben is Professor of History and the History of Science at Herbert H. Lehman College and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Among his works is Georg Cantor: His Mathematics and Philosophy of the Infinite, available from Princeton University Press in paperback.

Product Details

• Paperback: 584 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (May 26, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 069105911X
• ISBN-13: 978-0691059112
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,636,612 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excelent, you must get it now., March 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Abraham Robinson (Hardcover)

This is a detailed and extensive biography of Abraham Robinson, from his chilhood to his life in Yale. A well-writen and most carefully researched text that is a plesure to read. I love this book, specialy chapter four, Robinson war years, and chapter eigth, when he was is UCLA. You don't have to read Robinsons "Non-Standard Analysis" to apreciate this book, but knowing the implication in modern mathematics of it will help. All in all, a superb biography and specially great for epistemology of non-standard analysis.