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Jacques Hadamard, A Universal Mathematician (History of Mathematics)

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This is an inspirational and often moving biography of one of the great mathematicians of our century. Hadamard was not only a brilliant mathematician, but a stimulating mentor, a man of wide-ranging knowledge, insatiable curiosity, humility, and most of all, great humanity. When Japan invaded Manchuria, he proposed that the League of Nations send peace-keeping forces there, only to face ridicule from the French press. Hadamard, more than most of us, deeply felt the tragic wastefulness of war. He lost two beloved sons in World War I. Of his son, Etienne, he once said: "what I did in mathematics is nothing compared to what he could do if he were alive today." (Half of the brilliant graduates of the Ecole Normale were killed in that war). I finished this book with feelings of gratitude and regret--gratitude to Hadamard for sharing his remarkable gifts with such generosity, and deep regret that "fate" was so grievously unfair to him.

This is an inspirational and often moving biography of one of the great mathematicians of our century. Hadamard was not only a brilliant mathematician, but a stimulating mentor, a man of wide-ranging knowledge, insatiable curiosity, humility, and most of all, great humanity. When Japan invaded Manchuria, he proposed that the League of Nations send peacekeeping forces there, only to face ridicule from the French press. Hadamard, more than most of us, deeply felt the tragic wastefulness of war. He lost two beloved sons in World War I. Of his son Etienne, he once said: "what I did in mathematics is nothing compared with what he could do if he were alive today."(As the book points out, half the brilliant graduates of the Ecole Normale were killed in that war). I finished this book with feelings of gratitude and regret--gratitude to Hadamard for sharing his remarkable gifts with such generosity, and deep regret that "fate" was so grievously unfair to him.