Adventures of a Mathematician

Acknowledgements

This book could have been written without the help of my wife, Françoise, but it would have been merely a chaotic assemblage of items. That it may present some coherent features is the result of her intervention and collaboration. She managed to decrease substantially the entropy of this collection of reminiscences through several years’ intelligent and systematic work. Thanks are also due to Gian-Carlo Rota, for our numerous conversations on some of the topics of this book; to Mrs. Emilia Mycielska, for her research on my deceased Polish colleagues; and to Mrs. Jane Richtmyer for going over some of the rougher spots of the text.

Grateful acknowledgment for permission to reproduce photographs is made to the following:

The Society of Fellows, Harvard (Harvard Junior Fellows, 1938)

Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (all photographs so credited in the captions)

Harold Agnew (Enrico Fermi in the 1940s)

Nicholas Metropolis (Von Neumann, Feynman, and Ulam at Bandelier Lodge)

The Viking Press (George Gamow’s cartoon of the “super” committee). From My World Line by George Gamow; copyright © 1970 by George Gamow.

Lloyd Shearer (Stan and Françoise Ulam at home, 1964)

All pictures not otherwise credited are the property of the author.