Name: Adventures of a mathematician
ISBN: 9780520071544

Adventures of a mathematician

The true story that inspired the 2020 film. The autobiography of mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, one of the great scientific minds of the twentieth century, tells a story rich with amazingly prophetic speculations and peppered with lively anecdotes. As a member of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1944 on, Ulam helped to precipitate some of the most dramatic changes of the postwar world. He was among the first to use and advocate computers for scientific research, originated ideas for the nuclear propulsion of space vehicles, and made fundamental contributions to many of today's most challenging mathematical projects. With his wide-ranging interests, Ulam never emphasized the importance of his contributions to the research that resulted in the hydrogen bomb. Now Daniel Hirsch and William Mathews reveal the true story of Ulam's pivotal role in the making of the "Super," in their historical introduction to this behind-the-scenes look at the minds and ideas that ushered in the nuclear age. An epilogue by Françoise Ulam and Jan Mycielski sheds new light on Ulam's character and mathematical originality.

What Hacker News says

ASalazarMXSep 2026

This is a great quote. I liked it so much that I had to look up where it is from.

"Adventures of a Mathematician", by Stanislaw M. Ulam.

> The Polish-born mathematician recalls his formative and early professional years in his pre-war homeland and his work and colleagues at Princeton, Harvard, Wisconsin, and Los Alamos.

https://archive.org/details/adventuresofmath0000ulam_v9h3/pa...

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rllearneratworkDec 2022

off-topic, but related. Ulam's "Adventures of a Mathematician" is an excellent and very inspiring book.

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jo_in_europeJan 2022

I've read a handful of biographies of 20th century physicists recently, which I enjoyed for the same reasons. Ulam was a Los Alamos mathematician (and a great friend of Von Neumann). Anderson discovered the meson, which Yukawa had predicted. Fritzsche named nuclear fission (after doing important work on it). Elasser was a wandering scientist, who (to me) seemed to be "on the outside of the inside"; he gives accounts of his dealings with most of the atomic era players.

- Adventures of a Mathematician (Ulam)

- What Little I Remember (Frisch)

- Memoirs of a Physicist in the Atomic Age (Elasser)

- The Traveller (Yukawa)

- Discovery of Anti-Matter (Carl Anderson)

Also Freeman Dyson's and Feynman's stuff. I'm ever open to recommendations from readers who enjoy the same stuff.

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bainsfatherMay 2021

Stan Ulam's autobiography - Adventures of a Mathematician - talks a bit about this, from his early days in Lwow. It's a good book about interesting times and interesting people - if this wikipedia article interests you, then maybe the book will also.

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jayroMar 2015

Adventures of a Mathematician: http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Mathematician-S-M-Ulam/dp/0...

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kryptisktOct 2012

I liked Ulam's Adventures of a Mathematician.

William Poundstone's Prisoner's Dilemma is only partly a biography of von Neumann, still a good book. Gian-Carlo Rota's Indiscrete Thoughts is a mash of bits and pieces, largely about mathematical culture and personalities. I thought it was an interesting read.

What I would really like would be a serious tome on Claude Shannon, he plays a bit part in many, many books, but nobody seem to have written specifically about him and his work.

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