Timeline for Who is the last mathematician that understood all of mathematics.
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 15, 2021 at 16:26 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki by Stefan Kohl♦ | ||
| Mar 28, 2015 at 21:32 | comment | added | user69842 | One factor seems to be practical application and modeling of abstractions. This is opposed to purely abstract thinking or specialized thinking, the domains where most of us function. Von Neumann's famous accomplishments include introducing rigorous mathematical models to areas that previously had none. The trend of Von Neumann's accomplishments is almost unsurprisingly predictable given his particular skills. While impressive, it does not encompass "all mathematics" or even the larger portion of it. Although, he probably knew more than most of us about the nature of math itself. | |
| Jun 12, 2010 at 1:42 | comment | added | Michael Benfield | Somewhere I read an anecdote about von Neumann talking to some grad students who were stunned to realize that he didn't know anything about some rather simple concepts of topology. The point of the anecdote I think was in fact to illustrate that you don't have to know everything. | |
| Jun 12, 2010 at 0:18 | comment | added | Joel David Hamkins | The text of the question mentions "large proportion" rather than "all" mathematics. | |
| Jun 12, 2010 at 0:10 | comment | added | Harry Gindi | I doubt that Von Neumann had an understanding of all of mathematics. For example, algebraic geometry was already being developed in Italy by this time, and it doesn't seem like Von Neumann ever studied it. I think we probably have to travel a lot further back than Von Neumann or Hilbert to actually find someone who understood all of the mathematics of his time. I would say Euler, Gauss, or Riemann are good bets. | |
| Jun 11, 2010 at 23:00 | history | answered | Joel David Hamkins | CC BY-SA 2.5 |