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Terence Tao's homepage has a link to a collection of quotes, and one among them was Hilbert's famous "We must know, we will know" quote. This quote also had an audio link to it. Now although I'm not sure if it is really Hilbert's voice in the link, this prompted me to ask if we could have a collection of (rare) audio/video recordings of mathematicians which are freely available on the internet.

Let me add, however, that I am not asking for audio/video recordings of mathematicians which are fairly recent (a typical example of which I am NOT asking for are TED talks or podcasts). Recordings of famous mathematicians of the early twentieth and mid twentieth century will be wonderful. (I've always wanted to find out how Von Neumann's voice sounded like!).

Addendum: Are there any videos or audio excerpts of any talks given by Grothendieck which are available anywhere? I'd be grateful if anyone could post any such links. Thanks in advance.

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    $\begingroup$ While I will probably enjoy the answers... this is surely not math-philosophy! $\endgroup$
    – Mariano Suárez-Álvarez
    Commented Mar 15, 2011 at 18:01
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    $\begingroup$ Excerpt of the Marston Morse video "Pits, peaks, and passes": vimeo.com/13622524 $\endgroup$
    – Ian Agol
    Commented Mar 15, 2011 at 18:20
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    $\begingroup$ Von Neumann's voice can be heard here youtube.com/watch?v=vLbllFHBQM4 $\endgroup$
    – J Verma
    Commented Mar 15, 2011 at 18:39
  • $\begingroup$ @Agol: the video seems to be password protected now. $\endgroup$
    – j.c.
    Commented Mar 15, 2011 at 19:49
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    $\begingroup$ Who would mark a question as favorite without voting up? $\endgroup$
    – Marc Palm
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 14:45

29 Answers 29

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The voice of John von Neumann dedicating the NORC computer in 1954 (short excerpt and full speech).

alt text
(source: washington.edu)

The wire recording is a bit murky; here is my best-effort transcript of the short excerpt:

"Those of you present who have lived with this field, and who have lived with and suffered with computing machines of various sorts, and know what kind of regime it is to invest in one, I'm sure have appreciated the fact that it appears that this machine has been completely assembled less than two months ago, has been run on problems less than two weeks ago, and yesterday already ran for four hours without making a mistake. Those of you who have not been exposed to computing machines, and who do not have the desolate feeling which goes with living with their mistakes, will appreciate what it means that a computing machine, after about two weeks of breaking in, has really a faultless run of four hours. It is completely fantastic on an object of this size; I doubt it has ever been achieved before, and it is an enormous reassurance regarding the state of the art and regarding the complexities to which one will be able to go in the future, that this has been achieved."

Here is the BibTeX reference to a printed version (which differs slightly from the speech).

@incollection{vonNeumann:54,
Author = {J. von Neumann},
Booktitle = {John von Neumann Collected Works},
Editor = {A. H. Taub},
Publisher = {Pergamon Press},
Title = {The N.O.R.C.~and Problems in High Speed Computing},
Volume = {5},
Year = 1954,
Pages = 238--247}
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    $\begingroup$ I didn't know von Neumann used Windows. $\endgroup$
    – Felipe Voloch
    Commented Mar 16, 2011 at 0:49
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    $\begingroup$ After hearing this I have to say that Peter Sellers did actually a very good performance in "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb". $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Pape
    Commented Mar 16, 2011 at 9:56
  • $\begingroup$ Actually, even more reminiscent of Peter Sellers, is a film of Werner von Braun, circa mid-1950s, discussing orbiting nuclear-armed space stations ... I've watched this film at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, but (sadly) I have no recording of it. $\endgroup$
    – John Sidles
    Commented Mar 16, 2011 at 22:21
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    $\begingroup$ @Gerald, I think the film you're thinking of can be viewed at the youtube link given by J Verma in comments under the OP's question, which I didn't notice until after re-posting it as part of a separate answer of my own. For convenience, here it is once more: youtube.com/watch?v=vLbllFHBQM4 $\endgroup$
    – Barry Cipra
    Commented Jun 4, 2013 at 21:07
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    $\begingroup$ The link is broken; the recordings can be found at: ftp.arl.mil/mike/comphist/54nord $\endgroup$
    – jinawee
    Commented Jan 5, 2015 at 19:39
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I just found the follow audio recordings of Grothendieck:

http://cds.cern.ch/record/912518?ln=en

Unfortunately, it does not show Grothendieck "in mathematical action", but quite the contrary: In 1972, he hosted a conference at CERN entitled "Allons nous continuer la recherche scientifique?/Will we continue scientific research?"

The link is to CERN's own audio archives.

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    $\begingroup$ that's amazing! thanks a lot for the link!!! $\endgroup$
    – user5831
    Commented May 28, 2013 at 22:06
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    $\begingroup$ Great find, thank you! I never imagined that Grothendieck spoke French with a German accent! $\endgroup$
    – Marc Hoyois
    Commented Jul 18, 2013 at 13:08
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Jean Dieudonné, Bourbaki secretary and author of the nine-volume "Foundations of Modern Analysis" giving an interview on french television about his book "Pour l'honneur de l'esprit humain : les mathématiques aujourd'hui":

http://www.ina.fr/art-et-culture/litterature/video/CPB87005869/les-livres-du-mois.fr.html

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    $\begingroup$ Also, the coauthor with Grothendieck of the Éléments de géométrie algébrique, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… . $\endgroup$
    – Leo Alonso
    Commented Mar 16, 2011 at 15:14
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    $\begingroup$ Nice video! (could be merged with the other videos of French mathematicians). Funny to see how the announcer Bernard Pivot sweats when interviewing Dieudonné... $\endgroup$
    – François Brunault
    Commented Mar 16, 2011 at 16:09
  • $\begingroup$ This page has unfortunately become irretrievable. If anybody can re-find it, it'd be wise to try to give an internet archive link. $\endgroup$
    – Kevin Carlson
    Commented Apr 25 at 3:41
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    $\begingroup$ @Kevin Carlson: It is here — and you can get acceptable english subtitles. $\endgroup$
    – abx
    Commented Apr 25 at 16:01
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Addendum: Are there any videos or audio excerpts of any talks given by Grothendieck which are available anywhere? I'd be grateful if anyone could post any such links. Thanks in advance.

Actually, several lecture courses by Grothendieck have been recorded but afaik not available online. Maybe you can make a FOI request if you are really interested---the copyright is by University of Buffalo so hopefully subject to Freedom of Information Act.

Here is a reference: http://www.archmathsci.org/catalogue/general-chronology-of-recordings-since-1973/chronology-of-recordings-1973-1980/1973-recordings/

1973 Recordings Lecture Courses by Alexandre GROTHENDIECK 3 Lecture Courses on respectively

  1. Algebraic Geometry
  2. The Theory of Algebraic Groups
  3. Topos Theory

( The copyright of all these recordings is that of the Department of Mathematics of SUNY at Buffalo )

Edit

Now you can find the audio in the section 1973 of the webpage Thèmes pour une harmonie (work in progress!), or on YouTube.

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Apparently that really was Hilbert's voice: see http://math.sfsu.edu/smith/Documents/HilbertRadio/HilbertRadio.pdf for more about this speech.

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Three lectures by John Milnor on differential topology from 1965:

https://www.simonsfoundation.org/science_lives_video/professor-john-w-milnor/

(Don't know if they had been mentioned in the other video related questions.)

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  • $\begingroup$ "That page can’t be found." $\endgroup$
    – Rasmus
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 13:51
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    $\begingroup$ fixed the link. $\endgroup$
    – Michael Bächtold
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 13:58
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Another place you can watch Bertrand Russell is in Aman (1967), to my knowledge the unique appearance of a mathematician in a Bollywood film. The relevant part is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGqLXOFFlqo ,

in which Russell talks with a medical student who is proposing to do research on atom bomb survivors in Japan.

(The Hindi voiceover during the interview just repeats what they're saying in English. In the 30 seconds before Russell appears, the dialogue roughly translates as "A letter from Bertrand Russell! Gee whiz!"

Edit: The above video seems to be private, the link below works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BilHsf4FcG8

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    $\begingroup$ Poor old man mustve been gritting his teeth through the entire scene! $\endgroup$
    – Koundinya Vajjha
    Commented Mar 26, 2011 at 17:18
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    $\begingroup$ "This video is private." $\endgroup$
    – Rasmus
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 13:49
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Here is a long video about Richard Courant. Apparently he was one of the first people to own a video camera so there is some really old footage of some of the fathers of modern mathematics. If you scroll to 33:00, you will find footage of David Hilbert shoveling snow!

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The Eugene B. Dynkin Collection of Mathematics Interviews

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You Tube has four lectures by Paul Dirac from 1975 in Christchurch.

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Science Lives - Simons Foundation,

[a] series of extended interviews with some of the giants of twentieth century mathematics and science,

currently hosts video interviews with

Pierre Deligne, Robert D. MacPherson, Egbert Brieskorn, Paul Sally, Yuri Manin, Chen-ning Yang, Friedrich Hirzebruch, Isadore Singer, and Michael Atiyah.

Edit: Working link below

https://www.simonsfoundation.org/series/science-lives/

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On YouTube there are a lot from Paul Erdős. Not to mention the wonderful movie N is a number.

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Here are some videos of French mathematicians :

André Lichnerowicz, speaking about mathematical structures in 1966 : http://www.ina.fr/economie-et-societe/education-et-enseignement/video/I00002874/andre-lichnerowicz-sur-les-mathematiques.fr.html

Laurent Schwartz, speaking about the student contestations in France in May 1968 : http://www.ina.fr/politique/gouvernements/video/I00005058/le-professeur-laurent-schwartz.fr.html

There is also a video tape of an interview of Laurent Schwartz made by the École polytechnique in 1995 (it is not available online but can be purchased here). It contains, among others, a short video extract from a lecture he gave (long ago) to the Polytechnique students. His enthusiast lecturing style is remembered by many, if not all, students from these times.

Finally, the following audio file contains an interview of the probabilist Paul Lévy (1886-1971) made by the French radio "France Culture" in 1971 : http://www.jehps.net/Juin2006/levy.mp3

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  • $\begingroup$ Is there any new link available for this Laurent Schwartz video? $\endgroup$
    – Math
    Commented Aug 3, 2021 at 23:39
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The 1984 BBC Horizon documentary, A mathematical mystery tour, evidently re-edited and re-aired as a PBS Nova documentary, features a number of famous mathematicians as talking heads, including Atiyah, Dieudonné, and Erdős. But in particular, it features René Thom, who can be seen here walking a fine line between conceding Bourbaki's utility and still damning it with faint praise.

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    $\begingroup$ Archived here, Thom's remark starts at 14:46 $\endgroup$
    – Robert Furber
    Commented Feb 9, 2023 at 2:20
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Bertrand Russell, co-author (with Alfred North Whitehead) of Principia Mathematica, interviewed on BBC television in 1959 (three parts):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OziPcicgmbw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TedtMmUq8ig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7I9pgqiLo0

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    $\begingroup$ At the very end of one of these interviews he is asked for a statement akin to his last words. There are two statements. The first goes like this: "When you are studying anything, or considering any philosophy ask yourself only 'What are the facts, and what is the truth the facts bear out?' Never let yourself be diverted, either by what you wish to believe, or by what you think would have beneficient social effects if it were believed, but look only and solely at what are the facts." $\endgroup$
    – Josiah Park
    Commented Jan 1, 2019 at 18:19
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Here are some videos on Stephen Smale

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Michael Atiyah Beauty in Mathematics

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Someone has created a bunch of links to math videos at http://pinterest.com/mathematicsprof/ -- in particular the sublist at http://pinterest.com/mathematicsprof/famous-mathematicians/ includes a link to a wonderful interview with von Neumann on a 1950s TV show, Youth Wants to Know. That clip can be gotten to directly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLbllFHBQM4

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  • $\begingroup$ I just noticed, the direct link to the von Neumann clip was given by J Verma in comments to the OP's question. $\endgroup$
    – Barry Cipra
    Commented Jun 4, 2013 at 21:05
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Here's is one of Einstein

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    $\begingroup$ "This video is private." $\endgroup$
    – Rasmus
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 13:52
  • $\begingroup$ Instead: youtube.com/watch?v=gTlpJ9ue04w $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Commented Mar 9, 2019 at 22:32
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While he's not exactly a mathematician, there is on Youtube a wealth of Richard Feynman lectures and interviews. My personal favourite is part of the "The Character of Physical Law" Messenger Lectures at Cornell, titled the distinction of past and future. (Though, really, all the Messenger lectures are amazing.)

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First thing I thought of was the Princeton oral history project about math in the 1930's:

however they don't seem to have the audio online (just transcripts of the interviews, that are still very interesting). I wonder if the audio tapes are accessible at the Mudd library or elsewhere.

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I found the video recording of The Atle Selberg Memorial which was held at the IAS a few years back. There is an "archival clip" of Selberg at the IAS included in the same page. This may be the same video which others have already posted. I apologize if it is. Nevertheless, the video recording of the memorial should be of interest.

Atle Selberg,1917-2007

Also, here is an interview (in PDF format) of his wherein he discusses the dispute arising from the Prime Number Theorem and his trace formula among other things. It makes for a very good reading over a cup of steaming hot coffee.

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In this interview, John H. Conway is interviewed by Chaim Goodman-Strauss for the "Math Factor". The interview mainly focusses on Conway's long time collaboration with the legendary Martin Gardner. Only audio.

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    $\begingroup$ Of course, you can talk to John Conway just by visiting Princeton! $\endgroup$
    – David Corwin
    Commented Jul 8, 2012 at 17:15
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    $\begingroup$ @DavidCorwin well, that comment did not age so well (it was inevitable). $\endgroup$
    – KConrad
    Commented Aug 4, 2021 at 0:26
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Timothy Gowers here on youtube lecturing a talk on: The Importance of Mathematics

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There is a list of 5 interviews of Pierre Cartier on the French radio.

To listen, see: http://www.franceculture.fr/personne-pierre-cartier

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The title of this one from YouTube is Einstein, Dirac, Godel, Selberg, Harish-Chandra in Princeton. No audio, unfortunately. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsIlRr65-L4&NR=1

Update: Hmm, the old link appears to be dead. I think this one now works. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq9X-ERgnuY

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    $\begingroup$ Erdos and Weyl are in there, too, but apparently didn't rank highly enough to make the title. $\endgroup$
    – Kevin O'Bryant
    Commented Mar 15, 2011 at 21:10
  • $\begingroup$ "This video is private." $\endgroup$
    – Rasmus
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 13:52
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Here is lecture by Benoit Mandelbrot "Fractals and the art of roughness"

http://www.ted.com At TED2010, mathematics legend Benoit Mandelbrot develops a theme he first discussed at TED in 1984 -- the extreme complexity of roughness, and the way that fractal math can find order within patterns that seem unknowably complicated.

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Here are some interviews with Cornelius Lanczos recored at Manchester University in 1972:

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