Part 2 (1/2)

a quaint ceree - ALBERT E EINSTEINthe mathematical center of the universe - HARALD B BOHR NASH ARRIVED in Princeton, New Jersey, on Labor Day 1948, the opening day of Trun in Princeton, New Jersey, on Labor Day 1948, the opening day of Trun1 He enty years old He caton, DC, and Philadelphia, wearing a new suit and carrying unwieldy suitcases stuffed with bedding and clothes, letters and notes, and a few books Iot off at Princeton Junction, a nondescript little middle-class enclave a few miles from Princeton proper, and hurried onto the dinky, the sle-track train that shuttles back and forth to the university He enty years old He caton, DC, and Philadelphia, wearing a new suit and carrying unwieldy suitcases stuffed with bedding and clothes, letters and notes, and a few books Iot off at Princeton Junction, a nondescript little middle-class enclave a few miles from Princeton proper, and hurried onto the dinky, the sle-track train that shuttles back and forth to the university

What he saas a genteel, prerevolutionary village surrounded by gently rolling woodlands, lazy streams, and a patchwork of cornfields2 Settled by Quakers toward the end of the seventeenth century, Princeton was the site of a faton victory over the British and, for a brief six-month interlude in 1783, the de facto capital of the new republic With its college-Gothic buildings nestled anified old houses, the town looked every inch the wealthy, manicured exurb of New York and Philadelphia that, in fact, it was Nassau Street, the town's sleepyshops, a couple of taverns, a drugstore, and a bank It had been paved before the war, but bicycles and pedestrians still accounted for most of the traffic In Settled by Quakers toward the end of the seventeenth century, Princeton was the site of a faton victory over the British and, for a brief six-month interlude in 1783, the de facto capital of the new republic With its college-Gothic buildings nestled anified old houses, the town looked every inch the wealthy, manicured exurb of New York and Philadelphia that, in fact, it was Nassau Street, the town's sleepyshops, a couple of taverns, a drugstore, and a bank It had been paved before the war, but bicycles and pedestrians still accounted for most of the traffic In This Side of Paradise, This Side of Paradise, F Scott Fitzgerald had described Princeton circa World War I as ”the pleasantest country club in Aerald had described Princeton circa World War I as ”the pleasantest country club in Ae” in the 1930s Einstein called it ”a quaint, ceree” in the 1930s4 Depression and wars had scarcely changed the place May Veblen, the wife of a wealthy Princeton mathematician, Oswald Veblen, could still identify by nale family, white and black, well-to-do and of le house in town Depression and wars had scarcely changed the place May Veblen, the wife of a wealthy Princeton mathematician, Oswald Veblen, could still identify by nale family, white and black, well-to-do and of le house in town5 Newcoentility One mathematician from the West recalled, ”I always felt like my fly was open” Newcoentility One mathematician from the West recalled, ”I always felt likeconjured up ies of exclusivity and wealth ”Fine Hall is, I believe, theever devoted to abled, Neo-Gothic red brick and slate fortress, built in a style ree de France in Paris and Oxford University Its cornerstone contains a lead box with copies of works by Princeton mathematicians and the tools of the trade - two pencils, one piece of chalk, and, of course, an eraser Designed by Oswald Veblen, a nephew of the great sociologist Thorstein Veblen, it was meant to be a sanctuary that abled, Neo-Gothic red brick and slate fortress, built in a style ree de France in Paris and Oxford University Its cornerstone contains a lead box with copies of works by Princeton mathematicians and the tools of the trade - two pencils, one piece of chalk, and, of course, an eraser Designed by Oswald Veblen, a nephew of the great sociologist Thorstein Veblen, it was meant to be a sanctuary that mathematicians would be ”loath to leave”8 The dim stone corridors that circled the structure were perfect for both solitary pacing andThe nine ”studies” - not offices!- for senior professors had carved paneling, hidden file cabinets, blackboards that opened like altars, oriental carpets, and ency of the rapidly advancing mathematical enterprise each office was equipped with a telephone and each lavatory with a reading light Its well-stocked third-floor library, the richest collection of mathematical journals and books in the world, was open twenty-four hours a day Mathematicians with a fondness for tennis (the courts were nearby) didn't have to go ho to their offices - there was a locker rooraduate poet called it ”a country club for math, where you could take a bath” The dim stone corridors that circled the structure were perfect for both solitary pacing andThe nine ”studies” - not offices!- for senior professors had carved paneling, hidden file cabinets, blackboards that opened like altars, oriental carpets, and ency of the rapidly advancing mathematical enterprise each office was equipped with a telephone and each lavatory with a reading light Its well-stocked third-floor library, the richest collection of mathematical journals and books in the world, was open twenty-four hours a day Mathematicians with a fondness for tennis (the courts were nearby) didn't have to go ho to their offices - there was a locker rooraduate poet called it ”a country club for math, where you could take a bath”

Princeton in 1948 was to mathematicians what Paris once was to painters and novelists, Vienna to psychoanalysts and architects, and ancient Athens to philosophers and playwrights Harald Bohr, brother of Niels Bohr, the physicist, had declared it ”the mathematical center of the universe” in 19369 When the deans ofafter World War II, it was in Princeton When the deans ofafter World War II, it was in Princeton10 Fine Hall housed the world's most competitive, up-to-the-minute mathematics department Next door - connected, in fact - was the nation's leading physics departner, had driven off to Illinois, California, and New Mexico during the war, lugging bits of laboratory equipment, to help build the atomic bomb Fine Hall housed the world's most competitive, up-to-the-minute mathematics department Next door - connected, in fact - was the nation's leading physics departner, had driven off to Illinois, California, and New Mexico during the war, lugging bits of laboratory equipment, to help build the atomic bomb11 A mile or so away, on what had been Olden Farm, was the Institute for Advanced Study, the modern equivalent of Plato's Academy, where Einstein, Godel, Oppenheimer, and von Neumann scribbled on their blackboards and held their learned discourses A mile or so away, on what had been Olden Farm, was the Institute for Advanced Study, the modern equivalent of Plato's Academy, where Einstein, Godel, Oppenheimer, and von Neumann scribbled on their blackboards and held their learned discourses12 Visitors and students frolot mathematical oasis, fifty miles south of New York What was proposed in a Princeton seminar one as sure to be debated in Paris and Berkeley the week after, and in Moscow and Tokyo the week after that Visitors and students frolot mathematical oasis, fifty miles south of New York What was proposed in a Princeton seminar one as sure to be debated in Paris and Berkeley the week after, and in Moscow and Tokyo the week after that

”It is difficult to learn anything about America in Princeton,” wrote Einstein's assistant Leopold Infeld in his e In Fine Hall English is spoken with so many different accents that the resultant lishThe air is full of mathematical ideas and formulae You have only to stretch out your hand, close it quickly and you feel that you have caught mathematical air and that a few formulae are stuck to your palm If one wants to see a fah to sit quietly in Princeton, and sooner or later he must come to Fine Hall” formulae are stuck to your palm If one wants to see a fah to sit quietly in Princeton, and sooner or later he must come to Fine Hall”13 Princeton's unique position in the world of ht, barely a dozen years earlier14 The university predated the Republic by a good twenty years It started out as the College of New Jersey in 1746, founded by Presbyterians It didn't become Princeton until 1896 and wasn't headed by a layman until 1903 when Woodrow Wilson became its president Even then, however, Princeton was a university in narown prep school,” particularly when it came to the sciences The university predated the Republic by a good twenty years It started out as the College of New Jersey in 1746, founded by Presbyterians It didn't become Princeton until 1896 and wasn't headed by a layman until 1903 when Woodrow Wilson became its president Even then, however, Princeton was a university in narown prep school,” particularly when it caard, Princeton merely reseenuity but saw little use for pure mathematics,” as one historian put it Whereas Europe had three dozen chaired professors who did little except create newA beyond the BA The typical Aht fifteen to twenty hours a week of what aling along on a negligible salary and with very little incentive or opportunity to do research Forced to drill conic sections into the heads of bored undergraduates, the Princeton professor of mathematics was perhaps not as well off as his forebears of the seventeenth century who practiced law (Fermat), ministered to royalty (Descartes), or occupied professorshi+ps with negligible teaching duties (Newton) When Solomon Lefschetz arrived at Princeton in 1924, ”There were only seven ed inwe had no quarters Everyone worked at hoard, Princeton merely reseenuity but saw little use for pure mathematics,” as one historian put it Whereas Europe had three dozen chaired professors who did little except create newA beyond the BA The typical Aht fifteen to twenty hours a week of what aling along on a negligible salary and with very little incentive or opportunity to do research Forced to drill conic sections into the heads of bored undergraduates, the Princeton professor of mathematics was perhaps not as well off as his forebears of the seventeenth century who practiced law (Fermat), ministered to royalty (Descartes), or occupied professorshi+ps with negligible teaching duties (Newton) When Solomon Lefschetz arrived at Princeton in 1924, ”There were only seven ed inwe had no quarters Everyone worked at home”16 Princeton's physicists were in the sae of Thomas Edison and Alexander Graha endless freshman lab sections Princeton's physicists were in the sae of Thomas Edison and Alexander Graha endless freshuished astronomer by the 1920s, fell afoul of the Princeton ad too raduate teaching In its disdain for scientific research, Princeton was not very different from Yale or Harvard Yale refused for seven years to pay a salary to the physicist Willard Gibbs, already farounds that his studies were ”irrelevant” Henry Norris Russell, a distinguished astronomer by the 1920s, fell afoul of the Princeton ad too raduate teaching In its disdain for scientific research, Princeton was not very different from Yale or Harvard Yale refused for seven years to pay a salary to the physicist Willard Gibbs, already farounds that his studies were ”irrelevant”18 While mathematics and physics at Princeton and other A, a revolution inplace three thousand en, Berlin, Budapest, Vienna, Paris, and Rome

John D Davies, a historian of science, writes of a dra of the very nature of matter: The absolute world of classical Newtonian physics was breaking down and intellectual ferment was everywhere Then in 1905 an unknown theoretician in the Berne patent office, Albert Einstein, published four epoch- papers conificant was the so-called Special Theory of Relativity, which proposed that y liberated ht to be absolute, were dependent on relative motion Ten years later he forravity was a function of ht exactly as it affected ht”; Newton's laere not the real universe but one seen through the unreal spectacles of gravity Furthermore, he set forth a set of mathematical lahich the universe could be described, structural laws and laws of motion papers conificant was the so-called Special Theory of Relativity, which proposed that y liberated ht to be absolute, were dependent on relative motion Ten years later he forravity was a function of ht exactly as it affected ht”; Newton's laere not the real universe but one seen through the unreal spectacles of gravity Furthermore, he set forth a set of mathematical lahich the universe could be described, structural laws and laws of motion19

At around the saen, a Gerenius, David Hilbert, had unleashed a revolution in ra less than the ”axiomatization of all of mathematics so that it could be en beca raed at the turn of the century as a response to a perceived crisis in mathematics,” writes historian Robert Leonard ”The effect was to drive mathematicians to 'clean up' Cantorian set theory, to establish it on a firm axiomatic basis, on the foundation of a limited number of postulatesThis marked an important shi+ft in emphasis towards abstraction in mathematics”20 Mathematics moved further and further away from ”intuitive content - in this case, our daily world of surfaces and straight lines - towards a situation in which mathematical terms were leached of their direct empirical content and simply defined axiomatically within the context of the theory The era of formalism had arrived” Mathematics moved further and further away from ”intuitive content - in this case, our daily world of surfaces and straight lines - towards a situation in which mathematical terms were leached of their direct empirical content and simply defined axiomatically within the context of the theory The era of formalism had arrived”

The work of Hilbert and his disciples - a them such future Princeton stars of the 1930s and 1940s as Herered a powerful impulse to apply mathehly formal treat the axio physics, in particular the ”new physics” of ”quantuames

But for the first twenty-five years of the century, as Davies writes, Princeton, and indeed the whole American academic community, ”stood outside this dramatically swift development”21 The catalyst for Princeton's transformation into a world capital of mathematics and theoretical physics was an accident - an accident of friendshi+p Woodrow Wilson, like most other educated A that ”the natural ainst mathematics, a mild form of torture that could only be learned by painful processes of drill” The catalyst for Princeton's transformation into a world capital of mathematics and theoretical physics was an accident - an accident of friendshi+p Woodrow Wilson, like most other educated A that ”the natural ainst mathematics, a mild form of torture that could only be learned by painful processes of drill”22 And mathematics played no role whatever in his vision of Princeton as a real university with a graduate college and a system of instruction that emphasized se But Wilson's best friend, Henry Burchard Fine, happened to be a mathematician When Wilson set And mathematics played no role whatever in his vision of Princeton as a real university with a graduate college and a system of instruction that emphasized se But Wilson's best friend, Henry Burchard Fine, happened to be aliterature and history scholars as preceptors Fine asked hiesture of friendshi+pelse, Wilson said yes After Wilson left the presidency of Princeton for the White House in 1912, Fine became dean of science and proceeded to recruit so them mathematicians G D Birkhoff, Oswald Veblen, and Luthor Eisenhart, to teach graduate students They were known around Princeton as ”Fine's research le one of whom majored in physics or ible lecturers with foreign accents” and ”the European, or de literature and history scholars as preceptors Fine asked hiesture of friendshi+pelse, Wilson said yes After Wilson left the presidency of Princeton for the White House in 1912, Fine became dean of science and proceeded to recruit so them mathematicians G D Birkhoff, Oswald Veblen, and Luthor Eisenhart, to teach graduate students They were known around Princeton as ”Fine's research le one of whom majored in physics or ible lecturers with foreign accents” and ”the European, or demi-God, theory of instruction”

Fine's nucleus of researchers ht well have scattered after the dean's pre accident on Nassau Street had it not been for several dramatic instances of private philanthropy that turned Princeton into a est mathematical stars Most people think that America's rise to scientific prominence was a by-product of World War II But in fact the fortunes accu twenties paved the way

The Rockefellers made their- in other words, froreat sweep of industrialization that transforh in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries When the faive away some of the money, they were aniher education in America and a firm belief that ”nations that do not cultivate the sciences cannot hold their own”23 Aware of the scientific revolution sweeping Europe, the Rockefeller Foundation and its offshoots started by sending A Robert Oppenheimer, abroad By the mid-1920s, the Rockefeller Foundation decided that ”instead of sending Mahomet to the Mountain, it would fetch the Mountain here” That is, it decided to import Europeans To finance the effort, the foundation committed not just its income but 19 million of its capital (close to 150 million in today's dollars) While Wickliffe Rose, a philosopher on Rockefeller's board, scoured such European scientific capitals as Berlin and Budapest to hear about new ideas and meet their authors, the foundation selected three A therants enabled Princeton to establish five European-style research professorshi+ps with extravagant salaries, plus a research fund to support graduate and postgraduate students Aware of the scientific revolution sweeping Europe, the Rockefeller Foundation and its offshoots started by sending A Robert Oppenheimer, abroad By the mid-1920s, the Rockefeller Foundation decided that ”instead of sending Mahomet to the Mountain, it would fetch the Mountain here” That is, it decided to import Europeans To finance the effort, the foundation committed not just its income but 19 million of its capital (close to 150 million in today's dollars) While Wickliffe Rose, a philosopher on Rockefeller's board, scoured such European scientific capitals as Berlin and Budapest to hear about new ideas and meet their authors, the foundation selected three A therants enabled Princeton to establish five European-style research professorshi+ps with extravagant salaries, plus a research fund to support graduate and postgraduate students

A the first European stars to arrive in Princeton in 1930 were two young geniuses of Hungarian origin, John von Neuene Wigner, the physicist ent on to win a nobel Prize in physics in 1963, not for his vital work on the atom bomb but for research on the structure of the atom and its nucleus The two shared one of the professorshi+ps endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation, spending half a year in Princeton and the other half in their honer's autobiography, the men were unhappy at first, homesick for Europe's passionate theoretical discussion and its coffeehouses - the congenial floating seminars of professors and students where the latest research was discussed Wigner wondered if they were part of thedressing, like the faux-Gothic buildings But von Neus A seminars of professors and students where the latest research was discussed Wigner wondered if they were part of thedressing, like the faux-Gothic buildings But von Neus A opportunities for research in Europe during the Depression, andrestrictions on Jews in Ger opportunities for research in Europe during the Depression, andrestrictions on Jews in German universities, they stayed

A second act of philanthropy, more serendipitous than the Rockefeller enterprise, resulted in the creation of the independent Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton25 The Baers were department store one on to oods business The owners, a brother and sister, sold out six weeks before the stock market crash of 1929 With a fortune of 25 ratitude to the state of New Jersey They had ina dental school An expert on medical education, Abraham Flexner, soon convinced them to drop the idea of a medical school and instead to found a first-rate research institution with no teachers, no students, no classes, but only researchers protected from the vicissitudes and pressures of the outside world Flexner toyed with the idea ofa school of economics the core of the institute but was soon persuaded that mathematics was a sounder choice since it was reater consensus a mathematicians on who the best people were Its location was still up in the air Newark, with its paint factories and slaughterhouses, offered no attractions for the international band of academic superstars Flexner hoped to recruit Princeton was end has it that it was Oswald Veblen who convinced the Baht of (”in a topological sense,” as he put it) as a suburb of Newark The Baers were department store one on to oods business The owners, a brother and sister, sold out six weeks before the stock market crash of 1929 With a fortune of 25 ratitude to the state of New Jersey They had ina dental school An expert on medical education, Abraham Flexner, soon convinced them to drop the idea of a medical school and instead to found a first-rate research institution with no teachers, no students, no classes, but only researchers protected from the vicissitudes and pressures of the outside world Flexner toyed with the idea ofa school of economics the core of the institute but was soon persuaded that mathematics was a sounder choice since it was reater consensus a mathematicians on who the best people were Its location was still up in the air Newark, with its paint factories and slaughterhouses, offered no attractions for the international band of academic superstars Flexner hoped to recruit Princeton was end has it that it was Oswald Veblen who convinced the Baht of (”in a topological sense,” as he put it) as a suburb of Newark

With zeal and deep pockets an a ide search for stars, dangling unheard-of salaries, lavish perks, and the pro coincided with Hitler's takeover of the Gerovernment, thefears of another world war After three years of delicate negotiation, Einstein, the biggest star of thereed to become the secondone of his friends in Germany to quip, ”The pope of physics has moved and the United States will now become the center for the natural sciences” Kurt Godel, the Viennese wunderkind of logic, ca star of German mathematics, followed Einstein a year later Weyl insisted, as a condition of his acceptance, that the Institute appoint a bright light froeneration Von Neumann, who had just turned thirty, was lured away froest professor Practically overnight, Princeton had becoen

The Institute professors initially shared the deluxe quarters at Fine Hall with their university colleagues They moved out in 1939 when the Institute's Fuld Hall, a Neo-Georgian brick building perched in the lish lawns surrounded by woods and a pond just a mile or two from Fine, was built By the time Einstein and the others moved, the Institute and Princeton professors had becole like country cousins They collaborated on research, edited journals jointly, and attended one another's lectures, seminars, and teas The Institute's proximity made it easier to attract the most brilliant students and faculty to the university, while the university's activeor working permanently at the Institute surrounded by woods and a pond just a mile or two from Fine, was built By the time Einstein and the others moved, the Institute and Princeton professors had becole like country cousins They collaborated on research, edited journals jointly, and attended one another's lectures, seminars, and teas The Institute's proximity made it easier to attract the most brilliant students and faculty to the university, while the university's activeor working permanently at the Institute

By contrast, Harvard, once the jewel of American mathematics, was in ”a state of eclipse” by the late 1940s26 Its legendary chair stars, including Marshall Stone, Marston Morse, and Hassler Whitney, had recently departed, two of them for the Institute for Advanced Study Einstein had used to complain around the Institute that ”Birkhoff is one of the world's great academic anti-Semites” Whether or not this was true, Birkhoff's bias had prevented hiration of the brilliant Jewish endary chair stars, including Marshall Stone, Marston Morse, and Hassler Whitney, had recently departed, two of them for the Institute for Advanced Study Einstein had used to complain around the Institute that ”Birkhoff is one of the world's great academic anti-Semites” Whether or not this was true, Birkhoff's bias had prevented hiration of the brilliant Jewish mathenored Norbert Wiener, the eneration, the father of cybernetics and inventor of the rigorous mathematics of Brownian motion Wiener happened to be a Jew and, like Paul Saht refuge at the far end of Ca school on a par with the Carnegie Institute of Technology Indeed, Harvard also had ignored Norbert Wiener, the eneration, the father of cybernetics and inventor of the rigorous mathematics of Brownian motion Wiener happened to be a Jew and, like Paul Saht refuge at the far end of Ca school on a par with the Carnegie Institute of Technology28 William James, the preeminent American philosopher and older brother of the novelist Henry Ja a whole civilization to ”vibrate and shake”29 But thefrom Princeton until World War II was practically over and these odd men with their funny accents, peculiar dress, and passion for obscure scientific theories became national heroes But thefrom Princeton until World War II was practically over and these odd men with their funny accents, peculiar dress, and passion for obscure scientific theories became national heroes

From the start, the European brain drain had an i effect on Aathered together a group of geniuses who brought not only broad and deepnew attitudes30 In particular, the geographical origin of these mathematicians and physicists positioned them to appreciate the implications of the massive amount of neork that had been done in Europe since the turn of the century and gave thereat affinity for applications ofMany of the newcoht of their research careers In particular, the geographical origin of these mathematicians and physicists positioned them to appreciate the implications of the massive amount of neork that had been done in Europe since the turn of the century and gave thereat affinity for applications ofMany of the newcoht of their research careers