Paul Erdős, the Mathematician Of Highest Intellectual Calibre
“A man doesn’t require things more than his basic needs.”
“A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems.” — Paul Erdős
I’ve talked about several mathematicians in my blogs from Maryam Mirzakhani to Terrence tao, from Gottfried Leibniz to Leonhard Euler. I particularly take interest in speaking about mathematicians because they perceive the world and the universe around them in ways that no one else can. Mathematical reasoning unlocks several other areas of your brain and enhances your overall thinking mechanism. This story, however, is about the mathematician who had one of the most incomprehensible personalities of all. His way of living his life and doing mathematics was unique, as mentioned by all his collaborators. I’ve written a separate story about the working ethics of the Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős, if you haven’t read it you can read it here,
He was detached from the material world
Paul Erdős had encompassed a minimalist approach to his life. He believed that
“a man doesn’t require things more than his basic needs.”
Most of his belongings, say clothes could fit in his suitcase. Also, he spent most of his life traveling from one place to another, whether for conferences or for his convenience. He found no pleasure in settling down in one place, having a house, and living a passive and stable life. Instead, due to the severe nature of his work, he had accepted the lifestyle that a hippie could only dream of, and traveled free like a vagabond. He would sometimes show up at his colleagues’ houses unexpectedly and discuss pressing matters at hand.
His philosophical beliefs were beyond comprehension
If we wanted to study the character of Paul Erdős and try to put it in any psychological category, it would not fit any criteria. His core beliefs were not black or white but rather grey. He was an agnostic atheist, which means he didn’t believe in god but was open to the idea of it if presented enough proof. The same philosophy he applied to the interpretation of ‘The Bible’ too. In 1985, he said
“You don’t have to believe in God, But you should believe in the book”
The religious textbooks were the first attempt to understand human psychology and understand the foundation of morality. Just because the name God is attached to it doesn’t mean we have to reject everything about it. After all, Newton thought that he was doing God’s work while he was inventing calculus and gravitational equations. We wouldn’t disregard his work just because God comes up in the discussion, would we?
He had a tragic life
He didn’t have the privilege of living a normal childhood while growing up. His two sisters died around the time he was born and he was detached from the love of his siblings. Also, during the height of the first World War, his father was held captive for almost 6 years and he was detached from fatherly love as well. Growing up wasn’t easy in Hungary at that time. Hitler had begun to rise to power, and although he was a nonpracticing Jew, he was a Jew in the eyes of fascists nevertheless. When he had to embrace his academic career and travel to different institutions, he never, after that time got a chance to reunite with his family to sit down and talk about all the ups and downs in his life.
He has authored more papers than most
He was always in a constant state of doing what he does best, maths. In total, he wrote as many as 1500 papers. This is a record that is still to be beaten because the most decorated Mathematicians have published only as many as 300 papers. He had around 500 collaborators. The papers he authored ranged from topics like real analysis, geometry, topology, probability theory, complex analysis, approximation theory, and set theory to the number theory and combinatorics which is a core mathematical idea invaluable to the field of Computer science and he is remembered to this day because of these prominent works.
He was always preoccupied
He had an odd way of doing even the most common things. According to his colleague, Mike Plummer, he had an interesting story to recite. When Erdős was staying with him, he went to the upstairs bedroom for some rest while Erdős stayed in the downstairs guest room. At around 4:30 in the morning, Plummer heard some noise coming from the kitchen. As he witnessed the incident, he saw Erdős banging pots. It was his version of waking up his colleague. When Erdős saw him, it was not a formal greeting like ‘Good morning’ which anyone does, but the loosening of a heavily occupied mind speaking. Right after then, Erdős started saying,
“Let n be an integer, suppose k is….”
He was an excellent problem solver
Unlike many other Mathematicians who spend years on end working over a certain problem, and after what seems like ages, they come up with conclusions that could be generalized and adapted in the field of Mathematics. But Erdos was not like that. He jumped from one problem to another quickly adapting to the changing situations. He was sort of logical about the problems he was about to encounter. If someone asked him if a problem could be solved, his self-esteem wouldn’t get in the way of saying ‘I can do it.’ Instead, He would straight up say yes or no to the questions, or if he knows any colleagues working on a certain problem, he won’t hesitate to consult with them at any given time of the day.
He hated school but not the education
He had a peculiar and brilliant mind since early childhood. He once met a visitor and asked her birth date and time. Then he told her how many seconds she had lived up until then. He couldn’t stand the concept of school though. He always was doing something, and the idea of sitting still for a whole day, and listening to teachers didn’t sit right with him. He told his mother he didn’t want to go to school and his mother was a worrier about germs, so she agreed with him thinking he might be ill when he goes outside of the house. The love and care of his mother made him the genius he was to the world.
He focused on the hardest problems but was left out with simpler ones
While his genius mind was more focused on mathematical problems and trying to find their solutions every day, on the flip side of simpler problems, matters like daily chores, he struggled with them. Up until he was a young adult, he lived with his mother and his mother did everything for him, like laundry, cooking, and so on and so. When he was 21, he went to England with some Mathematicians. When they all went to dinner, while everyone else was enjoying the meal, Erdos kept staring at the bread and butter in front of him. After a while, he spread the butter on his bread with a knife, it felt like climbing a mountain to him and his words were,
“It wasn’t so hard.”
Contributed by Rishab Karki and curated by the author.
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