George Pólya

Quotes

• “[M]athematicians and physicists think alike; they are led, and sometimes misled, by the same patterns of .”
• “Mathematics is the cheapest science. Unlike physics or chemistry, it does not require any expensive equipment. All one needs for mathematics is a pencil and paper.”
• “There was a seminar for advanced students in Zürich that I was teaching and von Neumann was in the class. I came to a certain theorem, and I said it is not proved and it may be difficult. Von Neumann didn't say anything but after five minutes he raised his hand. When I called on him he went to the blackboard and proceeded to write down the proof. After that I was afraid of von Neumann.”
• “Analogy pervades all our thinking, our everyday speech and our trivial conclusions as well as artistic ways of expression and the highest scientific achievements.”
• “Euclid's manner of exposition, progressing relentlessly from the data to the unknown and from the hypothesis to the conclusion, is perfect for checking the argument in detail but far from being perfect for making understandable the main line of the argument.”
• “The best of ideas is hurt by uncritical acceptance and thrives on critical examination.”

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Key facts

Born

Pólya György , ( 1887-12-13 ) December 13, 1887, Budapest , Austria-Hungary

Died

September 7, 1985 (1985-09-07) (aged 97), Palo Alto, California , U.S.

Citizenship

Hungarian, Swiss (1918–1947), American (1947–)

Alma mater

Eötvös Loránd University

Fields

Mathematics

Institutions

ETH Zürich , Stanford University

Doctoral advisor

Lipót Fejér

Doctoral students

Albert Edrei [ de ] , Hans Einstein , Fritz Gassmann , Albert Pfluger , Walter Saxer , James J. Stoker , Alice Roth

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Wikidata facts

Image

George Pólya ca 1973.jpg

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