
The Mathematician (1947) - maverick_iceman
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Extras/Von_Neumann_Part_1.html
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laichzeit0
Second page, last two paragraphs are probably the most interesting.

My tl;dr: Von Neumann sees mathematics as being primarily inspired by
empirical problems. The further mathematical theories veer from their
empirical origins, the more "baroque" or "degenerate" they become.

It would be interesting to know what inspired him to write this. Maybe
something equivalent to, e.g. modern string theory, which was pissing him off.

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octoploid
The article was written 1947, so I guess he was thinking of algebraic geometry
before Grothendieck came along.

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pjmorris
Well worth a read, especially for those convinced of the certainty of
mathematical rigor. In the words of one of his contemporaries, "For a
successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for
Nature cannot be fooled."... even mathematics profits from empirical
grounding.

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n4r9
If you're interested in the idea of mathematics having an empirical grounding,
Matthew Leifer's essay "Mathematics is Physics" is a nice development.

[https://arxiv.org/abs/1508.02770](https://arxiv.org/abs/1508.02770)

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fxbois
I dream of the biography of reference about John von Neumann

