The text discusses the origin of the name Google and the concept of large numbers. It mentions the history of large numbers, the difficulty of expressing very large numbers, and the human mind's inability to intuit large numbers. ...
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Jørgen Veisdal is the author of the website Privatdozent. He runs a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers. The website features irregular postings due to his responsibilities as a father to two young daughters.
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The text discusses Alan Turing's significant contributions to analytic number theory via his work on the non-trivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function and the Riemann hypothesis. It also details Turing's efforts to build a specia...
The text discusses mathematician John F. Nash Jr.'s bold approach in reaching out to prestigious scientists to discuss his ideas, including his meetings with Albert Einstein and John von Neumann. It highlights Nash's willingness t...
0The Origins of Deutsche Physik (1910s)
2025-01-06 •
The text discusses the origins of Deutsche Physik, a movement that emerged in response to the increasing use of the English language in scientific writing by German authors. It details the conflict between German and British intel...
0The Battle Line at Louvain (1914)
2024-11-15 •
The text discusses the Battle Line at Louvain in 1914, and the subsequent book burning ceremonies by the Nazi Party in 1933. It also delves into the origins of Deutsche Physik and the politicization of knowledge. The Battle Line a...
The text discusses the development of game theory, focusing on the collaboration between Oskar Morgenstern and John von Neumann, and the subsequent work of John Forbes Nash. It explains the limitations of von Neumann and Morgenste...
0The Entscheidungsproblem (1930s)
2024-10-04 •
The text discusses the history of the Entscheidungsproblem, a challenge posed by David Hilbert and his doctoral student Wilhelm Ackermann in the 1920s. It explores the work of mathematicians such as Kurt Gödel, Alonzo Church, and ...
0John von Neumann's 1935 letter to Oswald Veblen
2024-08-30 •
The text is a detailed analysis of a letter written by John von Neumann to Oswald Veblen in 1935, discussing various topics including gossip, politics, and current events, as well as notable figures in the field of mathematics and...
0The von Neumann-Morgenstern Collaboration (1938-43)
2024-08-21 •
The blog post discusses the collaboration between John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern from 1938 to 1943, which led to the creation of the interdisciplinary research field of game theory. Von Neumann, initially a researcher in s...
0Abel: The Mozart of Mathematics
2024-08-16 •
The blog post is about the life and work of Niels Henrik Abel, a self-taught mathematician who made pioneering contributions to pure mathematics. It details his early life, education, and the impact of his work on the field of mat...
0Sir Arthur Eddington's Grand Expedition (1919)
2024-05-08 •
The text is about Sir Arthur Eddington's Grand Expedition in 1919 to prove Einstein's theory of relativity. It describes the background of Eddington and Einstein, the predictions of the theory, the expeditions, and the results. It...
0The Birthplace of AI (1956)
2024-04-28 •
The text discusses the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence in 1956, its members, and their contributions to the field. It highlights the proposal for the project, the attendees, and the outcomes of the con...
0When Turing met Wittgenstein (1939)
2024-04-22 •
The blog post discusses the intellectual encounter between Alan Turing and Ludwig Wittgenstein in 1939 at Cambridge. Turing, after earning his Ph.D. from Princeton, returned to Cambridge and worked part-time at the Government Code...
0The Great Purge (1933)
2024-04-15 •
The text discusses the Great Purge of 1933 in Germany, which led to the dismissal of public employees, including scientists and academics, who did not fit the Nazi racial or societal ideal. It also highlights the impact of the pur...
0The Einstein-Freud Correspondence (1932)
2024-04-05 •
In 1932, Albert Einstein wrote an open letter to Sigmund Freud to discuss the origins of war, peace, human nature, and the role of sciences. This correspondence occurred amidst rising anti-Semitic sentiment in Germany and Austria,...
The blog post discusses the establishment of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey, highlighting its unique mission to pursue knowledge for its own sake. The IAS is compared to the University of Göttingen...
0Privatdozent Photo Edition #14
2022-08-25 •
The blog post features a photograph from 1952 of J. Robert Oppenheimer and John von Neumann, two prominent figures in the field of quantum mechanics and computing. Oppenheimer, known as the father of the atomic bomb, became the di...
0Privatdozent Photo Edition #13
2022-05-04 •
The blog post discusses a photograph from the 1931 Rome Conference on Nuclear Physics featuring notable physicists such as Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Enrico Fermi, Peter Debye, Otto Stern, and Orso Mario Corbino. It highlights...
0Episode 8: Einstein and Hilbert's Relativity Race
2022-04-29 •
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0Privatdozent Photo Edition #12
2022-04-24 •
The blog post highlights the achievements of Terence Tao, a modern-day mathematical prodigy comparable to David Hilbert. Tao has authored over 300 research papers across various mathematical fields and has an h-index of 101. He wa...
0The Best Books on: Kurt Gödel
2022-04-23 •
The blog post by Jørgen Veisdal discusses notable biographies of mathematician Kurt Gödel, highlighting several recommended books. It mentions previous newsletters on Gödel and provides a list of books for those interested in his ...
0John von Neumann: The Man from the Future (2022)
2022-04-05 •
The blog post features an interview with author Ananyo Bhattacharya about his book 'The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann'. The discussion covers von Neumann's early life in Budapest, his academic pursuit...
0Privatdozent Photo Edition #11
2022-04-02 •
The blog post discusses a colorized 1931 photograph featuring Albert Einstein with notable scientists such as Edwin Hubble, Milton Humason, and others during Einstein's time as a visiting professor at Caltech. It highlights Einste...
0The Beautiful Life of John Forbes Nash, Jr.
2022-03-23 •
The text is a biography of mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. It covers his early life, education, and his groundbreaking work in game theory, particularly the Nash equilibrium. It also discusses his interactions with other mathe...