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Words of Wisdom — March 30, 2015

‘Mathematical Genius and Artistic Genius Touch One Another.’

“The mathematician’s best work is art, a high perfect art, as daring as the most secret dreams of imagination, clear and limpid. Mathematical genius and artistic genius touch one another.”

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Gösta Mittag-Leffler (1846–1927) was a Swedish mathematician best known for his contributions to the theory of functions. Well-respected during his lifetime, Mittag-Leffler was a member of over 30 academic societies including the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Académie des sciences in Paris. He also served on the Nobel Prize committee in 1903 and, as a staunch supporter of women’s rights, was instrumental in the eventual decision to award the prize to Marie Curie as well as her husband.

“The mathematician’s best work is art, a high perfect art, as daring as the most secret dreams of imagination, clear and limpid. Mathematical genius and artistic genius touch one another.”

Source: Quoted in N. Rose Mathematical Maxims and Minims, Raleigh NC:Rome Press Inc., 1988. [Wikiquote]

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