File:ETH-BIB-Polya,_Georg_(1887-1985)-Portrait-Portr_13887-19-AL.tif · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
George Pólya
Sign in to saveAlso known as George Polya, Georg Polya, Georg Pólya
Hungarian mathematician (1887-1985)
OverviewAI-generated
George Pólya (1887–1985) was an author of thirty-nine works, including *Mathematical discovery*, *Great and small examples of problem solving*, *Schule des Denkens*, *Mathematik und plausibles Schliessen*, and *Aufgaben und Lehrsätzen aus der Analysis*. His writings have been recognized in the American Academy Arts Sciences collection.
Pólya’s Erdős number is 2. He is the subject of a quote stating, "The best of ideas is hurt by uncritical acceptance and thrives on critical examination."
Synthesized by Vinony from 14 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Crossref, Wikiquote, MusicBrainz, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1887
- Died
- 1985
- Works
- 39
Top works
- Great and small examples of problem solving
- Schule des Denkens
- Mathematik und plausibles Schliessen
- Aufgaben und Lehrsätze aus der Analysis
- Mathematical discovery
via Open Library + Wikidata
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- A short history of<i>SHELX</i>
· 2007 · cited 79,952x
- Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test
· 1997 · cited 48,640x
- Crystal structure refinement with<i>SHELXL</i>
· 2015 · cited 40,912x
- <i>SHELXT</i>– Integrated space-group and crystal-structure determination
· 2015 · cited 27,669x
- A new and rapid colorimetric determination of acetylcholinesterase activity
· 1961 · cited 23,205x
via Crossref · CC0
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.”
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
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
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Part of
- The Martians
- Given name
- Georg
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Hungary
- Place of birth
- Budapest
- Place of death
- Palo Alto
- Sibling
- Eugen Pólya
- Occupation
- university teacher
- Educated at
- University of Göttingen
- Employer
- Brown University
- Languages spoken
- German
- Religion
- Catholicism
- Doctoral advisor
- Lipót Fejér
- Field of work
- education
- Image
- George Pólya ca 1973.jpg
Show 9 more facts
- member of
- Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- Commons category
- George Pólya
- date of birth
- 1887-01-01
- date of death
- 1985-01-01
- Erdős number
- 2
- name in native language
- Pólya György
- place of burial
- Alta Mesa Memorial Park
- maintained by WikiProject
- WikiProject Mathematics
- municipal affiliation of a Swiss national
- Zurich
via Wikidata · CC0
~10 min read
Encyclopedic overview
George Pólya (/ˈpoʊljə/; Hungarian: Pólya György [ˈpoːjɒ ˈɟørɟ]; December 13, 1887 – September 7, 1985) was a Hungarian-American mathematician. He was a professor of mathematics from 1914 to 1940 at ETH Zürich and from 1940 to 1953 at Stanford University. He made fundamental contributions to combinatorics, number theory, numerical analysis and probability theory. He is also noted for his work in heuristics and mathematics education. He has been described as one of The Martians, an informal category which included one of his most famous students at ETH Zurich, John von Neumann.
Life and works
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “George Pólya” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.