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)
George Pólya was a Hungarian mathematician who lived from 1887 to 1985 and made important contributions to mathematics education and problem-solving methods. He is widely remembered for developing systematic approaches to teaching people how to solve problems, which have influenced mathematics education around the world.
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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 79,651x
- Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test
· 1997 · cited 47,787x
- Crystal structure refinement with<i>SHELXL</i>
· 2015 · cited 40,064x
- <i>SHELXT</i>– Integrated space-group and crystal-structure determination
· 2015 · cited 26,949x
- A new and rapid colorimetric determination of acetylcholinesterase activity
· 1961 · cited 23,020x
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
- Image
- George Pólya ca 1973.jpg
Show 5 more facts
- 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
via Wikidata · CC0
~10 min read
Article
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