Occupation: Mathematician Birth: January 23, 1862 Death: February 14, 1943
The tool which serves as intermediary between theory and practice, between thought and observation, is mathematics; it is mathematics which builds th….
Besides it is an error to believe that rigour is the enemy of simplicity. On the contrary we find it confirmed by numerous examples that the rigorous….
How thoroughly it is ingrained in mathematical science that every real advance goes hand in hand with the invention of sharper tools and simpler meth….
In mathematics ... we find two tendencies present. On the one hand, the tendency towards abstraction seeks to crystallise the logical relations inher….
Physics is becoming too difficult for the physicists..
Every mathematical discipline goes through three periods of development: the naive, the formal, and the critical..
Sometimes it happens that a man's circle of horizon becomes smaller and smaller, and as the radius approaches zero it concentrates on one point. And ….
One must be able to say at all times--instead of points, straight lines, and planes--tables, chairs, and beer mugs.
Mathematics knows no races or geographic boundaries; for mathematics, the cultural world is one country..
Mathematics is a presuppositionless science. To found it I do not need God, as does Kronecker, or the assumption of a special faculty of our understa….
Galileo was no idiot. Only an idiot could believe that science requires martyrdom - that may be necessary in religion, but in time a scientific resul….
If one were to bring ten of the wisest men in the world together and ask them what was the most stupid thing in existence, they would not be able to ….
A mathematical problem should be difficult in order to entice us, yet not completely inaccessible, lest it mock at our efforts. It should be to us a ….
For us there is no ignorabimus, and in my opinion none whatever in natural science. In opposition to the foolish ignorabimus our slogan shall be: "We….
Every kind of science, if it has only reached a certain degree of maturity, automatically becomes a part of mathematics..
No other question has ever moved so profoundly the spirit of man; no other idea has so fruitfully stimulated his intellect; yet no other concept stan….
One can measure the importance of a scientific work by the number of earlier publications rendered superfluous by it.
If I were to awaken after having slept for a thousand years, my first question would be: Has the Riemann hypothesis been proven?.
Mathematics is a game played according to certain simple rules with meaningless marks on paper..
Wir mussen wissen. Wir werden wissen. We must know. We will know. Inscribed on his tomb in Gilttingen..
He who seeks for methods without having a definite problem in mind seeks in the most part in vain..