January 25, 2017 Wednesday
Bedtime Story
Gödel Sets His Life Journey
Considering that Germans always considered Austria their backyard
and reeling under economic crisis after heavy losses in World War 1, it came as
no surprise when the Third Reich invaded and simply annexed Austria on March
12, 1938.
No question asked.
This act of the Third Reich in 1938 (when Gödel turned 32), by
default made him a German citizen.
Then finally in 1948, at the age of 42, he became the citizen of
the United States of America.
How he got this citizenship also is a rich tale.
I may delve into it some night.
Gödel had an elder brother who joined medical school of the
University of Vienna.
Gödel realized very early that he loved mathematics and history
and so instead of following his brother blindly and join the medical school
like many do, he decided to pursue theoretical physics.
This is a gutsy step in itself!
Imagine if your own son dared to commit this sacrilege; the
obvious question you would ask is, “What future is there for you in
mathematical physics?”
Gödel was “worse”.
He committed even a greater profanity.
For some unknown reason, instead of mathematical physics he joined
the department of mathematics and philosophy.
Now we all know that mathematics and philosophy are exactly the
class of education that can eventually lead one to starvation, hunger and
despair (unless of course you start private tuition classes and then you can
really flourish like doctors do)!
But Gödel was not your average ape.
Even as he was just turning 18 in 1924 and was at the doorstep of
the University, he had trained himself with pretty advanced mathematics on his
own.
Yet there are limits when you are on your own.
The whole point of a good university education to my mind is to
expose a budding brain to advanced thinking brains who pose problems (rather
than repeat facts ad nauseam) and hence set the young mind racing and soaring
to new heights.
This is exactly what Gödel happened to encounter over there.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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