February 22, 2017 Wednesday
Bedtime Story
Why Historical Perspective is Essential for a Meaningful Bedtime Story
To make my bedtime stories and the story of great accomplishments
of the human apes in mathematics and science complete, it is pertinent that I
do not dissociate these events from the prevalent socio-economic conditions of
those times.
History and historical background surrounding any event is
indispensable if one wishes to fully fathom the import of it.
Historical perspective if you would have noticed, is one the
corner stones of my bedtime stories and I believe that is the way history must
be taught.
Not as a pure undetached subject but in relation to the other
significant events, the most important of which are sciences, mathematics and of
course wars.
Wars are perhaps the most regular feature of human apes which
essentially is a struggle for resources.
To me it seems very ironic that it is always the powerful empires
who are most endowed with resources that are ever ready to acquire more of
land, humans and natural wealth such as minerals and water.
So it was with Germany after its humiliating defeat in the Word
War I.
While Germany was being fortified into a war machinery of
unimaginable proportions, its intelligentsia was running helter-skelter for
cover.
Hilbert along with Felix Klein had transformed the Göttingen University
into the world class center of mathematics from 1895 onwards till 1930.
It was exactly what the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton
would soon go on to become after Gottingen in 1940s.
Göttingen under him had nurtured the most dazzling mathematicians
of 20th century such as Ernst Zermelo, John von Neumann, Alonzo
Church, Hermann Weyl, Wilhelm Ackermann, Emmy Noether and many others.
So it was a tragedy when from 1933 onwards he had to watch the
Nazi regime purging out all the talent out of Göttingen and even out of Germany
into the welcoming arms of the United States of America.
As the German Jews and Jews from other adjoining nations were
exiled, deported or mass murdered, Germany and Göttingen were laid skeleton
bare of their intellect.
It was as if hyenas and vultures were ripping out the flesh and
blood of a most robust personage and sucking out slowly the very life from this
virile body.
In front of the Nazi machinery, Hilbert could do little; he stood
and watched helplessly watching his peer group slipping out of his hands and
circle that he had so carefully raised and tended to.
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.
Advertisements
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:
No comments:
Post a Comment