Kurt Gödel

Kurt Gödel is one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. Eccentric and weird, Gödel has given and enormous contribution for development of mathematics, logic and future computer program languages. He was the first one who shook up Hilbert’s motto Wir mussen wissen, Wir werden wissen, claiming that every formal language has its limitations and that some mathematical questions can go beyond these limitations.

As one of the members of famous Vienna Circle, Gödel has strongly confronted pure formalism and positivism, claiming that mathematical truths go beyond formal and logical borders. He also believed that some statements can be presented into formal languages, but cannot be proved in same frame. A lot of scientists nowadays recognize in Gödel’s works about indecision (this is his main contribution to the science) seeds of modern program languages. To be more specific, these seeds are 45 numerical formulas that are very similar to a computer program.

To defend his thesis in front of scientists assembly (mostly skeptics), Gödel has created a special language which provided a step-by-step development of specific mathematical operations. A contemporary pendant of Gödel’s language is interpreters (compilers)  – special languages made for interpreting high level complicated program languages into simplified computer language. Almost all today’s commercial software was made thanks to the use of compilers.

Besides mathematics, Gödel was interested in philosophy and he found Leibniz’s thoughts about precise artificial language (the one that major part of thinking reduce on calculating) very inspiring. Therefore, he put Hilbert’s principle of solvability of all mathematical problems into the context of human mind. Gödel posed a question if human mind was equal to the computer. Although, there have never been a straight answer to this question, we can say that this famous mathematician has realized that nature of human mind goes beyond physical reality and laws of mechanic, after all.

On This Day …

1699 – Composer Johann Adolph Hasse was born.
1784 – Composer Francois-Joseph Fetis was born.
1852 – Friedrich Hebbel’s “Agnes Bernauer,” premiered in Munich.
1881 – Composer Bela Bartok was born.
1931 – Hal Kemp and his orchestra recorded “Whistles,” with Skinnay Ennis.
1960 – Roy Orbison recorded “Only the Lonely.”
1961 – Elvis Presley performed his last live show for the next eight years in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
1967 – The Who made its U.S. concert debut in New York.
1974 – Barbra Streisand recorded the album “Butterfly.”
1979 – Van Halen released the album “Van Halen II.”
1985 – Prince won an Oscar for Best Original Score for the soundtrack for the movie “Purple Rain.”

On This Day …

1908 – In New York, Beethoven’s “Fidelio” opened at the Metropolitan Opera.
1918 – Composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann was born.
1935 – “Your Hit Parade” made its debut on radio.
1936 – Benny Goodman and his orchestra recorded “Christopher Columbus” in Chicago, IL.
1948 – Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra were featured in the first televised symphonic concert.
1959 – Bobby Rydell made his first TV appearance, on “American Bandstand.”
1960 – Elvis Presley made his first post-Army recording.
1961 – Ricky Nelson recorded “Hello Mary Lou.”
1965 – The first Motown tour of the U.K. began.
1969 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married in Gibraltar.
1970 – David Bowie and Angela Barnett were married.
1972 – Ringo Starr released “Back Off, Boogaloo.”
1976 – “Young Blood” by Bad Company was released.
1977 – The final live T. Rex concert took place.
1982 – Buckner & Garcia performed “Pac-Man Fever” on “American Bandstand.”
1991 – It was announced that Michael Jackson and Sony signed a contract that gave an $18 million advance for the forthcoming album “Dangerous.” The contract also made Jackson the CEO of the newly formed Nation Records (which changed its name to MJJ). The deal was reported to be worth $1 billion.
1995 – “Baby It’s You,” by the Beatles, was released.

On This Day …

1942 – Fats Waller recorded “The Jitterbug Waltz” in New York.
1947 – Margaret Truman made her professional radio debut. She sang with the Detroit Symphony.
1963 – “Puff The Magic Dragon” was released by Peter, Paul and Mary.
1964 – Capitol released the Beatles “Can’t Buy Me Love” backed with “You Can’t Do That.”
1969 – The musical “1776″ opened on Broadway.
1979 – Twisted Sister became the first band to sell out New York City’s Palladium without ever releasing a record. The band did not sign a record deal until 3 years later.
1999 – The album “Great Zeppelin: A Tribute To Led Zeppelin” was released by Great White.
1999 – The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) presented the first Diamond Awards. The awards are given in recognition of albums and singles that have sold 10 million copies or more.

On This Day…

1835 – Composer Eduard Strauss was born.
1864 – Composer Johan Halvorsen was born.
1945 – “Billboard” magazine began listing a top albums chart. The first #1 was “The Nat King Cole Trio.”
1956 – The Lerner and Loewe musical “My Fair Lady” opened on Broadway.
1974 – The Emerson, Lake and Palmer movie “Pictures at an Exhibition” premiered in Los Angeles, CA.
1975 – The group T. Rex disbanded.
1976 – “Destroyer” was released by KISS.

On This Day …

1681 – Composer Georg Philipp Telemann was born.
1727 – Composer Johann Gottlieb Goldberg was born.
1804 – Composer Johann I Strauss was born.
1956 – The movie “Rock Around the Clock” (with Bill Haley) made its premier in Washington, DC.
1958 – Perry Como’s “Catch A Falling Star” was certified as the first gold single.
1960 – Sam Cooke began his first tour of the West Indies.
1965 – Petula Clark made her American TV debut on CBS’ “Ed Sullivan Show.”
1980 – Quincy Jones got a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
1995 – Prince released the single “Purple Medley.”
1998 – Ray Charles made his first solo performance in 53 years on the television shopping network QVC.
1998 – Jo Dee Messina made her Grand Ole Opry debut.
2003 – Israel “Cachao” Lopez received the 2,219th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On This Day …

1839 – Composer Dudley Buck was born.
1844 – Composer Pablo Martin Meliton de Sarasate was born.
1892 – Composer Arthur Oscar Honegger was born.
1940 – “I Pagliacci” by Ruggiero Leoncavallo became the first opera to be broadcast on television.
1979 – James Brown played at the Grand Ole Opry.
1988 – Andy Gibb died from myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) following a long battle with cocaine addiction, which had weakened his heart.
1992 – Prince received a lifetime achievement award at the Soul Train Awards.

David Hilbert: Wir mussen wissen, Wir werden wissen!

David Hilbert is one of the most comprehensive and most influential mathematicians of the 19th-20th century.  In his famous lecture at International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris in 1900, Hilbert spoke about “The Problems of Mathematic”.  His optimism put into the words: “We must know; we shall know” shows at the same time a concept of mathematical problems. Hilbert strongly believed that there are not unsolvable mathematical problems. And, to fined desired solutions, Hilbert was not only looking into the future but into his precursors and their achievements. Mathematics, as a science, deals with invariable issues, and based on that, mathematic solutions always come from transformations of previous achievements. Therefore, Hilbert adjust and preserve Cantor’s set theory and transfinite numbers.

Hilbert has never given up on his search for mathematical fundaments (despite many difficulties, critics and proofs of impossibility). Looking for this fundament, he has founded a completely new mathematics named meta-mathematics (views on mathematical fundaments).

As well as Frege, Hilbert hasn’t forgotten logics, either. He believed that mathematics and logics develop simultaneously in formal, symbolic language. Hilbert is also one of the founders of mathematical logic. Upon these studies of formal side of mathematics as a science, the basis of formal reasoning will be later derived. These principles of formal reasoning are a solid platform of today’s computer programs.

On This Day …

1824 – Composer Bedrich Friedrich Smetana was born.
1900 – Composer Kurt Weill was born.
1921 – Composer Robert Simpson was born.
1964 – “Twist and Shout” by the Beatles was released in the U.S.
1964 – The Beatles began their first film, “A Hard Day’s Night.”
1967 – The Supremes recorded “Reflections.”