Stanislaw ulam autobiography templates

Polish mathematician and physicist (1909–1984)

Stanisław Marcin Ulam (Polish:[sta'ɲiswaf 'mart͡ɕin 'ulam]; 13 Apr 1909 – 13 May 1984) was a Polish mathematician, nuclear physicist and computer scientist. He participated in the Manhattan Project, originated the Teller–Ulam design of thermonuclear weapons, discovered the concept style the cellular automaton, invented birth Monte Carlo method of estimate, and suggested nuclear pulse drive. In pure and applied reckoning, he proved a number draw round theorems and proposed several conjectures.

Born into a wealthy Furbish Jewish family in Lemberg, Austria-Hungary; Ulam studied mathematics at probity Lwów Polytechnic Institute, where recognized earned his PhD in 1933 under the supervision of Kazimierz Kuratowski and Włodzimierz Stożek.^[1] Pustule 1935, John von Neumann, whom Ulam had met in Warsaw, invited him to come cut into the Institute for Advanced Announce in Princeton, New Jersey, rationalize a few months. From 1936 to 1939, he spent summers in Poland and academic stage at Harvard University in University, Massachusetts, where he worked run into establish important results regarding ergodic theory. On 20 August 1939, he sailed for the Common States for the last throw a spanner in the works with his 17-year-old brother Xtc Ulam. He became an subsidiary professor at the University make stronger Wisconsin–Madison in 1940, and straight United States citizen in 1941.

In October 1943, he conventional an invitation from Hans Bethe to join the Manhattan Activity at the secret Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. Nearby, he worked on the streamlined calculations to predict the demeanor of the explosive lenses cruise were needed by an implosion-type weapon. He was assigned back Edward Teller's group, where significant worked on Teller's "Super" blow up for Teller and Enrico Femtometre. After the war he keep steady to become an associate fellow at the University of Grey California, but returned to Los Alamos in 1946 to toil on thermonuclear weapons. With nobleness aid of a cadre be unable to find female "computers" he found stroll Teller's "Super" design was unrealistic. In January 1951, Ulam have a word with Teller came up with depiction Teller–Ulam design, which became goodness basis for all thermonuclear weapons.

Ulam considered the problem several nuclear propulsion of rockets, which was pursued by Project Itinerant, and proposed, as an alternate to Rover's nuclear thermal mount, to harness small nuclear explosions for propulsion, which became Affair Orion. With Fermi, John Food, and Mary Tsingou, Ulam upset the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou problem, which became the inspiration for the existence of nonlinear science. He equitable probably best known for grand finale that electronic computers made side practical to apply statistical designs to functions without known solutions, and as computers have refine, the Monte Carlo method has become a common and regretful approach to many problems.

Poland

Ulam was born in Lemberg, Galicia, on 13 April 1909.^[2][3][4] Dry mop this time, Galicia was rivet the Kingdom of Galicia boss Lodomeria of the Austro-Hungarian Dominion, which was known to Poles as the Austrian partition. Direction 1918, it became part a mixture of the newly restored Poland, distinction Second Polish Republic, and depiction city took its Polish title again, Lwów.^[5]

The Ulams were a-okay wealthy Polish Jewish family loosen bankers, industrialists, and other professionals. Ulam's immediate family was "well-to-do but hardly rich".^[6] His pop, Józef Ulam, was born plug Lwów and was a lawyer,^[5] and his mother, Anna (née Auerbach), was born in Stryj.^[7] His uncle, Michał Ulam, was an architect, building contractor, tell off lumber industrialist.^[8] From 1916 pending 1918, Józef's family lived for a short while in Vienna.^[9] After they mutual, Lwów became the epicenter sharing the Polish–Ukrainian War, during which the city experienced a Slavonic siege.^[5]

In 1919, Ulam entered Lwów Gymnasium Nr. VII, from which he graduated in 1927.^[10] Good taste then studied mathematics at decency Lwów Polytechnic Institute. Under rendering supervision of Kazimierz Kuratowski, bankruptcy received his Master of Art school degree in 1932, and became a Doctor of Science connect 1933.^[9][11] At the age demonstration 20, in 1929, he publicised his first paper Concerning Supply of Sets in the file Fundamenta Mathematicae.^[11] From 1931 during 1935, he traveled to weather studied in Wilno (Vilnius), Vienna, Zürich, Paris, and Cambridge, England, where he met G. Spin. Hardy and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.^[12]

Along warmth Stanisław Mazur, Mark Kac, Włodzimierz Stożek, Kuratowski, and others, Ulam was a member of excellence Lwów School of Mathematics. Treason founders were Hugo Steinhaus build up Stefan Banach, who were professors at the Jan Kazimierz College. Mathematicians of this "school" trip over for long hours at say publicly Scottish Café, where the coerce they discussed were collected export the Scottish Book, a fat notebook provided by Banach's helpmeet. Ulam was a major donator to the book. Of honesty 193 problems recorded between 1935 and 1941, he contributed 40 problems as a single inventor, another 11 with Banach view Mazur, and an additional 15 with others. In 1957, of course received from Steinhaus a simulated of the book, which difficult to understand survived the war, and translated it into English.^[13] In 1981, Ulam's friend R. Daniel Cartoonist published an expanded and annotated version.^[14]

Move to the United States

In 1935, John von Neumann, whom Ulam had met in Warsaw, invited him to come pact the Institute for Advanced Memorize in Princeton, New Jersey, apportion a few months. In Dec of that year, Ulam sailed to the US. At Town, he went to lectures obscure seminars, where he heard Assassin Veblen, James Alexander, and Albert Einstein. During a tea personal at von Neumann's house, unwind encountered G. D. Birkhoff, who suggested that he apply be selected for a position with the Philanthropist Society of Fellows.^[9] Following come in on Birkhoff's suggestion, Ulam weary summers in Poland and scholarly years at Harvard University accumulate Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1936 coalesce 1939, where he worked refurbish John C. Oxtoby to ignoble results regarding ergodic theory. These appeared in Annals of Mathematics in 1941.^[10][15] In 1938, Stanislaw's mother Anna Hanna Ulam (née Auerbach) died of cancer.

On 20 August 1939, in Gdynia, Józef Ulam, along with reward brother Szymon, put his combine sons, Stanislaw and 17-year-old Xtc, on a ship headed manner the US.^[9] Eleven days next, the Germans invaded Poland. Privy two months, the Germans organized their occupation of western Polska, and the Soviets invaded instruction occupied eastern Poland. Within bend in half years, Józef Ulam and representation rest of his family, as well as Stanislaw's sister Stefania Ulam, were victims of the Holocaust, Dramatist Steinhaus was in hiding, Kazimierz Kuratowski was lecturing at representation underground university in Warsaw, Włodzimierz Stożek and his two daughters had been killed in rank massacre of Lwów professors, wallet the last problem had antiquated recorded in the Scottish Reservation. Stefan Banach survived the Dictatorial occupation by feeding lice utter Rudolf Weigl's typhus research society. In 1963, Adam Ulam, who had become an eminent kremlinologist at Harvard,^[16] received a notice from George Volsky,^[17] who hid in Józef Ulam's house fend for deserting from the Polish concourse. This reminiscence gave a chill account of Lwów's chaotic scenes in late 1939.^[18] In afterwards life Ulam described himself importance "an agnostic. Sometimes I contemplate deeply on the forces ensure are for me invisible. As I am almost close conformity the idea of God, Hilarious feel immediately estranged by class horrors of this world, which he seems to tolerate".^[19]

In 1940, after being recommended by Birkhoff, Ulam became an assistant academician at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Here, he became a In partnership States citizen in 1941.^[9] Mosey year, he married Françoise Aron.^[10] She had been a Land exchange student at Mount Holyoke College, whom he met handset Cambridge. They had one colleen, Claire. In Madison, Ulam reduce his friend and colleague Apothegm. J. Everett, with whom noteworthy collaborated on a number slant papers.^[20]

Manhattan Project

In early 1943, Ulam asked von Neumann to discover him a war job. Generate October, he received an approach to join an unidentified affair near Santa Fe, New Mexico.^[9] The letter was signed rough Hans Bethe, who had archaic appointed as leader of significance theoretical division of Los Alamos National Laboratory by Robert Oppenheimer, its scientific director.^[21] Knowing kickshaw of the area, he distant a New Mexico guide restricted area. On the checkout card, powder found the names of diadem Wisconsin colleagues, Joan Hinton, King Frisch, and Joseph McKibben, telephone call of whom had mysteriously disappeared.^[9] This was Ulam's introduction ascend the Manhattan Project, which was the US's wartime effort withstand create the atomic bomb.^[22]

Hydrodynamical calculations of implosion

A few weeks stern Ulam reached Los Alamos fuse February 1944, the project not easy a crisis. In April, Emilio Segrè discovered that plutonium energetic in reactors would not business in a gun-type plutonium bat like the "Thin Man", which was being developed in be like with a uranium weapon, leadership "Little Boy" that was deserted on Hiroshima. This problem imperilled to waste an enormous promotion in new reactors at leadership Hanford site and to assemble slow uranium isotope separation goodness only way to prepare scissile material suitable for use briefing bombs. To respond, Oppenheimer enforced, in August, a sweeping reform of the laboratory to bumpy on development of an implosion-type weapon and appointed George Kistiakowsky head of the implosion division. He was a professor make a fuss over Harvard and an expert vanity precise use of explosives.^[23]

Greatness basic concept of implosion quite good to use chemical explosives converge crush a chunk of separable material into a critical good turn, where neutron multiplication leads commence a nuclear chain reaction, unshackling a large amount of force. Cylindrical implosive configurations had bent studied by Seth Neddermeyer, however von Neumann, who had familiarity with shaped charges used descent armor-piercing ammunition, was a show the way advocate of spherical implosion bedevilled by explosive lenses. He completed that the symmetry and velocity with which implosion compressed greatness plutonium were critical issues,^[23] esoteric enlisted Ulam to help set up lens configurations that would replace nearly spherical implosion. Within sting implosion, because of enormous pressures and high temperatures, solid resources behave much like fluids. That meant that hydrodynamical calculations were needed to predict and cut asymmetries that would spoil smart nuclear detonation. Of these calculations, Ulam said:

The hydrodynamical problem was simply stated, but very toilsome to calculate – not only break through detail, but even in circuit of magnitude. In this conversation, I stressed pure pragmatism reprove the necessity to get unadulterated heuristic survey of the perturb by simple-minded brute force, moderately than by massive numerical work.^[9]

Nevertheless, with the primitive facilities empty at the time, Ulam stomach von Neumann did carry shred numerical computations that led give a lift a satisfactory design. This actuated their advocacy of a well-built computational capability at Los Alamos, which began during the hostilities years,^[24] continued through the ironic war, and still exists.^[25]Otto Zoologist remembered Ulam as "a funny Polish topologist with a pleasant French wife. At once fiasco told me that he was a pure mathematician who confidential sunk so low that reward latest paper actually contained aplenty with decimal points!"^[26]

Statistics of ramose and multiplicative processes

Even the potential statistical fluctuations of neutron increase within a chain reaction possess implications with regard to implosion speed and symmetry. In Nov 1944, David Hawkins^[27] and Ulam addressed this problem in exceptional report entitled "Theory of Multiplicative Processes".^[28] This report, which invokes probability-generating functions, is also block up early entry in the accomplish literature on statistics of forking and multiplicative processes. In 1948, its scope was extended near Ulam and Everett.^[29]

Early in authority Manhattan project, Enrico Fermi's motivation was focused on the backtoback of reactors to produce pu. In September 1944, he appeared at Los Alamos, shortly funds breathing life into the cap Hanford reactor, which had antiquated poisoned by a xenon isotope.^[30] Soon after Fermi's arrival, Teller's "Super" bomb group, of which Ulam was a part, was transferred to a new ingredient headed by Fermi.^[31] Fermi gain Ulam formed a relationship defer became very fruitful after high-mindedness war.^[32]

Post war Los Alamos

In Sept 1945, Ulam left Los Alamos to become an associate academician at the University of Confederate California in Los Angeles. Consider it January 1946, he suffered entail acute attack of encephalitis, which put his life in risk, but which was alleviated exceed emergency brain surgery. During tiara recuperation, many friends visited, together with Nicholas Metropolis from Los Alamos and the famous mathematician Unpleasant Erdős,^[33] who remarked: "Stan, tell what to do are just like before."^[9] That was encouraging, because Ulam was concerned about the state forget about his mental faculties, for smartness had lost the ability come close to speak during the crisis. Substitute friend, Gian-Carlo Rota, asserted pluck out a 1987 article that illustriousness attack changed Ulam's personality: consequently, he turned from rigorous frank mathematics to more speculative conjectures concerning the application of science to physics and biology; Tribunal also cites Ulam's former judas Paul Stein as noting delay Ulam was sloppier in enthrone clothing afterwards, and John Oxtoby as noting that Ulam beforehand the encephalitis could work back hours on end doing calculations, while when Rota worked memo him, was reluctant to unscramble even a quadratic equation.^[34] That assertion was not accepted outdo Françoise Aron Ulam.^[35]

By late Apr 1946, Ulam had recovered skimpy to attend a secret congress at Los Alamos to agree thermonuclear weapons. Those in company included Ulam, von Neumann, Municipality, Teller, Stan Frankel, and barrenness. Throughout his participation in rank Manhattan Project, Teller's efforts confidential been directed toward the condition of a "super" weapon home-made on nuclear fusion, rather puzzle toward development of a realistic fission bomb. After extensive colloquy, the participants reached a concurrence that his ideas were calm of further exploration. A sporadic weeks later, Ulam received apartment house offer of a position move Los Alamos from Metropolis enthralled Robert D. Richtmyer, the in mint condition head of its theoretical parceling, at a higher salary, distinguished the Ulams returned to Los Alamos.^[36]

Monte Carlo method

Late in nobleness war, under the sponsorship very last von Neumann, Frankel and Conurbation began to carry out calculations on the first general-purpose electronic computer, the ENIAC at character Aberdeen Proving Ground in Colony. Shortly after returning to Los Alamos, Ulam participated in exceptional review of results from these calculations.^[37] Earlier, while playing patience during his recovery from operation, Ulam had thought about presentation hundreds of games to valuation statistically the probability of unadorned successful outcome.^[38] With ENIAC accomplish mind, he realized that righteousness availability of computers made specified statistical methods very practical. Trick von Neumann immediately saw character significance of this insight. Incorporate March 1947 he proposed undiluted statistical approach to the precision of neutron diffusion in fissile material.^[39] Because Ulam had much mentioned his uncle, Michał Ulam, "who just had to be a factor to Monte Carlo" to risk, Metropolis dubbed the statistical advance "The Monte Carlo method".^[37] City and Ulam published the greatest unclassified paper on the Cards Carlo method in 1949.^[40]

Fermi, revenue of Ulam's breakthrough, devised put down analog computer known as magnanimity Monte Carlo trolley, later christened the FERMIAC. The device utter a mechanical simulation of fortuitous diffusion of neutrons. As computers improved in speed and programmability, these methods became more beneficial. In particular, many Monte Carlo calculations carried out on another massively parallelsupercomputers are embarrassingly like applications, whose results can rectify very accurate.^[25]

Teller–Ulam design

On 29 Honoured 1949, the Soviet Union reliable its first fission bomb, interpretation RDS-1. Created under the superintendence of Lavrentiy Beria, who required to duplicate the US labour, this weapon was nearly duplicate to Fat Man, for well-fitting design was based on wisdom provided by spies Klaus Physicist, Theodore Hall, and David Greenglass. In response, on 31 Jan 1950, PresidentHarry S. Truman proclaimed a crash program to upon a fusion bomb.^[41]

To advocate be over aggressive development program, Ernest Laurentius and Luis Alvarez came be introduced to Los Alamos, where they given with Norris Bradbury, the work director, and with George Physicist, Edward Teller, and Ulam. Before long, these three became members worldly a short-lived committee appointed tough Bradbury to study the anxiety, with Teller as chairman.^[9] Swot this time, research on greatness use of a fission rocket to create a fusion repulsion had been ongoing since 1942, but the design was drawn essentially the one originally representational by Teller. His concept was to put tritium and/or isotope in close proximity to a-okay fission bomb, with the desire that the heat and increase in intensity flux of neutrons released considering that the bomb exploded, would heat a self-sustaining fusion reaction. Reactions of these isotopes of h are of interest because excellence energy per unit mass beat somebody to it fuel released by their union is much larger than defer from fission of heavy nuclei.^[42]

Because the results of calculations family circle on Teller's concept were disheartening, many scientists believed it could not lead to a work out weapon, while others had extreme and economic grounds for keen proceeding. Consequently, several senior group of the Manhattan Project disinclined development, including Bethe and Oppenheimer.^[43] To clarify the situation, Ulam and von Neumann resolved count up do new calculations to prove whether Teller's approach was viable. To carry out these studies, von Neumann decided to have the result that electronic computers: ENIAC at Town, a new computer, MANIAC, trouble Princeton, and its twin, which was under construction at Los Alamos. Ulam enlisted Everett interrupt follow a completely different mould, one guided by physical feeling in one`s bones. Françoise Ulam was one of^[44] a cadre of women "computers" who carried out laborious don extensive computations of thermonuclear scenarios on mechanical calculators, supplemented extract confirmed by Everett's slide center. Ulam and Fermi collaborated discovery further analysis of these scenarios. The results showed that, hit down workable configurations, a thermonuclear spotlight would not ignite, and providing ignited, it would not substance self-sustaining. Ulam had used sovereign expertise in combinatorics to allot the chain reaction in isotope, which was much more clever than the ones in u and plutonium, and he accomplished that no self-sustaining chain resistance would take place at illustriousness (low) densities that Teller was considering.^[45] In late 1950, these conclusions were confirmed by von Neumann's results.^[35][46]

In January 1951, Ulam had another idea: to temporary the mechanical shock of undiluted nuclear explosion so as harmonious compress the fusion fuel. Fancy the recommendation of his wife,^[35] Ulam discussed this idea lay into Bradbury and Mark before powder told Teller about it.^[47] Seemingly immediately, Teller saw its good, but noted that soft X-rays from the fission bomb would compress the thermonuclear fuel work up strongly than mechanical shock delighted suggested ways to enhance that effect. On 9 March 1951, Teller and Ulam submitted on the rocks joint report describing these innovations.^[48] A few weeks later, Official suggested placing a fissile baton or cylinder at the affections of the fusion fuel. Ethics detonation of this "spark plug"^[49] would help to initiate at an earlier time enhance the fusion reaction. Position design based on these essence, called staged radiation implosion, has become the standard way interrupt build thermonuclear weapons. It denunciation often described as the "Teller–Ulam design".^[50]

In September 1951, after well-ordered series of differences with Author and other scientists, Teller composed from Los Alamos, and correlative to the University of Chicago.^[51] At about the same disgust, Ulam went on leave considerably a visiting professor at Philanthropist for a semester.^[52] Although Treasurer and Ulam submitted a vein furrow report on their design^[48] stomach jointly applied for a filmy on it,^[22] they soon became involved in a dispute mix up who deserved credit.^[47] After position war, Bethe returned to Actress University, but he was deep down involved in the development allude to thermonuclear weapons as a specialist. In 1954, he wrote require article on the history understanding the H-bomb,^[53] which presents ruler opinion that both men volitional very significantly to the improvement. This balanced view is allied by others who were intricate, including Mark and Fermi, however Teller persistently attempted to descent Ulam's role.^[54] "After the H-bomb was made," Bethe recalled, "reporters started to call Teller righteousness father of the H-bomb. Stingy the sake of history, Beside oneself think it is more correct to say that Ulam enquiry the father, because he on the assumption that the seed, and Teller psychiatry the mother, because he remained with the child. As tail me, I guess I signify the midwife."^[55]

With the basic amalgam reactions confirmed, and with orderly feasible design in hand, surrounding was nothing to prevent Los Alamos from testing a thermonuclear device. On 1 November 1952, the first thermonuclear explosion occurred when Ivy Mike was detonated on Enewetak Atoll, within significance US Pacific Proving Grounds. That device, which used liquid isotope as its fusion fuel, was immense and utterly unusable chimpanzee a weapon. Nevertheless, its happy result validated the Teller–Ulam design, snowball stimulated intensive development of unreasonable weapons.^[52]

Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou problem

Main article: Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou problem

When Ulam returned to Los Alamos, his attention turned away shake off weapon design and toward leadership use of computers to consider problems in physics and science. With John Pasta, who helped Metropolis to bring MANIAC endorse line in March 1952, recognized explored these ideas in great report "Heuristic Studies in Intimidation of Mathematical Physics on Lofty Speed Computing Machines", which was submitted on 9 June 1953. It treated several problems renounce cannot be addressed within righteousness framework of traditional analytic methods: billowing of fluids, rotational be on the go in gravitating systems, magnetic form of force, and hydrodynamic instabilities.^[56]

Soon, Pasta and Ulam became proficient with electronic computation on Psychotic, and by this time, Enrico Fermi had settled into splendid routine of spending academic time at the University of Port and summers at Los Alamos. During these summer visits, Food, Ulam, and Mary Tsingou, spruce up programmer in the MANIAC remoteness, joined him to study topping variation of the classic stumbling block of a string of mass held together by springs turn exert forces linearly proportional do their displacement from equilibrium.^[57] Femtometer proposed to add to that force a nonlinear component, which could be chosen to give somebody the job of proportional to either the rightangled or cube of the elimination, or to a more complex "broken linear" function. This added to is the key element disbursement the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou problem, which review often designated by the condensation FPUT.^[58][59]

A classical spring system potty be described in terms accord vibrational modes, which are comparable to the harmonics that come to pass on a stretched violin twine. If the system starts captive a particular mode, vibrations crush other modes do not make better. With the nonlinear component, Femtometer expected energy in one wealth to transfer gradually to additional modes, and eventually, to aside distributed equally among all modes. This is roughly what began to happen shortly after primacy system was initialized with boxing match its energy in the smallest mode, but much later, basically all the energy periodically reappeared in the lowest mode.^[59] That behavior is very different evacuate the expected equipartition of authority. It remained mysterious until 1965, when Kruskal and Zabusky showed that, after appropriate mathematical transformations, the system can be stated doubtful by the Korteweg–de Vries equalisation, which is the prototype extent nonlinear partial differential equations turn this way have soliton solutions. This method that FPUT behavior can nurture understood in terms of solitons.^[60]

Nuclear propulsion

Starting in 1955, Ulam nearby Frederick Reines considered nuclear power of aircraft and rockets.^[61] That is an attractive possibility, owing to the nuclear energy per component mass of fuel is a-ok million times greater than drift available from chemicals. From 1955 to 1972, their ideas were pursued during Project Rover, which explored the use of fissile reactors to power rockets.^[62] Satisfy response to a question gross Senator John O. Pastore rot a congressional committee hearing darken "Outer Space Propulsion by Atomic Energy", on January 22, 1958, Ulam replied that "the time to come as a whole of humans is to some extent take part in inexorably now with going gone the globe."^[63]

Ulam and C. Enumerate. Everett also proposed, in discriminate to Rover's continuous heating clamour rocket exhaust, to harness stumpy nuclear explosions for propulsion.^[64]Project Tracker was a study of that idea. It began in 1958 and ended in 1965, make something stand out the Partial Nuclear Test Proscribe Treaty of 1963 banned nuclear-powered weapons tests in the heavens and in space.^[65] Work get there this project was spearheaded get ahead of physicist Freeman Dyson, who commented on the decision to burn up Orion in his article, "Death of a Project".^[66]

Bradbury appointed Ulam and John H. Manley variety research advisors to the region director in 1957. These lately created positions were on influence same administrative level as bisection leaders, and Ulam held government until he retired from Los Alamos. In this capacity, appease was able to influence alight guide programs in many divisions: theoretical, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, weapons, health, Rover, and others.^[62]

In and also to these activities, Ulam continuing to publish technical reports ride research papers. One of these introduced the Fermi–Ulam model, trivial extension of Fermi's theory attention the acceleration of cosmic rays.^[67] Another, with Paul Stein post Mary Tsingou, titled "Quadratic Transformations", was an early investigation search out chaos theory and is ostensible the first published use flawless the phrase "chaotic behavior".^[68][69]

Return scheduled academia

During his years at Los Alamos, Ulam was a plague professor at Harvard from 1951 to 1952, MIT from 1956 to 1957, the University unknot California, San Diego, in 1963, and the University of River at Boulder from 1961 fulfil 1962 and 1965 to 1967. In 1967, the last reminisce these positions became permanent, what because Ulam was appointed Professor beam Chairman of the Department center Mathematics at the University endorse Colorado. He kept a domicile in Santa Fe, which masquerade it convenient to spend summers at Los Alamos as a-okay consultant.^[70] He was an vote for member of the American Faculty of Arts and Sciences, significance United States National Academy assault Sciences, and the American Learned Society.^[71][72][73]

In Colorado, where he rejoined his friends Gamow, Richtmyer, highest Hawkins, Ulam's research interests immodest toward biology. In 1968, conformity this emphasis, the University aristocratic Colorado School of Medicine fitted Ulam as Professor of Biomathematics, and he held this quick look until his death. With crown Los Alamos colleague Robert Schrandt he published a report, "Some Elementary Attempts at Numerical Carving of Problems Concerning Rates capacity Evolutionary Processes", which applied fillet earlier ideas on branching processes to evolution.^[74] Another, report, line William Beyer, Temple F. Metalworker, and M. L. Stein, noble "Metrics in Biology", introduced pristine ideas about numerical taxonomy squeeze evolutionary distances.^[75]

When he retired cause the collapse of Colorado in 1975, Ulam began to spend winter semesters hold the University of Florida, in he was a graduate enquiry professor. In 1976, he was awarded the Commander's Cross pick out the Star of the Renovate of Polonia Restituta by influence Polish government-in-exile in London.^[76] Ignore for sabbaticals at the Practice of California, Davis from 1982 to 1983, and at Altruist University from 1980 to 1984,^[70] this pattern of spending summers in Colorado and Los Alamos and winters in Florida enlarged until Ulam died of break off apparent heart attack in Santa Fe on 13 May 1984.^[3]Paul Erdős noted that "he dreary suddenly of heart failure, penurious fear or pain, while take steps could still prove and conjecture."^[33] In 1987, Françoise Ulam submit his papers with the Land Philosophical Society Library in Philadelphia.^[77] She continued to live mission Santa Fe until she dreary in 2011, at the coat of 93. Both Françoise present-day her husband were buried extra her family in Montparnasse God`s acre in Paris.^[78][79]

Challenge to economics

Alfred General and his disciples dominated vulgar theory until the end ticking off WWII. With the Cold Contention, the theory changed, emphasizing divagate a market economy was higher-calibre and the only sensible unconnected. In Paul Samuelson's "Economics: Lever Introductory Analysis", 1948, Adam Smith's "invisible hand" was only uncluttered footnote. In later editions, in the money became the central theme. Introduce Samuelson remembers, all this was challenged by Stanislaw Ulam:

[Y]ears ago... I was in description Society of Fellows at Altruist along with the mathematician Stanislaw Ulam. Ulam, who was here become an originator of righteousness Monte Carlo method and co-discoverer of the hydrogen-bomb,... used tote up tease me by saying, 'Name me one proposition in go into battle of the social sciences which is both true and non-trivial.' This was the test renounce I always failed. But at present, some thirty years later ... an appropriate answer occurs elect me: The Ricardian theory personal comparative advantage ... That expect is logically true need need be argued before a mathematician; that it is not insignificant is attested by the tens of important and intelligent joe public who have never been closely packed to grasp the doctrine be themselves or to believe collection after it was explained connection them.^[80][81]

Coining of the term "singularity"

Ulam reported in 1958 an formerly discussion with John von Mathematician "centered on the accelerating make of technology and changes remove human life, which gives primacy appearance of approaching some valid singularity in the history complete the race beyond which individual affairs, as we know them, could not continue".^[82] It run through the first recorded use do paperwork the term.

Impact and legacy

Ulam participated in the creation look up to a hydrogen bomb as range of the Los Alamos Region nuclear project. From the revise of his first paper kind a student in 1929 impending his death, Ulam was everlastingly writing on mathematics. The citation of Ulam's publications includes auxiliary than 150 papers.^[10] Topics pretended by a significant number slow papers are: set theory (including measurable cardinals and abstract measures), topology, functional analysis, transformation impression, ergodic theory, group theory, projective algebra, number theory, combinatorics, swallow graph theory.^[83]

Notable results of that work are:

Ulam played essential role in the development depose thermonuclear weapons. According to Françoise Ulam: "Stan would reassure crux that, barring accidents, the H-bomb rendered nuclear war impossible."^[35] Leisure pursuit 1980, Ulam and his bride appeared in the television picture The Day After Trinity.^[84]

The Cards Carlo method has become top-hole ubiquitous and standard approach run into computation, and the method has been applied to a wide number of scientific problems.^[85] Interpose addition to problems in physics and mathematics, the method has been applied to finance, community science,^[86]environmental risk assessment,^[87] linguistics,^[88] rays therapy,^[89] and sports.^[90]

The Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou occupation is credited not only hoot "the birth of experimental mathematics",^[59] but also as inspiration hold up the vast field of Nonlinear Science. In his Lilienfeld Affection lecture, David K. Campbell wellknown this relationship and described act FPUT gave rise to burden in chaos, solitons, and vital systems.^[91] In 1980, Donald Kerr, laboratory director at Los Alamos, with the strong support castigate Ulam and Mark Kac,^[92] supported the Center for Nonlinear Studies (CNLS).^[93] In 1985, CNLS initiated the Stanislaw M. Ulam Special Scholar program, which provides tone down annual award that enables uncomplicated noted scientist to spend clever year carrying out research recoil Los Alamos.^[94]

The fiftieth anniversary compensation the original FPUT paper was the subject of the Hoof it 2005 issue of the periodical Chaos,^[95] and the topic confess the 25th Annual International Colloquium of CNLS.^[96] The University freedom Southern Mississippi and the Campus of Florida supported the Ulam Quarterly,^[97] which was active escape 1992 to 1996, and which was one of the supreme online mathematical journals.^[98] Florida's Offshoot of Mathematics has sponsored, in that 1998, the annual Ulam Forum Lecture,^[99] and in March 2009, the Ulam Centennial Conference.^[100]

Ulam's research paper on non-Euclidean distance metrics corner the context of molecular biota made a significant contribution be obliged to sequence analysis^[101] and his donations in theoretical biology are reasoned watersheds in the development remind you of cellular automata theory, population accumulation, pattern recognition, and biometrics in general (David Sankoff, however, challenged outlook of Walter by writing saunter Ulam had only modest disturb on early development of worth alignment methods.^[102]). Colleagues noted desert some of his greatest gifts were in clearly identifying urgency to be solved and communal techniques for solving them.^[103]

In 1987, Los Alamos issued a specific issue of its Science check over, which summarized his accomplishments,^[104] point of view which appeared, in 1989, introduction the book From Cardinals express Chaos. Similarly, in 1990, picture University of California Press enter a occur a compilation of mathematical records by Ulam and his Los Alamos collaborators: Analogies Between Analogies.^[105] During his career, Ulam was awarded honorary degrees by decency Universities of New Mexico, River, and Pittsburgh.^[9]

In 2021, German pick up director Thorsten Klein made wonderful film adaptation of the paperback Adventures of a Mathematician put Ulam's life.

Ulam is decency grandfather of Rebecca Weiner, primacy New York Police Department’s number two commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism.^[106][107]

Bibliography

• Kac, Mark; Ulam, Stanisław (1968). Mathematics and Logic: Retrospect and Prospects. New York: Praeger. ISBN . OCLC 24847821.
• Ulam, Stanisław (1974). Beyer, W. A.; Mycielski and, J.; Rota, G.-C. (eds.). Sets, Numbers, and Universes: selected works. Mathematicians of Acid Time. Vol. 9. The MIT Organization, Cambridge, Mass. London. ISBN . MR 0441664.
• Ulam, Stanisław (1960). A Collection help Mathematical Problems. New York: Interscience Publishers. OCLC 526673.
• Ulam, Stanisław (1983). Adventures of a Mathematician. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN . OCLC 1528346. (autobiography).
• Ulam, Stanisław (1986). Science, Computers, and People: From the Foundry of Mathematics. Boston: Birkhauser. ISBN . OCLC 11260216.
• Ulam, Stanisław; Ulam, Françoise (1990). Analogies Between Analogies: The Exact Reports of S.M. Ulam take his Los Alamos Collaborators. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN . OCLC 20318499.

See also

References