Mastermind Rational: Not for the mathematical meek, MacLane is the creator of Category Theory

---

Product Description

Saunders Mac Lane was an extraordinary mathematician, a dedicated teacher, and a good citizen who cared deeply about the values of science and education. In his autobiography, he gives us a glimpse of his "life and times," mixing the highly personal with professional observations. His recollections bring to life a century of extraordinary accomplishments and tragedies that inspire and educate. Saunders Mac Lane's life covers nearly a century of mathematical developments. During the earlier part of the twentieth century, he participated in the exciting happenings in Göttingen---the Mecca of mathematics. He studied under David Hilbert, Hermann Weyl, and Paul Bernays and witnessed the collapse of a great tradition under the political pressure of a brutal dictatorship.

Later, he contributed to the more abstract and general mathematical viewpoints developed in the twentieth century. Perhaps the most outstanding accomplishment during his long and extraordinary career was the development of the concept of categories, together with Samuel Eilenberg, and the creation of a theory that has broad applications in different areas of mathematics, in particular topology and foundations.

He was also a keen observer and active participant in the social and political events. As a member and vice president of the National Academy of Science and an advisor to the Administration, he exerted considerable influence on science and education policies in the post-war period.

Mac Lane's autobiography takes the reader on a journey through the most important milestones of the mathematical world in the twentieth century.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1397279 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 354 pages

From the Back Cover
Saunders Mac Lane is an immense presence in modern mathematics. One of the last Americans to be educated in Göttingen prior to the Nazi era, Mac Lane was ideally and propitiously situated to become a leader in modern algebra and modern algebraic topology. His influence on our subject has been powerful and widespread. This chronicle tells of an influential and important life. -Steven Krantz

---

Customer Reviews

Takes the reader on fascinating and informative journey through the most important milestones of the mathematical world
Saunders Mac Lane: A Mathematical Autobiography is the personal memoir of the late Saunders mac lane, one of the most influential mathematicians of the 20th century. His life story takes the reader on fascinating and informative journey through the most important milestones of the mathematical world of the last ten decades. Saunders provides the reader with a glimpse into his "life and times" through a blending of professional observations with highly personal commentary. He recounts his experiences in pre-war Gottingen (where he studied under David Hilbert and witnessed the collapse of a great German academic and cultural tradition under the political pressures of a brutal Nazi regime). He reflects on his work with Samuel Eilenberg and the impact of their creation of a new mathematical language and theory. Here is the personalized and deftly written story of a century of extraordinary accomplishments and tragedies that will inform and inspire future generations of aspiring mathematicians and is therefore an essential addition to all college and university library collections.

career choice
I recommend this book heartily because it is such a tremendous failure that it has to mean something. I expected a lot from this title and this author, but in vain. Let us look at chapter 54: `Dorothy's Delights'. We find there a plethora of tiny details about his life with his wife in the winter of 1984-85 and it becomes clear at the onset that the chapter will end up with her death. The last sentence reads: "I remember with gratitude the stalwart help she gave me over more than 50 years, and the beauty and grace that she brought to my life." We may admire Mac Lane's discretion when he writes about his relation with his wife, but we cannot follow him when he does the same with his relation with mathematics. Indeed the whole book is constructed like this chapter: a flood of facts about his personal life, about mathematical results and mainly about his academic life. A flood which dries down to this last sentence: "All told, mathematics was a great career choice for me." What an unbelievable ending, what an unbelievable book!
A unique dim spark of life appears when Mac Lane talks about his crucial collaboration with Samuel Eilenberg. In chapter 13, `Eilenberg Enters', he describes his first encounter with him and he comes back to it in the penultimate chapter of the book. "It can be best summarized by a striking proof that 2 is more than 1 plus 1" (p. 347). There was a book to write on this proof alone, on the mysterium coniuntionis which gave us category theory, that pot of gold of contemporary mathematics. It is a pity that Saunders Mac Lane chose instead to talk about the NAS, the NRC and the AMS.

A Mathematical Life Well Lived
Saunders Mac Lane, who died while this book was in preparation, was a teacher nonpareil. In the mathematics genealogy program (www.genealogy.ams.org) he is listed as having 40 students (who earned Ph.D. degrees) and a total of 1,044 descendents, that is Ph.D. students who studied under his students or their students.

A graduate of Yale in 1930 he went to Germany to study at Gottingen, the premier center for mathematics in the world at that time. While there he saw at first hand the removel of the top mathematicians who had any Jewish connections. And later he saw that these refuge mathematicians made many significant contributions to the advancement of mathematics in the United States.

Over his career he worked on many mathematical problems, but he also worked on many other problems such as the teaching of mathematics at the K-12 level. As he ends the book, mathematics was a great career choice for me.