Men of Mathematics.

BELL, E.T. (Freeman Dyson).

Item Number: 47062

New York : Simon and Schuster, 1937.

First edition of this classic work and the “first text in the philosophy of mathematics” (The New York Times). Octavo, original cloth, black topstain. Signed by Freeman Dyson on the front free endpaper as follows, “My copy of “Men of Mathematics” was given to me as a school prize in 1937 and has been one of my treasured possessions for 79 years. Freeman Dyson 2016.” Near fine in a very good dust jacket with some wear and closed tears.

From one of the greatest minds in contemporary mathematics, Professor E.T. Bell, comes a witty, accessible, and fascinating look at the beautiful craft and enthralling history of mathematics. Men of Mathematics provides a rich account of major mathematical milestones, from the geometry of the Greeks through Newton’s calculus, and on to the laws of probability, symbolic logic, and the fourth dimension. Bell breaks down this majestic history of ideas into a series of engrossing biographies of the great mathematicians who made progress possible—and who also led intriguing, complicated, and often surprisingly entertaining lives. "Professor Bell has done his work well....Any [one] engaged in learning mathematics will profit by reading him, since he humanizes the subject and helps to a realization of the historical environment" (Bertrand Russell).