Pólya on Fejér

George Pólya writes about Lipót Fejér in: G Pólya, Some mathematicians I have known, Amer. Math. Monthly 76 (1969), 746-753:-

If you could see him in his rather Bohemian attire (which was, I suspect, carefully chosen) you would find him very eccentric. Yet he would not appear so in his natural habitat, in a certain section of Budapest middle-class society, many members of which had the same manners, if not quite the same mannerisms, as Fejér - there he would appear about half eccentric.

In the article: G Pólya, Leopold Fejér, J. London Math. Soc. 36 (1961), 501-506 Pólya writes the following about Fejér, telling us much about his personality:-

He had artistic tastes. He deeply loved music and was a good pianist. He liked a well-turned phrase. "As to earning a living", he said, "a professor's salary is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition." Once he was very angry with a colleague who happened to be a topologist, and explaining the case at length he wound up be declaring "... and what he is saying is a topological mapping of the truth".

He had a quick eye for foibles and miseries; in seemingly dull situations he noticed points that were unexpectedly funny or unexpectedly pathetic. He carefully cultivated his talent of raconteur; when he told, with his characteristic gestures, of the little shortcomings of a certain great mathematician, he was irresistible. The hours spent in continental coffee houses with Fejér discussing mathematics and telling stories are a cherished recollection for many of us. Fejér presented his mathematical remarks with the same verve as his stories, and this may have helped him in winning the lasting interest of so many younger men in his problems.

In the same article Pólya writes about Fejér's style of mathematics:-

Fejér talked about a paper he was about to write up. "When I write a paper", he said, "I have to rederive for myself the rules of differentiation and sometimes even the commutative law of multiplication." These words stuck in my memory and years later I came to think that they expressed an essential aspect of Fejér's mathematical talent; his love for the intuitively clear detail.

It was not given to him to solve very difficult problems or to build vast conceptual structures. Yet he could perceive the significance, the beauty, and the promise of a rather concrete not too large problem, foresee the possibility of a solution and work at it with intensity. And, when he had found the solution, he kept on working at it with loving care, till each detail became fully transparent.

It is due to such care spent on the elaboration of the solution that Fejér's papers are very clearly written, and easy to read and most of his proofs appear very clear and simple. Yet only the very naive may think that it is easy to write a paper that is easy to read, or that it is a simple thing to point out a significant problem that is capable of a simple solution.

Last Updated March 2006