Mathematicians Of The Day

17th November



On this day in 1930 Kurt Godel's On formally undecidable propositions of Principia Mathematica and related systems was received for publication. It contained the result that there are true but unprovable statements in arithmetic.

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Quotation of the day

From Jean d'Alembert
Allez en avant, et la foi vous viendra
Push on and faith will catch up with you.
[advice to those who questioned the calculus]
Quoted in A L Mackay, Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (London 1994)