Biography Of Kurt Gödel, “Mister Why “

Kurt Gödel is, without a doubt, one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. Thanks to his contributions, the foundations of mathematics, as understood until then, have been turned upside down. Not only did he prove that there were inconsistencies in what was known, but he also showed that logic has important limits.

This wonderful scientist is also the proof that reason and the irrational can perfectly coexist. And this both in theory and in human beings themselves.

Kurt Gödel was an absolutely brilliant man, but he also carried totally irrational beliefs. He was a paranoid genius in which intelligence and madness coexisted simultaneously.

In other words, what Kurt Gödel proved is that not all mathematical truths can be proven. Or, as a BBC article put it: “ What Gödel did was (sic) use mathematics to prove that mathematics couldn’t prove everything in mathematics ”. From this postulate, therefore, it follows that there are truths, mathematical and otherwise, which, although true, cannot be proven.

Kurt Gödel, Mr. Why

The nickname “ Mister Why ” was given to him by his own family. Gödel has always been a person marked by an unbridled curiosity for the world. He wanted to know everything and for everything he needed to find an explanation. So he kept asking questions and, as a result, he earned his famous nickname.

Kurt Gödel was born on April 28, 1906 in a town called Brünn. It belonged at the time to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later became part of Czechoslovakia. Today it is part of the Czech Republic. In any case, the question of nationalities was very complicated for him.

He comes from a German family and does not speak Czech. With the demise of the empire, he became a Czech citizen overnight. As he did not feel he belonged to this nation, he decided to become an Austrian national in 1923. Later, Germany annexed Austria and he became a German citizen. Eventually, after World War II, he became a US citizen.

Gödel’s incredible work

Before Kurt Gödel, mathematics was the domain of absolute certainty in the scientific landscape. In other words, this is where what every scientist is looking for lives: the truth. This fact seemed unquestionable until signs of a seizure began to appear.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the mathematician Georg Cantor had sown seeds of doubt which ended up feeding on Russell’s paradoxes.

David Hilbert, a famous mathematician, wanted to turn the page and prove that the foundations of his science were as solid as they had ever been. He made a remarkable effort until the appearance of the diploma thesis of a young man named Kurt Gödel who managed to prove exactly the opposite.

Kurt Gödel graduated with honors from the University of Vienna with a thesis of only 11 pages in which he postulated his theory of incompleteness. Thanks to mathematics, he succeeded in proving that there will always be at least one proposition which cannot be proved, even if it is true.

In 1936, one of his teachers was assassinated by a Nazi. This event causes a nervous breakdown in Gödel. He must then be treated in various psychiatric establishments.

Long-term work

In 1938, Kurt Gödel married Adele Nimbursky, a former dancer six years his senior. They will remain united until the death of the mathematician.

The following year he was deemed fit for military service by the Nazis. The couple then decided to flee to the United States, taking the exhausting Trans-Siberian train. They arrive in Princeton, where Gödel continues his work.

His friendship with Albert Einstein was proverbial. They were often seen on campus walking around at night and chatting endlessly.

Gödel was also a great student of philosophy and his mathematical knowledge and his philosophical concerns led him to postulate the “ontological demonstration of Gödel”. This postulate consists, in a few words, of an attempt to prove the existence of God.

For much of his life, Kurt Gödel was beset by paranoid thoughts and depressive states. It was not easy to realize that all truths were involved, even this very truth.

He was convinced that someone wanted to poison him, so he only agreed to eat what his wife had prepared. However, his wife fell ill and spent six months in the hospital; meanwhile, the great genius is starving.

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