ABSTRACT

This authoritative biography of Kurt Goedel relates the life of this most important logician of our time to the development of the field. Goedel's seminal achievements that changed the perception and foundations of mathematics are explained in the context of his life from the turn of the century Austria to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

1. Der Herr Warum (1920-1924) 2. Intellectual Maturation (1924-29) 3. Excursus: A Capsule History of the Development of Logic to 1928 4. Moment of Impact (1929-31) 5. Dozent in absentia (1932-37) 6. “Jetzt, Mengenlehre” (1937-39) 7. Homecoming and Hegira (1939-40) 8. Years of Transition (1940-46) 9. Philosophy and Cosmology (1946-51) 10. Recognition and Reclusion (1951-61) 11. New Light on the Continuum Problem (1961-68) 12. Withdrawal (1969-78) 13. Aftermath 14. Reflections on Gödel’s Life and Legacy